olive season

right now i'm reading "olive season" by carol drinkwater  (carol starred as the wife in the early seasons of the show "all creatures great and small") a multi-layered tale of she and her husband's life purchasing an abandoned olive grove in provence.

sounds exotic, doesn't it?  while they do enjoy it, navigating everything from water rights and pruning to hired help and planting in a foreign culture is not always efficient or logical.  in fact, far from it!  

she captures the land and people well and with great humor, however.  for anyone who has ever thought of uprooting and starting over in a foreign country, know your partner well and have lots of patience with the red tape, i think would be some of drinkwater's advice.