05 — Grounds

One courtyard, and a gate.

The grounds are a courtyard, an olive, and the walk from the gate to the rooms. They are not a park.

A plain wooden door, slightly open, in a sand wall, with no sign on it. — The gate has no name on it. The desk will tell you how to come in.

You arrive at 10 HaZayit Street. The door in the wall is the way into the courtyard. There is no sign to read from the street. If you are expected, someone meets you. If you are not expected, the door stays shut. A request on the website does not open it. The room is not held until the house confirms.

Dogs go out in twos and threes, with a person, into the courtyard or a short way along the quiet end of the street. Eight dogs are never out as one pack. The point of a small house is that the outing can stop when one animal has had enough. Cats do not use the courtyard. Their air is the window in the room.

A water bowl in the shade of an olive tree. — Shade, and water that is not a toy. The bowl stays on the ground.

The olive is the only tree. In the hot months the shade is the reason the midday outing is short and the bowl is full. August is also a holiday rate, because the house is small and the month is when most people travel. The shade does not change the rate. It is simply how the day is arranged.

On Saturday the same outings happen for the dogs who are staying. The difference is the desk. Nobody checks a guest in, nobody hands a guest back, and the telephone is not answered. If your stay covers Saturday, pack Friday with that in mind. Collection is Friday, or Sunday.

A terracotta wall at dusk, with the shadow of a branch and an unlettered clay jar. — By dusk the courtyard is finished. Rooms are quiet after the last meal you scheduled.

Evenings are indoor. The wall holds the last light, and then the gate is closed. We do not leave animals in the courtyard overnight. Each one is in its own room, with water, on the bed or the sill it has chosen.