Mowing Over Oranges: Here's where it all begins ...

The neatly tended fruit orchard at Finca Tres Hermanos. Beware! Windfall oranges will be mowed!

It's been almost a year since I wrote my last blog and having given it careful consideration, I thought it best to close the book on the first Andalucian adventure and start a new one. Henceforth, "Mowing Over Oranges" is born and a new adventure can begin. Indeed it has already begun, in a perfectly wonderful way!

It feels good to return to writing and whether the wider audience should find my blogs inspirational, thought provoking, funny, or maybe even tiresome, to me it will always feel good. Personally, I think Facebook is a great platform for diarising one's life with pictures and notable events. Blogging lets you do the same but with words and if my stories today should delight and amuse my family and friends and then give us all fond memories to look back on tomorrow, then that shall be enough.

Anyone familiar with my previous blog "Keep Calm and let the Adventure Continue", will understand my reason for closing that book and starting a new one. I had set out with all good intention to write about love and loss and coping with grief but finding the strength to carry on. Perhaps it could have done with a few more insights so that readers in similar circumstances would know that they were not alone. I hope that it helped them to see that. I feel a bit of a fraud sometimes that I allowed my life to turn around for the better so quickly and that I ran out of insights to give. But, maybe setting this new chapter to paper will make up for it in some way, even if that is not necessarily its primary goal. Either way, Brian's legacy will continue to influence and inspire me as I make new memories with Scott.

Brian's tree: growing splendidly in the garden at Finca Tres Hermanos.

And so my new life as Mrs Forbes has begun. Scott and I married on May 30th, 2018 on Gibraltar and then had our union blessed on June 2nd in Spain in front of family and friends. Having been best friends for nearly 11 years, falling in love with him and agreeing to becoming his wife was easy.

2 weddings, 2 outfits.

I had the best year with wedding planning, opting to do all the organising myself. I felt like I was 25 again (the age I first got married!). Friends, strangers and professionals alike seemed to be just as excited as me and consensus opinion agreed that I was scaringly organised (it's a bit of a family trait!) and just about the most unflappable bride anyone had ever met! At the end of it all, our honeymoon was spent on the Yukatan Peninsula in Mexico. From start to finish it was an unforgettably romantic time, the memories of which I will always cherish.

Now that the dust has settled, I can focus my attention to running a home, developing new interests, and to eagerly following the direction in which life is now beckoning me to follow. One major decision I've taken is to not return to teaching. As much as I enjoyed it, I cannot now summon up the dedication that being a teacher demands. A lot has changed and so have I: I'm now a firm football fan (well, it was either that or book an appointment to see my husband during football season!), am taking music lessons, trying my best to pay attention to Scott's patient teachings from the vegetable garden, and accepting the realisation that I have become a step mum at the grand(ish!) age of 51 to three of the most charming young men you could ever hope to meet. I'm in process of changing my name with Spanish and UK officialdom but I'm not yet proficient at signing my new name as second nature!

Finca del Olivar (my old home) is still ours and it will not be sold for a few years yet. For now, it's being occupied by a lovely retired gentleman and friend. He loves it and takes care of it as Brian and I once did and he keeps it spotless and that's great comfort to me. Scott and I see to the grounds maintenance aided by a capable friend. It's a very agreeable arrangement all round.

So please stay tuned. I'll share stories as they continue to unfold at Finca Tres Hermanos and outside of its boundary when we need time away. If you like the idea of home grown veg, I'll get Mr 'Green Fingers' Forbes to reveal his secrets along the way. And, if I make good on that promise to get my act together, I'll share some recipes from the produce we grow. We are alike in so many ways, but yet there are enough differences between us to ensure life won't ever be boring.