From Lockdown to ? : Week 3 - Days 65 to 71

Onion flower in Phase 1: half in, half out.
Wasn't that what we were supposed to be doing?!

Our first week in 'Phase 1'  of deescalation is over and, so far, things are going well.  Preferably, like the onion flower, we'd be taking it slow and easing in gently but that's proved a little difficult in practice as friends have been eager to catch up, Scott's been receiving more calls, and me?: I'm back at the gym with my trainer and running a multitude of errands.  Week 2 isn't looking like it's easing in either!  We're sticking to the rules though: gatherings of no more than 10 are permitted and we're dutifully wearing our masks when out in public.  

Top and bottom: Feeling good to be back together with friends!

Last weekend's gatherings proved that nothing can compare to the feeling of being able to enjoy the company of friends and family once again.  That said, it's evident that the Lockdown has had the same affect on us all in that everyone has used the time to slow down and internally regroup so to speak. Scott and I have heard how others like us are altering their perspective and now changing their priorities.  There just might be a new social paradigm about to happen if people begin to practice what these last few weeks have forced us to stop and think about.  The main focus is a shift towards our preference to spend more time at home, whether that be in your own company or inviting friends for dinner and keeping everything else a little closer to home too.  Of course, many of our friends have a business to focus on and errands still need to be run.  We'll all do our bit to support local businesses as they hopefully recover too.  We're not about to become unsociable buggers, nothing could be further from the truth but just don't expect to see us every weekend!

Back at our favourite breakfast venue: Bar Mazza with their socially distant table plan
Scott made a pretty good effort at Lockdown Eggs and Garlic,
but I think he'd be happy to bow to the experts!

And when we go shopping:

Wear your masks ...

... form an orderly queue, and wait to be served

Back at Finca Tres Hermanos, there's more than enough work to be done to fill the remaining gaps in the day that normal business, errands and socialising haven't swallowed up.  The weather is warming up considerably and fairly soon one less job to worry about will be the mowing as the green stuff (that's turned imitating grass in to an art form) dies off.  It'll soon be time to strim the meadow and let the dry wildflower seeds scatter and sink back into the soil along with the 'green stuff' to wait it out until it rains again. 

Beyond our boundary fence, the animal feed has been cut taking the flowers with it and is being prepared for baling. This as well as the spring flowers also dying off means that food for our honeybees will soon become scarce.  We've already taken several steps to provide all the foraging we can by planting more lavender and provided that we keep this watered the bees should be fine.  In any event, we have invested in some hive feeders that will hold supplementary feed if that should be necessary later in the year.  For variety and colour, we're also on the constant search for other bee-friendly shrubs that we can plant down on the bee terraces.  While we expect very few (if any) visitors now this year, we nevertheless still want to tempt the bees to forage in an area away from the house, bar and pool.  

Fields around our house ready for baling

After only an hour of planting some nice new shrubs,
Scott was concerned that the bees hadn't found them yet!
Patience darling x
Squint and you might spot some colour now spreading around the trees

Around the vegetable patch we've allowed the odd plant or two to flower before going to seed so we have a variety of extra forage which the bees are loving so they're not going hungry yet.  Not all winter veg goes to seed this way; the broad beans for instance grow from the flowers the plants produce in spring and it's the pods that dry up and turn to seed.  We pull up most of the dead plants before they succeed in dropping their seed heads into the soil but we inevitably miss a few so if you take a walk around it's not uncommon to find winter peas growing up among the new tomatoes or last year's tomatoes self-seeding among the carrots!  

One of our honeybees gathering pollen while feeding from a beautiful onion bloom
(regrettably, this delicate and pretty white flower still smells much like an onion!)

A wild bush that grows all over our campo in Spring: Ratama - known
for its medicinal properties.  Our bees are sure to be foraging from these and 
the list of health benefits are endless!

Top: The planned and the interlopers growing side by side
Bottom: The stages of tomatoes to give us bags of freshness right into autumn

Sweetcorn, french beans,

courgettes and cherry tomatoes

 

From plot to plate:
chicken and vegetable curry

I'd better wrap up this update now. I had intended to bake a cake but I appear to have wasted an entire afternoon typing very little at this keyboard!  I'm not sure I'm ready for the disappointment on Mr Forbes' face when he gets home.  I should have also seen to some mowing or pool maintenance but I'm under strict instructions from my trainer to take it easy (more disappointment for Mr Forbes!)  I've had a few issues with my back so if I only manage to crawl out of bed tomorrow morning, it'll be important to narrow it down to today's deadlift training and not because I then came home and tugged a stubborn three-legged mower over 4,000sq m of grass!  It's unlikely I'll be any more sore than expected tomorrow though, my trainer knows what she's doing and she kept me just knocking under a 40kg lift; we don't want to be rushing back into training do we?  (Well, I was up for it, but she said "No!")

See you soon!

Fudge is not prepared to let Rafa in without his mask!

From Lockdown to ? - Week 2 - Days 58 to 64

Unsettled weather creates a dramatic backdrop over Finca Tres Hermanos

There are times when certain thoughts between couples are best shared in the full conscious light of day and not last thing at night when you're about to drift off to sleep.  Last Sunday was just one of those times when something Scott muttered jolted me wide awake and ready to sit up and turn the light back on!

You see, one of the things we've talked about most since we got together is buying a motorhome some day and travelling.  It was while on one of our first dates that we discovered that this ambition was pretty high on both our lists. We've since planned when this might come to fruition.  So now, back to lying in bed last Sunday night, Scott muttering he now wasn't too sure he "wants a motorhome anymore", you might ask why that light remained off?  Well, it was late and we were tired so we mumbled in agreement to revisit the thought "tomorrow" when we were both  lucid. (Lucky for him it also meant he avoided being thumped with a pillow while it being suggested to him he might pick his moments better!)

When the light of day came I could see why he aired that thought though and I think I have to agree with it.  These last two months of lockdown has caused us both to recentre and we realise just how much we love spending time at home and pouring our combined energy into the upkeep of the house, more importantly the garden, and to our new hobby of bee keeping (another dream we've had in common).  The discussion on whether or not we end up with a motorhome some day will remain on the table for now. 

So as of tomorrow (Monday 18th May) Malaga moves to Phase 1 in Spain's deescalation. We're now permitted to meet up in groups of no more than 10 people, travel to our second homes, visit more shops other than just the supermarket, and visit bars and restaurants.  All of these 'privileges' come with strict caveats of course and one of those is that we must not travel between provinces.  This is all good news of course provided we remain vigilant and stick to the protocols but for reasons I've already stated we're not in a massive hurry to take advantage of these reestablished freedoms.  Home is still too comfortable a place right now.  That said, my personal trainer and I will take our first tentative steps back into my weight training next week (looking forward to that!) and we have our first meet up planned with the footy gang next Saturday over a takeway; the 10 of us keeping to safe social distances of course!  I shall miss our twice-weekly quiz nights on Houseparty though.  We've had a lot of fun broadening our quiz knowledge (but I must say I was in disbelief that no one could remember the name of the tower block where Del Boy and Rodney Trotter lived!  Of course, Carin is excused on account of being Dutch!)

Whilst I'm looking forward to getting back into regular training, our poolside 
workouts won't be neglected and will certainly be one lockdown tradition that will remain.

A good post-workout supper: salmon and prawn curry
(Recipes will appear shortly on a dedicated blog page but be warned, I'm a random 
cook and don't bother much with measures; I prefer to be surprised! lol)

On to this week's catch up:

Monday was a write off, well more like a train wreck really!  A recipe I had planned to use the remaining Navel oranges from our tree turned out to be a disaster, except that is for the blind baked flan base the oranges had been destined for.  By the time realisation had dawned that the orange and frangipane filling was going to hit the skids, the kitchen resembled a nuclear war zone, dinner was late and I was on the verge of a hormonal meltdown!  In order to salvage what remained of the day, I stood still, drew a deep breath in and tidied the kitchen. It's surprising how much better things look when neatness and order is restored!  Enter Mr Forbes who knocked up an egg and cheese quiche filling for the redundant flan base. It didn't feel right that I'd let him rescue dinner after he'd been out for the best part of the day fixing boilers and leaks but he insisted on taking over so I consoled myself by redirecting my energy to compiling my tax return.  It was fortuitous that Monday's dinner plan rolled over to Tuesday as the resultant unhurried schedule meant I had time to prepare something much better with the ingredients from the day before. 

Now, I do love to bake things (when the recipe comes out right!)  Mr Forbes informs me on a regular basis that he "needs something sweet".  I smile coquettishly and remind him that he has me but he just looks at me blankly and says: "cake is better". I'm beginning to wonder if he's not becoming just a tad spoiled?  Still, he's cute, so I'm happy to indulge him. But what to bake? 

When I was a girl, I would often beg my Mum to make a lemon drizzle cake and as we still have loads of lemons on our tree, the choice was an easy one.  As the kitchen filled with the scent of the lemons, it evoked a precious childhood memory of watching my Mum work her magic over her mixing bowl while I eagerly waited to lick the remnants of cake mixture off any utensil that had come into contact with it.  Now I was surprised some while ago to learn that Scott had missed out on this wonderful childhood experience so whenever I bake if he happens to be in the room at the right moment, he gets to lick the spoon before it hits the washing up bowl. Of course, when he isn't, it's all mine!  I'm trying to limit my bakes to just one a week but the lemon drizzle cake went fast so by Saturday another bake was needed and the recipe was adapted for a chocolate and lime version. That is destined not to last long either!

The beginnings of Lemon Drizzle cake (with eggs courtesy of the very kind Kathleen Millwood)
Campo currency being put to good use

A successful experiment with chocolate and lime: chocolate and lime drizzle traybake
(adapted from Mary Berry's lemon drizzle version)

The unsettled weather this week has meant being consigned a little more to indoors.  Now I don't know if I'm getting worse with age or if I suffer from a condition induced by lockdown fever?  Either way, I find myself wondering if I'm doing enough with my day?  If I sit down for longer than five minutes, I think I'm not being useful and then guilt (if that's what it is?) gets me up on my feet again, and I pace up and down staring at shelves, straightening anything that might have become askew.  It's all a little 'OCD'.  Then there are days when sitting down for even five minutes to grab a sandwich between jobs seems like a luxury!  I hate being idle but I'm also trying hard to accept that sometimes it's OK to just sit and do nothing for a while.  Of course, there are plenty of things one can do sitting down that are equally productive as they are relaxing.  During one particular attack of OCD this week I tidied my sewing cupboard and found some more elastic so I lifted my old and very faithful sewing machine out and made some more face masks for Scott (his old ones were getting a bit worn).  Rather than put it all away afterwards, I played with the machine's embroidery attachments (I'm ashamed to say at this point that in 30 years of owning my Singer, I've NEVER used it to embroider!)  Now that I'm getting on a bit, embroidery now seems "de rigueur" so I think I might just add this to my list of "stay at home" activities, although I think Scott might be worried that I'm about to start monogramming towels and socks.  He can, at least, be pleased that I've finally turned up a pair of jeans that he gave me year ago to do.  It was fortunate for him that he was at home to model them first, otherwise there might have been a danger of one leg finishing up shorter than the other. 

I'm not the tidiest person!              Using the embroidery function        Nearly, but you get the gist?

 

           Watching my Singer weave its magic

We've had another very productive week in the garden despite the unsettled weather.  After a one particularly heavy rainfall early in the week, I took a stroll down to the bee terraces as Scott was keen for me to look at the weeds he'd saved from the strimmer.  We've noticed that the bees love a particular kind for its charming purple and blue flower so we want to leave these alone until they stop flowering and drop their seed heads and then hopefully these 'weeds' will grow in abundance next Spring.  While I was down there, I picked up a rake and attempted to loosen some soil over a shallow gully which had formed in a previous storm. With our soil being heavy clay, I should have known better! Suffice to say, I'd have had better luck throwing a Greek Urn on a potters wheel than rake over a gully!  

                                     Saved from the strimmer: Bee food    Half the garden on the bottom of my Crocs

                                    Mr Forbes does some heavy duty strimming....and plants yet more lavender!

It's still mowing season so the meadow and orchard got another trim this week while Scott saw to some heavy duty strimming and weeding.  Now that we're officially permitted to visit our second homes, I'm desperate to get to 'del Olivar' and retrieve my petrol mower from the workshop.  I wouldn't say the one I'm currently using is cumbersome but with one of its four wheels jammed solid and flatly refusing to turn, I could liken mowing with it to driving a stubborn 3-legged donkey to market.  By the time I'd finished, I was red-faced and sweating like a sumo in a sauna! While I'm be happy to work off the extra pounds that the cake is putting on, my arms are telling me they're too worn out to lift another slice anyway!

                                          When the 3-legged mower obliges, the meadow finish looks quite professional

Our veggie patch is continuing its cyclical transformation from winter to summer crops.  I'm still learning too and whilst selecting some vegetables to put in a curry, one memorable conversation this week went something like this: 

Me: Darling, these leeks are going a funny colour and they smell ever so strong.

Scott: That's because they're garlic!

(In my defence, the plants look very similar!)

Mr Forbes is so proud of his first crop of french beans, he's been trying for years to grow them!

Another crop of veg picked for supper: cabbage, onions and leeks (not garlic! lol)

Our  time in the garden this week finished with a check on the bees who seem quite at ease now with me opening up the hive to peer in.  Only one of the hives needed a new foundation frame. Now that I've developed a knack for keeping the smoker alight for longer than 10 minutes, I don't visit the hive without it as it does distract the bees' attention away from their dive bombing missions. 

New foundation frames with their waxed sheets, ready to put in the hives

A bee keeper's outfit is hardly "haute couture"....

...especially when it involves borrowing hubby's trousers (belted up a la 80's style!)

And now for some randoms:

Our Peach and Apricot trees are bearing fruit and will soon be ready for picking

Campo currency oranges

When not following us around the garden, Humbug and Fudge spend the rest of the time napping

A good end to the day: a cool gin and tonic with limes

From Lockdown to ? : Week 1 - Days 53 to 57

Starting tomorrow some provinces and municipalities in Spain advance to 'Phase 1' of the de-escalation process. Others (including Malaga province) must remain in the first 'Phase 0' for at least another week. We don't quite 'meet the criteria' for advancing forward but we're not far off it since the overall trend (the fabled "curve") is going very much in the right direction. In practice, that means we can continue to exercise during our allocated time slots and can now visit the hairdresser but all other 'activities' remain as they did in full lockdown. I guess we're OK with it, it's better to be safe than sorry. For now we must hope that the rush to the beaches and promenades seen in the last week was just a little "liberation madness" and people will return to their senses and act responsibly again which is vital if we're not to blow this initiative before it barely gets started.

I've already been for my haircut and whilst both parties were masked and gloved for the occasion, it was a little nerve wracking being away from the comfortable surroundings of our Finca. For Mr Forbes, however, his trip to the 'hairdresser' still involves travelling from the bedroom to a stool in the kitchen! Armed with a new set of dog clippers that arrived this week (the Men's Remington set still being somewhere on a packing line!) I set about giving him his fourth trim since the lockdown. Thankfully, it went well this time (the chunk I took out of his hair on its third cut - oops! - has since grown back!)

At Finca Tres Hermanos we continue to favour the management of our garden and bees over any desire to rush back to this 'new normal'. We are of the same opinion that even when this virus is no longer a threat, our 'new normal' will involve more time appreciating what we're so lucky to have on our own doorstep. When speaking to others we realise we're not alone in that opinion either. We've had time to look at our little corner of paradise through different eyes and with a whole new perspective and it's become just that little bit more beautiful. We need to slow down and enjoy it.

A small sample of our array of abundant flowers.

Mindfulness of what's best for our bees has been at the forefront of our progress in the garden this week. Our lower terraces (here on in known as our "bee terraces") have been planted out with a LOT more Lavender, some Felicia and another Bottle Brush bush, all of which the bees love. If we can keep these terraces watered, hopefully the flowers will keep coming and the bees will be happy and well fed. Our Plan B though, in the shape of artificial feeders, arrived this week with another consignment of beekeeping equipment.

While the first lot of lavender is producing a proliferation of flowers down on the bee terraces, we plant LOTS more (and a few patches of blue Felicia which will not only feed the bees, but will keep the banks in check as it spreads). Close your eyes and imagine the lavender perfume filling the air!

There's a good chance our long-awaited honey in a year or two's time will be strongly flavoured with Lavender!

The access to our bee terrace from the orchard now made all the better from Scott's dug out stairway (which a slightly camouflaged Fudge is happy to road test!)

Elsewhere on our plot, whilst the citrus blossom has long since been replaced with the next batch of growing fruit, the meadow continues its profusion of wild flowers (the cornflowers being particularly beautiful), and the palm trees are now bursting into blossom. I wasn't even aware that these tiny little brown flowers could be such a magnet for our bees but they are! Our bees are teaching us so much about our natural surroundings. So much so, our dog walks now involve us searching out and counting bees, examining the wildflowers and deciding which of their seeds we will gather to scatter at home.

The mass of cornflowers in our meadow; difficult to appreciate on camera but in the true light of day their brilliance is spectacular!

A healthy mix of structure and wild abandon. A bee paradise either way.

Our vegetable garden, of course, also remains high on our priority list and our summer plants are taking the place of the winter veg as they come to an end.

Tomatoes coming along, plus the beginnings of sweetcorn!  Elsewhere, we have peppers, melons, and pumpkin (the latter, seeded itself!)

Broccoli and Broad Beans going to seed (the bees love the broccoli flowers!)

Uneaten Pecan Nuts being soaked before planting out. We'll see how many trees we get!

Mr Forbes has begun work this week to instal an irrigation system around the veggie patch

The life cycle of our veggie plot in glorious technicolor: From nursery, to plot, to feeding the next generation. Nothing goes to waste

While our attention has been so focused on Tres Hermanos, we haven't forgotten our other Finca, my previous home: Del Olivar. Scott managed what he could while attending to emergency call outs nearby and managed to revitalise the pool which had turned a nasty shade of green but lockdown has meant people are forbidden from visiting their second homes and poor Olivar had fallen into a certain degree of neglect. Out of sight is not out of mind, however, and while restrictions are being eased slowly, our gardener has been back and has tidied the place up tremendously.

From overgrown to tidy: I know some people will be pleased to see Finca Del Olivar looking spruced up. 

We're not neglecting our health and fitness either (as if gardening didn't keep us fit enough!). Scott's perception of the strength training I was doing prior to the lockdown has altered somewhat. His outspoken views about it being "easy" and "only for girls" are now mere echos in the past as he regularly sweats and grimaces his way through each of the routines I'm in charge of putting together. He's even happy to try and contort his 6'2" frame into a variety of yoga poses on our recovery days! In fact, he's become so keen on working out he's often the instigator most days and perhaps more shockingly (especially if you're a man reading this!) he's not resisting my persuasion to invest in a home gym. Needless to say, yours truly has already lined up a supplier and is looking forward to going shopping as soon as decency prevails over greed and those mad lockdown prices return to normal!

As I wrap up this week's update, Scott is finishing some weeding (a non-stop job at Tres Hermanos) and I'm reflecting on a day which should be reserved for quiet leisurely pursuits. While I'm certainly not averse to doing my fair share of weeding, I've enjoyed putting my feet up, dedicating the best of the day to writing, making coffee and scouring recipe books for things to make with the last of our citrus fruits. I think this could just be the order of the day for Sundays from now on.

The lime cheesecake has been polished off so time to flip through the pages of this old favourite and make something with our oranges and lemons

More next week!