The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society

This is book three in the Driving Over Lemons series by Stewart. All three of the books are set in Andalusian Spain where Stewart and his wife moved after purchasing a subsistence sheep farm in a remote mountainous area of southern Spain. The series starts in the 1990's and the last book was published in 2014. Stewart was a minor celebrity when he purchased the farm. He was the original drummer for the rock band Genesis. His books have made him into a well known European author due to their best seller status in the UK and in Europe. The books are not well known in the USA and I had to get all of them through Inter-Library Loan requests. Almost all of them came from public library collections.

This series is really fun to read. They are show more part memoir and part travelogue as they chronicle the day-to-day life on the farm and in the remote villages of Spain. They also give details of travels that Stewart and his family do around Spain. In this book, the Almond Blossom Appreciation Society is a small group of men who hike up into the mountains to see the blossoms on the Almond trees. There is also a chapter on Stewart's skiing trip during a wicked cold snap, and his venture into Morocco to gather seeds to sell to gardeners in the UK. There is also details of farm life and the constant struggles of such a life that are leavened with humor and just the right amount of pathos. show less

The third part of the Chris Stewart's triology of his life in Spain. Love his travel books on Spain - a lovely personal account of his life there.

Back Cover Blurb:
The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society finds Chris and his family still living on their farm, El Valero - but life there never stands still. You will find yourself laughing out loud as Chris is instructed by his daughter on local teenage mores; bluffs his way as an art history guide to millionaire Bostonians; is rescued off a snowy peak by the Guardia Civil; and joins an Almond Blossom Appreciation Society. You'll cringe as he tries his hand at office work in an immigrants' advice centre in Granada. And you'll never see olive oil in quite the same way again....

Thoroughly enjoyable sequel, Great tales from Andalucia - especially liked the wave of cold!

An entertaining series of anecdotes about life in the Alpujarras. Easy reading.

The third installment chronicling Stewart's life in a remote Andalucían villiage is as wonderful as the first.
(September 2007)

De las vivencias del autor emerge el retrato de un hombre inasequible al desaliento y siempre dispuesto a acometer nuevos desafíos, ya sea cuando forma parte del Club de Admiradores de los Almendros en Flor, cuando su hija lo instruye en los usos y costumbres de los adolescentes españoles, o cuando inesperadamente le toca hacer una visita guiada de Sevilla a millonarios norteamericanos y a posteriori decide enfrentarse al trabajo de oficina en un centro de ayuda al inmigrante. Los almendros en flor es una muestra más de la capacidad de Chris para contagiarnos con su mirada abierta, su optimismo sincero y, sobre todo, su inquebrantable buen humor.

Empeñado en mantener una saludable ingenuidad ante lo que la realidad cotidiana le depara, Chris Stewart vuelve a deleitarnos con episodios asombrosos de su vida campestre en «El Valero», su ya famosa finca en la Alpujarra granadina. Las vivencias recogidas en este tercer volumen de la serie iniciada con Entre limones y El loro en el limonero reflejan el particular talante de una persona con una incorregible tendencia a actuar movida por cierta visión idealista de las cosas. Los almendros en flor es una muestra más de la capacidad de Chris para contagiarnos con su mirada abierta, su optimismo sincero y, sobre todo, su inquebrantable buen humor.