This volume is the second book by Chris Stewart charting his continuing struggles after deciding to go and live a partly self-sufficient life in one of the more remote areas of Andalucia. With his wife Ana, and now his daughter Chloe, he lives in a traditional small farm called El Valero. In the first book in the series – Driving over Lemons – he introduced himself and something of his life. In book two, we find him more settled, continuing to develop the farm, and building his new life. Chris.I only shear them half way. They were getting top heavy and would fall down on the ground and not get up. So I had to cut half of their hair off. I mean. Wool. What marks Stewart out from similar writers is that this is not the life of an Englishman remaining English abroad, as in the Provence of Peter Mayle, but that of an intrepid man having to survive in a primitive part of Spain where making a living is a struggle. Hence the need to supplement his erratic income with trips to snowy Sweden to shear sheep. His fans will recognise the same wry, self-deprecating humour. It's one of the reasons that Driving Over Lemons became such a phenomenal success. You just can't fail to like him and the world he spreads out for you: wayward sheep, eccentric ex-pats, hospitable - and slightly barmy - neighbours, all existing in the awesome scenery of southern Spain's Alpujarras mountains.

All in all people were very nice about the book. Somebody was even good enough to say they thought my style was maturing, which gave me a bit of a boost as you may imagine. “The Parrot” didn’t sell as well as “Lemons”, but apparently this is often the case… unless you happen to be JK Rowlings. With this one reservation, the book is very readable. Yes, it's light entertainment. But with some fun stories, and a few interesting thoughts about home, life, work and where we all fit in. Chris prepared for life on his Spanish mountain farm with jobs of doubtful relevance. He was the original drummer in Genesis (he played on the first album), then joined a circus, learnt how to shear sheep, went to China to write the Rough Guide, gained a pilot's license in Los Angeles, and completed a course in French cooking. Three Ways to Capsize a Boat fills in his lost years as a yacht skipper in the Greek islands. It’s at least 10 years ago, probably nearer 15, that I read Driving over Lemons, the first in Stewart’s eventual trilogy about buying an isolated farm in Andalusia. His books are in the Peter Mayle vein, low-key and humorous: an Englishman finds the good life abroad and tells amusing anecdotes about the locals and his own mishaps. They range from the sublime to the ridiculous, from the endearing tales of learning about adapting to a new culture to those that essentially rage at all things ‘foreign’, where you wonder why the author went to live abroad in the first place. I’ve read a few over the years, and some have been entertaining and thought-provoking.He is now better known for his autobiographical books, Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia (1999, ISBN 0-9535227-0-9) and the sequels, A Parrot In The Pepper Tree (ISBN 0-9535227-5-X) and The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society (2006, ISBN 0-9548995-0-4), about his work farming in Spain. All three are also available as audiobooks (Lemons ISBN 0-14-180143-3; Parrot ISBN 0-14-180402-5), and Almond ISBN 0-7528-8597-9, narrated by Stewart. Krisa Stjuarta otrais memuārs. Kriss dalās ar lasītāju ar stāstiem no jaunības, - kā viņš mācījās spēlēt spāņu ģitāru, kā viņš spēlēja grupā "Genesis", kā izlēma uzsākt dzīvi Andalūzijā, - un ar jauniem atgadījumiem, laika periodā pēc pirmās grāmatas izdošanas. Grāmatas ir sarakstīta no vairākiem epizodiskiem ierakstiem, kas sarindoti bez hronoloģiskas secības. Teksts tulkots sarunvalodā.

At the recommendation of Jonathan King, Stewart was asked to leave the band in the summer of 1968 due to poor technique. He was replaced by John Silver. After travelling and working throughout Europe, Stewart settled and bought a farm named "El Valero" in the Alpujarras region of Andalucia, Spain where he lives and works with his wife Ana Exton and daughter Chloë. He came in last place for the position of local councillor in the 27 May 2007 local elections in Órgiva representing the Green Party, where he received 201 votes (roughly 8%). Well that was it: once I’d got the sweet taste of success and had all the fun of getting a book published, I sort of got the bit between my teeth; now there was no stopping me. Next came THE PARROT IN THE PEPPER TREE… that’s not to say that I sat down with the idea of writing a book called “The Parrot in the Pepper Tree”; the title came later, in the way that it usually does. Books have a tendency to name themselves, I think. As these books go, this is pretty good. He is an engaging writer, and his life and adventures are interesting enough to be worth reading about. He tells us more about his past, and how he came to choose Spain as a destination. His relationship with the local population is generally very good – although some of them are actually incomers too – and they seem to have accepted him. I'm definitely not a fan of 'we escaped the rat race and bought a run down property' books but this is more than just one of those. Stewart has a fascinating past including a stint with a very early Genesis line up (which didn't last long). He dips into those early memories throughout the book and that works well. I also like the way he doesn't try and write about his life as the perfect idyll. We hear about his worries and fears every bit as much as the lovelier side of living in such a beautiful part of rural Spain. And he also avoids the pitfall of making all the locals sound like colourful caricatures.So, I just decided to take it as it was, Kind of. I mean, I really can't quit thinking about it. Maybe the sheep are a different breed that like the cold. Maybe he has a barn large enough for 300' sheep and he keeps it heated all winter. Me. Yes, that is true. And you just wait till I read your 3rd story. I will find my way into it somehow. I see right now though, there is no talking to you, so I will ask you no more questions. In this book, he writes about life with his family on their remote Andalusian farm where a misanthropic parrot joins their home and WWOOFers (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) come to stay.

A Parrot In The Pepper Tree” is what Stewart describes as a “sort of” sequel and it delves into — a little bit — about how “Driving Over Lemons” came into being; it also touches briefly on Stewart’s short tenure with the band, Genesis, as one of its founding members.Stewart's publisher, Sort of Books, announced plans to release yet another Stewart memoir in 2009, this one focused on sailing, entitled Three Ways to Capsize a Boat: An Optimist Afloat. Me. Yes. What is this about shearing sheep in the winter? You don't do that. They will They will freeze to death. I think the main reason I liked Chris Stewart’s “Driving Over Lemons” was because he has this way of writing that makes you feel like you’re reading an old-fashioned, handwritten letter from a really good friend you haven’t seen in ages, but you’ve kept in touch with through letters — you know, the sort of letter that’s on crinkly, thin sheets of white paper in a messy scrawl that goes into all sorts of cool details about the things they’ve seen and the people they’ve met. Under the warm, funny and self-deprecating writing of Chris Stewart, there moves a man of granite. Life at El Valero ain’t for wossies. Whether he’s describing the climb to admire the fields of gentian flowers on the on the high slopes of the Mulhacén, or the rigours of enduring a deeply uncomfortable wet Christmas in a house and a valley designed for sunshine, it is obvious that he and his family are hugely stoic and enduring. Papagailis piparu kokā" lasīsanas pieredze ir salīdzināma ar vienu no tām situācijām, kad satiec nepazīstamu cilvēku, kas uzsāk sarunu, un pašam nemanot, sarunai beidzoties jūs esat kas līdzīgs draugiem. Kriss ir cilvēks kā visi mēs, kas ir dzīves gaitā saskāries gan ar bēdīgākām, gan ar priecīgākām notikumiem. Manuprāt, Kriss ir samēra impulsīvs un ekspresīvs, memuārā aprakstītās pieredzes man ir svešas. Bija interesanti kaut uz brīdi izprast kā domā cits cilvēks un kas virza viņu. Pirmais memuārs, ko esmu izlasījis.