As you know, it all started with 'What Happened to Frank?'. And I'll soon be releasing Book 6, 'Love and Death'.
Are you ready? While it's not necessary to read books 1-5 before 'Love and Death', I think doing so would increase your reading pleasure!
There's time to catch up because the book launch (at blueheronbooks.com) is on Sunday, November 17. Blue Heron Books has all five books in the series and they are available as e-books and paperback from Amazon (https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=vicky+earle&crid=1EUCS5K1KNUBR&sprefix=vicky+earle%2Caps%2C126&ref=nb_sb_noss_1) and other book retailers.
Happy reading and see you at the launch!
Prized Spirit (Mimi) ran her first (ever) race on September 28 and none of us were happy. See the race (click on the link) and my notes that follow the story.
(The words I had to use for the word challenge are shown in italics).
Sunflower
Milly stood motionless on the granite doorstep and gazed at the hills in the distance with their muted shades of green tinted with the gold of scattered gorse bushes. The specks of cream dotted around the grey rocks erupting out of the hillsides moved from time to time. The sheep kept the grass cropped shorter than Milly’s lawn. She loved Dartmoor. The love was deep and life-long, but she had no choice but to leave.
Several months previously, she’d read over and over that life is short, you should step out of your comfort zone, be authentic and live your dream, and so on. She’d become restless, unsatisfied with her life, and each day her discontent grew.
The spark that ignited her determination to change her life came when a school teacher bought one of her oils at the Art in the Park exhibition. She’d plucked up the courage to participate when she heard people were looking for paintings of sunflowers to show their support for Ukrainians. The school teacher bought her favourite large painting of a glorious sunflower rich in colour and texture and seeming to emit cheer and hope. The teacher was effusive about the painting and paid double her asking price.
Milly was ecstatic and the extra money in her pocket was almost like an itch—she had to do something about her mundane life. She had never followed an impulse before. It was exciting.
Shortly afterwards, she resigned from her mediocre and mostly boring career as a civil servant and moved to the small cottage on the edge of Dartmoor with a view of the hills and the skies – to live her dream as a full-time artist. She could watch the weather moving towards her, shifting the colours and shadows.
Financial management was not her strong point. She’d been renting a small flat in Exeter and had no savings. But she lived within her means and had no debt when she moved. However, the hard reality of marketing and selling her art to make ends meet was much more daunting and frustrating than she’d expected.
She’d not paid the rent that month and felt destitute. Milly had never owed anyone money before. As she stumbled towards her dream it was as if something was constantly pushing her back. She felt as if she’d been slapped in the face for being foolish enough to give up a job to follow her dream, step out of her comfort zone, and do what she enjoyed.
The smell of oil paints and turpentine hung around her, but the aromas didn’t uplift her anymore. They agitated her and even made her depressed. She could better appreciate the artists who turned to drugs and succumbed to addiction—an escape from the brutal impossibility of an artist’s life.
She thought she heard the click of the latch on the gate. It was probably the landlady coming to talk with her again—although she’d been surprisingly reasonable about the whole thing. Milly could pay this month’s rent when next month’s rent was due.
She turned towards the gate, her stomach grumbling and her hands sweaty.
But it was someone else—she recognized the teacher who had bought her sunflower painting. He walked along the flagstone path with a broad grin as if he’d just heard a joke. Milly’s mouth refused to move. Her eyes widened. She thought she’d gone mad, and he was a hallucination.
She was on the verge of screaming because, in the back of her mind, she blamed him for the state she was in. She would never have moved if he hadn’t bought the sunflower oil.
“Sorry to drop in on you,” he said, as he proffered his hand. “You’re a hard one to find.”
She shook his hand—its warmth and firmness convincing her she wasn’t imagining the encounter. She tried to smile but nothing happened.
“As you know, I love your painting. Several people have admired it. Your technique, apparently, is superb—your use of colour, perspective, texture, and so on. I don’t know much about art—that’s others talking.”
She gave him a half smile and tried to stop her bottom lip from trembling as if she was a little child.
“You must wonder why I’m here.”
She managed a slight nod and realized she should ask him to come into the cottage for a coffee but couldn’t quite manage to summon up the necessary energy or enthusiasm.
“I teach in a private school. I’m also deputy head. The board asked me to find a real artist to teach art. They believe their art program is seriously lacking and have received complaints from parents. I thought of you. But it’s taken a whole month of sleuthing to get here. So, would you be interested?”
Milly had given thought to teaching art but had no training in education and wasn’t sure she’d be good at it. But perhaps she should step out of this uncomfortable zone into another and try. Maybe she could stay living in the cottage. The commute to Exeter would work.
“How about we have a coffee in that charming café in the village? My treat. And we can talk about details.”
Milly’s smile finally brightened up her face. She pulled off her smock, tied her hair back, grabbed a jacket, and desperately hung onto her dream.
Vicky Earle Copyright 2024
Foul Play?
You will see from the video that Mimi (Prized Spirit) was in a great position for a good part of the race, but then something went wrong.
And it wasn't her fault.
Her jockey stated that another jockey elbowed him. I'm not sure what happened exactly, but there was some kind of altercation and Mimi was buffeted about and lost heart.
We visited her on the morning after the race and her groom said she 'wasn't sulking' and appeared to be in good spirits, so perhaps she's living up to her name. She devoured the carrots we brought her and also crunched on several mints with relish. Her eyes were bright. She did have a few superficial nicks on her legs, but otherwise, we're hoping she has not been hurt physically or mentally.
It is often the case, in my experience, that, when something goes wrong, it is not the horse's fault, but rather a human letting the side down.
And Mimi was let down.
She is being very well cared for in the Banach Stable and we are hopeful that she will enjoy her next race.
Have a look and see if you can figure out what happened!
Thank you for reading this post. Please share.
Vicky
I thought I saw McGill nudge Mimi aside? She was ahead before that!
Now waiting for my heart rate to return to normal…