#oldwest

A completely contrasting and utter change to what I'm doing the majority of my time for around three years is something quite magical. 

Okay - to begin at the beginning. PA husband and I were going through the chapters on Book 3 of what was to be my epic western  trilogy *Alias Jeannie Delaney, when we discovered that the series was actually going to be a quartet. Not a trilogy. Big shift in thinking that did my head in. ##@! I therefore needed to find the appropriate storyline upon which to end Book 3, insert a beginning chapter into my new Book 4, and design a new book cover for Book 3. Progress is being made. Also I've gained new readers for Book 1 - Go West, Girl! and Book 2 - The Outlaw's Return , so that's very encouraging. 

But, to take me away from all this, a complete change from editing a gritty western, I decided to create a fairy door. Yes, you read right! A fairy door. Although I love and am fascinated by the wild west, I love artistic creativity that includes such things as wild gardens and fairy doors, and I created one on Sunday. A gorgeous day - not too hot in the shade - and the spot I chose was at the top of our garden, above our mini  waterfall. 

We have three trees there, and we're creating a themed area - Japanese mostly - but within the area of tree trunks I decided was the ideal place to create a fairy door. I've been wanting to create one forever, but I've been so engrossed in working on Alias Jeannie Delaney I've never got round to it. Finally I have! My mind needed the break. Something so unlike a gritty western you can't believe it! But I love such disparate subjects, and the act of creating the door was very meditative, soothing and satisfying. Here's the result, and I shall be adding to it, bit by bit. 

(For those of you who might be intrigued by a western with a twist, *Alias Jeannie Delaney - an epic western quartet - might be a read to get your teeth into. 

Maverick pants-wearing and tomboy beautiful cowgirl Jeannie Morgan rides into town & the whole place goes quiet as a graveyard on a Sunday night. Heads turn to watch her passage & you can hear the murmurs that follow her. The snake-strike Colt at her hip bears silent witness to her notorious & terrifying speed - she's the fastest gun west of the Mississippi. A young lady on the street smiles at her friend. "You do know, don't you, that she's a magnificent lover to both men & women, so towns want her out or dead. This town will probably follow suit.") 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/West-Girl-Alias-Jeannie-Delaney-ebook/dp/B0C9YT6DVR

On July 14, 1881, the legendary American outlaw Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett at Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Born Henry McCarty and also known as William H. Bonney, Billy the Kid became one of the most famous figures of the American Old West, gaining a reputation as a skilled gunfighter and a central figure in the Lincoln County War.

After escaping from the Lincoln County jail in April 1881, Billy the Kid became one of New Mexico’s most wanted fugitives. Sheriff Pat Garrett, who had previously known him, led the search to capture him. On the night of July 14, Garrett entered the Maxwell House at Fort Sumner, where Billy was hiding. In the darkness, Billy encountered Garrett and was shot and killed at the age of 21.

I gotta thank @greyhound1211.bsky.social for inspiring me to try this sort of thin out with his book 'Aces High'.