Happy 4th from The Rumpoles & The Barleys!

A little touch of happiness and a lesson in forgiveness

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Here’s a little touch of happiness and a lesson in forgiveness on this 4th of July. It comes from my children’s book, A Picnic with the Barleys, written and illustrated by me. Because once upon a time, that’s what I did. I spent hours upon hours painting pictures for my stories. I was blessed to get 19 of those stories published.

I picked this story, although it has nothing to do with the 4th of July, because forgiveness is something we could all do with remembering. Especially when almost every story in the media seems to be influencing us to do the opposite.

For the Rumpole Family, the beautiful spring day starts so well. They set off to meet their friends, the Barleys, for a picnic. Prunella prances along, excited to show her friends her new pink parasol.

Playing with her friends, Prunella suddenly realizes her parasol is gone! (sorry, bad copy)

Cordelia, a bossy girl that Prunella doesn’t like, has run off with the parasol, into the deep, dark bog where the children are never supposed to go.

Prunella’s brother Eustace sees her and runs to tell his friend Dagwood.

Cordelia is soon lost. Terrified, she sees the eyes of weasels staring out at her. Why, oh why hadn’t she listened to the warnings about the bog?

Dagwood Barely, the bravest young mouse in the Barely field, dashes off to rescue Cordelia.

Cordelia has fallen into the water and a weasel is about to pounce. Dagwood pulls her out just in time...

…and fights off the weasel with his fishing pole. But the parasol is lost forever beneath the deep dark water.

All the mice gather around to congratulate Dagwood, but Cordelia is forgotten. She stands alone, feeling terrible for what she’s done. She wishes she could say sorry to Prunella but she’s too shy and fearful and doesn’t know how.

When Papa Barley reminds everyone that it’s good to say sorry and to forgive, Prunella remembers how she refused to let Cordelia play with her parasol. Prunella goes up to Cordelia and gives her a kiss. They both forgive one another.

Papa Barely picks up his fiddle and all the little mice dance beneath the full moon.

One of the most wonderful things about writing and illustrating children’s books has been the letters I get from parents and children, telling me how much the books have meant to them. The Rumpoles and the Barleys stories are now being read by parents to their own children, having fond memories of the books being read to them as children. Grandparents who read them to their children are now reading them to their grandchildren. This gives me so much joy.

Below is my cousin’s granddaughter, reading my book Goodnight Blessings.

One of the best gifts I’ve ever received was when a woman knitted the main characters from Christmas at Rumpole Mansion and sent them to me.

Sometimes I get a bit sad because with all these essays I’m writing, I can’t do my artwork. Ever since I could pick up a pencil as a little girl, I’ve been drawing. It’s just been a part of me.

As a child, I never imagined I’d be a writer. Especially not of long form essays! But here I am. I always say one day I will get back to my artwork. I do it the old-fashioned way, no AI to help me. I hope real art doesn’t fade away. It takes hours upon hours of practice and then hours upon hours of meticulous work to create the type of art that I do. Like my essays, it’s not just a brush stroke here and there. It’s a deep dive. I think of the hours it took the woman who knitted the Rumpoles and Barleys characters. The detail and the love she put into them.

I put love and detail into my essays, but of course, it isn’t the same!

Anyway, that’s my little 4th of July contribution. Off topic, I know, but relevant to the challenging times we live in. God Bless!