And suddenly, November!

IT HAS BEEN a long year, really, full of sadness, occasionally lit by moments of joy.

Anyone who reads my posts and blogs finds, I hope, a fairly positive, upbeat, perhaps even inspiring article. It's a difficult world and some of us prefer to ease the burden by saying something uplifting. That is primarily my aim.

At the same time, I want to be real with my audience. Life isn't all frolicking elephants and elegant dragons. We all know that, to some degree. This year I lost my Mum. She died after a long illness, which progressively took her to a point of stillness. At the last, she became incapable of moving. And then her heart simply stopped. Nothing can express the sense of loss we feel when we lose our beloved mother, I know this from every word voiced by others who have been through the experience. I know it for myself.

The most difficult moments of grief are realising that we can never say 'hello' to her again, never speak with her and hear her words of wisdom, or eccentric jokes; never again can we say 'I love you, Mum' and let her know we care. Our existence together has ceased.

In these moments of grieving, these moments of deep contemplation and realisation, I have found myself spending days without an imaginative thought, lacking the urge to create, merely remembering, recalling all that I knew of Mum, all that she had said and done, her cares and loves, her generous, but righteous nature.

The other day I finally packed away the cards of sympathy we received. It tugged at my heart, but it was time.

Life and art must go on, and that is most certainly what my Mum would have said. Probably in a way which would have made us laugh.

I feel Mum would have enjoyed this...

The Cover for 'Flavio Between the Flags' by author Cassidy Jackson-Carroll, which will be released in 2023. It is our third collaberation with Flavio as the hero of the story. We enjoyed creating it. We are keen for you to see it!

Best wishes,

Graeme