Remember My Beauties by Lynne Hugo - #review

Imagine a hawk’s view of the magnificent bluegrass pastures of Kentucky horse country. Circle around the remnants of a breeding farm, four beautiful horses grazing just beyond the paddock. Inside the ramshackle house, a family is falling apart.

Hack, the patriarch breeder and trainer, is aged and blind, and his wife, Louetta, is confined by rheumatoid arthritis. Their daughter, Jewel, struggles to care for them and the horses while dealing with her own home and job—not to mention her lackluster second husband, Eddie, and Carley, her drug-addicted daughter. Many days, Jewel is only sure she loves the horses. But she holds it all together. Until her brother, Cal, shows up again. Jewel already has reason to hate Cal, and when he meets up with Carley, he throws the family into crisis—and gives Jewel reason to pick up a gun.

Every family has heartbreaks, failures, a black sheep or two. And some families end in tatters. But some stumble on the secret of survival: if the leader breaks down, others step up and step in. In this lyrical novel, when the inept, the addict, and the ex-con join to weave the family story back together, either the barn will burn to the ground or something bigger than any of them will emerge, shining with hope. Remember My Beauties grows large and wide as it reveals what may save us.

For more information on this and other Switchgrass titles, be sure to visit their website HERE.

#AtoZChallenge 2015 - All Gallow's Eve - D

DERBY, DOG WALK, DON'S AND DUKE

The Kentucky Derby

Of course, the 'mac daddy' of all sporting events in Kentucky (with the possible exception of any UK men's basketball game, especially at this time of year), the Kentucky Derby.  Since 1925, the Derby has also been known as "The Run for the Roses", when the term was used by a New York sports reporter.  From the Derby site:

Each year, a garland of more than 400 red roses is sewn into a green satin backing with the seal of the Commonwealth on one end and the Twin Spires and number of the race’s current renewal on the other. Each garland is also adorned with a "crown" of roses, green fern and ribbon. The "crown," a single rose pointing upward in the center of the garland, symbolizes the struggle and heart necessary to reach the Derby Winner’s Circle.

Ladies attempt to outdo each other by wearing the most fantastical hats.  I haven't seen one that is as wide as the wearer is tall, but I wouldn't put it past some of the fashionable attendees.  The ladies here can give the British Royal Family's ladies' hats (worn for important social or religious occasions) a run for their money

(picture from thereandbackagain.com travel site)

~~~oOo~~~

Dog Walk & Don's

'Dog Walk' is (as far as I can tell) a local name for the rural neighborhood in which we live.  Don's Country Market is the only brick-and-mortar store in this area.  Just about every morning, from 7:00 am on, there is a regular crowd of farmers and other folk sitting in the little dining area, drinking coffee, gossiping and eating biscuits and gravy (and other breakfast buys) made on site.

Don's is where I first heard that my father-in-law had bought a second house.  One of the owners asked me, knowing that I was family.  I had to tell her that that was the first I had heard of the news.  (Turns out it was true.)  Ah, I love a small, tightly-knit community.

~~~oOo~~~

Duke

My female MC, JC Hatfield, has a hound dog named Duke (after the old dog on The Beverly Hillbillies).  JC gave the dog (as a puppy) to her father, who liked to hunt.  The father passed on, which was the impetus for JC to return to Troublesome Springs (the closest town to the house).  Duke misses his human, but proves to be a faithful and protective companion to JC.