Week 7 Day 2: The mine

Life on the Greench Farm goes on. Every day starts with a full session of harvesting, watering and weeding. The quality is gradually improved by replacing old plants with better quality fruits. The unknown seeds have this far given them a plum tree, a lime tree and a new sort of grapes.

And in case you wonder - yes, Bridgette IS pregnant!

Today is the official opening of Bianca Blumington's art gallery. It's a community build, but she is the one to make sure there are new exhibitions ever so often. It's not a huge event, but Gabriel and Greta intended to attend, after all Bianca is the mom of their daughter-in-law. Bridgette and Archie will be there, too.

But Greta and Gabriel find it too demanding to bring the girls. The price of having kids while you are pushing elderhood now becomes pretty clear. But back then there was no choice, if they didn't have 6 kids, there would have been only sons, which would have caused problems when mating the new generation.

Bridgette was working at Greench Market, she spends just 3 hours there most days. Now she is pregnant, and could have taken some days off, but it's a family business, and well, she feels just fine.

Archie was quite proud of the Greench Market. They didn't only sell farm produce, but also a wide specter of gardening equipment. He waited outside while his wife got ready. Then they headed over to the Art Gallery.

While Greta baked a lime pie, her speciality, Gabriel took the time to go looking for his friend, the wild horse that he wanted to tame and to bring to the farm. Gabriel had realized the sad fact that he is probably not going to learn the riding skills, and if he did, he might be too old to keep a horse now. Besides, the farm actually belonged to Archie now, it would be better if Archie befriended the horse. It was all sad, because Gabriel and the horse were going along very well.

Bianca and Bolan Blumington were heading for the gallery as well. Bianca worked there in a small studio, painting a little every day. Bolan wasn't very interested, but he knew how much it meant to his wife who dreamed of running a gallery for all her life.

Archie and Bridgette were already there...

And so were the 2 Blumington boys, Albert (right) and Alfonso.

The gallery opening was a so-so event, nothing was served, and hardly anyone showed up. But Bianca enjoyed every minute nevertheless. She thought that when the population would grow, there would be more interest and more visitors. If she only lived long enough to see...

Back home they found they got an extra household member!

Albert had joined his dad to the Maccaroni Mine many times before. Normally they walked up to the mine during the day, it was warmer and a better light. But occasionally they also worked there after dark, it felt like the mountain was warming and protecting them, and the many torches helped them to see. They dug up some gems, but nothing to bring in the big money. They also brought out more stone for some ongoing building projects in the village.

The fog often covered up the mountain at night, they felt like entering a different world.

Albert was too young to realize that Roger Redward would not plan such a service without benefiting from it economically. He would charge anyone who used the Warehouse facilities §50 per day. Albert would find out the following day.

This day was coming to an end. Back at the land of the Blumingtons, the daughter Bella hang out with Christopher Redward. He is the one who ran away from home due to disagreements with his parents. They are both adults now, and one would expect them to show some interest in each other. But - it doesn't seem like they are meant to be a couple.

The Blumingtons were quite poor, and Bella knew she could benefit from the extra household member.

I wonder if the wild horse understood that the relation to the farmer will not lead to an adoption? The horse looks happy to see Gabriel Greench whenever they meet. Maybe the truth is tough for both of them?

More in 2 days!