but it was difficult for jac to get angry with his father for the financial fall-out after his death because , as his fathers good friend archie teale had said , unlike most people hed actually lived his dream , and jacs abiding memory of that period was of an almost idyllic childhood : looking over his fathers shoulder as hed bring to life with his paintbrush a patchwork quilt of vines , lavender and sunflower fields spread before them ; jac sitting on the hillside by the l-shaped farmhouse , the sun hot on his back , his father in the courtyard below sweeping one arm towards the same patchwork landscape as he instructed a group of eight by their easels his father living his dream and the rest of the family happily riding along in the wake of that glow ; powder-white sand slipping egg-timer slow through jacs fingers on an isle de rey beach , or chasing small fishes through its shallows , his father telling him if he ran fast enough and scooped down quick enough with his cupped hands , he might finally catch one .