Note: I saw this item on a blog about a couple in Arizona who were in a plane crash. The young couple just had received their pilot licenses and they were out flying with an instructor when they crashed. The instructor died and the couple was severely burned on their entire bodies. The husband has 40% burns and the wife has 80% covering their bodies. They have four children together; who the couples' sister is now taking care of. How tragic; and things like this happen every day, every minute in the world. But I guess when I heard about this it just reminded me to be thankful everyday for having a healthy body and that my family and friends are safe. Don't forget to be thankful for that today! The sister of the victim is doing fundraising and the craft/blog community has started doing benefit auctions. I really appreciate how blogs can actually bring total strangers together. In one way, it's kind of weird to look at a stranger's blog and have an intimate insight into their lives. But also, you can see that there are some really lovely people in the world with some very interesting things to say (or write). This story really touched me today and I thought about it a lot so I wanted to put the link up to her blog. She seemed like a great mom with beautiful kids; I hope she and her husband recover ok. www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com ---Have a look at the site and maybe donate something for the auction on etsy?
Ok, now on to something different......
One observation I've made since living in Europe is that the people here seem to live with and around animals more so than in the States. What I mean by that is they seem to live in a closer harmony with animals, both pets and livestock. On many occasions I've seen a shepherd walking down a village road with his flock of sheep; when do we really see that in the States anymore?
Another crazy animal thing I saw yesterday was a man taking his huge horse for a swim in the ocean. We were on a dune beach and we saw a man pull up with a horse trailer, unload, and lead the horse to the water. And that horse knew just what to do. Soon the man was out treading water next to his horse and the horse was submerged in the ocean from the neck down. They were almost frolicking in the water together, like two friends. It was such a bizarre sight, but so beautiful and loving too. You gotta really love your horse to take him to a nice beach in South France just for a swim!
They also eat a much wider variety of meats that we do in the States. Browsing the meat section in France you see lapin, (rabbit) with the eyes still open and glossy, lait de agneau (lamb), which I roasted the other night and it was succulent, goat, (surprisingly amazing when cooked right) and cheval, one which I will stay away from. Yes, people, horse meat and they do in fact sell it at every grocery store here.
Another interesting tidbit about the grocery stores here: all eggs are stocked on normal shelves without refrigeration, as is milk. Just think about how that would go over in the germaphobic U.S. The milk must have been pasturized, because I don't know how it doesn't sour.
Here is a pic I took in Spain as we were leaving the beach at sunset. All the families heading home from a nice day spent at the beach. Well, the sheep weren't spending their day at the beach, but they are taking the same road home as everybody else. (The boy in yellow was acting as a herder too because if any of the sheep ran off the side of the road, he'd scoot up behind them with his little bike and ring his bell. Immediately the stray sheep would fall back into place.)
Well, enjoy your first few days of September everyone! I know that I'm looking forward to feeling that first crisp, cool breeze hidden in the air of this hot Marseille summer.
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