It's a Miracle

After our siesta we left the house for dinner at the Pascal's - the family who will be continuing MaryAnne's work when she retires in July. We had heard that they had air conditioning, that Nikki was a good cook and that they were fun - we were expectant. But when we stepped out the gate, what did we see but another flat tire. I caught Marilyn and Darwin just staring at it. I exclaimed, "it's a miracle!" Darwin said, "a flat tire is not a miracle" to which M replied, "it is a miracle that neither of these happened on the road....we just took the other car and decided to deal with this tomorrow. Life goes on, but not to quickly.

We stopped by a very nice bakery to purchase fresh bread which they wrapped in (clean I am sure) newspaper for me.

The Paschals were delightful, and the food was superb, squash risotto, grilled chicken, fresh mango sorbet and their own freshly ground coffee - which could be why I am still awake after midnight...

Darwin absolutely loved little (not too shy) Adelaide (as you can see) I think he misses his little girls sometime.

Matt and Darwin 'rescued' the kids from a smallish lizard that was in their playroom. They were having fun playing with the open mouthed creature. Matt said, "Let's see if this little guy will grab your shirt....well the little guy did, and he did not want to let go. She was developing signs of early onset of trauma so we had to remove her shirt...... with the lizard attached.


We had a more sobering time as we mounted the roof of their house to look over the skyline. Right next door is the dwelling of a marabout who has 35 boys who live with/work for him. We could hear them chanting as they were studying the Koran. They are sent out every day and are required to 'earn' 60 francs or else they are beaten. I was told that there are more than a million children who live in this sort of oppressed begging life. Dirty and hungry yet begging for their 'owner'. Now that's hard to live with.