A little French in honor of Bastille Day!
Saturday was a busy crazy day, full of lazy day activities but there was always something going on!
Saturday morning Mom came over and took the Walk with me and Von in Tower Grove Park. Takethewalk is an organization that encourages people to take simple actions to create a large impact in someone else's life. We hear all the time about the huge problems of AIDS and poverty but because the numbers are so huge and we're so far removed from the location we shake our heads and go on with our lives, relegating the problem to governments that are too tied up in red tape to do anything about it. But if we go out and DO something. If we look at the situation and realize that we can help even a handful of people then the problem isn't as huge, if we're all taking charge of helping five or six people (because it doesn't cost that much to save a life $1.50 a day for a month will provide the medicine a woman needs to prevent passing AIDS on to her unborn child. Total cost to save that life $45. )
But it takes us doing something to help. It takes us donating to the largest hospital in the world. It takes us paying for a months worth of communication between doctors and patients. It takes us buying a pair of shoes so that company can put a pair of shoes on the feet of a child who doesn't own any. It takes us buying a water bottle from the Blood:Water Project so they can drill a water well so a child doesn't have to walk ten miles to get water. It takes us buying a shirt so a school can be built that will give children a lifeline to a safer, healthier life so they can lift up their family and pay it forward.
The amazing thing about takethewalk.net is that you already see, already know, that the little things we've done have added up. Since 2005, the collective actions of thousands doing small things (purchasing a $1 download, buying a pair of Toms Shoes, etc) have already funded a school that will help end the cycle, we've put shoes on the feet of 50,000 kids, we've given over 250 babies the chance to see their third birthday. This isn't the work I've done, I've helped but it's the small actions of thousands that's made a huge difference in lives of others.
Africa and AIDS isn't a daunting thought anymore. Africa and AIDS is an achievable goal. That's awesome. So Take the Walk.
After the Walk, Mom Drew and I went to Soulard market. The Farmers Market is a staple of St. Louis. It's one of the things that makes every foodies to do list when they're in town. I see why. We happened upon it on Bastille day so the flea market feel was all the more robust. Soulard Park was home to the Bastille Day Festival, complete with live music and more shops. We didn't stick around for that, but were glad to pick up on the extra hype at the Farmer's Market.
Bastille Day has been an topic of confusion apparently. I forget not everyone took French in high school and that not every one is from (and relishes the fact) a French colonized city. Bastille Day is the day the French stormed the Bastille Prison (home to political adversaries and reformers who King Louis XVI felt were a threat) and freed the prisoners. The storming of the Bastille marked the beginning of the bloody French Revolution. The French Revolution brought new fame to guillotine used to behead French royalty, nobility and their sympathizers.
But Drew picked up three bags of veggies and breads on this day for less than ten dollars, so I'm enjoying the thought "Let them eat cake" because it looks like our cake will be Zucchini bread! Yum!
Mom went home, and Drew and I went out for dinner at the City Diner. Then we headed out to Walmart where I ran into a college roommate of mine, Zee. Surprisingly, Zee moved to St. Louis and had been meaning to look me up... but we saw each other in the parking lot at Walmart. Funny because that's where I seem to meet a lot of my friends. Drew and I proceeded to shop for cookie supplies and kick knacks for the living room so that I can claim a corner in the name of me. I still haven't quite figured that one out yet... but I think I have a plan...
Headed home, I fell in love with Castle Crashers a game on Drew's X Box and I spent a good deal of time playing on Sunday too. We had a random cleaning fit around 10 and when three am rolled around the thought "hey we should be sleeping" jumped out at us and we gave up for the night.
Sunday was another day for cleaning and we took the opportunity to crack open the windows and enjoy the thunderstorms.
Viva La Revolution!
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