13 June  in Exeter, England

I should take a day off of writing, but I can't leave Flanders Field behind.  It has scarred/scared me.  Our last night there, an interesting thing happened.  Here we are having a wonderful dinner, with an awesome bottle of French Cotes de Catalanes.  Carbonade Flamande, which is Flanders Stew.

The sky over the Menin Gate, which isn't in view, was stunning.

Then a fly landed in my water glass.  My first instinct was to smash it against the side with my napkin.

Then I saw red wine staining my napkin (that is chocolate mousse next to the fly in the glass), and I instantly thought of the blood of war, the drowning horses and soldiers, and had to begin rescue 911.  He was really waterlogged, but I carefully removed him, and watched him dry off his wings.  It was fascinating.  I'll post the movie in the next blog.  10 seconds is too much for this post.

You may be wondering, was she always an animal lover?  Yes, I have always picked up worms and repatriated spiders outside.  But it was the associations that were new.  No wonder the nightmares have begun.