"Plongee dans les Calanques"

Front

My sister loves her custom bag made by Rebelle! The theme is Ocean-Oceanography. Rebelle used lots of different vintage fabrics, printed with maps, anchors, fish and symbols. One piece is entirely embroidered and represents kelp, jellyfish, shells and corals. I a happy that the bag is now in France and will certainly travel with my sister around the world!


and back (the boat, the net)


detail of the back - hand painted


detail of the inside - entirely embroidered


The certificate for the custom made bag



"Plongee dans les Calanques" means "Dive in the Calanques". The "Calanques" are a very special place. My sister and I were born in Marseille, where the Calanques are situated. Those white dry calcair hills plunging into the blue of the Mediterranean sea offer beautiful hikes, impressive walls to climb and hidden beaches nested at the bottom of steep cliffs. There are also very specific species of plants and animals that one can find only there. It represents a very unique ecosystem.



La Calanque de Marseilleveyre,
one of my favorite places in the Calanques

For years now, different associations and nature lovers struggled to save that beautiful landscape from becoming the land of sprawling housing projects. They want the whole area to become a National Park. My mom, within her association "Un Parc National Pour les Calanques" (site not translated in English), participated in many demonstrations in the street in Marseille, she organized conferences with geologists, oceanographers and other specialists. She wrote articles and spoke on the local radios. Like many other people in Marseille and elsewhere, she dedicated a lot of her time to "save the Calanques".

It seems that the creation of the National Park should be finally announced December 17 or 18, by the President Nicolas Sarkozy, during the EuroMediterranee Conference in Nice. We'll see what exactly the perimeter of the Park will include . A lot of associations are worried that the perimeter will allow constructions very close to the preserved land. But the announcement of the creation of the park is great news.