Hi John,
Here are two photos of Samstones. I can send photos over the internet, it was just when I went to the website that when I tried to send the photos thru the website it said 'file to large'. My husband says I'm like out of the 19th century when it comes to anything with computers, a bit of a luddite. . . I don't even have a smartphone yet. Anyway, I'll send the other photo when Steve loads it since it's on the camera right now. The one with him sitting on the plastic bouncy seat at the playground is Villeneuve, the town on the edge of Lake Geneva. It was the first one we placed, there was a fullmoon in the background. The second is during the snowstorm that dumped snow right down to the lakeside. We built a snowman outside of the Youth Hostel and placed the stone there. The town is Montreux. The youth hostel always has teens hanging out outside playing ping pong. There's also a giant sequoia tree that someone planted a hundred years ago nearby. . .

Sam is three so we have interesting conversations about the samstones. "Sam, these stones are named Sam, there was another boy named Sam just like you. These stones are his."   "Sam, like me? but I want them, we don't leave them here, we take them."   "No Sam, we leave them so someone else can find them, so other people can know about him, b/c he died."  "died? Wildebeest died when Tiger attacked him and ate him"

And it sort of deteriorates from there. . . I do palliative care as a physician in LA and the experience has definitely given me new appreciation for the role of the child life specialists that we bring in to talk to the children of dying patients. . . it's hard to know what to tell him and figure out how he can understand it. The more stones we leave, the more he resists leaving them. . . I keep trying different things each time, it's a fun and thought provoking exercise. I keep thinking of this joke that my mother in law tells where a little boy asks his mother, "Where do I come from?" and his mother starts into this explanation of  how he came from Mommy and Daddy being together, then he grew in Mommy's tummy, etc, etc. . . and at the end of it the boy says, "Oh, 'cause Joey comes from Cleveland."

Our next stop is the Freddie Mercury statue in downtown Montreux. He lived the last years of his life here and died here. I thought Sam would like that. I also gave a few to my godson and his sister, ages 15 and 13 who visited us and are headed to Paris next. . . so you might get some placed in Paris also.

take care
Becky