My daughter playing the role of Camille in this year’s school play "Le défi des défis". Read a very different play in today’s column, below. Summer reading: Mediterranean Summer: A Season on France’s Cote d’Azur and Italy’s Costa Bella déborder (day-bor-day) verb to overflow, brim over, run over; to burst; to boil over French proverb:C’est la goutte qui fait déborder le vase.It is the [last] … Continue reading déborder
Max, three years ago, in front of the field from today’s story. Why not listen to a musical while improving your French at the same time? Check out Notre Dame de Paris here. la tisane (tee-zan) noun, feminine 1. herbal tea, infusion Les feuilles sèches préparent la tisane de l’automne.Dry leaves make autumn’s herbal tea. –Ramon Gomez de la Serna. … Continue reading tisane
A certain redhead wowed him and that is how the love affair began. Read about my rival, below. From a farm in California to one in France… Divisadero: a new book by Michael Ondaatje. Read more here. angoisse (ahn-gwace) noun, feminine anxiety; fear Toute angoisse est imaginaire; le réel est son antidote.All fear is imaginary, reality is its antidote. … Continue reading angoisse
Our (current…) village of Les Arcs-sur-Argens and a few of its cud-chewing residents. flagorneur, flagorneuse (flah-gorh-ner / flah-gorh-nuhz) noun flatterer, sycophant, toady, courtier flagorneur/flagorneuse (adjective): fawning J’ai déployé tour à tour, pour me pousser au premier rang, la brutalité d’une acheteuse de grands magasins aux jours de solde et la gentillesse flagorneuse. In order to push myself to the front row, I displayed, alternately, the … Continue reading flagorneur
When coquelicots unite they set the French countryside aflame… solidaire (so-lee-dair) adjective standing together, united, interdependent Pourquoi nous haïr ? Nous sommes solidaires, emportés par la même planète, équipage d’un même navire. Why hate each other? We stand together, carried by the same planet, a crew of the same vessel. –Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. … Continue reading solidaire
Minus Cancer: my mom (in 2003)–post-op and playing the game of life again. (That’s her, arms in the air, ever in praise, in the second to the last lane where her grandson, Max races beside her and into the shallow piscine in the town of St. Maxime). la piscine (pee-seen) noun, feminine swimming pool (slang) the French secret service En amour, il y a un … Continue reading La Piscine: Everyone in America has a Swimming Pool?
Home sweet home. We will miss it. effacer (ay-fas-ay) verb to efface, obliterate, delete; to wash out, wipe out Il faut des torrents de sang pour effacer nos fautes aux yeux des hommes, une seule larme suffit à Dieu. It takes torrents of blood to erase our mistakes in the eyes of men, a single tear suffices for God. –François René de Chateaubriand … Continue reading effacer
No blabbermouths in this corner of Biot; just books. le potin (poh-tehn) noun, masculine gossip, tittle-tattle noise, din, racket Duroy sentit brusquement une sensation de froid, une sorte de crispation nerveuse, un besoin d'injurier et de gifler ce bavard. Mais il l'interrompit simplement pour lui demander: "C'est votre nom, Saint-Potin?" Duroy felt a sudden chill, a sort of nervous contraction, a wish to insult this … Continue reading potin
An almost ramshackle façade gets a colorful lift with a charming trompe-l’oeil. délabré,e (day-lah-bray) adjectivedilapidated, impaired, broken, ramshackle délabrer (verb) = to wreck, ruin; to spoil Les grandes souffrances qui peuvent délabrer à jamais une vie affective ne se rencontrent que chez ceux qui connaissent la passion. Great sufferings that can forever ruin an emotional life only meet where those who know passion dwell. -Boris … Continue reading délabré
Beneath woodcarved porticos across France (and behind portes-fenêtres just above them) the French are mad about bread! une MAP (map) acronym (une) machine à pain (breadmaker) Que ceux qui ont faim aient du pain! Que ceux qui ont du pain aient faim de justice et d’amour! May those who are hungry have bread! May those who have bread be hungry for justice and love! —Abbé … Continue reading MAP
