Sunflowers near the town of Jonquières and kids growing faster than tournesols… in today’s story.

Today is Joseph-Marie Jacquard’s
birthday. Read all about this French inventor in “Jacquard’s Web: How a
Hand-Loom Led to the Birth of the Information Age“

pousser
(poo-say) verb
    : to push
    : to grow

Related Terms &
Expressions:
  une poussette = a pushchair
  un poussoir = a
push-button
  un pousse-café = an after dinner drink (“pushes down” the
after-dinner coffee)
  pousser un cri = to utter a cry
  pousser un soupir
= to heave a sigh (of relief)

Listen to my son, Max, pronounce the French word “pousser” and to the French terms (above):
Download pousser.mp3 . Download pousser.wav

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Festive &
Frenchy~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eiffel Tower Confetti – get ready to celebrate Bastille
Day!

Max returned home from basketball camp having
left one item behind: his former voice. Though I’m tempted to root through
the camp’s Lost-n-Found* pile, grasping for that soft, well-worn voix,* I
will have to remember to let go…. and let grow.

“You are growing!” I
inform my son, as we stand back-to-back in another match of “C’est Qui La
Plus Grande?”*
“You owe me!” Mr. Crackly Voice replies, remembering a bet we
placed back when he was nine. Four years ago, I predicted my son would
eclipse me, vertically, by the age of twelve. Now, at thirteen, I can still
pat him on the head without having to raise my arm sky high.

Max and I
settle in at the kitchen table for a late-night snack. After two buttery
galettes,* I push away the cookie tin… While some of us are
growing upwardly, others of us are growing in other directions, and I’m not
talking spiritually or emotionally….

As Max reaches for another
cookie, I try distracting myself from their buttery goodness by redirecting
my attention to the table’s centerpiece. I point to the ripe-red,
just-harvested tomatoes: roma, cerise,* and St. Pierre. My son’s nod of
approval is all the encouragement that this newbie Green Thumb needs
to continue planting seeds. Never mind if I messed up on the maïs.* (It
seems the French grow corn for chickens, hence the tough kernels. I’ll have
to either rip out the two knee-high rows or give the harvest to the
neighbors, for their poulailler*). Max, as if reading my mind, has another
suggestion:

Man.* do you still want chickens?
“Oh, I don’t
know….”
“Well,” Max reasons, “chickens are good for eggs… but bad for
the grasse matinée.* “Cocorico!” he crackles, illustrating his point. Once
again, I am reminded of my son’s adolescence, which includes sleeping in long
after the coq’s* own voice has been spent. “Cocorico!” he repeats, his
crackly-voice sounding from beyond those once chubby cheeks.

I remind
myself to let go…. and let grow. That’ll be my new mommy mantra from here
on out. It is time to say a toast: to a growing son and a growing mom
(and now I’m talking spiritually and emotionally). I raise my glass of milk,
cookie crumbs floating across the surface like champagne bubbles: “Cocorico!” I
sing. “Cocorico!” Max answers, eyes unchanging… sparkling… as they have
since before he could
speak.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~References~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
lost and
found = objets trouvés; la voix (f) = voice; C’est Qui La Plus Grande? = Who’s
The Tallest?; la galette (f) = round, flat cake (cookie); la cerise (f) = cherry
(tomato); le maïs (m) = corn; le poulailler (m) = henhouse; man (short for
“maman”) = mom; (faire) la grasse matinée = the sleep in; le coq (m) = rooster

Mere Poulard,
traditional butter “galettes”, packaged in a colorful tin box

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
French
Verb Conjugation:
je pousse, tu pousses, il/elle pousse, nous poussons, vous
poussez, ils/elles poussent  => past participle:
poussé

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Boutique~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ceramic
Provence Olive design herb mill with French herbs

Jolee’s
Boutique Paris Stickers : good for notebooks, art boards…

On
July 14 1789 a mob of angry Parisians stormed the Bastille and seized
the King’s military stores. A decade of idealism war murder and carnage
followed bringing about the end of feudalism and the rise of equality and a
new world order.THE FRENCH REVOLUTION is a definitive feature-length
documentary that
encapsulates this heady (and often headless) period in
Western civilization.

In
gifts for girls: Fleur-de-lis Charm Necklace

Words
in a French Life: Lessons in Love and Language from the South of France