"Droguerie… et Lumière" from the Cinéma Vérité photo archives.
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la lumière (loo-myer) noun, feminine
: light
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Audio File & Example phrase: Download Wav or Download Lumière
Et la lumière fut…
And then there was light…Book: And There Was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, Blind Hero of the French Resistance
A Day in a French Life…
by Kristin Espinasse
This week marks the seventh anniversary of French Word-A-Day — and what better way to celebrate than with a bouncy, jouncy, full-of-beans puppy king!
Smokey is back! I woke up this morning to the puppy we had lost one week ago. Back was his bark-or-bust attitude of gratitude (okay, he's got the attitude… and we've got the gratitude) which brings me to my next point: remerciements.*
Thank you for the encouraging messages, for the helpful tips and information, for your empathy and for your ever warm hearts and smarts. We are, my family and I, in awe and amazed by so much generosity of spirit. Speaking of "spirits" tchin-tchin!* and cheers to you!
Back now to today's 7-year-celebration (French Word-A-Day's birthday!):
Mille mercis* for joining me on this French word and writing journey. It began in my soul, some time ago. Effectivement* the seed of skreeb* was first sewn in a child's heart… and has, by fits and starts, continued right up to this bright, shiny, most luminous road mark: SEPT. Sept années!*
LIVE YOUR DREAM
Oh, what a voyage this has been! I'll never forget seeing those words, back in my saguaro-studded stomping grounds: the Arizona desert. I didn't know then that I was about to embark on the voyage of an expat ecrivain.*
This breakthrough happened at the car wash… (in retrospect, what better place for transformation to take place?). After my car reappeared from behind a giant, swirling, automated mop, I took the cue and headed over to the cash register, to pay for the cleaning. I was handing over my money to the cashier when, in the time it took the caissière* to search for la monnaie* I caught sight of the poster on the wall behind her. Three simple words would rewind and restart my heart.
Live Your Dream.
It was the second time I had seen this message… Live Your Dream. I remember thinking, Yes, but how? HOW?
My dream was two-fold: to live in France … and to write in France. But back then, as a receptionist-turned-car salesman (mine were the scale-model variety, sold via mail order catalog), I could not figure out how to further my career. Therein lies the problem. Often, it is not a matter of furthering something — not when it is foremost to end it!
We Need to End Before We Can Begin
Since moving to France, my life has been a series of endings and beginnings. I am learning to be grateful for those endings and for the trail-blazing beginnings without which we would cease to grow and become that which we were designed to be (and only God knows that mystery).
Our task today is to chance to live our dreams. If I am to be a writer then I must live the writing life….
Your turn to fill in the blanks of the following sentence:
If I am to be a(n) ______, then I must live the _____ life.
Maybe, at this point, you are doubting (as I did, back at the car wash "Yes, but how… to live that life? The answer is simple: by a bold beginning… or even a shaky first step.
Would you like to share some of your affirmations with us in the comments box? I would love to know what you dream to be!
I leave you with a photo of my dear mom, living her dream of painting. I can just hear her saying "If I am to be a painter, then I must live the painter's life!"
Tchin-tchin = cheers!; mille mercis = a thousand thanks; effectivement = actually; skreeb (French pronunciation for "scribe": writer); sept années = seven years; un écrivain = writer; la caissière = cashier; la monnaie (f) = change
Exercises in French Phonics, bestseller by Francis W. Nachtman, on French pronunciation and how to pronouce French words correctly!
Mille Bornes (Card Game).
First published in 1962, Mille Bornes (pronounced "meel born," French for "milestones") is an auto racing card game whose object, for each team of two players, is to be the first to complete a series of 1,000-mile trips.
Caudalie Lip Conditioner
hydrates and repairs dry, damaged lips with a powerful blend of antioxidants and nutrients.
The Conscious Cook: Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat
A former steak lover himself, Chef Tal struggled for years on a vegan diet that left him hungry and filled with cravings for butter and meat. By applying traditional French culinary techniques to meatless cuisine, he found that he could gratify his cravings for rich flavor and fat.
"Boys will be boys." A healing jaw and a traveling paw: Smokey is on the mend. (photo by Jackie Espinasse)
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Hi Kristin, this post was really a “Son et Lumière”…. 🙂
A little typo: cashier is Caissière.
Jacq
First, I’m sooooo heureuse that your precious little Smokey is back! What a terrible ordeal for all of you. How blessed we are when we have vets that we trust with our most beloved family members. I just picked mine up from the vet who also runs a boarding kennel. This leads into your request to share dreams. I, too, wish you live in France someday and finish writing the 4 novels that I’ve started! But along the way to that destination I have moved from my beautiful home of 55 years in Colorado Springs to a small rental house in Liberal, KS. This is where my sweet 86 yo mother lives and because of failing health she needs my help. I have many many years to see my dream come to fruition. For now, this is where I need to be. So while I made a 5 day trip back to see my loved ones in CO, my dogs were at the vets. All was well when I returned. Beginnings and endings and beginnings again happen with all of us – our furry friends included. Thank God for both beginnings and endings for you can’t have one without the other. God bless you, Kristen, as you continue to share your life with all of us who adore your blog – and your family.
Kristin, I just watched your video and loved it!
Bonjour Kristin,
Here I am at last catching up with you again from sunny Queensland in Australia.
I have been prompted to write again after viewing the picture of your mother at her easel.
Perhaps you may wish to encourage her with my story of beginning to paint in my mid sixties and here I am turned 80 this year. It has been with the passion to go to France
to paint that has kept me inspired, and each year everyone tells me of how much more lovely my paintings are.
I also would love to be able to live in France permanently but at the moment the possibility hasn’t been been presented to me. If I am not painting I am always dreaming of the places I have visited and enjoyed and pray I keep fit enough to look forward to many more years of return visits.
I do so enjoy your joggings and they are the quite a highlight for me to enter my computor to see what you have to say.
I send your mother fond wishes and convey my hearfelt encouragement for her to find her muse and enjoy the pleasure of the art.
thank you once again for the happy emails.
kind regards,
June
Dear Kristin
Congratulations on reaching 7th anniversary with AFWAD ! Do keep going and inspiring all of us !
Love
Devika
Dear Kristin
I am new to french word a day and was introduced to it by a fellow student studying French through the Open University. I just adore opening up your messages and finding not only your inspiring thoughts beautiful pictures but how generous you are to share your wonderful family with others. I am sooooo glad your beautiful puppy is healing both in body and mind. My husband and I bought a small house in the southwest of France and spend as often as we can there – which is not often enough for me. Hopefully we will retire there next year and I will be able to follow my dream of taking my paints on my bike and heading for the hills.
Thank you for your wonderful blog I wish I had found it sooner. You might want to listen to the song by Randy Crawford “It starts with one hello” very inspiring and kept me going over the years. Julie from Edinburgh Scotland
I love the video!
Great.
Chere Kristin,
J’ai beaucoup des reves, mais la chose qui m’aide beacoup est de “stay true to myself” d’etre patiente avec moi-meme et d’aller a l’eglise. I am happily married (finally!) and have a MA in French, which is a dream accomplished. Next is publishing a book ( I would love some advice here) of children’s fairy stories in English and in French, while substitute teaching and cooking for my husband. I’d love to spend Christmas in Switzerland, but that will have to wait. My dream job is to teach French as a special in an elementary school and to teach French part-time at a junior college. Then, I also would love to have a family and a big house, but that might have to wait too! Currently, we are living in central Minnesota, the cold country where people go hunting and ice-fishing, which confuses me because I’m from Portland, Oregon, where we went down-hill skiing in the snow. Living here is almost like a cross-cultural experience, but writing about it makes me feel better! Anyway, you can’t accomplish anything if you don’t dream and it makes life much more interesting. I’m also convinced that people have different dreams and are ment to do different things and that makes life less borring. Thanks for the blog and the fun words every week. Hope to meet you soon.
Great pictures!
LOVED the video! Thank you for sharing it. You are a gem!