This picture may help illustrate what the shop (in today's story) looks like. Replace "Blanchisserie" with "Chez Janine" and the blue panels with dark lacquered wood… et voilà! Note: the next post goes out in one week, on Monday….
une machine à coudre (ma sheen ah koodr)
: sewing machine
Audio File: hear Jean-Marc pronounce these French words: Download Wav or Download MP3
Savez-vous opérer une machine à coudre? Do you know how to operate a sewing machine?
A Day in a French Life… by Kristin Espinasse
I set out to write a journal entry today, but a writer's fingers sometimes have a mind of their own! The following story is fictional…. Enjoy it. Meantime, time to pack for les vacances!
"Chez Janine"
In front of the little Parisian shop window, I stared at a handwritten note taped to the glass door, just above the iron handle from which a rope with cow bells hung. The words, in typical French curlicue cursive read: Cherche Quelqu'un pour le mois d'Août.
Looking for someone for the month of August… The words made their way over my tongue like a sweet pastille of possibility. Cherche. Quelqu'un. Mois d'Août.
I stood back to study the seamstress shop. The window was framed in lacquered wood. Two columns flanking the vitrine held a larger, boxy, three-dimensional sign. The heavy letters protruding from the wood spelled Chez Janine.
My eyes trailed back down to the sign-printed window where a menu proposed the following prestations:
- réparations
– retouches
– création
– couture
– anecdotes…
To the bottom right of the window, a painted carte de visite read:
Janine, "couturière et conteuse"
Beyond the window pane, in the immediate display area, was an old Singer sewing machine. Baskets full of striped, floral, and unicolor linen crowed around the machine à coudre. Inside one of the paniers, a calico cat napped.
Beyond the work station, I saw shelves and drawers lining the walls of the small shop. Buttons filled tall glass jars, lace and other trim were gathered on large wooden bobbins. There were giant scissors too!—so large my eyes tired beneath their weight. In the corner, a dressmaker's mannequin loomed, its hourglass figure a little more curvy than those belonging to the Parisian woman passing behind me, on the trottoir (I could see their reflections in the shop's window, where my nose now flattened up against the glass). I raised my hands and cupped my eyes, straining to discover more of the shop's personality. I could just make out some stairs in the corner… where an antique escalier en colimaçon took up a minimum of space. The steps turned abruptly, ascending within the tight, rounded stairwell, one so narrow that it took four complete turns to reach the upper level.
I wriggled my shoulders, freeing them from the heavy pack on my back. I set down the sac à dos on the cobbled sidewalk in time to reread the curlicue announcement but no sooner had I translated the first word than the shop door flew open setting off a commotion of cowbells.
A whiskey-worn voice sounded before even the bell chimes had settled:
"Je peux vous renseigner?" the voice inquired.
***
Would you like to read another chapter of this story? Note: The next edition goes out in one week….
Click here to comment.
French Vocabulary
une prestation = service offered
une retouche = alteration
le panier = basket
le trottoir = pavement, sidewalk
Je peux vous renseigner = Can I help you?
une conteuse (un conteur) = storyteller
***
SmartFrench Audio CDs Intermediate/Advanced
French Demystified…simple enough for a beginner but challenging enough for a more advanced student.
KINDLE: carry thousands of educational books with you to France & beyond.
Tune Up Your French: Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Spoken French
A Day in a Dog's Life by Smokey "R" Dokey
As you can see, I have been doing some growing up lately! Now that my face is almost full-size, I will be getting some shee roo roo gee, to finally fix my left cheek!
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J’aimerais acheter une machine à coudre. Les tissus importés sont trés beau. (is the adjective masc.[beau] because tissu [fabrique] is masc. ? merci, gail
Ah Smokey…..you are so beautiful (as is your Mother). Every time I see you I send kisses via my hand to your face on the computer, wishing I could reach out and touch the real YOU! Je t’aime, Annette Heath
Have a great vacation Kristin! I am enjoying my time at the beach!
Absolutely wonderful! I’m hooked. Continuez!
I thought that this story may have taken the path of a recent misunderstanding that my 17 year old daughter encountered. She and I were shopping (really just looking and escaping the heat) a few chic dress shops in Nantucket. Dresses were in the thousand dollar range. We were dressed in light sun-dresses and flip-flops but hey – it was hot outside. In one shop I over-heard the clerk or shop-owner say “Hello” to my daughter who was across the room from me. My daughter answered “Hello”. The clerk then said “We’re not hiring.” My daughter immediately came to me and wanted to leave. I instead took another course of action. I made her stay to try on a few of those pricey items. Whose to say we couldn’t afford them — someday? :o)
Awww. Smokey needs more surgery (I assume that “shee roo roo gee” means surgery). Personally. I like his war wound. Are you still having to treat it though?
So…one would NOT say – je peux vous aider?
Is that a typical way, then, of asking what you need? – je peux vous renseigner?
I’m curious…on with the next novel tid-bit.
Oh – I also wanted to say that I – a francophile/bibliophile – had purchased that Kindle just before heading to our vacation in Nantucket. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. It’s my new friend! With just 2 clicks ON THE DEVICE ITSELF, I can purchase Kindle editions of books AND read a newspaper AND take notes.
I’m known for lugging several books and misc. reading material with me at all times – especially for a day at the beach. It was wonderful to simply carry my towel, sunscreen and my Kindle.
Thanks, Kristin. I hadn’t thought it was something I’d like until I look into it from your FWAD blog.
J’adore les détails. Continue STP!
P.S. When I was a child, I had a distant relative with a “whiskey-worn” voice. Great description. She terrified me…..
This took me back to my maternal grandfather’s shop – The Donaldsons. He was a couturier until his eightieth birthday. It was a magical shop with everything – walls, and wicker – painted pale aqua. I recognized the massive scissors, the bolts of fabric and the button jars I’d played with as a young child. There were the big black sewing machines and the welcoming women working at them. There too, the tea pot was always on, with the cold tea used to water a massive jade plant. Thanks for the chance to travel back to that oh so welcoming place for a few moments.
I definitely want to read on! A wonderful beginning, draws me in irresistibly with its lovely and precise descriptions and air of mystery. I love it. Brava!
Your story certainly kept my interest. I wanted to go in and investigate. Can’t wait to see what happens next.
Smokey looks handsome even with his scar. He looks like a rogue; maybe it could be a battle scar like a canine warrior (my imagination got carried away there).
Keep up the writing – great story.
Mais oui! A grand beginning! As a favorite non-French writer penned, ” Please sir, my I have some more?”
Quelle est la traduction pour
– réparations
– retouches
– création
– couture
– anecdotes…
???????
Aidez-moi s’il vous plait!
carte visite -> carte DE visite
Hi Kristin,
I would love to hear more of the story, but it would be more interesting and improve our French more to see it in French and in English.
I also love the fact that you have books to buy; but would love to be able to buy books in French.
Thanks for doing this. It is great.
Maureen
Hi Rive:
– repairs
– touch ups
– creating [making a dress from scratch]
– sewing [haute couture would be fancy designs]
– anecdotes [the unusual word we did not expect on the list and i presume we will learn more about in next week’s installment]
I can’t believe we have to wait a whole week to hear what that whisky-voice has to say!
enjoy your vacation, Kristin, and we will do our best to wait patiently.