Our Jackie turned 5 when this word journal began. Here she is at eleven (two years ago) helping Braise (brez) get dressed for today's birthday party!
: cheerful, merry, joyful
Listen to my daughter's message, and to the French word "joyeux": Download Wav or MP3
A Day in a French Life… by Kristin Espinasse
I have another confession: I have never been good at événementiel (or "event organization"). Jean-Marc planned our wedding, each and every detail (contacted the French priest, ordered the fleurs, selected the menu, had les bagues engraved, and all but tried on the long white robe & satin-trimmed veil for me).
The "big day" found his blushing bride-to-be tripping over a street grate, late for a very important date! I have been trying to make up for that unforgettable entrance ever since: by continuing to réviser a simple lesson from my husband: relax and enjoy life and, especially, celebrate the milestones!
Today marks the 8th anniversary of this French word journal and I am ready to celebrer this joyful event. I've ordered the flowers (okay, I swiped several from "Mama Jules"), and selected the menu: a sweet and savory buffet of words.
Now listen up: this is where you come in (and not as a clumsy bride!):
I would like to ask you to share a word or two… about yourself. Are you an 85-year-old collector of Southwestern art? Or a new mother, up to her ears in dirty diapers? Are you in a marching band? Do you read this word journal in school? Are you famous? …or infamous? (or related to someone who is?). Do you speak more than two languages? Can you make your ears move? or can you do the splits?
Do you suspect you are the youngest on this list–or the oldest? Are you a tattoo artist or do you dabble in watercolor? Have you invented something? Do you like frogs legs or are you carrément contre la cuisine des cuisses de grenouilles? Do you have an unusual skill? Do you decorate your window sill? Are you involved in a charity? Have you written a book and do you want to "buzz it" here? Are you shy? Ever won a prize? Or eaten an entire pie? Are you on a mission? Do you have a blog or a website and where can we find you on the web?
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Hi Kristin,
Congratulations!
I am an artist in Pinehurst, North Carolina. I paint in oils and have a website( http://fayterry.com).
I visited the Dordogne region in September, stayed in Brantome and painted, then spent five wonderful days in Paris and saw the Monet Exhibition at the Grand Palais.
I am working on learning French and highly recommend Pimsleur language CD’s. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your writing and photos and like your little admissions of being human, such as a tendency toward
lateness.(me too!)
May your next year be filled with joy and blessings!
Fay Terry
Joyeux anniversaire! Je suis un enseignant à la retraite de la littérature anglaise. Je habite la belle ville médiévale de Dinan en Bretagne. J’aime la vie ici avec mon ancienne maison, grand jardin, et mes chiens, mon Papillon appelé Emma et mon bouledogue français appelé Chompsky. J’ai déménagé ici il ya huit ans du Maine. Mon fils et ma belle fille vivent à Oxford, en Angleterre et visite souvent avec leur boule Chickpea. Vos photos sont incroyables et j’aime les histoires de vos chiens.
Bonjour Kristin,
Congratulations on your anniversary. I am a theatre administrator who enjoys learning other languages. Apart from English, my first language, I also speak Afrikaans, Spanish and Italian, and, much less well, French. I can also understand German fairly well (Afrikaans helps!) although I don’t really speak it. I always enjoy reading your blog – especially when it includes Smokey!
Bonjour Kristin,
I love reading your email every morning with my coffee. I save all of them and have quite a large file now!! I am an aspiring watercolor painter and am trying to get myself to Provence to paint. To support myself, I teach online classes for a university (since I can’t support myself with my artwork yet-hah!) The last time I used my French was when visiting Quebec (home of my French and Canadian Indian ancestors.
Merci bien!!
Hello Kristin,
Last week, when you mentioned your “after-harvest holiday”, I immediately thought the time corresponded to “les vacances de mi-trimestre” for Max & Jackie and holiday around the public holiday of “La Toussaint”. I sort of imagined it would be an excellent opportunity for you to get a good rest from “le train-train” ( = the daily round), to relax… etc…
(and wouldn’t it be a good opportunity to pursue the writing of ‘that’ book too ? maybe … don’t know)
Today, I immediately recognised the photos and thought you were redistributing a past FWAD… “mais non, pas du tout”!
Anyway, thank you for the cheerful ‘word of the day’. I believe your “vacances de Toussaint” will be “joyeuses” pour toute ta famille.
I wish you the finest Autumn weather & colours (I bet your camera will keep busy!)
I am a newly retired prof de francais, new grandmother, wife of 33 years, daughter to four elderly parents and parents in law, mother of a missionary in Africa, novice quilter, Bible studier,cyclist and hiker. And I love your blog!
Happy Anniversary, Kristin! I live in Houston, TX, and I am a 53 yr old executive assistant (writer-want-to-be). I am fairly new to your blog, about 3 or 4 months. A friend who has enjoyed you for a long time pointed me in your direction, and I’m so glad she did! I love to write also, and it’s very encouraging to read about someone else who has found a delightful way to enjoy writing. Your photos are wonderful too… many times, they are set to my work computer’s background where they cheer me throughout the work day. Thanks for sharing your written thoughts and the wonderful photos!!
Happy Anniversary Kristin! I am a mid-thirties housewife living in central Pennsylvania. I have no children or career, just a love for learning and enjoying all about life with a wonderful husband. I stumbled on your website as we were preparing for our first trip to Paris this past September. What a gem! I love your pictures, sense of humor & style of writing. I hope to visit your part of France one day. Thanks for your interest!
Bonjour and happy anniversary! I am a 38 year old married mother of a 2 1/2 year old daughter living in Michigan. I studied French in school and have always been a Francophile! I honestly don’t remember when I began reading your column / blog, but I think I found it when I was preparing for my first trip to France in 2003. I have subscribed ever since and love getting a little peek into your life in France through your words! Of course the vocabulary lessons are delightful as well and have helped to prepare me for my multiple trips to France since then. I look forward to the day when my husband and I can introduce our daughter to the beautiful country of France! Thanks for sharing your life, your words, your photos, and your thoughts with us over the years!
Chere Kristin
My friend Sharon recommended your blog a little over a year ago. You inspired me with what you wrote about “living the writing life,” or words to that effect. So I started my blog right after that.
Heartfelt thanks from this journalist/Francophile/daughter of a French teacher/grandmother/blogger.
Merci pour ce blog! Bonne anniversaire, Kristin. I have been enjoying your Word-A-Day and cultural notes, all of which enhance my “knowledge” of French. I have realized a dream of having a “pied-a-terre” in Paris by buying into a fractional ownership 4 years ago. What a dream. I get to be in Paris for 2 months each year. I would LOVE to live there. Although I had French in high school, a long time ago, and have been to France more than a dozen times, I still need to study at home, almost daily, to keep even the basics in mind. You make it more enjoyable when I am here in my little rural town of Hinesburg, Vermont, beautiful in its own way, but it isn’t Paris!
Hi Kristin: People who follow your FWOTD have such interesting lives. I enjoy your column, but I am doing poorly in my French. I do not need it, but have always loved the language. I and 8 members of my family (all female, daughters, granddaughters and sisters)spent a week in Paris in July. It certainly was not enough time, but we do have some great memories. Hope to get back someday. Congrats on your great blog.
Bon anniversaire et félicitations, Kristin
I can’t wait to read what everyone has posted, but alas I have to write and run today. I’m now in my 50’s and living in St. Louis. In a previous life I was a professor of rhetoric (yes, Aristotle and all that) and composition, running college writing programs. After my husband and I adopted two 8-year olds from Russia, I eventually stopped teaching to deal with their many needs. Since our family started with a huge trip, we have continued to instill in our kids a love for travel and the rhythm of different places.
Now that they are grown and (somewhat) out of our hair on a daily basis, I’ve tried to get back to my first love — putting words on paper or computer screen. At some point I will complete the story(s) of raising these two young people. I have my blog, http://www.traveling-through , where I share my thoughts and experiences and photos from traveling through the world and the second half of my adulthood (you can click on my name, below). I also am trying to get more travel stories published.
I love my dog, gardening, hiking, country music, and France. I’m still working on the language because I want to be much better next summer when I go to du Festival de Musique Country Rendez-Vous de Craponne sur Arzon – France. Maybe this will be the trip when I finally make it south to say “Hey!” and “bonjour,” Kristin.
As a diplomat’s daughter, I was born in France, and although we left a year late, that fact has colored my life. I majored in French in school, have written poems in French, later visited France again, etc. I also speak Russian and German and smatterings of other languages. I’m grateful for FWAD as one way to keep up with French language and culture.
Salut, et félicitations Kristin! I love your blog and especially your photos. You have a tremendous eye for composition. I fell in love with France and the French in the summer of 1973 as a student worker in Rennes. I returned for an entire school year after graduation from college in 1974. I moved there with my wife in 1980 and lived in La Bretagne until 1994. While there I wrote my master’s thesis with the catchy little title: “The biblical and missiological role of church buildings and the implications for church growth in France with a particular application to the city of St. Nazaire.” I bet there is an editor out there who can’t wait to get that into print. Right! I now live and pastor a church in the suburbs of Detroit…trying to raise a 16 year old boy as a single dad, my wife having passed away 6 years ago. Once I get him raised I somehow envision my return to France as a pulpit replacement specialist to give my pastoral friends a little sabbatical now and then. Wouldn’t that be great?
Hi Kristin,
I’m a retiree who is married to a lovely Francophile. We honeymooned in Paris back in 1997. Like other posters here, I have thoughts/hopes of learning French, but am all too sadly aware that I do not have much of an ‘ear’ for languages. But winter is coming, golf will have to be suspended, so I will have more time to work on it!
Congrats on your blog. We love reading it.
Larry and Sarah
i’m a 63-yo male who grew up in Chartres until i was 10 or 11 when we moved to Germany, and after that to California. Have been involved w/ a dozen or so languages over all the years since then. I follow your blog (and several others) to keep things up, so to speak. You have a great blog. Thank you.
Bonjour Kristen: You already know a bit about me since we’ve corresponded. I run a business called BLISS TRAVELS and design unique vacations, events and destination weddings in France. I do everything from a singles week in Paris over Christmas to culinary vacations in Provence (quite near you), to luxury events and custom voyages in Provence, Burgundy, Paris and the Riviera…Much like you I fell in love with this area many years ago….and have been returning annually ever since. I named my company Bliss Travels, because this is where I found my bliss…www.blisstravels.com
Bonjour Kristin,
I am originally from Pennsylvania, but moved to Strasbourg, France a year ago. I started reading your blog right before my husband and I moved to Alsace. Our family is a little bit bigger now. We welcomed our daughter into the world in May. It is strange to me that she only knows of France and not of America yet. Your blog has been very helpful to me to learn different words, but also to smile over your observations about culture, writing, and life in general. Thank you for taking your time to share yourself with the world.
Bon jour Kristin et anniversaire heureux!
I work for a French based corporation in the US where they teach language classes during our lunch break. Many of us follow your blog and enjoy your life’s adventure. I have a large grape arbor (Concord) at home and make jam, instead of wine at harvest time.
Keep up your labor of love!
Mostly I love your dogs. I live in a tiny apt. in Paris and I could never have such big, beautiful creatures. I envy you.
Hi Kristin, I read your blog in Ojai, CA. I am a clinical psychologist who spent a year in Paris on a writing sabbatical, rode my bike everyday all over the city and still practice reciting the names of the bridges over the Seine so that I will never forget them. Paris captured me. Thank you for a slice of your life!
Happy 8th anniversary!
I love this newsletter. I was brought to it by reading your book and look forward to reading my email now. I am a Canadian that loves to travel in France, has a keen interest in wine and is always happy to hear news and see photos of dogs, so your posts are perfect for me.
Of course the main reason for receiving them is to go beyond just making myself understood in French.
Joyeux Anniversaire, Kristin, et merci! I am an inveterate tricoteuse et une ecrivaine d’affaires, and I have loved the French language since I began studying it in the 7th grade. A good friend and I are now taking private French lessons (before meeting friends for knitting); my friend sent me the link to your blog and I greatly enjoy your posts and photos. Thank you for a glimpse of your world and another chance to celebrate France, the French, et la francais!
Greetings Kristin~I was a French major in college a hundred years ago and spent one summer at the Universite de Caen in Normandy. Sadly, I have forgotten much of what I learned not having the opportunity to use the French I knew. I am a proud winner of a New York Times Librarian of the Year Award and have been a librarian in New Jersey for over 30 years(see http://www.bccls.org) I stumbled upon your Word-a-Day and save each posting believing/hoping that someday I will have the opportunity to live in rural France or Paris and I’ll need all your ‘words’ to get me by. Many thanks. Each posting allows me a few minutes to daydream before I start my day. Merci mille fois!
Congratulations Kristin. Have followed your blog for years. Love Braise and Smokey, and seeing your family and vineyard grow.
I’m a wife, mother and grandmother. Studied French for 4 years many years ago, so this is a good reminder. Married to Italian, we just bought our first home in West Virginia. While learning Italian for my travels there and conversing with friends and hubby here in the US, many French words pop back in my mind! Luckily my husband speaks French too, so if I slip in some words he gets it!! For example, the other day I was making french fries, and kept saying pommes fritts!! So now I never serve fries…only pommes fritts!! It’s the little pleasures in life, n’est pas?
While I enjoy your comments, I LOVE your photos! I’ve been enjoying your blog for about six months. My husband, two children and I lived in Paris for 4 years in the late 90’s and witnessed the turn of the century at the Eiffel Tower. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. I had hoped to return to France by now but a divorce and economics have made that difficult. I’m in my early 60’s, am a horticulturist by education and former trade, and now work in property management. Perhaps I can help with the harvest some year!
Bonjour Kristin and congratulations on your blog. I discovered it five years ago after a trip to Paris. (I sought out blogs that would help me retain that “French feeling.”) You are an inspiration and you cheer me up when I’m blue.
I’m middle-aged and average. I love to read and I experience most of my travels and adventures vicariously through the books I read. Thanks for the adventures and travels you’ve given me with your blog.
I am a 64-year-old wife, mother and grandmother and have lived in Oregon all of my life. I have written a couple of books (about cemeteries) and articles (mostly about cemeteries), served for a time as chair of a state commission (about cemeteries) and spend most of my time now serving the Lord Jesus Christ in my church as a Sunday school teacher, a choir member, and teaching a nutrition class. My hidden talent is being able to cry on command, making me the perfect choice each Easter to play Jesus’ mom in our annual musical drama at church.
Kristin,
I am a wannabe Francophile who has enjoyed your blog for three years. I have the best job in the world. I work for a non profit genetic research facility called The Jackson Laboratory. We are located in beautiful Bar Harbor Maine. We have some of the best scientists in the world doing genetic research with cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s Heart Disease and Muscular Dystrophy to name a few. We are well known in the world of research, but not as well known in the public sector. Our mission is to discover the genetic basis for preventing, treating and curing human disease. Our website is http://www.jax.org Please visit us and see how The Jackson Laboratory is leading the search for tomorrow’s cures.
Suzan Backer
Bonjour Kristin:
A 70 year old retired Engineer from Deland, Florida who has spent six years attempting to learn the French Language. We love Paris and the South of France.
Bonjour mes amis,
I live in Plano, Texas, and work as an Operations Director for a large software company. For years, my largest customer was from France, so I visited France, studied French (my teacher introduced me to you), and became a Francophile. I am now a (relatively) young widow at 57 and plan to retire early in order to have time to immerse myself in southern France and to finally be able to really speak the language.
My email from you is one of the first I receive each day and I feel as if I know you, your family, and your dogs!
Hiya,
I worked in Paris for a couple of months as an EDP auditor over 25 years ago now and was very surprised that my school girl French was in demand by my team mates. Only the boss had better French than me! (Brits and languages really don’t mix).
I learned a certain amount during that time and have always meant to build on it. Your blog is a simple way of doing this – just a few minutes each week and enjoyable too.
I’m now a mum of three girls: a teacher; a university student and; my baby, still at home studying for her ‘A’ levels.
I should now have time for classes but what with the allotment, voluntary work at a Wildlife Trust farm, two dogs and a penchant for the odd game of bridge, I’ll just stick with you!
Many thanks and good luck.
Bonjour,
Congratulations on your anniversary! I lived in Paris for 3 years as an ex-pat kid, then ended up marrying a Frenchman. We’re now expecting a kid of our own (any day now) and I want to make sure he’s raised bilingual.
I found your site a couple of years ago as I began to teach myself French. Although I stopped trying to learn the darn language I kept on with the web site. I’m a 47-year-old (male, married with children) designer in Manhattan and enjoy the site as a wormhole to a bright, fresh, hard-working, and beautiful alternate universe, millions of cultural light years from my typical day.
Chuck
Bonjour Kristin and Happy Birthday!
I am a legal secretary living in Boston and also a jam-maker and baker. I met you through a friend (from Seattle), who forwarded your blog to me. I arranged to meet you in 2008 and have visited each year when I visit Provence. My daughter has helped with one of your wine harvests and I am hoping to do that this upcoming year! I love your blog and your books! I also enjoy Jean-Marc’s blog and your wines! Now, if I could only find a way to live in France, I’d be there now without a second thought!
Take care,
Congratulations, Kristin! Time flies! I have so enjoyed learning about you and your family, home, and lifestyle through French Word-A-Day.
I am a retired elementary school teacher and have been a francophile since I began studyibng French in high school. I used to follow people around in San Francisco’s City of Paris department store, just to hear them speaking French. I have always been interested in foreign languages and culture. While majoring in French at UC Berkeley, I also picked up some German and Spanish.
I have been fortunate to make nearly twenty visits to France. There remain very few areas that I have not visited. I always return home with a list of “things to do and see next time”! Many people have asked me WHY I would want to go to France again, when I have already been there. I just never tire of the history, scenery, architecture, lifestyle, food, etc.
Some years ago, we hosted exchange students from France and other countries. Those experiences led to many friendships that have enhanced our travels.
Please continue your thrice weekly posts and the publication of your lovely books.
Best wishes always,
jr
Happy anniv. Kristin. I have been following your blog for several years and love hearing about your active life and your day to day adventures. I studied in France in the 1960’s and my husband and I have been back several times as both city visitors, camping travelers and even volunteers with La Sabranenque near Avignon, where we helped rebuild Medieval structures. Our son is in the wine business so we follow your wine harvests with great interest. Your blogs have kept France “alive” for us and your vocabulary words keep our knowledge of the language active and current. Thank you from a couple of U.S. midwesterners . Barb
Bon anniversaire, Kristin,
I am a new subscriber to your blog, having just returned from 5 glorious weeks in France, and being sent your link by a like-minded Francophile. I retired years ago from corporate life, renovated an old house in Richmond, Virginia, and opened it in 2000 as a small bed and breakfast inn, hosting guests from across the USA and around the world. I blog as well, for my bed and breakfast at
http://www.williammillerhouse.com/blog/ including upcoming events, recipes, happenings in our historic neighborhood, and events around our inn. However, I truly wish I had your flair with words and your engaging style. I did keep a journal of my recent travels in France, you and your readers can find it at
http://www.FrenchByChoice.com
Salut Kristin et tout le monde,
Félicitations ! I enjoy your blog very much and I am enjoying reading the bios of your readers. I’m not the oldest reader, but I’m almost as old as dirt at 80. I’m a retired Electronics Engineer. Also, I spent some time as a stock broker. I’m still an active stock trader. My wife and I have been married 47 years.
I had French injected into my veins while I served in NATO at Fontainebleu, France shortly after WWII.
As an active hiker, I had one notable achievement. I hiked the Grand Canyon, rim-to-rim-to-rim as a day hike for my 60th birthday. That’s 41.2 miles and it took me 21 hours.
I started blogging recently with http://humoriste.typepad.com/blog/ and just started my second blog on investing at http://up-ur-assets.blogspot.com/
À bientôt
Salut, Kristin. My husband and I are both engineers who have been on assignments all over South and Central America, Europe and Africa. I learned French in Algeria, Spanish in Spain and Portuguese in Brazil. We retired to Catalunya in northern Spain near the French border. So a year ago I decided to refresh my French, found Kristin’s blog and have been following it ever since! In my spare time I paint and take photographs which I hope to someday incorporate into a book.
A quick word to Danielle,the young engineer from Virginia who posted earlier: you sound like me 30 years ago, dreaming of escaping a boring life and job. I made it happen, so did Kristin and so can you! Hang in there.
So, Happy Anniversary, Kristin! Congratulations on your well-deserved success. Your blog is a joy to read – your writing is so fresh and interesting and your photos are beautiful. I look forward to every post!
Bonjour Kristin,
I have been reading your blog since 2003. I head to the Camargue every spring to hang out with Gypsies at their pelerinage in Les Saintes Maries de la Mer. My friends and I joke that we have all learned French to hang out with the outcasts of society. In 2006 I spent 6 months living there until my credit cards all started shooting flames out the the cash machines. HAAA!!! I read you daily either on my computer or phone and feel like I am a part of your extended family. THANKS!!!
Bonjour Kristin,
I am a 46 yr old American female that enjoys your blog. I am taking French and have visited Paris once. I live for the day I can return and visit more of your beautiful country and culture. I adore French wine & cheese among many other things.
~Cindy
A thousand thanks to you, Kristin, for eight years of sharing your wonderful and profound words with us. I have a blog that centers around the editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris, Carine Roitfeld, and her two children—my claim to “fame.”
; )
Hope you will visit me at:
http://www.iwanttobearoitfeld.com
Kristin,
I’m an electrician at a power plant in mid-Missouri. Actually, I’m an Anglophile whose only previous experience with French was with Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot. You can imagine how I first pronounced that! I’m always interested in other cultures, and so bought your book when I ran across it. I’ve followed your blog now for several years and have enjoyed the peek into the lives of a French family. As a dog lover, I’ve also enjoyed the running story of Blaise and Smokey. Must admit, I always look at all the pictures first!
Thanks for all the years you’ve written this blog and for opening your heart up to strangers. It’s been an interesting window into a completely different world.
Cheryl
p.s. Your mom’s a riot!
Good morning, It has been nice to hear about all your fans. I wish that I had learned about your blog years ago. I have really enjoyed it. As you know, I am a mother of 2 boys, a Firefighter/Paramedic who still uses skills from my days as a French Restaurant Chef to cook for the guys at work. I hope to travel more in the future. I have thought of starting a blog, or writing, maybe starting with a short story. I have a lot to tell, but not sure if anyone wants to hear it. As you can see I need to work on my writing skills. I have been out of College, where I majored in History, for quite awhile. Thank you for sharing your life with us; it has been a joy!!
Hi Kristin,
I have enjoyed your blog for many years now. I am a 65 year old grandmother of 11 year old twins and retired recently to spend more time with my husband (after commuting weekly between NJ and PA for the past 10 years). I enjoy counted cross stitch and reading. I also help my sister care for our 92 year old mother. This spring my husband and I are taking my son, daughter-in-law and the grandkids for a 12 trip to Paris and the south of France; we are all very excited about it. I have a couple of your books and thoroughly enjoy this column. My husband and I are Francophiles, having been to France many times; and although I try very hard I still struggle with the language because I have no one to converse and practice with. Have enjoyed your photographs immensely – keep up the great job. I’d miss you if you weren’t around.
Becky,Glen Rock, PA
Salut Kristin and Joyeux 8éme Anniversaire!
I found your blog 2 years ago and enjoy it very much. I live in Charlottesville, VA and work part-time at a local business and volunteer with Meals on Wheels. I love gardening, hiking, photography and France! We lived overseas for a total of 9 years while my husband was in the military. Three of the years were spent in Brussels, Belgium where I studied French and Dutch. We traveled to France many times! I hope to go back one day!
I am a 15 year veteran of teaching French in middle school. I read this because I read your book, Words in a French life, and love what you have to say and now I get to have a taste every day. Je n’ai jamais mange des cuisses de grenouille. I often wonder what it would be like to have married a French man and pack up and move to France but I know it’s not something I would actually do. I love looking through your eyes and seeing you live a normal life with your kids and your dogs. So often we think of France as bustling Paris and we forget about “real life” out in the country. My favorite part of France is Provence, it’s where I spent my semester in abroad. I enjoy Paris but could never live there.
Please visit my blog for my students http://www.misswatson.com and feel free to post!
My biggest confession as a francofile: I don’t love cheese or wine!~
Kristin,
Happy Anniversary! I’ve been following along with your adventures and wonderful journeys for about 3 yrs. I’m a flight attendant for a major airline and visit Paris once a week. I’ve enjoyed sharing your joys & sorrows and watching your children grow into young adults! I live in Colorado and love tennis, running, hiking, reading & traveling. I hope someday I can attend one of your book signings or wine tastings either in the states or in Paris! Keep up the great work…you really put another ray of sunshine in my world!