To win the mysterious French antique, on offer in today's story, simply say hello, here in the comments box + let us know where you are writing in from. After randomly choosing a number, I will announce a winner on Friday. More about the giveaway, in today's story column.
Photo by Alison Johnston Lohry (Note to self: next time you post a photo of your person, choose any other post title… besides "Scatterbrained"! P.S. do you see a scar on my forehead? Ta da! This photo was taken four months after the first operation and a week before the second operation, the one mentioned in the previous post.)
étourdi(e) ay-toor-dee
: scatty, scatterbrained; flighty
Audio File: listen to our daughter, Jackie, pronouce today's word and example sentence: Download MP3 or Wav file
Il est bien étourdi; mais, entre nous, son coeur est bon.
He is quite featherbrained; but, between you and me, he has a good heart. —Voltaire, Complete Works of Voltaire
A Day in a French Life… by Kristin Espinasse
Scatterbrained
I am having a fickle of a time deciding what to write about today. It isn't a matter of writer's block, or la page blanche, the difficulty here is l'embarras du choix! So many possibilities! Which path to choose when it is just too tempting to amble down each windy road and lose oneself in that whimsical place affectionately known as "Just Around The Corner"?
Enough dreaming, it's time to choose a topic! Let's see…
I might tell you about our daughter's renewed passion for jumping (BMX bikes, this time—and not horses!). Jackie's hobby has me aching to line our concrete terrasse with mattresses! I watch, from the kitchen window, as our 14-year-old builds a new jump, adding yet another vineyard stone beneath the wobbly ramp (a repurposed wooden shutter) after each adrenaline-rich stunt….
Then again, I might write about some of the readers who come to visit. But then there have been so many…. To write about one would be to leave out the others. Quel dilemme! Perhaps I could backtrack… beginning with a photo from the most recent visit? (See the end of this post.)
Encore une fois, I had thought to write a story about a thank-you gift, the one I am trying to think up for the surgeon's assistante that I see this afternoon (stitches come out today!). What to give someone whom I know nothing about, but whose gentle confidence has touched me? Du vin? Des fleurs?
I should also update you with the good news: Max, 16, passed part of his driver's exam!: oui, il a réussi le code! This brings him to the "hands-on" part of the exam: the actual driving with an instructor! (such a relief to turn over the co-pilot seat—still wet from my sweaty, gripping hands—to a trained teacher!)
As for writing topics, I also thought this might be a good time to bring up the subject of email… please forgive me if you have sent in a note and if I haven't gotten back to you! I am trying, but no matter how many activities I cut out, in order to devote time to answering email, I still can't manage to keep up with incoming messages. I feel terrible about this… please know that I read and appreciate every single word you send, whether via email or via the comments box. Thank you so much!
There were about four or five or fifteen other lovely things, in addition to your treasured notes, that I wanted to talk to you about today, but time is up! So I will get to the fun part of this scatterbrained offering, this anti-essay that ran away to that curious "Just around the corner" place…
The G I V E A W A Y !
In thanks for reading this French word journal, I want to offer you the chance to win a little treasure! The trésor is currently a secret, but here's a hint: anyone would love it: young or "wizened", man or woman. If you like French antiques, you'll love this historic memento, one from my collection… one I adore and would love to offer you!
You might frame the antique… or wear it (making an eccentric necklace or an avant-garde pin?); you could put it in a glass box or make a whimsical collage…. You could carry it around in your pocket as a lucky charm or use it to mark a page in a book (never mind the bulk!). It could make a cool paper weight… though you might have to tie an extra something to it.
To win this antique simply leave a greeting here, in the comments box, along with your city. Example: "Hola from Jules in Puerto Vallarta!"
I will post the winner's name on Friday. No matter where you live in the world, you may enter the giveaway, by leaving a comment here. (Sorry, but no comments via email).
French Vocabulary
(section under construction… please check back!)
la page blanche = "the white page" or "le blocage de l'écrivain" (writer's block)
l'embarras du choix = a great variety of choices, an embarrassing number of choices
la terrasse = a paved area (sidewalk) or patio
quel dilemme = what a dilemma
encore une fois = then again
assistant(e) = assistant
du vin = some wine
des fleurs = some flowers
oui, il a réussi le code = yes, he passed the driver's exam
le trésor = treasure
I had a good tchatche, or chat, with artist, fiddler, and writer, Alison, who lives part of the year in the postcard pretty village of Sauve. Photo taken by Jackie Espinasse.
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Bonjour, Kristin from Pebble Beach, Ca. You’re looking as beautiful as ever; glad the ordeal is behind you. Quelle mystère..un trèsor de la belle France !
Bonjour from beautiful Marblehead, MA.
Bonjour Kristin from Brenda in Sagle, ID USA.
Bonjour, Kristin! Je suis francophile, éditrice, et mère de deux, et j’aime bien votre blogue. Je vous envoie ce courriel d’Evanston, Illinois.
bon soir!
another american(ny’er) in paris who not only loves your site but is learning a little french along the way! merci beaucoup!
paris, fr. (via long island, ny)
I’ve got my heart in San Francisco … depuis cinqueant ans pour le premiere de chant avec Tony Bennett.
Bon soir from Audra in Warrenton, Virginia!
Bonjour, Kristin from Carol in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Bonjour Kristen from New Canaan, CT
Merci… xxx Twinkle
Un petit coucou de la vallée de Napa, Californie, région de San Francisco !
L’essentiel est qu’il n’y ait plus de cicatrice dans quelques jours ……. et que tout soit bien rentré dans l’ordre.
Kristin, Générosité – Beauté doivent être vos autres prénoms.
Bonjour from Jeanne. It’s snowing here in Wisconsin.
Bonjour!
Happy (belated) Valentine’s Day.
Janet
Se va? From Washington DC USA.
Hello from sunny Calabasas, California (Los Angeles).
Hello from Greeneville, Tennessee, USA! I love this site, tell all my friends–and students–about it, and have ordered your new book. Merci mille for sharing your fantastic stories and photos with us!
Hello from Oregon, USA!
Bonjour Kirstin I am saying Hello from Gold Canyon, Arizona but I live in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Bonjour – this reader in Lake Oswego, Oregon, loves your blog. You bring back wonderful memories of: “J’entre dans la salle de classe” so many years ago.
Bonjour from Toronto, Canada!
Hello from Sydney (Down Under). But spiritually I’m in Provence!
Salut from Rob in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Hello from Southern California, where it is a chilly 57 degrees and raining, But, I did have a beautiful morning with a walk along the coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean! m~
Bonjour from Janie in Marblehead, Massachusetts.
hello from los angeles!
Bonjour from Manassas, Virginia where the crocus and daffodils are peeking through!! Love your pictures and words. Susan Bruns
Bonjour de Raleigh, NC! I really enjoy your blog.
Bonjour de Santa Rosa, (sunny) California
Hi from Hilton Head/Bluffton, South Carolina. Where it’s almost as nice as Provence. Enjoy your comments, pictures and have ordered the books too. Can never get to much of France, unless we’re back over there to enjoy it.
Bonjour from Northern Virginia, USA.
Hi from Deborah in Sydney Australia.
Hello (bonjour) from Provo, Utah, USA!
Enjoy your blog! Ouch!! stitches are not fun. LaVonna, Wisconsin USA
From Johnson City, TN I am enjoying the reading!
Bon soir! Je suis Lora a Greensboro, Caroline du Nord. (c’est pas bien ma francais….mes c’est interessant!)
Salut de Oneonta, NY aux Etats-Unis!
Bonjour from Jane in Pennsylvania
Bob McGowan from Michigan.
Do you have an on-line source for des charentaises? I can’t be truly en retraite without them. Have loved your French Word-A-Day for years. Hope you and yours are well.
Bonjour!
(Please note new e-mail address..Merci!
Greetings from Los Angeles, CA, where President Obama is visiting today (from my 14th floor window, I can see the motorcycle police on the street below).
Hey from Damaris in sunny side San Diego!
Hello! from just east of Sacramento, CA
(p.s. your forehead looks wonderful!) Pam
Salut from Dev in Madison Alabama!
Hello from John in Independence MO, the home of President Harry Truman. We had the first snow of the year on February 13!
will you tell us tomorrow how many cities replied today? I see there are hundred
Bonjour, Kristin. je visite les enfants in LA mais je vis en Wayne, PA.
Bonjour, de Brunswick, MD,E-U
Hello from Portland, Oregon, USA.
Bonjour, Kristin! Ce souhaite vous vien de Salinas soleille en Californie.
Bonjour de Toronto, Canada! 🙂
Je vous dis bonjour de Malang, Indonesie! 😀