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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I absolutely love my french word a day. It makes me smile!
Such a beautiful photograph and no apparent scar. From David who lives in Cairns, QLD Australia but who has been in Hirafu, Hokkaido, Japan, since mid December, an average temperature difference of about 60 C !
Hello, I am writing from the beautiful city of Portland Oregon!
Bonjour!
de Fresno, California.
C’est toujours amusent de vous suivre.
Ohayo gozaimasu (Good morning)from Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Japan
Best wishes from Sarah Armstrong, Christchurch, New Zealand
Je vous bien remercie des posts fantastiques
🙂
Greetings from Jörg (près de Wiesbaden, Germany)
Belated Happy Valentine’s Day from Cynthia in Lincoln, Nebraska. I miss Provence!
Bonjour Kristin, from a very sunny and HOT Reunion Island. Thank you for this wonderful blog! – Phil
Greetings from Suzanne in Sydney, Australia.
Bon jour from Alison in Nevada City, CA
Bonjour,
Je vous écris d’Atlanta, Georgia. Salute.
Bonjour de Rumford, Maine.
Hello from Pendleton, Indiana where I love it when it drizzles (but not as much as Paris)!
Bonjour from Charles de Gaulle! I leave this moment for Boston and seeing my son Robin at the New England Conservatory of Music. Thank you so much Kristin for your blog and mentioning me! I have had many respones already!
Bonjour Kristin! Thank you for your blog. If you ever get a moment you might be kind enough to check out my website for my French students: http://www.notremonde.weebly.com I’d love to hear your opinion! Enjoying your work here in Richmond, VA!!
Bonjour…de Vivek Tonapi à Bangalore, India.
Hello From Vivek Tonapi, Bangalore, India
Hello from Vivek Tonapi, Bangalore, India
Bonjour/g’day from Leanne in Toowoomba, Australia
Ron Axium greets the Epinasse family from Chicago Illinois USA axfarm@netzero.net. Wonderful blog, most interesting to read.
Dublin, Ireland calling! Merci pour vos postes – ils sont parfaits pour quelqu’un qui apprend. Go n-éirí an t-ádh leat (an Irish phrase for the day).
Hello from Lisa in Lincoln, Nebraska..currently covered with a blanket of snow.
Have a beautiful day, beautiful Kristin! You make my life a little brighter with each post…..Natalie from Oldsmar, Florida
Hola ! I’m from Puerto Rico.
Greetings from Cloudy Seattle, WA.
Bonjour from Susan in Beverly, MA (north of Boston!).
Hello from England, warming up again after recent snow. I enjoy reading your blog which keeps my schoolboy French ticking over in my head.
buongiorno-bonjour-good norming-hello from Jacksonville Beach Florida…Enjoy the life!
Bonjour from Mary, currently in historic Pass-a-Grille, FL, live in South Bend, IN.
Hello from Grand Rapids, MI! I usually read your writing there (where I live with my husband and 3 1/2 year old daughter. This week I reading from the sunny and much warmer location of Walt Disney World! Thanks for sharing your words and your life!
Bonjour Kristin from Green Valley, Arizona. We are extremely wizened but still young enough (we hope) to be plying the French canals in summer aboard our canal boat Echo. Is there a canal near your vineyard where we could tie up? Our small black Yogi dog would love to meet Briase and Smokey. He misses his desert friends when he is on the boat and seizes every opportunity to meet other dogs.
Greetings and many thanks to you for your wonderful blog!
Laraine Lippe from New York, NY
Aloha from Samantha in Hilo, Hawaii!
Bonjour Kristin from Atlanta, Georgia where the weather is exactly as described in a previous comment. My first daffodil bloomed on New Year’s Eve!
Bonjour from Perigord Vert, Dordogne France.
Hi, from Georgetown, Texas. Love your site.
I am very fortunate in having a second visit to La belle France, in May: Paris, and Normandy and Brittany by car.
Gary
Bonjour and merci for many months of enjoyable reading! From under a couple of feet of neige in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
Salut!
from Savannah, GA, America’s little Paris!
Thanks again for living your dreams, doing what you love, and being an inspiration to all of us!
Angela
Bonjour Kristen,
Even from Arlington,MA I can see that you have a beautiful heart!
Joan
Un grand bonjour de Bath (RU) Le printemps est arrivé!
Hallo from Jackie in Orlando, Florida, USA!!
Bonjour from Kevin in Colorado, USA
Bonjour Kristin du centre de Vermont! J’aime bien lire vos messages. J’etais en voyage d’affaires cette semaine et je ne pouvais pas prendre l’ordinateur ce matin et lire vos messages de cette semaine! Merci mille fois!
Chere Kristi, our belle amie!
Bonjour, ya’ll, Roger from Atlanta
Bonjour chère Kristin!
Just returned from Phoenix where the sun was shining, to Albuquerque where the ground was covered with snow on Wednesday morning. Catching up with my e-mail, I learned about your medical issues. So glad the bump is benign and that the surgery went well!! We are thinking of you warmly.
Johanna and Will
Albuquerque, NM
Bonjour from Violes and also Washington, DC
hello from novato (north of san francisco).
i appreciate all of your very honest musings. stay well.
A hearty, albeit tardy, bonjour from Monument, Colorado, just north of Colorado Springs (the American the Beautiful city at the foot of Pikes Peak). Do you suppose the Chamber of Commerce will reward me for that??? Amities.