Summertime in the seaside town of Cassis. Don't these chairs look like fruity popsicle flavors (that is, if flavor could be visible to the eye)? Grape, blueberry, citron vert, melon, framboise...
juilletiste (jwee-ay-teest) m&f
: a July vacationer
Audio file: Listen to Jean-Marc read this definition: Download MP3 or listen to Wav file
Un juilletiste c'est quelqu'un qui prend ses vacances au mois de Juillet, et un aoutien c'est quelqu'un qui prend ses vacances au mois d'Août. A juilletiste is someone who goes on vacation in July, and an aoutien is someone who goes on vacation in August.
A Day in a French Life… by Kristin Espinasse
Today, instead of a story, here is a list for you. I hope you'll respond by answering some of the questions that follow each item. Merci beaucoup!
Currently reading: La Bête Humaine. I am cheating, reading Zola's story in English. So far I prefer his L'Assommoir—or even his Joy of Life—to his novel The Beast Within, but I'm sticking with the story, which is said to be one of his best (Germinal is also recommended… wondering if I should have ordered that one instead?) P.S. I'm no "classics expert". I just enjoy the way Zola writes about human nature.
=> Tell us what you've read lately or recommend a book. Click here.
A "compliment" I received the other day (by a friend of my daughter's): "C'était bon! Tu cuisines mieux qu'avant!" (It was good. You cook better than you used too!).
=> What is an accidental insult you once received? Share it here.
Eating more of this: salade de pommes de terre
=>I'd love to know your favorite ingredient in potato salad… I hope to improve my own! Pickles, celery, red pepper? Any tips for potato salad dressing?
During a recent conversation with Mom: "I'm your mother. You can tell me anything!"
=> Who can you tell anything to? Who do you go to to unburden your heart? Click here.
Summer staple: les shorts en jean. Last year it was khakis, the year before that I wore a white knee-length peasant skirt all summer long, changing tops according to the mood.
=> What is your summer staple?
New favorite pastime: watching documentaries on YouTube! I loved this Indian video on terrace vegetable gardening (could not understand a word, but was inspired all the same!). Update: I just discovered the subtitles and will be watching this one again.
=> Please recommend a documentary.
=> P.S. you might enjoy this inspiring story of an American urban homestead. One commenter wrote that the ability to grow one's own food might be more valuable, in the future, than an MBA! Do you agree or disagree with that statement? Comment here.
Recent day trip: to a beach in Saintes Maries de la Mer. Looking around the beach, where there were more topless women than usual, I commented to my friend, Suzanne, that we were the only ones wearing a one piece. Suzanne corrected me: she herself was wearing a tankini!
=> Every felt the odd one out? Where were you at the time? Click here.
Latest nag: (to husband): "Please cover up the plate when you put leftovers in the fridge! Less moisture loss! Fewer odors!"
=> Do your family members stick stuff in the fridge like this? Or is it a French thing? Share here.
Getting a kick out of: the tomato plant that is growing out of our compost bin! Will it produce tomatoes now that it has produced little yellow flowerettes?
=> Do you make compost, or black gold?
Yesterday's dog mischief: while out on a walk with the dogs through the vineyard, we surprised a family of quails. The mama and her chicks scampered off in every direction, effectively throwing Smokey and Braise off track! I can still hear Smokey, "Which way did he go? Which way did he go?"
Best Kept Secret: It's true, we've been keeping a very big secret from you (!). Enough said. Stay tuned…. (You may have to wait a few weeks or a few years…. but I will let you know as soon as I can! The gag order is torturing me! The waiting is even more torturous!)
Déja Vu — you too? Do you ever catch yourself existing in the same moment as yesterday and the day before and the day before that? I'll never forget lying in my bed each night, in a studio apartment in Aix-en-Provence, staring at the intricate shadows cast across the ceiling. Night after night, there I was again—my eyes tracing, or studying, the same designs from above. 22 years later, and it is the same phenomenon of "I know this moment, it's the same every day. Here I am again, in this exact position!"
=> Do you ever catch yourself in the "same place same position" twilight kind of zone? And do you ever feel a little creeped out about it? As if such moments were the mileposts in one's life span?
Really enjoying our weekly wine-tastings, which spice up a very regular routine here at the vineyard! Speaking of spice, it was hot-hot-hot the day this picture was taken. From left to right, the glowing cheeks belong to: Charlene, Judy, Karen, and me. P.S. the next wine-tastings are July 16th (4pm) and July 24th (5pm). Leave a message in the comments box if you would like to join us!
Grammar notes and more
Several readers wrote in about the musée mistake (musée, it turns out, is masculine.) Just goes to show that each time I think I've learned a grammar rule (i.e.: words ending with "e" are usually feminine) one of those famous French exceptions pops up!
Jim Herlan's email was especially helpful. Here it is along with a good tip:
I believe that "musée" is masculine. Thus, "le musée." A good general rule is: English words with Latin roots that end in -um are masculine in French, as in "museum" or "le musée,"
Yoga Harvest. See photos from our 2010 harvest:
http://french-word-a-day.typepad.com/motdujour/2010/09/le-moi.html
Laundry Harvest — and don't miss the "corvée" or "chore" post, with funny pics from our 2010 harvest
Can you guess which one is Smokey (those ears are a giveaway). What is Mama Braise saying? "Son…"
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Hi Kristin,
Just getting back to reading your blog after being away for awhile. We lost power after the derecho that whipped through here and left us without power for a week. Lots of our lovely old trees came down like toothpicks! Love this post! I just finished 28 Gifts and loved it! I love relish in potato salad and Miracle Whip!
Hope you had a nice weekend!
Eileen
Hi Kristin
Have come late to this post, but would highly recommend The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B by Sandra Gulland. It is the first in a trilogy about Josephine Bonaparte. It’s fantastic – done in diary style which I don’t usually like, but it is the most wonderful novel which carries you along with the story of Josephine and Napoleon. I think Gulland is a Canadian writer.
For any Aussies out there there is currently a Napoleon exhibition on in Melbourne, Australia. Haven’t been yet, but it looks fabulous. Did you know that one of the French explorers brought kangaroos back to Josephine and she had them in her garden at Malmaison?
Re potato salad – my healthy option is to use dill, coriander, (cilantro) yoghurt, lime juice and some horseradish cream as a dressing.
Just finished The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, in English as my French, unfortunately, is not good enough to allow me to read it in the original.
As for potato salad, my favorite ingredient is Dijon mustard.
I unburden my heart to the Lord through prayer.
Summer staple? hmh, can’t really think of one.
Documentary: Etre et Avoir
We felt the odds ones out when we arrived in Morocco about this time last year for a two day visit. We tried to get a taxi to our Riad, and it tried to drop us off in the middle of a small plaza with the place no where in sight, and no one appeared to speak English.
Things are always covered in the fridge or in a Tuperware or Rubbermaid container.
On another note, I was wondering if anyone has recommendations for a way for me to build my French listening skills? I am improving in being able to decipher written French, but spoken just moves too fast for me. I’d like something I could listen to that would slowly build my skills.
Folks, for all of these lovely book selections, don’t forget your public library. If you need or prefer to buy, abebooks.com and bookfinder.com for used books in the US–and sometimes UK, too. If you do use amazon.com for new OR used books, link from French-word-a-day to help Kristin. I’m reading Maphead by Ken Jennings (the Jeopardy winner), about those of us who have a passion for maps. Park Lane, one of the inspirations for Downton Abbey, is waiting.
Hi Kristin,
I really enjoyed your column and all of the posts! There are so many ideas & recommendations! I will check out most of them.
I just finished “Paris to the Past” Traveling through French history by train by Ina Caro. Also just finished “The most beautiful walk in the world” A pedestrian in Paris by John Baxter.
Please don’t be bothered by a negative post. Two facts from years of marriage counseling: Her comments are mainly about how she feels about herself, and others comments about us is none of our business —- nor does it have much to do about us. Hope that helps!
Be well!
Dear Kristin: If you find you like the Zola I strongly recommend you try Honore de Balzac; his description of life in France in the early part of the 19th century is truly incredible. Better in French -bien sur-, but many English translations are available especially for his most famous like Le Pere Goriot and La Cousine Bette. To help you tackle one in French you might start with a small one like Le Chef D’oeuvre Inconnu. Bonne continuation!
Dear Faye and friends — thank you for your response to Moms note about the bad review. Your words gave me back my energy to write the next story! Here it is, if you missed it!
http://french-word-a-day.typepad.com/motdujour/2012/07/oreiller.html
Someone said somewhere, that if a story is entertaining or helpful, then it is a welcome story. I hope my stories are this way. And, as Mom said, for me they are a way to chronicle our life. I hope to read them one of these days, when I settle down, and enjoy the memories!
Books??? I usually read more than one at a time. My current list includes:Hemingway’s A Movable Feast, Remarkable Creature by Tracy Chevalier and Dropped Names by Frank Langella. I ALWAYS try to have at least 1 book about France in the mix (-: This would be Moveable Feast right now. I just finished “The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry” by Kathleen Flynn. I recommend it for a good summer beach read. It’s quick, sweet–OH — and it includes recipes! (Kathleen Flynn gave up her corporate job to study at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris). Unfortunatley I don’t think there’s a potato salad one in there, tho. LOL Hope you are all enjoying the summer. xo
PS: Love the Cassis photo…we were there in 2010…how I miss the South right now!
I have been reading Dawn of the Belle Epoque: The Paris of Monet, Zola, Bernhardt, Eiffel, Debussy, Clemenceau, and Their Friends, by Mary McAuliffe. The author takes a fresh angle on the subject, and it’s very good.
I am reeling from all this wonderful plethora of information – good recipes, good books, good vibes! Thanks for instigating all this major activity! I am reading Maisie Dobbs stories and enjoying them very much – an English woman detective in the 1930s – a change of pace for all the French novels I usually read! ha ha
Kristin,
I so enjoyed this terrace gardening documentary… thanks! Seeing that your family loves dogs, here’s one for you to laugh at while you take a break from the summer heat:
So adorable! I can just hear these dogs saying “you humans don’t know a thing about sledding… you don’t need sleds, just become one with the snow!” Enjoy! Robin
I goofed in my earlier post and wrote Park Lane helped inspire Downton Abbey; it’s the other way around, Downton Abbey inspired Park Lane. For Judi, other mysteries in the 1920s and 1930s are the Daisy Dalrymple series and Rhys Bowen’s Royal Spyness series, both set mostly in England.
I should memorize your list and use it when I need a topic of conversation – these are all good ones. One of my favorite documentaries is The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. I am also a fan of Agnès Varda’s The Gleaners and Me, like Kristin.
I should memorize your list and use it when I need a topic of conversation – these are all good ones. One of my favorite documentaries is The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.
hi beautiful kristi,
favourite read is ‘the hare with amber eyes’ think it might be the best book i have ever read by edmund de waal (correct spelling)
i recently recommended fwad to a friend and she also just loves reading it when it arrives and we phone each other to speak about it
love annie shultz sydney australia
This is what I found, à propos des jours de la semaine et des mois de l’année…
Noms de jours, de mois, de saisons
Ils s’écrivent toujours sans majuscule. Les noms de jours prennent un s au pluriel :
– en vente les jeudis et samedis…
mais : en vente les jeudi et samedi de chaque semaine…
Also…
Les noms des jours de la semaine, tout comme les noms des mois, sont des noms communs. Ils sont donc variables en nombre et s’écrivent en minuscules. On écrira ainsi : Les membres de l’Académie française se réunissent tous les jeudis.
My summer staple last summer was a cotton maxi dress that I could throw on and seemed to be perfect for every ocassion. I even packed it for a trip to France with my daughter last summer! While in Villefranche I purchased a simple cotton dress in the French laundry style in chocolate brown. It has become my go to dress this summer and I receive countless inquiries about it! While in France lady summer I purchasd three dresses and they are my favorites. I wish we had such styles in the States! Oh well I guess I will be forced to travel to France again to purchase my summer wardrobe.
Potato salad:
Use mustard AND Miracle Whip (that old stuff, yes, I know, but it’s yummy) –
chopped pimento
celery seed
Suzie Jennings
I read and listen to books too much of the time, now that I have retired. Books I have loved this year:
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Velva Jean Learns to Drive by Jennifer Niven
Velva Jean Learns to Fly by Jennifer Niven
Saving Fish from Drowning and The Bonesetter’s Daughter, both by Amy Tan
Best Audio Books: Crowning Glory of Calla Lilly Ponder by Rebecca Wells and read by Judith Ivey
Venetia Kelly’s Traveling Show read by the author, Frank Delaney
Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Suzie Jennings
A Good American by Alex George
INCREDIBLE youtube documentary:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/04/11/caines-arcade-video-the-infectious-virality-of-the-child-inventor-and-entrepreneur/
Suzie Jennings
Hi Kristin, Love your books, your blog and all things french. I have compost bins at our place in the country. The first is for wood ash, grass clippings, manure, food scraps. Then after turning it a few times, it gets moved to the second one. Then after turning it a few times, it gets moved to the third one and it is ready to use. This is in a perfect world. It is hard for me to turn it and I have to depend on my husband’s availability to help. Sometimes all three bins look alike but it still turns into compost. The bins were made from wood pallets and coat hangers. Debbi Schwarz
About the one STAR rating on Amazon….. If you follow the link to view the other ratings this person has provided you will see that the only thing she really got excited about was the Aveeno Positively Radiant Tinted Moisturizer! She sounds like a person who has had a lot of personal pain in her life.
It’s too bad she has such trouble finding happiness.
Potato Salad sans mayonnaise? Bien sur! I’ve been making a knock-out recipe this summer using small red potatoes, olive oil, red wine vinegar, scallions, dijon mustard. Red onion is optional, though the scallions do the job for us. The secret ingredient? Chopped fresh tarragon and parsley. It’s delicious,lighter than mayo-style and lovely on the plate.
I work in the youth services of our local library; read as many books as possible.
My favorite ingredient in potato salad is onion cut up into very small pieces; mustard & vinegar.
My favorite item to wear during the summer is a light-weight dress.
I unburden myself to my husband even though he might be the cause of some of those burdens.