Today's post is in French and English – and you can listen to it, too!
une calanque (kah-lahnk)
: an inlet from the sea, a cove
To give you an idea of what a calanque can look like… via Google images. Ever visited a calanque? Which one? Comments welcome here.
Audio file: listen to today's word, as well as the following story… (see links, just below)
A Day in Chief Grape's New Life…
a wine-maker takes a break from a pressing work schedule… to chill out by the sea
=>Click the following link to hear Jean-Marc read his story: Download mp3 or wave file
Hier, nous avons accueilli mon meilleur ami Frederic, parrain de Maxime, et dont je suis le parrain de son fils Matthieu. Dans la matinée et malgré des nuages, je suis allé pêcher quelques oursins pour l'apéritif. Ensuite j'ai fait un barbecue pour cuisiner des côtes de porc marinées avec quelques petits oignons ramassés de notre jardin et que Kristi avait coupé en morceaux. Ensuite, nous nous sommes régalés de toutes les salades du potager, jeunes pousses que Kristi avait cueillies le matin même.
Yesterday, we welcomed my best friend Frederic, godfather of Maxime, and to whom I am godfather of his son, Matthieu. In the morning and despite the clouds, I went to hunt a few sea urchins for hors d'oeuvres. After, I started a barbecue to cook the marinated pork chops with a few small onions that Kristi had cut into pieces. Next, we enjoyed all of the garden salads, young leaves that Kristi had picked that same morning.
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Après ce délicieux repas et puisque le ciel s'était dégagé, nous avons décidé d'aller à la plage. Kristi et moi avions des sandales mais comme Maxime a décidé de nous amener dans une calanque isolée, avec une plage pleine de gros cailloux, il a fallu être adroit pour ne pas se tordre la cheville. Enfin arrivés, les garçons ont sauté du haut d'un rocher à 5 m de l'eau (et 12 m pour Maxime), dans une mer relativement mouvementée.
After this delicious meal, and because the sky had cleared, we decided to go to the beach. Kristi and I had on sandals but, as Maxime decided to take us to a remote cove, with a beach full of big rocks, we needed to be adept in order not to sprain our ankles. Once there, the boys jumped from high up on a rock, 5 meters above the water (and 12 meters for Maxime), into a sea that was relatively turbulent.
Au retour, Matthieu qui va avoir 10 ans la semaine prochaine, m'a demandé si je pouvais lui faire goûter mon vin. J'étais enchanté de cette demande venant de mon filleul et comme son Papa a acquiescé, je lui ai servi quelques millilitres de notre cuvée Dentelle. J'étais fier de voir qu'il semblait aimer ce vin qui représente tant pour moi.
On the way back, Matthieu, who will be 10 years old next week, asked me if I would offer him a taste of my wine. I was delighted by this request coming from my godson and as his father consented, I served him a few millimeters of our Dentelle vintage. I was proud to see that he seemed to like the wine which represents so much to me.
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La journée était déjà malheureusement finie et il était temps pour nos amis de rentrer. Moi, j'étais simplement heureux d'avoir passé une journée avec ma famille et mes bons amis.
The day was already, sadly, over and it was time for our friends to go back home. As for me, I was simply happy to have spent a day with my family and my good friends.
Random Archive Stories
Exquis means exquisite. Meet another friendly and caring villager in this story, which takes place in Valréas. Click here.
Aléa means risk, hazard, chance. One of these words describes our unique repurposed beehive mailbox… Story and pictures here. Missing that mailbox…
Do you have any story archive favorites? Please share them here, in the comments box.
La nostalgie: Jackie was 9, and Max, 11… Six years ago on the Island of Groix.
Remember this picture? Taken at a nearby calanque, the day we discovered the mas that would become our new home!
Discover more from French Word-A-Day
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Merci pour tous les commentaires. Les fautes d’orthographe, c’était juste pour être sûr que les surdoués lisent attentivement. Chief grape is actually and “accidentally” back on the winemaking track. More on this next week…
Tres jolie de lire en francais – vive la difference. Pourquoi pas partager l’espace de ‘blog’? – pour moi meme c’est refraichant de pouver pratiquer lire la belle lange. Bis! (avec apologies a l’ecrivaine femme Kristi et pour la manque de ‘keypad’ francais chers amis – Robyn x
Correction: …’langue’ – comment dit-on ‘fat fingers’ en fraincais? x
Wonderful story and photos of a beautiful day with friends. Thankyou so much. (Reading and hearing it in French was the ‘icing on the cake’!) Best regards to all.
For Janet Bailey and her son, I looked in my dictionary and found a queue-de-morue, a tail coat, as in Fred Astaire’s Top Hat. Plus,if the question was actually phrased as “something a person could wear” then it could be a “queue-de-cheval,” a pony tail.
I did pretty well on understanding the story, although I got cheville from context. I, too, like the listening challenge.
Merci Mara!
Am I the only one who laughed about Chief Grape’s “pressing” work schedule? 🙂
C’etait un plaisir de lire en francais.
Joan L. in Kankakee, Illinois
Merci Chief Grape. I’m glad that you will continue making wine. I’m sure that with your taken, you will wine more metals in Paris. Looking forward to more news.
Notre repas made me hungry.
Bonjour Jean-Marc:
Une belle histoire!! Quand j’etais prof de francais j’ai amene mes eleves dans la region de Cassis et nous devions faire une excursion en bateau. Malheureusement, le temps etait trop mauvais et je n’ai jamais vu les calanques de l’eau.
Etant prof de francais, permettez-moi de faire quelques petites correntions de grammaire:
Nous sommes alles pecher(infinitif) et nous avons decide.
Je suis tres contente de vous lire en francais. Amities, Janine
Merci beaucoup for sending us the story of your lovely day, Chief Grape (and Kristen!). That it was written in French was the icing on the cake; please do that often.
Being a person who is happiest when I’m in the water, I can’t wait to visit an area of calanques…and to find a rock from which to jump into one! Bravo, Maxime et Mattieu!
And the oursins look delicious!!
Appreciatively, Leslie from Portland, Oregon
Yes – the calanques of Cassis! A short trip from our home base of Toulon – and unfortunately each time, the sea was too rough for oursins. We were able to have the biggest gambas I’ve ever seen, though! I still dream about them 😉
Oh – and last time I was there, there were signs about an escaped panther! I wonder if he’s still out there… (I think that was around Cassis…)
J’aime beaucoup cette histoire en francais. A mon avis, c’est genial que Jean-Marc ecrit de temps en temps, meme qu’il ecrit tres souvent. Merci pour cette histoire d’une tres bonne journee!
I loved listening to “la belle histoire” de Jean-Marc and used it as a listening activity yesterday with my French classes. I am always looking for authentic clips for them. It got me thinking about how much they would enjoy a French clip by either Maxime ou Jackie about something they are doing at school or with their friends! Merci beaucoup!
Quelle belle vie que vous avez là! I so enjoyed your recounting of a lovely day spent with family and dear friends. Thanks for the photos of calanques–those brought back pleasant memories Cassis. It’s so fun to read a posting in French–good practice for my planned 2013 trip.
Merci, Kristi & Jean-Marc, for sharing your lives!
Thank you very much for your response to Chief Grapes story — and for the helpful corrections, too!
We have visited the calanques many times, but Marjou is a favorite of ours. There is a small family run restaurant at the port there, that, for us, has a very special feeling to it, and they are very warm and inviting. We try to plan a visit to the Marseille area at least once a year, and always try to go there for lunch.
They close for part of the winter.
I love the all french story and then the translation to check myself…love the photos…so nice to see all this new scenery…many thanks to chief grapes : )
I do like the story all in French. Perhaps I liked it more because I understood it on first reading.
Many phrases were new to me, but context made it clear. All in French, the way an idea is expressed comes across fully.
Word by word is much fun. All in French puts it all together.
Merci.
It’s so wonderful to learn new vocabulary and see how they words are used in a sentence! This makes it so much easier to use the vocabulary ourselves later. Merci mille fois!
Merci, Jean-Marc, pour votre histoire. Merci, Kristi, pour le travail que vous faites pour que nous pouvons lire et ecouter Francais. Votre mas doit etre un reve! Bonne chance et bonne sante toujours.
Bonjour Jean-Marc, I apoligise for not writing in French and have waited till Kristi translated your story regarding your day at the coast. In New Zealand the Maoris collect . the “Kina” as they name it and it is always classed as a declicacy, to my knowledge not many people of european descent seem to want to eat it. When I look at the wonderful photo that is on the web featuring your lovely wine, together the plate of sea. urchins, it looks like a dish fit for a king. I will endeavour to try it the next opportunity when I am in New Zealand at Xmas, sorry I wont be able to have a bottle of your wine to accompany them. I love the area where you are now living, this is the first time for 10 years I have ‘t been able to travel due to medical problems.and althopugh 83 I look forward to being there again next year so I may fulfill my dreams of further painting in France.. . May you enjoy many happy excursions to your delightful “calanque”,your nouveau ami June,Gold Coast Qld .
Not sure how much I enjoy totally French, BUT what I did was go off by myself to try to pronounce the words I could even if I didn’t understand a lot. Good thing there weren’t any native speakers nearby. They would have been cringing for sure! Oh the work I have ahead of myself before I return to France in a year from now!
Don’t worry, your blog helps make my day so I will read in French and/or English and be happy!
Best wishes!
J’aime bien votre histoire de la plage. Je connait seulement un peu le francais.
Merci beaucoup pour avoir écrit en français! C’était merveilleux de lire en français, et de voir à quel point j’ai compris. J’espère que vous écrire un peu plus de temps en temps. C’était une belle histoire et vous avez pris des photos magnifiques!
-Lisa
It is a great way for me to practice my French. I read it first, with my poor accent, then attempt to translate it. Finally when the translation comes I can give myself a grade. But, the goal is to be able to read what Jean-Marc has to say and understand it without translating.
When I was in college and studied for a semester in Toulon, we visited the calanques de cassis! The water was very rocky that day and one of the gals in our group got a little seasick on the boat ride…
I loved this story, so evocative of a French Sunday. Thanks for sharing it Jean-Marc. The descriptions of the oursins, the hike, the calanques, and la mer relativement mouvementée had me sighing with nostalgia. And seeing the photo of Matthieu en pleine dégustation made me smile. Like godfather, like godson! It never hurts to develop the palate early. 🙂
We took the “Promenade en Mer,” a boat trip from La Napoule several times. That was where we first heard the word calanque. The guide kept saying “jolie calanque.” We soon figured out what it meant, and they were indeed “jolie”
Anne and Jack
Merci pour ce post! S’il vous plaît écrivez plus. J’aime pratiquer mon français avec vos messages!
Merci beaucoup pour vos petites histoires. J’etudie le francais. Ces histoires m’aide. Ils sont tres interesants.
…je suis allé PECHER……..
J’aime bien a lise l’histoire en francais. J’apprendre le francais, et cette m’aider beaucoup. Merci beaucoup!
Un excellent moment passe avec vous, je vous remercie bien pour cette lecture.
Continuez sur cette voie, c’est un veritable plaisir de vous suivre.