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.
.
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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JM .. you sound HAPPY man! Good for you! Aloha, Bill Facker
I enjoyed the story of your happy day with your godson and family very much. The lunch sounded great with the sea urchins and Kristi’s contribution. I only had to look up one word, pousses, I think it was, new shoots? Would that have been very tender lettuce? I’ll check the translation in the next post.
I like reading the French, but writing in French is too much like hard work.
C’est le verbe qui m’inquiète un peu. “Come back home” or “Go back home” or both?
rentrer!
Yes we had a lovely cruise one moonlit evenig around the Calanques in Southern Corsica Quite magical.
Glad to say i managed pretty well with the post from Jean-Marc . Look forward to checking it out tomorrow
Deux questions:
1. Pourquoi ne pas dire: “je suis allé pêcher,” au lieu de “je suis allé pêché” ?
2. Et pourquoi ne pas dire: “nous avons décidé” au lieu de “nous allons décidé” ?
En tout cas, une belle histoire.
Lou Lesesne
Kristin I love your posts and stories, it makes learning french such fun and is like making a new lovely friend with a lovely family who lives in a lovely part of the world. It’s the perfect tonic for the cold, grey, British weather. My mother speaks fluent French so I was lucky enough to learn a spattering as a child & young woman. She loves grammar books and pages of tenses, verbs and adverbs are really her thing. I find reading a grammar book boring, I can only learn French by doing it, and other than actually being in France your posts are perfect! You always choose such interesting things, and unusual words.
Your pictures, stories and words are wonderful, I’d happily pay to read them! I will be checking tomorrow’s blog too!
J’adore lire votre histoire, Jean-Marc! Oui, j’ai remarqué quelques petites fautes mais c’est très encourageant pour moi et pour mes élèves d’en trouver autre part de temps en temps puisque nous en faisons souvent! 🙂 Donc, merci de tout: des histoires, des photos, de partager la vie francaise avec nous tous les jours!
Quelle belle journée !
Je suis jalouse! Pour moi, les Calanques — le Paradis! Avec un bon verre de Dentelle — tant mieux! Sante!
I was able to get the gist of the story without the help of a dictionary. That’s the problem with a second language: if you don’t use it you lose it (especially the vocabulary). I do remember the last picture in the blog of just your socks and shoes showing. It reminded me then, and still today, of what was left of the wicked witch of the East (or was it West) after Dorothy’s house landed on her.
Wow! VERY good photo example of what a CALANQUE is! Lovely!
Remember this picture? Taken at a nearby calanque, the day we discovered the mas that would become our new home!
Pardon…what is a ‘mas’?
We took an hour-long cruise through the calanques in Cassis, complete with champagne and snacks. Each calanque had a different personality, but all were simply stunning. Thank you for taking me back there, if even for a moment.
Yes, like the French very much–allows us to know Jean-Marc a bit better and, almost always, he has a turn of phrase that’s helpful. Today: “puisque le ciel s’était dégagé” which I wouldn’t have used on my own.
Quelle belle journee…..enchantee.
Love the French. Such a wonderful way to acquire new vocabulary – am now off to look in my dictionary. To see something written actually makes it stick in my mind. Thanks.
Thanks for the wonderful story. Sounds like a perfect day. And, yes, we visited the calanques between Marseille and Cassis during our visit last June (during which we also passed a wine-filled afternoon at la Domaine Rouge-Bleu). We had a glorious,sun-filled day at Cassis, with mussels and a fine wine, then took a boat ride through six of the calanques–so beautiful! A memorable day in a memorable vacation!
Bonjour Jean-Marc
Merci pour la belle histoire. Voici un dicton de la mer, vous pourriez apprécier:
There are good ships
There are wood ships
Ships that sail the sea
But the best ships
Are friendships
And they will always be!
Je suis verte de jalousie et l’eau a la bouche pour le ousins, le vin, le pain et les calanques!!! Nous avons seulement ete une fois en bateau voir les calaques pres de Cassis, et nous en revons encore!
Vous avez bien fait de demenager pour etre si pres de ce paradis visuel et gastronomique!
And to Marshall, who liked Jean Marc’s expression of ” ciel degage”, one of my favorite uses for that word is when a parent wants his kid to get lost, they say ” degages!!” ( scram!)
We visited the beautiful Calanque in Cassis in 2002 when my daughter was studying in France! We took a boat ride on a beautiful Spring day and then lunch al fresco!
Jean-Marc and Kristi, thank you for sharing your life with us, it is wonderful to see you all so happy in your new home.
I remember the red calanques east of Marseille which were also beautiful.
Enjoy your new life in Bandol.
Jackie
Very nicely said…things are going swimmingly it appears. JM, how many hectares of vines are there in your new fields? How many more will you plant? Are you making wine there now? What is the name of your new establishment? Trop de questions, je sais! Je suis curieuse. Merci bien…
J’aime beaucoup lire le conte en français! Je peux utiliser le sens des phrases pour comprendre les mots hors de ma propre vocabulaire et c’était pas nécessaire de courier au dictionnaire. (je suis professeur de lecture et alphabétisation) Ecouter le conte m’aide à comprendre le français parlé. J’ai besoin de beaucoup de pratique à comprendre la langue parlée. Voir la traduction le lendemain, c’est parfait!
Merci infiniement!
I too have visited the calanques in Cassis. I absolutely love visiting Cassis and the old port.
We too have visited the calanques just West of Cassis. The first time by boat from Cassis, and the second when we came back to Cassis and spent three nights at Les Roches Blanches de Cassis and walked from the hotel to the first calanque, where we spent a few hours on the beach. Like Rick, we loved the port de Cassis with its stretch of restaurants looking out on the boat harbor. A wonderful place for a lunch (or the second time for three dinners at a variety of restaurants).
Merci pour la leçon française. Je pense que je connais la histoire sans ma dictionaire (j’ecris sans dictionaire aussi. Vous pouvez voir?) Aussi, j’ai aimée la poeme de Herm.
merci Jean Marc, Ça me fait plaisirs d’avoir de vos nouvelles.
Please, my French is not very good. I cannot handle French only. I find myself stressing more than enjoying. XO
J’ai adoré la lecture de l’histoire de J-M en Français. Je n’ai jamais mangé des oursins mais je voudrais les essayer! Avec un verre de rosé bien sûr!
Thank you, Jean-Marc, for your post and pictures. I need to get my French dictionary out, though :), and I will check my translation against Kristin’s tomorrow. The water is such an incredible shade of turquoise blue–wow! Merci!
Je trouve les petites histoires de Chief Grape charmantes! Pour moi, c’est un plaisir lire en français.
J’adore votre vie en France. J’aime
Quand Jean-Marc ècrit en française.
Mercy pour toutes les belles histoires
de votre famillie et amis.
Grâce à vous, je apprendre
nouvelles expressions que je ne peut
pas trouver dans le dictionaire.
Trés bonne journnée!
Marti from La Floride
Love, love, love the “all French” stories – please give us more. I tried to work out the meaning on my own without a dictionary and then had the pleasure of reading it while listening to Jean-Marc speak it on the MP3 file. J-M I love your clear pronounciation and the speed at which you speak the story. Can’t wait to see if my translation is close to Kristin’s!
Que de belles photos des calanques! Vous semblez heureux.On voit bien que vous avez bien fait de déménager. Mais où est maman Jules? Comme toi, Kristin, j’ai commencé à planter quelques légunes dans mon petit jardin et ça me fait plaisir de les manger frais.
Kristin, JM, SVP, ne soyez pas fâchés…Comme Lou Lesesne a mentioné, il y a des fautes de frappe…côtes de porc…Je vois aussi quelques fautes de grammaire…Dans la phrase “…jeunes pousses que Kristin avait cueillies (avec ES)”; “Maxime à décidé de nous amener dans une calanque isolée…” le verbe “avoir” se conjugue sans accent grave.
J’ai fait une faute de frappe aussi, c’est léguMes…
Jean-Marc,
J’aime lire et écouter vos histoires en français. La région que vous avez choisi pour votre nouvelle demeure est très belle, et je suis sûr que vous et votre famille va en profiter pendant longtemps. J’ai hâte de vous revoir soit à Bandol (avec Kristin) ou à Asheville, si vous faites une autre tournée de vin aux Etats. Je ne sais pas beaucoup sur les vins de Bandol, mais je suis intéressé à apprendre. Bonne chance!
Marvelous! But now Jean-Marc must tell how he collects the oursins — and how (if?) you cook them.
Merci, Jean-Marc, pour prendre le temps d’écrire cette histoire, et pour la lecture. Ça m’a fait plaisir!
Mais, oui! I like testing my knowledge of French and this is a wonderful way to keep it fresh.
I DON’T SPEAK A WORD OF FRENCH BUT I HAVE THE BEAUTIFUL PAULETTE TO TRANSLATE FOR ME. AFTER HAVING MET JEAN-MARC, I WANT TO HEAR HIS STORIES.
GUS ELISON
Thanks for the photos of the Calanques, which reminded me of my own trips there, once hiking in from Marseilles/Luminy with a French friend to the calanques de Surgiton and Morgiou. I remember well trying to negociate the sharp rocky hillsides, climbing down for refreshment at a little restaurant café? at one of those. Another time, I hiked from D559 down to the calanque of En Vau. And then, when staying with a colleague in Cassis, I walked to the old quarries of Port Miou. It was charming also to visit the cabanons in the little village of Callelongue, suburb of Marseille? Jean-Claude Izzo writes memorably in his fiction of that region.
Recently, I took a boat tour of the Calanques from Cassis on windy day, a different experience. I only hope the calanques will not be spoiled by too much tourism and development. they are tto beautiful.
Vous m’avez donné un bref aperçu de la vie française, quelques moments très agréable de la gastronomie et l’aventure. Les images me reviennes de notre séjour à Dijon, et des moments d’une joie semblable. Je vous remercie d’avoir partagé votre vie un peu.
How utterly charming! My French is fairly good but I could feel my usage improving as I read this delightful account of a pleasant day in France. Was in Mougins and Paris a few weeks ago and would gladly return today.
Kristi,
I just signed up for this “french word-a-day”
and am loving it. My son is in french immersion at school and we were looking for an article of clothing starting with “Q” and found your blog! Any ideas?
Thank you it was fun reading Jean-Marc’s story and looking up all the words I didn’t know.
J’aime bien les histoires en francais!
We went for a wonderful walk along the calanque just west of Cassis about 10 years ago- I guess it must have been the Calanque de Port-Miou (I know this only by checking my trusty Michelin Motoring Atlas!). What a gorgeous place! We walked along the top of the calanque because as far as we could tell, there was no plage underneath, just a fairly sheer drop down to the sea. And yes, one has to be careful walking along there as my husband did in fact fall on uneven terrain and twist his ankle. Fortunately after a few minutes of rest he was mostly OK.
Did I read correctly that the two boys jumped 5 and 12 metres down into the water? 15 and 36 Feet??!! Ils sont fous ces garcons!
Thank you for the wonderful photos.
We go down to the calanques quite often but every time I am dazzled by the wonderful colours. What an amazing area!
A wonderful post and beautiful pictures!
Thank you for allowing us to share in such a happy day!
Our weekend couldn’t be off to a better start!
Bon journee!!!
How fantastic to have all of this read by JM. AND AT JUST THE RIGHT SPEED! At first I was a bit lazy and skimmed through quickly, thinking I would wait for the translation but with the aid of a dictionary I have translated it . I am sure it has done wonders for my (beginners) French and I am really glad I did. Nice to find out more about the area and to add it to my wish list for future holidays. Am so grateful to hear it read by a native speaker though of course I love yours too Kristi!
I appreciate the fact that parents are shown teaching their son/godson to appreciate wine. It is as you know, a real cultural difference between France and the USA.