Goodbye Mas des Brun. Thank you for 5 wonderful years!
FARNIENTE–from the Italian fare (to do) and niente (nothing). Farniente is a new word for me, and an old one when it comes to naming a home (Jean-Marc tells me many French people name their homes farniente). Help us find a name for our new place, submit your suggestion in the comments at the end of this post
SOUNDFILE
Click here to listen to Jean-Marc read the following French words
Nous cherchons un nom pour notre future maison…nous pensons à "Farniente."
We are looking for a name for our future house…we're thinking about "Farniente."
A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE
Goodbye Mas des Brun
by Kristi Espinasse
I've just cleared off my desk to type this last dispatch from our former home sweet home. It is quiet here now, only a very dusty house and a few towers of boxes after Jean-Marc's family left, last night.
What a help they were! Jean-Marc's brother, Jacques, arrived, along with Mariem, his "coeur" (as he's called her for years) and her 11-year-old son Farès, who is a smiling participant in anything–even moving! My belle-soeur Cécile joined us, too, for phase one of our déménagement.
Forming a human chain, our family transferred the wood pile to the rented camion and emptied the entire contents of Jean-Marc's wine cellar bottle by bottle, case by case! As an array of dusty bouteilles traveled out of the cave
UP the path in front of our porch, our golden retriever was reminded to sors de là–or move it!
Our former home. Read about that window above Smokey….
If Smokey is a little displaced so is his unbeknownst-to-him adversaire, Lili–the 12-year-old long-haired chat we've inherited along with our new (1960-built) house in La Ciotat. Though Lili has been entrusted to the neighbors, we all hope she'll just stay put. The question is, after 10 moves, will we stay put too?
SUBMIT A NAME FOR OUR NEW HOME
Talk to you again soon–from La Ciotat. Meantime, help me answer Cécile's, question: "What will you name your new house?" Submit a name in the comments box below (link at the end of this post).
FRENCH VOCABULARY
Mon Coeur = sweetheart
la belle-soeur = sister-in-law, step-sister
le déménagement = move, moving
le camion = truck
une bouteille = bottle
la cave = cellar, wine cellar
sors de là! = move out of the way!
Batch after batch of oven-roasted ratatouille has sustained us during this move! My favorite way to make it is to chop up all the vegetables listed below and toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper (we ran out of herbs de Provence and won't buy more until we move!). Put the coated veggies on a tray or two and into the oven they go (at 180c or 350F, for one hour). Delicious with a roast chicken, all that leftover sanglier, or tossed in pasta, to name a few incarnations of this wonderful dish.
The veggies you'll need. Let me know if I've left something out…
2 eggplants
2 peppers
2 zucchini
lots of cherry tomatoes, whole or halved
2 carrots will add a wonderful roasted sweetness!
1 onion
1 potato
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
Tip: The more colorful the better. When our curb-side veggie stand had yellow tomatoes, I grabbed them. Ditto for the white eggplant and also the bright purple eggplant. Carrots are not part of the traditional ratatouille, but the color and taste sweetens everything! Do yourself a favor and make this easy dish whenever the ingredients are in season. It is so handy to have on hand, just like its Sicilian counterpart.
Previous recipe: the scrumptious La Tarte Tomate
On Monday we will complete phase 2 of our move, just up the coast to La Ciotat. A bientôt!
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A nice name for a house…
“SAM SUFFIT” .It seems that it is SAM like a first name and Suffit last name …But it is a pun ….It means phonetically ” I am content with it ” Spelled properly it would
would be : ça me suffit
Sample on this web site
http://lesbeauxdimanches.hautetfort.com/media/00/02/2386611201.jpg
My suggestion ‘Rêve de soleil’
or ‘Rêve de bonheur’. Both of
these suit your lovely family
– full of happiness and
warmed by the sun.
Yes, wait for the name, and that way, you can be sure it’s the right one. I personally feel that “farniente”, in the sense of doing nothing, doesn’t fit you – you are both energetic and involved in numerous things. That doesn’t mean that you can’t take breaks now and then, or create a maybe slower-paced lifestyle.
I’m sure it was hard to leave Mas des Brun, but you can feel good about it in that you left it in much better shape than you found it. From pictures I saw, both the building and the property were much improved, and prettier. The new owners must be pleased.
I’m praying for a smooth transition to La Ciotat. Moving is demanding, but you’ll feel great once you settle in. Along with the various name suggestions made so far, I offer “Chanson de Mer.” I’m glad you’ll still be close to the sea.
Best of luck getting resettled.
Do you know that there is a winery in CA named Far Niente (2 words). Makes good chardonnay, as I recall. Here’s a link: https://farniente.com/ Just in case you want to check it out before using that name (which I like). I’m sure you will come up with something that’s just right, and not too ‘cute’.
Another adventure.
Thinking of you with affection,
Carole
Not a house name but there are a chain of tartan shops in Edinburgh called ‘Thistle Do Nicely’.
I’ve only had 2 houses with names, both inherited. The first one was Newseat, spelled backwards. ‘Newseat’ is a traditional farm name in the NE Scotland. My French house was ‘La Genevriere’ as there juniper trees on the terrasse so a link to genever.
How about Couscous ?
Chers Kristin et Jean-Marc. Ce qui est le centre de vos vies est votre passion pour les autres personnes. Comme vos coeurs, votre maison est toujours ouverte à la famille et aux autres personnes du monde. Je suggère: Mas d’Amitié
What a beautiful sentiment! I could not have said it any better.
Oooh, I like that one! Especially due to the Mexican connection.😊
Bonjour, I believe you have to name your own home, it will come, I am booked into a home in la Ciotat( by way of Bedycasa) with a lady by the name of Corrine on the 18th for 4 nites,perhaps we are nieghbors, look forward to seeing you both,much good luck on the move, your Dear old fiend from Dunedin Fla.
looool 😉
We too will be moving next spring from our home in Chicago of 18 years to a home in North Carolina to be closer to our children and grandchildren. I had not thought of naming our new “nid” but I just might do that! Blessings on you both in this new chapter of your lives.
Thank you for your lovely comment. I always value yours – and you have my real name.
Le Bonheur!
Good Luck to you all. God bless and keep you in your new home. Can’t wait to see pictures of your new abode and your beautiful writings about your new impressions.
Again, all my best!
Monika
Hi Kristi,
I agree with the many people who wrote, “Don’t rush to name the new house. It will come to you.”
However I would not vote for “Farniente” because I cannot imagine you and Jean-Marc sitting around doing nothing!! And personally I think the name should be in French. Why confuse the neighbors (and your French-Word-A-Day fans)? It’s good to blend in to a new place as naturally as one can!
Happy settling in to your new home!
Best of Luck on this new adventure, looking forward to reading all about it.
xoxo
I found your Instagram post/picture very poignant and sense as always your ambivalence and regret at the move. But I’m certain you will all make a success of it. You had to leave, Mas des Brun wasn’t possible for you any more – but you are moving to somewhere full of character in a area you already know and love. But I appreciate that moving is exhausting both physically and emotionally. Be kind to yourselves and take time to get straight and settle in. What matters is that you are safe and you are together. With all good wishes.
There must be hundreds of possibilities. I kind of like “Notre maison nouvelle” or “notre nouvelle vie”. So many choices. “Enfin, nous sommes arrives!
Excellente!
Please add my best wishes to this lovely chorus of friends near and far.
Far Niente is an excellent winery in California.
It alreaqy has: moustiq