Félicitations to our Max, who begins un stage, or internship, in Reims, for the champagne house Lanson. Go back with me, today, to his very first job at the age of 3: teaching his mom how to correctly pronounce French! Read on in today's story, below. Today's word: la ceinture de sécurité  : seat belt Some of you enjoyed viewing the vocabulary list before the … Continue reading How to say “seat belt” in French & learning to pronounce French

Jean-Marc (here, with grape stains…) and Kristi will be in Denver soon, for a wine tasting of Provence and Chateauneuf du Pape wines that Chief Grape exports to Colorado. This event will take place September 13th from 3 to 6 PM at The Vineyard Wine Shop, 261 Fillmore Street, Denver, CO 80206. Tel : 303 355 8324 We look forward to seeing you there! Just … Continue reading A colorful way to say “I’m so hungry!”

Jean-Marc and Kristi will be in Denver soon, attending a wine tasting of Provence and Chateauneuf du Pape wines that Chief Grape exports to Colorado. This event will take place September 13th from 3 to 6 PM at The Vineyard Wine Shop, 261 Fillmore Street, Denver, CO 80206. Tel : 303 355 8324 We look forward to seeing you there! Today's Word: le déchet   … Continue reading le déchet : What the tourists regularly toss into our garden

Sometime during her second week in France, Mom moved out of grandson Max's room and into her own independent "space." Here's a view looking down from my bedroom, to Mom's "front patio" (really just the edge of our driveway that meets the house). In order to block the view of our cars–and the slew of tourists who pass by on their way to the beach–we've … Continue reading A near disaster & Ouf! Phew!

Midsummer night in La Ciotat. Families at their pop-up picnic tables, people swimming into the night, and the historic shipyard in the background, beneath a mauve sky. I'm going to bottle up this peaceful scene and shake it out in bits–in the kitchen, in the bedroom–wherever there's conflict….Two words today: gérer and débrouiller   : to manage and to sort things out Audio File: Click here to … Continue reading Gérer, débrouiller: How to Let Go…and Grow.

Thank you very much for clicking on the flyer above, from my friend and sponsor, Tess! Several of you have enjoyed her Paint in Provence tours. Hopefully more readers will discover Tess's colorful Provence!  Today's Word: cochonnerie     : junk food    : mess, crap, rubbish, junk Click here to listen to Jean-Marc pronounce these French words: Les bonbons, les restaurants de nourriture rapide, … Continue reading Grignoter & Cochonnerie: What it really means when your family says, “There’s nothing to eat in this fridge!”

Today's expression is inspired by a few choice words in the (clickable) flyer above. Thanks, Julie, Daniel and Arthur, of L'Ecole de la Bière in Nice, for a cool phrase to share in French.  faire fureur     : to be all the rage Cela fait fureur. It's all the rage. Click the link below, to listen to this sentence  Faire fureur A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE … Continue reading It’s all the rage, in French: Beer & Tarts (Tarte à la tomate et à la moutarde) A sure favorite so don’t miss this!