Ten days ago, my husband and I launched a book and then everything went up in flames–here on the homefront and there, inside Notre Dame. As emotions billowed up all around, we stepped back, stepped away, and then finally stepped up to the plate again. The next installment of our book is up, and we are going to take things chapter by chapter, dealing with … Continue reading Hérisser: from a prickly critter…to a verb to help describe an emotion we all felt last week

Jean-Marc and I are finally telling the story of why we packed up and left our vineyard and our dream estate. Read our co-authored memoir, The Lost Gardens.  In August of 2017, my family and I said adieu to our heavenly domain by the Mediterranean sea. Here, beside the famous Bandol appellation, my husband, Jean-Marc, started his vineyard from scratch, and here is where I … Continue reading The Lost Gardens by Jean-Marc and Kristi Espinasse

Thank you very much for purchasing our online memoir. Please note down the following info, as you will need it each time you visit the book site:The web address for our book (bookmark this):https://french-word-a-day.typepad.com/the-lost-gardens/ User name: gardenPassword: vineyard If you should ever need me to resend this info, do not hesitate to email me! Thank you again and we hope you will enjoy our story.Amicalement,Kristi … Continue reading Thank you for buying The Lost Gardens!

For those wishing to travel to France and to be guided by a most endearing host, I share with you first a message from my friend Tessa Baker, of Paint Provence with Tess: With my May and June trips now full I thought I might remind you that I still have three places on my July 6th – 13th trip in the Charente. A perfect … Continue reading Avec le plus grand soin: Meet Arnaud Chevalier

GLANER MEANS 'TO GLEAN' by Kristi Espinasse In the dramatic opening scene of her memoir The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls is riding in the back of a New York taxi, wondering whether she has overdressed for the party to which she is headed, when she sees something that knocks the wind right out of her Park Avenue sails. Out there on the curbside, an older … Continue reading Glaner: In Memory of Agnes Varda (30 May 1928 – 29 March 2019)

Very sorry for today's hasty letter. I'm in a hurry as I need to be in Paris by 9 a.m. for three days of community service. The authorities contacted us after the herdsman I wrote about filed a complaint. Turns out we are being prosecuted–not for misrepresentation but for empoisonnement! That punk rock shepherd I profiled in January is now claiming his herd suffered gastro-entérite–or le gastro–after grazing in our mustard pasture. (Jean-Marc … Continue reading The slammer (prison) in French. Don’t miss today’s ‘Taule’ story.