TODAY’S WORD: montgolfière (f) : hot-air balloon
PRONUNCIATION: [mon-gol-FYAIR]
Example:
En imagination, je vous fais signe depuis une montgolfière, en route vers notre nouveau site web.
In my imagination, I’m waving to you from a hot-air balloon, on the way to our new website.
A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE by Kristi Espinasse
They say if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and that bit of sagesse has served me well over the years (ever since getting a horrific perm at the hairdresser’s taught me not to mess with a good thing). But when my blog could no longer upload photos—or worse, when they’d disappear after being published—I knew it was time to make a tough decision.
After procrastinating for years, I’ve finally changed blogging platforms—trading my trusty old site for a more technically advanced one. What a learning curve! I liken the experience to switching vehicles: going from a Volkswagen Bug to a Learjet–or make that a UFO. My former blog had a simple gearshift. This new machine? It’s got a thousand buttons, switches, toggles, and levers—there’s even a digital parachute in case I hit the wrong one and send my shiny new ship hurtling to the ground.
To say this basculement was difficult is an understatement, though walks with Ricci and chats with Mama Jules, helped. Through it all, I kept coming back to the drawing board—or rather, the blog’s tableau de bord—and hitting all the foreign buttons along the interface until I knew them by heart. Don’t hand me a thick owner’s manual—just give me two months to peck at unfamiliar buttons until I understand them (same goes for my oven and the remote control).
Just when I finally figured out how to add a banner to the site, create a sidebar menu, and install a “Subscribe here!” box in the blog’s footer, along came the daunting task of migrating 21 years’ worth of posts from the old blog to its shiny new home. I still can’t believe I did it.
At my former site, a support tech helped with the export. This time, my initial requests were handled by “Happiness Engineers”—which turned out to be AI (or virtual assistants, at best). Things got so complicated they eventually handed me over to real people!
Even so, it was still up to me to upload over two decades of content: text, photos, sound files… tout le bazar.
This week’s challenge is to now migrate 20,000 readers. No worries—I’m not about to ask you to don a helmet and step up into this flying saucer. I ask only for your patience as the support team at WordPress helps with the transfer. Please remain calm, wear your gilet de sauvetage, and we’ll soon be on the other side of this abyss. (You need not resubscribe…if you have received this message in your inbox you are good to go. Thanks Happiness Engineers Carolyn and crew at WordPress!)
Meantime, I’m delighted with our new “air-conditioned” digs–so glad we’re no longer traveling in a VW Bug, windows down, dust circulating. The Learjet is probably more than we needed. Perhaps a hot air balloon could have carried us forward?
Now that the blog move is complete, one pépin remains: my old site is still parked at French-Word-A-Day.com, while my new digs are at KristinEspinasse.com. I’ve still got to figure that one out—something about DNS settings and domain redirects. I’m learning as I go! In the meantime, I’ll keep both vehicles in the garage. Imagine that: a shiny UFO parked beside a classic Beetle. The image makes me smile—especially when I picture Mama Jules and Ricci waving from one of the backseat windows.
As for me, I’m waving at you from une montgolfière. One has to keep up with technology… while remaining nostalgic at heart.
FRENCH VOCABULARY
Click below to listen to Jean-Marc pronounce the French terms in today’s story:
la sagesse = wisdom
le basculement = the switchover
le tableau de bord = dashboard
tout le bazar = the whole shebang / everything / the whole mess
le gilet de sauvetage = lifejacket
le pépin = glitch, snag, hiccup
une montgolfière = hot air balloon
A Message from Kristi: Ongoing support from readers like you keeps me writing and publishing this free language journal each week. If you find joy or value in these stories and would like to keep this site going, donating today will help so much. Thank you for being a part of this community and helping me to maintain this site and its newsletter.
Ways to contribute:
1.Zelle®, The best way to donate and there are no transaction fees. Zelle to kristin.espinasse@gmail.com
2.Paypal or credit card
Or purchase my book for a friend and so help them discover this free weekly journal.
For more online reading: The Lost Gardens: A Story of Two Vineyards and a Sobriety
🌿 What’s New at the Blog!
- Listen + Learn: You can now hit the sound file button (below the word of the day) and see the vocabulary list at the same time—no more being redirected to a blank page!
- Rotating Header: Refresh the page or click on a new story and enjoy a new header photo each time.
- Comments Upgrade: In the comments section, you can now like each other’s contributions—so go ahead and spread the love!
- Related Posts: At the end of every blog post, you’ll find a list of related stories (some going back to 2004!)—perfect for a stroll down memory lane.
- Newsletter Enhancements: New email format includes direct links to the comment section—click from your inbox to join the conversation!
Thank you for reading today. I’d love your input on the new site! Look for the comments box, just below. Un grand merci!
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Fun post….technology has surpassed everyone over the age of 12…..grrrr…..Im in the same boat as you!!
Congratulations! I know how very difficult and inconveniencing it is to transition platforms! I love reading your missives so just take your time with it all!
Lots of good wishes,
Mary
Red Bank, NJ
I’m so glad you are back! I’ve missed your posts.
Sally in Tulsa, Oklahoma
You did it! And your email list is transferred, too! Congratulations!
The only thing I prefer on your old site over WP is the ability to preview our comments first. But, the ability to know when there is a reply outweighs that! And perhaps, if I wasn’t sans home internet & needing to write on my mobile, proofing would be easier – ha!
Onward & forward!
Hi Trina, You mentioned not being able to find your comment. It’s here! It seems that WordPress sometime assigns pseudonyms. I’m not sure when they do that, but when Jean-Marc initially sign up he got one too!
Wow. It’s a beauty. I fully appreciate the challenge involved in the basculement. Nothing brings out my own procrastination like new tech. New Phone? Ugh. New laptop? Ouch. New internet provider? Pfft. Can’t hardly wait for a self driving car. Three months and a box of tissues to weep into before we leave the driveway. Seriously K, looks really good and I’m looking forward to exploring the new features.
Congratulations!!! 🎉🎈 Great job!! It would have taken me years to accomplish this! 💖
Up up and away!!
The new website looks great. And it sounds as if it will be even better than the previous one.
I believe Max’s birthday is tomorrow. Please pass on to him mes meilleurs voeux et felicitations lors de son 30ieme anniversaire.
Bonjour Kristin!
I thoroughly enjoyed my first newsletter! And I just finished reading another of your books, “First French Essais”. Guess I’d better order another!
I have never had a desire to visit Provence but you make it very inviting. I hope your Mom is doing OK.
Amicalement, Eleanor (nickname Eli) Darron
>
I didn’t receive your new post. I had to go dig around for it and found it in junk mail. I’ve followed you for many years so I don’t know what it was doing there. I have your name and email in my phone list to be sure to receive your posts. Should I resubscribe?
Judy
Hi Judy,
Thank you for the helpful info. You do not need to resubscribe. But you will need to add that address (comment-reply@wordpress.com) to your address book. Please also mark the mail as non-spam, next time to see it in your spam folder. Let me know how next week letter does (and where it ends up). Merci!
I’ve also followed you for years, and now find new website unappealing, it went into wrong space and had everything shifted entirely to right side of page, which detracts from your lovely photos & is generally not half as nice as it had been. Sorry, but honestly you went from really nice to not so good at all.
Hi Marty, I appreciate your honest feedback. The website design can be changed, so I will keep your note in mind. How about the email version you received in your inbox—did you find it as good as the previous version?
I’m having problems too, with ALL comments showing up in my personal email, rather than at the end of the post, as I’m used to. I probably re-subscribed wrong, but the old method seemed to a luddite like myself as more user-friendly. Big learning curve here. Sorry to complain…..
Marty, I’ve found the email version similarly difficult, but when I click to read on the website, I can read it fine.
Kristi, However, my original comment on this blog post showed approved in my mailbox, but I can’t find it here to see how it shows up. I was concerned because I see a few are showing up with email addresses, etc.
And, I see it’s actually Matty, not Marty; apologies.
And, Kristi, I see why I couldn’t see my comment. It shows with some odd screen name that I have no idea where or how that originated. All other WP blogs I follow show my first name only. This one gave me no option when subscribing & yet didn’t use what is shown on all other WP I follow (or should say followed, as they recently transitioned to Substack).
Well done! It’s lovely and the journey continues!
We’ll done Kristin! Negotiating through the technology is a challenge these days! I’ve been looking at your pages on and off since Smoky was mauled. Just how long is that! ?
You provide a valuable service to so many readers. How you can keep it up beats me. All I can say is: ‘ keep going’ ! (From an octogenarian in South Africa.)
Many thanks, Alastair! Notes like yours really keep me going. I appreciate your taking the time to comment. All the best in South Africa. Jean-Marc is planning his next bike/wine tour there in 2026.
Sorry Kristin. My name was misspelled in my earlier post. It’s Alastair Grant (not Garnt) I think it was the spell-check, but perhaps just me!
Congrats on successfully making the move. I had several blogs, also started in mid-2000s, that I never did manage to move to another platform, after the first ones died.
That must have been quite a lot to bring over two decades worth of posts and photos!
sorry, your \”more technically advanced\” site, does not show up where it should and thus is easily missed, too bad, the \”advance\” is surely a step back.
Hi Kristi
I like the new website and had no problems downloading it. I completely understand the problems that you faced with it along the way. Keep up the good work.
Nick
Thanks, Nicholas! So good to see your note and encouragement.