TODAY’S WORD: revenir : to come back

PRONUNCIATION: ruh-vuh-neer

On revient en juillet pour entendre les cigales.
We’ll come back in July to hear the cicadas.

A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE by Kristi Espinasse

It’s Jackie’s turn to write, but as she and Vinny are en route to the airport—on their way back to New York—I’ll step in with a brief summary of the week. Let’s call this one Six Days in La Ciotat. Ready? On y va !

JEUDI — Jackie drove to pick up Vinny at the airport Thursday morning. On the way back, the couple stopped in Marseille to stroll near the charming neighborhood of Malmousque. A chocolate beignet offered a sweet introduction to the days to come.

Here in La Ciotat, the visit began with un plouf dans l’eau. A splash in the sea is tradition when arriving at our place, followed by a lazy walk along the crowded boardwalk (c’est les vacances de printemps).

For dinner, we gathered on the front terrace—beneath the stars (and some hungry mosquitoes). Grandma Jules, Jean-Marc, Max, Jackie and I raised a welcome toast to Vinny while Ricci played her favorite game of scavenging beneath the table. Barbecued shrimp, mussels, and homemade frites were on the menu… and on the ground, thanks to Grandma who snuck a few fries to our little shepherd.

VENDREDI — While I pumped iron at the gym, Jean-Marc, Vinny, and Jackie took the pointu out to l’île Verte, where a brisk dive into the Mediterranean, a hunt for prickly oursins, and a glass of rosé were just enough to revive the travelers before that evening’s party at the house—a joyful reunion with all Jackie’s friends who came from Toulon, Marignane, and Salon just to see her again.

SAMEDI — We set out for a two-hour hike along le chemin de Sainte-Croix for a view of the sea from above, rewarded afterward with lunch in the calanque du Mugel. We ordered the usual entrée: les mange-tout—“eat-it-alls” (tiny fried fish, eyes and tails included)—which amused Vin the last time he was here, in July.

DIMANCHE — A visit to the hilltop village of Le Castellet, a small hair disaster (for me) after Jean-Marc refilled our shampoo container with multi-purpose soap (better suited to tiled floors than fine hair), followed by lunch in Cassis at Le Grand Large above a sandy beach already dotted with sunbathers—in April.

LUNDI — Vinny and Jackie explored the red-rocked calanque de Figuerolles and its turquoise waters, then picked up a roast chicken for a family lunch. Dinner later on, with Max and Ana, ended in laughter over a few spirited jeux de société: a card game involving spoons, followed by Mikado—where you carefully remove wooden bâtons from a pile, one by one, without disturbing the other sticks. I laughed until my stomach hurt as Max repeated the card game rules to an increasingly frustrated Jean-Marc—but fell quiet when the second game began and I couldn’t manage to retrieve a single stick (while he, of course, nailed it!).

MARDI — For our last day together, we shared lunch on the front porch. The doves’ cooing reminded Vinny how much the local wildlife defines the atmosphere here—particularly the after-dark call of the Eurasian scops owl, its steady, forlorn, almost metallic note echoing like a distant beacon. Most memorable of all are the trilling cicadas (yet to surface). “We’ll be back for them in July,” Jackie promised.

In the afternoon, a visit to the Ciotaden Museum to learn about the town’s history (birthplace of pétanque—and, just down the road, one of the earliest chapters in cinema)…then drinks in the shade at Café de l’Horloge, followed by a long walk home along La Voie Douce—the former railway line—ending with Jean-Marc’s incontournable spaghetti Roquefort. Max and Ana joined us again that evening, and Jackie opened a bottle of Sassicaia, a Tuscan red from her “1997 birthday stash,” a collection Jean-Marc began the year she was born and has kept for her here at home. Now, it seems a few bottles will be traveling back to Brooklyn—and for good reason. Our daughter is finally settled. I’ll toast to that.

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The alarm rang at 5:30 this morning, in time for coffee together in the salon, curled up on the couch with Ricci, who seemed to sense the departure.

On revient, Jackie promised, hugging us both.
Ils reviennent, I assured Ricci.

We’ll be back. On revient. These are our code words of reassurance.

Until then, we’ll let the photos and memories keep us company.

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FRENCH VOCABULARY

revenir = to come back

un plouf dans l’eau = a splash in the water

les vacances de printemps = spring holidays

le pointu = traditional wooden fishing boat

l’île Verte = Green Island

un oursin = sea urchin

le chemin de Sainte-Croix = Sainte-Croix path

la calanque du Mugel = Mugel cove

les mange-tout = “eat-it-alls” (tiny fried fish eaten whole)

le jeu de société = board game

un bâton = stick

la calanque de Figuerolles = Figuerolles cove

le musée Ciotaden = Ciotaden Museum

la pétanque = a traditional French bowling game

le Café de l’Horloge = Café of the Clock

la Voie Douce = the soft path (former railway path)

incontournable = a must-have / unmissable

le salon = living room

On revient = we’ll be back

Ils reviennent = they’ll be back

REMERCIEMENTS
Thank you to the following readers for your donation this past week to this journal!

Mary D. — “Thank you for the wonderful work in ‘cousinade’.”

Kitty W-P — “Gladly catching up with the doings of ‘French Word A Day,’ Kristi! Love that you and Jackie are co-authors now, too — hugs and all the VERY best to everyone!” ~ Kitty W-P in Canada

Whether you’ve been reading for years or just stumbled upon this little corner of France, thank you for being here. These stories continue thanks to reader encouragement. If you’d like to help maintain this journal, here are a few simple ways:

🌿 Zelle – to Kristin.espinasse@gmail.com
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Gift the book A Year in a French Life to a friend. It’s packed with colorful photos and vocabulary.

EDITS WELCOME
If you spot a typo, mistake, or ambiguity, thank you for letting me know at Kristin.espinasse@gmail.com