A bank transfer via Zelle is the best way to send your donation as there are no transaction fees. Most online banks in the USA contain the Zelle® money transfer tab. Search for Zelle®, then use these simple steps: 1. For the recipient info, please use my Bank of America email ID: Kristin.Espinasse@gmail.com Include your email address so I may thank you personally. 2. Or … Continue reading Donation via bank transfer
One of these tourterelles landed on Smokey's back. You notice so much when you slow down. Today's phrase: rester dans les parages : to stick around Coucou, Dear Reader, This journal has gone on break. I have many more French words and stories to share with you, so please stick around. I assure you I'm not going anywhere and, apparently, neither are my … Continue reading Update from Kristi + Rester dans les parages = to stick around
Photo of me and Jean-Marc in 1991. Today, enjoy an extended sound file in French as Jean-Marc summarizes our story. Now that our vineyard memoir is written, we have arrived at a critical step: finding an agent and then a publisher for the hardcopy edition. Your help is vital! Please study the following synopsis in English and in French, and help answer the questions that … Continue reading What does “Féerique” mean in French? + compare translations of our bilingual book synopsis
“Do not send a letter… we don’t live there any more.” This beautiful calligraphy by Joy Fairclough, captures the beauty and romance of what many imagine to be life on a French vineyard. Jean-Marc and I share the true blood, sweat, and tears reality in our memoir, The Lost Gardens which we have just finished writing. Fêtons çela! Today's word: un ouvrage : … Continue reading Wish us luck (Souhaitez-nous bonne chance)! + Putting the cart before the horse (la charrue avant les boeufs)…
Sospel, France. February 2021. What with La Crise Sanitaire, it has been over a year since Jean-Marc and I traveled and courted adventure. Recently, we hit the road in our electric blue ZOE and were pleasantly surprised at how far it took us–all the way to the Italian border from La Ciotat–on one full "tank". (Jean-Marc had une borne de recharge installed at his wine … Continue reading Kicked out of Monaco + On the road to the Riviera in our electric car + 22, v’là les flics + pictures from Sospel, Menton, Nice
I have something to share with you–entirely in French–at the end of the online post: click here for the full edition. Today's Word: quinzomadaire : fortnightly, every two weeks, bi-monthly Audio File: Click here to listen to the following sentenceQuinzomadaire: mot-valise et monstre lexical formé sur quinze et hebdomadaire, était censé se substituer à bimensuel. -Alain ReyQuinzomadaire: portmanteau word and lexical monster formed by … Continue reading Quinzomadaire (our secret to finishing a book) + Some news to share–all in French!
Ahoy! Ohé! Participants (or pirates…) at Sunday's mischievous marmalade contest. Notice the historic grue, or crane, in upper left. Today's "words of the day" are submerged in the following story. Hunt for them like a deepsea treasure–or walk the plank! se faire jeter par-dessus bord! Mille mercis to Christiane, from La Ciotadenne, for the pictures that illustrate this post. A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE by Kristin … Continue reading A French wine and jam contest (with a nautical theme and a seaworthy crew…)
Let's jump right into today's narrative and improve our French! The audio and vocabulary list follow… When I am old and wrinkled—well into the troisième âge—I want to race along the shores of Brittany on my Mobylette, that most groovy of French bikes with an engine! I want to be an eccentric vieille dame. I don't want to care about what anyone thinks, as long … Continue reading Seaside in La Ciotat + learn a dozen useful words (and hear some drunk French) in today’s edition
As upsetting as it is to wake up to news of an insurrection, most concerning is the effect it could have on our personal relationships. That is, at least, the biggest thing on my mind this morning. The following thoughts began as a pep talk to myself. Firstly, hang in there! Tenir bon = tenir le coupWhat if the antidote to un coup is to … Continue reading To Cope in French + Waking up in France to an attempted coup d’état back home
Read to the end of the story for a helpful relationship tip ♥. Today's Word: rendre l'âme 1. to breathe one's last breath (person) 2. to stop working forever, to give up the ghost (object) Click here to listen to the following sentence in FrenchMon ordinateur portable HP a soudainement rendu l'âme.My laptop suddenly gave up the ghost. A DAY IN A … Continue reading Rendre l’Ame: My Laptop Died + Christmas lights in the Old Port of La Ciotat
