French Word-A-Day

fluvial

Has a friend just forwarded you this French word journal? Bienvenue à bord! Welcome aboard! Click here to receive a free subscription of your own. and enjoy many more photos and stories from France. (Picture taken at the hilltop village of Les Baux de Provence.)

France and Monaco Rentals. 
Exclusive Vacation Rental 

 

fluvial(e) adjective (flew-vee-al)

    : river, riverine; flowing

Yabla French Video Immersion.
The fun way to learn French

 

Audio File: Listen to Jean-Marc read the following example sentence and the list of French terms:  Download MP3 or Wav file

Kristi et sa meilleure amie, Susan, sont parties pour une croisière fluviale sur le Rhône. 
Kristi and her best friend, Susan, went on a Rhône river cruise. 

la voie fluviale = waterway
les ports fluviaux = river ports
la circulation fluviale = inland waterway traffic
les eaux fluviales = river water
la navigation fluviale = inland navigation  

French Christmas Music: "Mon Beau Sapin", "Saint Nuit", "La Marche des Rois", "Petite Ville Bethléem", "Il est né Le Divin Enfant". Order CD here.

 

A Day in a French Life...by Kristin Espinasse

Choosing the river cruise over the day-long olive harvest turned out to be the right decision... seeing that extra help here at home was not needed after all. Jean-Marc tells me the olive-picking chore soon turned into a pétanque/pastis fest after our volunteers showed up at lunchtime (a little late to begin picking) and therefore needed time to digest (via the pétanque) before gaining courage (via the pastis) to face those giant century-old trees.

Returning home from the cruise, I noticed the abandoned ladders that flanked the olive trees, and the fruit-catching filets that were still on the ground. Chairs scattered here and there hinted at a relaxed gathering, where the women sat tchatching and the men explored the caveau in which Jean-Marc had set up his wine cellar.

The bright blue ping-pong table had moved to the driveway and the leather director's chair (a gift from Mom) now towered over the boules court. As I tried to picture the players, I could almost hear cheering in the distance of time: Allez, Jean-Marc! Vas-y Thomas! C'est à Pierre. Allez, on joue!

Lugging the chair back to the house to protect it from the elements, I ignored the holes in the lettuce leaves (caterpillars? grasshoppers?) and tried not to think about all the catching up to do post vacation. Everything would get done. Rest assured, tout rentrera dans l'ordre. Thankfully, Jean-Marc had cleaned the house and kept up with the laundry, which was now drying crookedly on the line. I was impressed with the effort and touched by the thoughtful welcome home: seeing me drive up, Jean-Marc disappeared behind the front door to witness the expression on my face on seeing the crackling fire in the cheminée. Talk about a warm welcome! 

Hungry, I opened the frigo and saw desserts left over from Sunday (would the lemon tart still be good today, Thursday?). I tried to imagine all the good food the guests brought to the olive-tree harvest/potluck, which Jean-Marc tells me was très bien passé, despite the mostly unpicked trees. It turns out the olives were just an excuse to invite his old chums around.

And this past week's cruise was a wonderful excuse for a couple of other old chums to meet up and to celebrate 30 years of friendship. 

***
To comment on this entry, or to read the comments, click here. 

Post note: This restful time away was also an opportunity to write down a goal's list--something I have not done in years. One of the top items on that list is to go on another French river cruise (or maybe even cruise the Danube!). My best friend Susan organized our AMA Waterways cruise (she is a travel expert) and believes AMA Rhône cruises are among the best. Feel free to contact her at Susan@CriticsChoiceVacations.com or call her at 480-831-9076 for pricing and more details about this particular cruise, or any other. Note: to reserve your cabin for the  2013 cruise, the time to book is now.

French Vocabulary

pétanque = a form of boules
le pastis = an anis-flavored liqueur
le filet = net 
tchaching (frenglish, from tchatcher = to chat) 
le caveau = wine cellar
tout rentrera dans l'ordre = everything would get put back in place
Allez, Jean-Marc! = come on, Jean-Marc!
Vas-y Thomas! =  Go, Thomas
C'est à Pierre = It's Pierre's turn
Allez, on joue! = Come on. Let's play! 
le frigo = fridge
très bien passé = (everything) went well 

 

Where to Rent in Provence:

Provence Dreamin'? Maison des Pelerins, Sablet. A Vacation Rental Dream in the heart of the Côte du Rhone.

Hotels in France. Visit EasyToBook.com to find the cheapest hotels in almost all France cities. 

The fall is a colorful time to cruise. 

Waking up in Arles... 

Colorful locals in Les Baux de Provence

In my hand I am holding a chuchoteur or "whisperer". We carried the audio units to each destination in order to learn all about the history and more, thanks to the knowledge of the AMA tour guides. (Photo by Susan Boehnstedt.)

A perfect travel companion -- and wonderful travel organizer! Contact my dear friend, Susan, for more info on the AMA Waterways cruise we just took. Her email is Susan@CriticsChoiceVacations.com or call her at 480-831-9076.

Susan writes:

In the past years, river cruising has become a lot more popular and there are many reasons why, but let me just highlight a few for you (not in any particular order):

1. Unpack only once into your spacious cabin (ranging from 170 sq. feet to larger categories up to 255 sq feet).

2. Complimentary free flowing local wines, beer or soda included at every dinner. Unlimited champagne with every onboard breakfast. Complimentary gourmet coffees and teas (lattes, cappuccino, etc.). Complimentary bottled water provided and replenished as needed.

3. Gourmet meals with fresh fish, not frozen.

4. Complimentary city tours with personal audio headsets. Tours range from slow, regular and faster paced tours.

5. Complimentary bicycles on each ship (25-40 depending on ship), including helmet and bike lock for your riding pleasure.

5. Complimentary local and cultural specialty entertainment on ships at night.

6. Complimentary FREE internet and Infotainment system with free Hollywood movies in every stateroom.

7. Luxury accommodations with 82% French balconies on all ships. Some of the newer ships even have a full outside balcony. High quality lines and duvets in each cabin.

8. One of the newest fleets on the rivers. Oldest ship dating back to 2006 and several new ships coming in 2013.

AMA Waterways offers many different river cruising options such as: Africa, Europe, Thailand & Cambodia and Russia venues. To obtain the best cabins, it is wisest to book your AMA cruise 12-15 months in advance of sailing. We have all kinds of specials and promotions running right now.

Please email Susan@CriticsChoiceVacations.com or call 480-831-9076 for pricing and more details.

 
Hats in the town of Les Baux de Provence. To comment on any item in this edition, click here. More photos coming tomorrow...

Still reading? How about a random story, here. You'll learn more about this French life--and pick up several more vocabulary words. 

choper

A rose lover's Shangri-la: the village of Grignan. (Just don't steal the flowers... or the sweetness.... read on in today's story column.).

choper (sho-pay) verb

    : to steal, to pinch, to nab; to catch

Audio File: listen to Jean-Marc pronounce these French words (Download MP3 or Wav file)

Il a chopé un rhume / He caught a cold.
Elles ont chopé le sucre du bistro. / They nabbed the sugar. 

Synonyms: dérober = to purloin chiper = to swipe, filch piquer = to pinch, to nick

A Day in a French Life... by Kristin Espinasse

(Note: the following story is a re-post. It was written one year ago...)

"The Sugar Snatchers"

When your aunt and your uncle are in town for under a week... you've got to be picky and choosy about just which postcard-pretty places you'll take them to see.

Grignan was a must! Its chateau, overlooking the vine-flanked valley, and its perched, rose-petaled village, were once the residence and the stomping grounds of Madame de Sévigné, who wrote prolifically to her fille. Picture so many words showering down from the chateau, falling like tears of joy, watering all those heirloom roses, from "Autumn Sunset" to "Gipsy Boy".

The flowers steal one's attention making it is easy to be attracted to this rose-rampant "rise" in the French sky. Their colorful petals pull your eyes up the narrow paths, or calades, past the boutiques and the art galleries until you are overlooking the patchwork paysage of Provence. After your eyes expand over the valley, they are drawn back in to the skirt of the citadel, which bustles with café life.

There, at the Brasserie Le Sévigné my aunt, my uncle, and I sipped caffeine from colorful tasses à café. Feeling that after-lunch slump, we were content to let our ears do the walking and we listened as they bent here and there capturing the various conversations, most in French, though some were accented in English "city" or "country." I wondered whether the two ladies at the next table were from London? Then again, what do I know about the topography of talk or "accentry"?

Finishing our café crèmes, we stood up to leave.  I called over to my aunt, motioning to the sugar (we were each served two packets with our cup). Having only used one-half of a sugar envelope, I was slipping the leftovers into my purse. I had seen my aunt do the same at the previous café.... "Waste not, want not," she had explained, offering another of her affectionate winks. I figured I could give my aunt the extra sachets de sucre for her train trip to Paris the next day... It is always good to have a little blood-sugar-boosting sucrose on hand when traveling.).

"And take that one too!" I encouraged, pointing to the unused sugar packet in front of her.  
Just then, I caught sight of the Englishwomen at the next table. They were watching wide-eyed.

Caught red-handed, en flagrant délit, I had no choice but to finish shoving the second packet into my purse and I cringed when I realized the sugar envelope was open and showering down granulated sweetness, mixing with the contents of my purse.

My dear aunt, her back to the would-be whistle-blowers, was unaware of our unseemly circumstance. "Here," she said, handing me her unused packet of sugar. Meantime my uncle voiced our actions, as my uncle is wont to do: "Oh, what's that? You are taking some sugar? I see."

The problem was others, too, were seeing! And, what with my uncle's commentary, we thieves were a terribly conspicuous crew.

"Put. It. In. Your. Pocket!" I snapped at my fellow sugar-snatcher. But my aunt stood there, her arm extended like a red flag, sugar packet waving like the drapeau of death. It seemed to take hours for that sugar packet to reroute itself into my aunt's pocket and I stood startled-eyed until the evidence disappeared into la poche.

As we turned our backs on the café, my aunt overheard the condemning comment at the next table as one woman spoke in a disapproving tone, pointing out our petty theft to her table-mate. "They've taken the sugar!" she reported. 

Half-way to the getaway car and my aunt and I were giggling, "They've taken the sugar!" we laughed, lacing our voices with disapproving English accents. My uncle got into the back of the car, scratching his head in confusion, having missed the episode completely. Meantime, I started the engine and my aunt hopped into the passenger's seat and when we did she winked at me: 

"I've got the sugar," she confirmed. "Hit it!"

With that, we peeled out of the postcard-pretty town, bidding goodbye to a proper Madame de Sévigné and leaving, in the sugar dust, the would-be whistle-blowers with their cups of unsweetened tea.

.
:: Le Coin Commentaires ::

To leave a comment or a correction, thank you for clicking here.

Do you have a minute to read a short story about my uncle? And about keeping up appearances? Click here.

French Vocabulary

une fille = girl, daughter

une calade = a sloping, paved pathway

le paysage = landscape, scene

la tasse à cafe = coffee cup

le café crème (synonym for le café au lait) = coffee with cream

le sachet de sucre = sugar packet

pris en flagrant délit = caught red-handed

le drapeau = flag

la poche = pocket

Reverse Dictionary

waste not want not = (not a word-for-word equivalent, but here are two equivalent French proverbs: les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivieres ("little streams make big rivers") and plusieurs peu font beaucoup (a lot of littles make much)

.

 

 "The Missing Photo". Mama Braise says: "But where is my picture, missing from the bottom of the rack?" Smokey (off in the distance, chewing on something) responds: "...munch, munch, munch...." Braise: "Smokey, is that you I hear?"....

   I Heart Paris Shopper: made of recycled material. 1-Percent of the sale of this bag will support the conservation work of the nature conservancy. Order the I Heart Paris bag here.

Easy French Reader: A fun and easy new way to quickly acquire or enhance basic reading skills

In film:  Paris Je T'aime Paris I love You.

Refreshing mosterizing mist: vine therapy by Caudalie

"The Joy They Bring". Smokey, as a young whippersnapper, and Chief Grape. 

Meet Chief Grape in Belgium  :

- In Liège at "Vive le Vin", May 26th from 6 PM

- In Brussels at "La Maison des Vins", May 28th

The classic Bescherelle, the complete guide to French verb conjugation. Read the five-star reviews, and order, here.

What to Do in Lyon? / Que Faire a Lyon?

This photo was taken in Italy, the model reads Holland... but, for the purposes of today's edition, we're going to try to pass this off as France -- specifically Lyon!

  Paris apartment for rent. St Sulpice. 
215 euros per night (min.  3 night rental)
                       Click here for more photos! 

 

What to Do in Lyon? Que Faire à Lyon?

Bonjour!

J'ai trois amies qui souhaitent découvrir Lyon... mais elles ne savent pas quoi faire! Pourriez-vous aider Suzanne, Margaret, et leur "fabulous" maman, Portia, avec des suggestions de lieux, hôtels, restaurants, et autre points d'intérêt?  --Kristin

Hello!

I have three friends who hope to discover Lyon... but they do not know what to do! Can you help Suzanne, Margaret, and their fabulous mom, Portia, with suggestions of places, hotels, restaurants, and other interesting points of interest?  --Kristin

Suggestions for What To Do in Lyon are welcome in the "suggestion box" . Don't forget to check back later to see what ideas have been submitted!

 

Left to right: Margaret, Angela, Bob, Portia, Jean-Marc, Suzanne

Kristin and Suzanne

P.S.: Don't miss Suzanne's story about getting lost on the way to our vineyard! You'll meet Angela and Bob, who were also "Lost in Grapes".

P.P.S.: thank you for the excellent recommendations you left in the FAQ area. If anyone needs info about pen pals in France, language schools, or traveling solo... you'll find this and more in the comments to the FAQ post!

Discover these reader-submitted suggestions for:

What to do in Paris - click here

What to do in Aix-en-Provence - click here

What to do in the Loire Valley - click here

What to do on Porquerolles island? - click here

l'heure bleue

A magical hour in an ancient town: Ovada

     Free Subscription: sign up a friend or family member to French Word-A-Day. Click here to add an email address, or add this blog to a news reader via RSS.

***

l'heure bleue (leuhr bleuh, listen to MP3 or wav) noun, feminine

1) the blue hour, the magic hour... crepuscule, twilight... the hour between daylight and night when the sky's luminosity draws artists out of their studios to see light's last glimmerings.

    2) the hour (between 5 and 7) in which one meets their lover before returning home from work, to one's spouse

L'heure bleue, the blue hour of twilight when the sky and the earth are at the same level of luminosity, when well-to-do gentlemen throw open the shutters of their mistresses' rooms and stretch and yawn and think about returning home. -Michael Bywater, The Independent

And, from Wikipedia: "The phrase is also used to refer to Paris immediately prior to World War I, which was considered to be a time of relative innocence."  (The Blue Hour)
 

Because French often places its modifiers after its nouns, there is a kind of poetry that English cannot, because of how it works, achieve. So, for example, there is the French expression, l'heure bleue, which refers to that often shimmering time between the hours of daylight and darkness. We say “the magic hour” for that concept. It's sort of sad to write that next to l'heure bleue. French knows what to do here. French knows that the concept of “blue” is critical; that time of soft, subtle waning is about hue. French knows that emphasis should be on the idea of blue, but also that sufficient strength is given to the idea of the hour, to l'heure. L'heure bleue sounds like subtle magic. From The Soul of Creative Writing, by Richard Goodman. Order a copy.

  

A Day in a French Life... by Kristin Espinasse

Happy Bastille Day! Just like firecrackers streaming through the air... here and there... the following story veers offtrack (I was supposed to reveal the fashion victim of our latest story. You'll just have to "patienter"... meantime, here is an episode that took place just before the fall from fashion grace.)

Following the usual routine, having stepped out of the shower (so as not to say "douche"), I rifled through my husband's trousse, snapped up the stick of Mennen Musk. Summer in the canicular South of France requires an extra-strength solution! Not that that should keep a woman from using un déodorant d'homme in wintertime. 

Having applied a generous coat of protection optimale, I reached into my overnight bag for the pretty bottle of L'Heure Bleue, the one I had selected years ago, as some choose books or lovers: by their covers. My neighbor and friend, D, had helped me pick out the perfume during a crash course on French fragrance, there in a little beauty boutique in Draguignan. How I had hesitated between "The Blue Hour" and "Coco" by Chanel, choosing the former for its name, as some choose entrees on a menu. L'Heure Bleue... it spoke to the supposedly suffering artist inside of me. She was in there somewhere, wasn't she?  

L'Heure Bleue won out. The cut glass flask and its little flourish of an étiquette spoke of art nouveau, transporting the scent-wearer to fin de siècle Paris, over 100 years ago... the Paris of the past... alas!

But here, in 21st century Cassis, the air in the cramped hotel bathroom was now redolent with manly musk: a cause for hesitation.... With my finger posed on the perfume pump, I began to doubt. Might these scents clash somehow? 

The muse answered as she is wont to do in situations which call for an artist's hup two...
 
Here, here, a suffering artist must start somewhere! Give no thought to the outcome. Spray it on—and with abandon. Remember—the idea is to continually risk rejection! 

Fortified with fragrance, I stepped out of the little loo, sporting strong musk and a feast of florally feminine dew. I could have sworn my husband wavered as he walked ever so unsteadily toward me. He looked a little faint, mind you. And his face, the color of it, was... sort of... bleue. 

:: Le Coin Commentaires ::

Corrections, comments, and stories of your own are welcome. Click here to comment. Merci d'avance!

French Vocabulary

la douche = shower
la trousse (de toilette) = toiletry case
une étiquette = label

 
 The perfume l'Heure Bleue by Guerlaine. Introduced in 1912. Fragrance notes: a floral blend of orientals with powdery undertones. Order it here.

  Savon de Marseille (Marseille Soap) with Pure Crushed Local. Gentle and moisturizing. World-Famous Since 1688 Flowers. Click here to order.

Coco Before Chanel 
 Audrey Tautou shines in this intriguing portrait of the early life of Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, the orphan who would build a fashion empire and be known universally by her nickname, Coco. She journeys from a mundane seamstress job to boisterous cabarets to the opulent French countryside, possessing little more than her unwavering determination, unique style and visionary talent. Click here to order this film.

Eiffel Tower Cookie Cutter - handcrafted by artisans to last for generations. Order a cookie cutter here.

  

Interviews, photos, videos from our farm and beyond!

=> See a video interview from our kitchen at Scott's Alaska TravelGram!

=> Visit Pat & Lew's blog and see photos of their visit to our farm, Domaine Rouge-Bleu

=> Bonjour Paris scroll down to Counting Cicadas: naptime in the South of France

 
 cicada photo by Dave Prout (married to one of our dear Dirt Divas, Doreen.)

 

 

choper

A rose-lover's Shangri-la: the village of Grignan. (Just don't steal the flowers... or the sweetness.... read on in today's story column. 

choper (sho-pay) verb

    : to steal, to nib; to catch

Audio File: listen to Jean-Marc pronounce these French words (Download MP3 or Wav file)

Il a chopé un rhume / He caught a cold.
Elles ont chopé le sucre du bistro. / They nabbed the sugar.

Les Synonyms: dérober = to purloin chiper = to swipe, filch piquer = to pinch, to nick

A Day in a French Life... by Kristin Espinasse

When your aunt and your uncle are in town for under a week... you've got to be picky and choosy about just which postcard pretty places you'll take them to see.

Grignan was a must! Its chateau, overlooking the vine-flanked valley, and its perched, rose-petaled village, were once the residence and the stomping grounds of Madame de Sévigné, who wrote prolifically to her fille. Picture so many words showering down from the chateau, falling like tears of joy, watering all those heirloom roses, from "Autumn Sunset" to "Gipsy Boy".

The flowers steal one's attention making it is easy to be attracted to this rose-rampant "rise" in the French sky. Their colorful petals pull your eyes up the narrow paths or calades, past the boutiques and the art galleries until you are overlooking the patchwork paysage of Provence. After your eyes expand over the valley, they are drawn back in to the skirt of the citadel, which bustles with café life.

There, at the Brasserie Le Sévigné my aunt, my uncle, and I sipped caffeine from colorful tasses de café. Feeling that after-lunch slump, we were content to let our ears do the walking and we listened as they bent here and there capturing the various conversations, most in French, though some were accented in English "city" or "country." I wondered if the two ladies at the next table were from London? Then again, what do I know about the topography of talk or "accentry"?

Finishing our cafe crèmes, we stood up to leave.  I called over to my aunt, motionning to the sugar packets before her (we were each served two packets with our cup. Having only used one-half of a sugar envelop I was slipping the rest into my purse. I had seen my aunt do the same at the previous café.... "Waste not, want not," she had explained, offering another of her affectionate winks. I figured I could give my aunt the extra sachets de sucre for her train trip to Paris the next day. (It is always good to have a little blood sugar boosting sucrose on hand when traveling.)

"And take that one, too!" I encouraged, pointing to the unused sugar packet in front of her. 
Just then, I caught sight of the English women at the next table. They were watching wide-eyed.

Caught red-handed, I had no choice but to finish shoving the second packet into my purse and I cringed when I realized the sugar envelope was open and showering down granulated sweetness, mixing with the contents of my purse.

My dear Aunt, her back to the would-be whistle-blowers, was unaware of our unseemly circumstance. "Here," she said, handing me her unused packet of sugar. Meantime my uncle voiced our actions, as my uncle is wont to do: "Oh, what's that? You are taking some sugar? I see."

The problem was, others were seeing too! And, what with my uncle's commentary, we were a terribly conspicuous trio.

"Put. It. In. Your. Pocket!" I snapped at my fellow sugar-snatcher. But my aunt stood there, her arm extended like a red flag, sugar packet waving like the drapeau of death. It seemed to take hours for that sugar packet to reroute itself into my aunt's pocket and I stood startled-eyed until the lightweight loot disappeared.

As we turned our backs on the café, my aunt overheard the condemning comment at the next table as one woman spoke in a disapproving tone, pointing out our petty theft to her table-mate. "They've taken the sugar," she reported.

Half-way to the getaway car and my aunt and I were giggling, "They've taken the sugar!" we laughed, lacing our voices with disappoving English accents. My uncle got into the back of the car, scratching his head in confusion, having missed the episode completely. Meantime, I started the engine and my aunt hopped into the passenger's seat and when she did she winked at me:

"I've got the sugar," she confirmed. "Hit it!"

With that, we peeled out of the pretty postcard town, bidding goodbye to a proper Madame de Sévigné and leaving, in the sugar dust, the would-be whistle blowers with their cups of unsweetened tea.

:: Le Coin Commentaires ::

Your comments are the best part of French Word-A-Day. Thank you for taking a minute to send feedback on this edition... or share an anecdote of your own. Click here to comment.

Subscribe to French Word-A-Day
Share these French words and photos with a friend: click here for a free email subscription.

 

 
...................................................................
A Day in a Dog's Life... by Smokey "R" Dokey
...................................................................

A wooden deck under construction... and two pooped contractors.

Smokey says: you haven't heard much about us lately, but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy... in a bucolic, sleepaholic way.

P.S.: support French Word-A-Day by shopping at Amazon via the following links. Thank you!

 

 

English Grammar for Students of French: The Study Guide for Those Learning French

Sweatshirt "Provence-Alpes-Cote D'azur

France Magazine subscription

Easy French Reader: A fun and easy new way to quickly acquire or enhance basic reading skills

In film:  Paris Je T'aime Paris I love You.

Refreshing mosterizing mist: vine therapy by Caudalie