frigo

Smokey The Bandit & The Frigo Caper, in today's *bi-lingual* story column! For a free subscription to French Word-A-Day, click here.

le frigo (freego)

    : fridge, icebox

synonyme: frigidaire, réfrigérateur, (refrigerator) & la glacière (ice box)

Ado, véto, resto... the French seem to love abbreviation. This is not to say that others of us are not guilty of truncating terms: in English, for example, we say fridge... Have any apocopic terms to add to this memo? Click here to begin truncating...

French Christmas Music: "Mon Beau Sapin", "Saint Nuit", "La Marche des Rois", "Les anges dans nos campagnes". Order CD here. 

A Day in a DOG'S Life... by Smokey "R" Dokey

(French text by Carol Donnay... English text follows!)

Smokey dit: "Zut, encore rien pour moi.. Peut-être dans le bac à légumes? Mais je suis pas végétarien. Comme dit Maman Braise quand elle me voit végéter devant le frigo vide de viande: " Smokey, chéri, même si tu végètes, t'as rien..."

(That's me, Smokester, behind Mama Braise)

Smokey says: "Darn, as always, nothin' for me... Maybe in the vegetable crisper? But I am not a vegetarian. As Mama Braise says when she sees me vegetating in front of the meatless fridge: "Smokey, dear, even if you vegetate, you'll still get nothing!"

Hmmm... Hmmm....

Je végète, je végète.... Vegetating... vegetating....

Mama Braise a raison. Rien!  Mama Braise is right. Nada!

OMD! C'est elle... L'Ombre!  OMG! It's her. The Shadow!

Je donne la patte! Je suis innocent! I give you my paw! I'm innocent!

Je t'assure, je n'y faisais rien! Je végète, je végète. C'est tout! 
I assure you. I wasn't doing a thing... vegetating, vegetating. That's all!

:: Le Coin Commentaires / Comments Box::
Thank you, Carol, for the opening text to this picture story. I have added additional text, in French (one-liners beneath the remaining photos) -- hope I got the grammar and spelling correct! Any edits are welcome here, in the comments box. Merci!

Comments

[angela billows]

They're just wondering what to cook with the ingredients you have, my dog, Ralph, pays very special attention to everything I do in the kitchen, he's retaining it all in his head for a later date.......

[Ann]

You know Smokey can do no wrong in my eyes, Kristi! He's so big and handsome -- love his jaunty collar, too! xxx

[John Carr]

Go for the champagne Smokey - it's right there behind you!!!

[Mike Abulencia]

Hi Kristin, talk about le frigo, it's 9 deg F here, and we've received 48.4 inches of snow since Sat. in Syracuse, NY.

[Bill in St. Paul]

Those Goldens are such smart dogs. Our long-gone Theo would eat nearly anything given him. When we had pancakes, he knew that he always got the last one plus any scraps. When we had finished eating our pancakes and were preparing his "plate", we'd look up and there was this big Golden head peeking around the frigo saying "Is it my turn now?" Smokey's looking great and so is Mama Braise!

[Suzanne, Monroe Township, NJ]

Smokey, I'm with John, go for the champagne. Enjoyed these photos and the commentary immensely. As a dog owner and lover one always wonders what is going on in their brains. When growing up we had a Springer Spaniel, Freckles, who could put on an innocent look just before leaping up to snatch a pork chop out of the sizzling pan or sneaking some slurps from my mother's coffee cup. She'd only steal lettuce if it was tossed with a lovely vinaigrette.

[Herm in Phoenix, AZ]

Salut Kristin,

FYI (for your info), today’s story was great, IMHO (in my humble opinion). Alas, the hungry pup got zip (nothing)! My dog, Pepper, loves any leftover “veggies” after our din-din (dinner). Her favorite is broccoli with sour cream.

I enjoyed the extra French in the story. It gives us practice in an enjoyable way.

À bientôt

[Lee & Bill Mears]

This is the first time we are sending a comment, and after the pictures of Smokey and Braise we couldn't resist! We absolutely love all the news and photos of Smokey. Keep them coming! What about the possibility of publishing a book about Smokey including all your wonderful photos? We are great fans of the newsletter and also have your book. Thank you.

[Newforest]

About OMD
Fun to see "Oh mon dieu!" in internet slang - perfect in this context.

Dear Smokey,
Don't vegetate for too long in front of an open door fridge - well, I mean, for longer than you really need. Yes, I know, you would love that door to be permanently open, wouldn't you? Sorry but, in human's terms, that means "waste of energy". Anyway, Mama Braise said you wouldn't get anything meaty, so, for the time being, forget about your favourite thing. Frustrating, of course!
Desperate for a bubbly drink? Well, there is still that "bouteille de champagne" recommended by John and Suzanne...

-------------
By the way, "I wasn't doing a thing"
-> the "y" in the translation is not necessary.

I'm wondering whether you hesitated between:
-> "Je n'ai rien fait" and "je ne faisais rien"

[Lesley]

They are both so beautiful! The photos along with the short little story really made me smile this morning :)

[Herm in Phoenix, AZ]

Joyeux Noël, Smokey

http://ak.imgag.com/imgag/product/preview/flash/pdShell.swf?ihost=http://ak.imgag.com/imgag&brandldrPath=/product/full/el/&cardNum=/product/full/ap/3173936/graphic1

[Pat Cargill]

Smokey D Dokey, you are so clever to be positioned in the fridge zone when the door was "apparently" left open--or have you figured out how to open it?! I am thinking vegies are not so bad with a nice water bowl full of champagne. Cheers to you and Mama Briase et la famille on this very cold day in Virginia.

[MS]

Merci, Kristin. My golden, even now à 16 ans, is still up to his antics. Please keep up the wonderful blog. It is always a pleasure to read. Joyeuses fêtes !

[Anne Wirth]

Of course, I love your stories about Smokey and Mom. This one is particularly good because Smokey has some great looks on his face. Also, loved the "Shadow" statement. Never realized that our shadow gives us away with dogs. Go for it Smokey, you never know what what may fall out of the refrigerator!

[Kay]

Your SmokeyDokey is such a good beautiful boy.......my 6 month old golden ate 2 paperwhite bulbs & the box that held the Xmas ornaments yesterday! Can't wait for him to vegete & not gobble just about n'importe quoi! A FWAD on your dogs...bonne idee!
Kay (also from freezing Va)

[Leslie in Massachusetts]

In Smokey's defense, if what he meant was "I wasn't doing anything there, couldn't "je ny faisait rien" work? His French is usually impeccable.

[Kathryn S. Winslow]

Herm - Merci for the delightful e-card! So appropriate for today's post. Yes, Smokey, there IS a Santa Claus.
- Kathryn in San Antonio

[Jules Greer]

Smokey's cookin' cool today...so happy to see his beautiful face.

Big Hugs

XOXO

JULES

[Cate Salenger]

Hilarious! I love your Smokey stories and photos. Darling. Merci!
Cate

[Newforest]

Hi Jules!!!!

How wonderful to "see" you!
Lots of love from me,
on the edge of the English New Forest.
Snow all melted, but temperature below zero!

[Bill Richardson]

It seems to me that Smokey is saying, "Je ne fais que regarder". Enjoy your site beaucoup beaucoup. Merci pour tout.
Meilleurs voeux

[Kristin]

Mom, you're back!!!! This is the BEST present ever.

Happy holidays to everyone - Herm's card is a wonderful way to share this greeting. Merci!

I join Newforest in sending lots of love.

[Jan in Colorado]

Yes, Kristin, there is a Jules! Welcome back, Jules. You were missed!

OMD--I love it!!! Also loved Herm's card. Note for Mike in Syracuse. I lived there for ten years back in the 60s, attending SU, working for GE and then teaching at ESM. I fondly (?) remember the blizzard of '66 when we had 48 inches of snow. I think Oswego had something like 100 inches. I'm jealous! Now I'm in Colorado and can only dream of snow on the Front Range. It's been very dry and warmer than usual. Right now we're warmer than Florida! I'm thinking snow but it's not working.

[Suzanne, Monroe Township, NJ]

Kristin,
I think Lee and Bill are on to something. A book about Smokey and his mother Braise would be terrific! Loved Herm's card.

[Voie de Vie]

What a great way to squeeze a little more French into the day's story - and I agree with everyone's sentiments about OMD. I LOL'd when I read it. :)

I hope Smokey and Braise find some tasty treats in their bowls today. Give them each scrunches for a vocab job well done.

[Newforest]

Oh Jules, if your laptop is now in tip-top condition, (a laptop in working order is such a blessing!), you'll have so much to catch up. I'm sure you'll have a great time!
- and of course, you'll love the brilliant photos Kristin exhibits on her weekly "Cinéma Vérité" gallery. You'll spend hours and hours in Heaven!

BRAVO to you, Herm! Your e-card is so perfectly "à propos"!

On the subject of e-cards, I would like to mention the fascinating Jacquie Lawson's website
www.jacquielawson.com
If you haven't heard about it, do have a look!

The North wind is blowing and the rooms at the front of my house have become real "frigos", in spite of the central heating. We so much enjoy the extra warmth & glow of the woodburner in our sitting room.

Be it in full sunshine, be it in snow, may you all have a wonderful weekend!

[Claudette Kunsay]

Bonjour Kristin ! Merci pour la charmante histoire de Smokey devant le frigo ouvert. Il cherche sûrement sa viande préférée car il la sent là dans le tiroir !!!!!
What a wonderful dog ! À toi Kristin et à ta famille, j'offre mes souhaits pour un Noël magique, rempli de rires, de plaisirs et d'amour. Que la nouvelle année vs apporte mille et une douceurs.

[Julie F]

What a wonderful set of photos and a delightful story! My own dog is more than happy to eat vegetables (it's food, mais oui?) I regularly heat some frozen veggies to add to her breakfast on a cold Missouri morning. I'm proud of myself for being able to understand about 90% without reading the translation. And whoever suggested it -- I heartily agree that the world needs a bilingual book series about the adventures of Smokey Doke and Mama Braise.

[Jean(ne) Pierre in MN]

Laughed out loud at all this-a welcome break after a long work day. Love those doggies!

[Karen from Phoenix, AZ]

Loved the story today. It is so fun to see what the pups are up too.

Jules, so glad you are back. We all missed you.

Herm, loved, loved the e-card. Jacquie Lawson's website e-cards are amazing too!

xoxo

[Marianne Rankin]

Yes, the e-card is terrific - thanks, Herm. I'm going to forward the link to some dog-loving friends of mine (we have just cats at the moment).

I'll bet if Smokey and Braise were going to consume an alcoholic beverage, as good as champagne might be, they would prefer some Rouge-Bleu! I didn't see a bottle on the door, but it might be elsewhere in the fridge. Keep looking, pooches!

[Jennifer in OR]

Fun, a look inside a French frigo! Does anyone else love to see what's in their friends' refrigerators?

[Gretel]

Ohhh Herm!!!! That Christmas card is just TOO CUTE!!!! :-)

Almost as cute as that cheeky "vegetating" Smokey-R-Dokey!!

[Richard Stanley,Prof de Francais,F.L.E.]

Boulo,Métro,Dodo.

[Jules Greer]

Hi Herm,

I echo every word of our wonderful Gretel's
comment...loved the adorable Christmas card.

XOXO

JULES

p.s. Thanks my lovely NEWFOREST for the welcome back. You were right on the mark about the wonderful hours I would experience catching up on all of my friends and Kristi's wonderful photo's and stories.

I ended last night hitting the 'replay' button over and over on Jean-Marc's site watching Jean-Marc and MAX in a video spitting wine into the spatoon (sp???) in
Sicily with a group of oldtimers up in the hills of this wonderful island. Since we all know how busy Kristi is - you must know that she never goes into detail about her vacations (the famous local French past-time). On the other hand Jean-Marc wrote on and on of the beauty and joy of their vacation....plus his video's!!!!

I AM SO HAPPY TO BE BACK ONLINE - I MISSED YOU ALL SO MUCH---ALL MY WONDERFUL FRIENDS OF KRISTI'S.

XOXO

MOM

[Herm in Phoenix, AZ]

Hi Jules

I join the others in welcoming you back. You and your XOXO's were certainly missed!

Thanks you, and all the other readers, for the comments on the e-card.

À bientôt

[Mike Hardcastle]

I loved the story and the comments from everyone especially your mom and Herm's Christmas card. They bring back memories of Christmases past and of the many dogs that have been part of my life. The Jack Russell terrier who could climb and the lurcher who could somehow reach anything below about 8 feet. Just after we rescued her (near to starving) we found he literally up to her eyes (and the distance from a saluki/greyhound's nose to her eyes is quite a long way) in the oatmeal bin.
Have a Happy Christmas and a Happier New Year.

Mike

[Susan Carter]

I'm way behind reading these posts and hope to catch up this week but have to echo all who welcome Jules back--you were sorely missed and I'm looking forward to seeing you here again regularly. Smokey is looking great--his picture always makes me smile.