fugueuse

       Almond trees, "lemons", or jalopies... near the town of Orange, France.

fugueuse (foo geuhz) noun, feminine

    : a runaway

=> the masculine is fugueur (foo guer)
=>Also: la fugue: running away ; faire une fugue or fuguer = to run away ; le fugitif (la fugitive)

Sound File: Listen to American-accented French... in today's audio file (the Francophones in the house are doing la grasse mat* or "the sleep in"...):
Download MP3 or Download Wav

Braise, "la fugueuse", est rentrée avant hier après un l-o-n-g périple!
Braise, the runaway, returned day before yesterday.... after a l-o-n-g journey

*faire la grasse matinée = to sleep in  

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

"A Sensational Walk in the Country"

There's plenty of time to collect a branch or two of almond flowers alongside the path, or sentier... for our dog, Braise, is dragging and I have to slow down and turn around several times to egg her on.

"Qu'est-ce qu'il y a, Fugueuse?" I tease our 5-year-old runaway. "Trop fatiguée? Et ben, je me demande pourquoi?!"

Our dog's recent escapade was enough to tire out my very tear ducts! Who knew that tear ducts could ache? A day and a half! One entire night! It was her longest disappearance.

What is sure is that our golden girl needs more exercise, more adventure... and it is up to us to get her out and about every day... else suffer another anguishing all-nighter!

"Come on!" I call, heading out to the river. The surrounding grapevines are leaf-bare and a blurry man is pruning them. I squint my eyes but he still won't come into focus, and so I do the wave: the big friendly whoever-you-are-I-salute-you! wave. It works and the stranger returns the greeting!

Braise would like to be even more amicale... she'd like to mosey over and discover just what's in the farmer's casse-croûte... but her roaming days are over (!) and I shout for her to follow us (not that Smokey is following along any better: he's taken along a picnic of his own in the form of one chewy oreille de cochon).

Between Braise's dragging feet and Smokey's smokey treat (he is obliged to pause every two minutes to lie on the ground and chew), ours is a slow stroll.

There is time to collect several branches of wild rosemary, the purple-blue flowers looking unusually true. After a despairing night, my senses are strangley "bright", so that when the noisy mallards glide out of the ruisseau... I am thunderstruck. I stop to watch in awe as the ducks fly off. 

Quickly, I step over to the stream, which is filled with irises -- soon the yellow flowers will pop out. But I am no longer searching for first flowers... it is the canetons that I'm interested in. When will the baby ducks appear?

Ma and Pa Canard are now circling cautiously above our heads and I understand only too well their concern...

I call after our furry fugueuse and our trio walks on amid flowering trees and morning song. It is time for us to return home from this sensual balade. So much to be grateful for. Yes! Thank God, Braise is back! 

 
Le Coin Commentaires
Join us here, in our community corner. Respond to today's story, offer a correction, or ask each other questions about French or France! Click here to enter the discussion or simply to learn from it.

And here's a recent comment from the What to do in Lyon edition. Margie writes: Wow! This was wonderful reading and many fabulous ideas for Lyon. Could we possibly ask same question but substitiute Strasbourg for Lyon? 

 Hi Margie. Yes, definitely! Stay tuned for the What to Do in Strasbourg - Que faire à Strasbourg edition :-) Meantime, Readers, get your ideas ready... and save them for the upcoming post!

Jean-Marc's USA Wine Tour: Meet Chief Grape and taste his wines in New York this Monday March 7th at Vestry Wines from 4 to 7 PM and in many other US cities !

French Vocabulary

le sentier = path

qu'est-ce qu'il y a = what's up? what's the matter?

fugueuse (fuguer) = runaway

trop fatiguée? = too tired?

et ben, je me demande pourquoi? = well! I wonder why?

amical(e) = friendly

le casse-croûte = snack

une oreille de cochon = pig ears (dog treats). These, and more pet supplies here. 

le ruisseau = stream

le caneton = duckling

le canard = duck

une balade = walk, stroll

***

The Paris Wife: Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Read the reviews, here.

Also see:

Songs in French for Children :

Nintendo's My French Coach :

Provendi Revolving Soaps The practical and very neat Provendi revolving soap fixtures have adorned public school washrooms throughout France for years. Now they're turning up in the most chic places. Order here.

It's All About Braise!
. 

Since Smokey, below right, gets most of the blog space... it is time to shine the light on his Mama Braise! Here she is above, in Sept 2009, with Smokey and sisters... 

  

And though she lets others jump higher... she is the strongest of all!

She saved her son... on that fateful day in October, when two dogs attacked and left him for dead. She barked and barked, chasing them away.

But that doesn't mean she's not une chipie, or "a little devil", ever ready to elope with Smokey's dad, Sam (and ain't he "glam", that Sam (above, left)? Don't miss the story "Lost in Marseilles", when she and her boyfriend almost... almost took the train to Venice for "une fugue amoureuse", or elopement. Click here for the story.

Comments

[Vera]

I'm sorry to have to tell you but there is a big mistake in your "words" today. the spelling is "fugueuse" and "fugueur" (nouns). "Fuguer" is the verb.
I really love your writings, Kristin, they are a taste of honey when they arrive in my inbox ... thank you ♥

[GwenEllyn]

I feel your pain, Kristin. I learned this word when I adopted a beagle! His name was Beagle Joe, but I quickly nicknamed him my little postman - neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night...his nose would take him off and running.

[Kristin Espinasse]

Vera, many thanks. And, yipes! that is a big mistake (when it is the very WORD of the day!) Funnily, I kept staring at the spelling, thinking: somethings missing. Then I stared at the u....well, I guess its there... and yet... And yet yet another u was missing. 

Gwenellyn, oh, what a character your little postman is :-) I can just see him now. In fact... is that him moseying on up our driveway?.... 

[Chris Golding]

I think it should be un long périple, not une longue périple?

[Kristin Espinasse]

Merci, Chris... off to fix that one, too. Any others? ...

[Kristin Espinasse]

Merci, Chris... off to fix that one, too. Any others? ...

[Judy Bell]

Thank goodness Braise came back. I would've been sick with worry, too. The photo of her (or Smokey?) running in the river is wonderful!

[Marianne Rankin]

This is a good post, and Kristin, your pronunciation is getting better every day.

I was going to point out the misspellings, but Vera beat me to it. Here are a couple of notes:

In French, as in many English words, G can be "hard" (as in "go") or soft, like a "j" sound. To keep the G hard, one must put a "u" after it, which was in the Word of the Day.

To have the "eu" sound (as in peu, jeu, etc. - very common in French, and hard for native Anglophones to pronounce), on needs a "u" after the "e".

Therefore, one has to have 2 "u"s, as odd as they might look: "fugueuse." The first is only there to harden the g, and isn't pronounced. The second is there to blend with the "e" to create the "eu" sound.

There are other words that have this same combination of letters, such as "longueur."

As long as we are looking closely at French words, on the side of the blog, there is an ad for "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" in French. It says "Prisonnaire." But isn't "prisoner" in French "prisonnier"?

[Charles Orr, Flat Rock, NC]

Kristin,
I'm glad that Braise made it back home OK!
I'm also happy to report that my wife and I will be able to attend Jean-Marc's wine dinner on March 9 in Asheville, NC, after all. It's been sold out for a couple of weeks, but the restaurant ("Bouchon") has added space for the people on the waiting list. We're looking forward to meeting J-M and enjoying his wines as well as possibly meeting some other FWAD fans.

[Suzanne, Monroe Twp., NJ]

Kristin,
Today's post makes me long even more for spring. Here in NJ it is the goslings that we see more than ducklings. The yellow irises you describe sound as lovely as the yellow autumn crocuses that are so prevalent in Provence. It will be in the 50's here tomorrow so I plan to do some bulb assessment ... just how many of them have pushed up I wonder.

Marianne,
I really appreciated your explanation of the need for the "u's" for pronunciation. A good lesson which I hope I'll remember!

[Marcy]

HI Kristi,
I'm enjoying your stories as always! I, too, have suffered the anguish of having a wandering dog- a fugueuse.

I think it should be "Qu'est-ce qu'il y a ?" to mean what's the matter.
Of course it's pronounced the way you wrote it. I don't know how to write it the way it sounds in spoken language- Qu'est qu'y a ?, maybe?

[Ophelia in Nashville]

I, too, am glad Braise made it home safely. My sister's dog kept her up all night this week, too. crying and wanting to roam. Maybe it's the approach of Spring?

Your descriptions of everything you saw on your balade are beautiful, too -- the perfect read on an early spring morning.

[Bruce T. Paddock]

Hey, Kristin -

So sorry to hear that Braise had taken a powder, and so glad to hear that she'd returned. I can well imagine how distraught you were.

Thank you for not sharing the story with us until after her safe return. That went a long way toward keeping down the worldwide angst level.

[Kristin Espinasse]

Marianne, thank you for the very helpful explanation. 

Marcy, good to have this correction (theres another case of staring at the phrase... and wondering why it didnt look right!). So many errors today... I guess after Braise ran off... French Spelling tried to do the same!

Charles, thats great news to know you and your wife will be at the Asheville meet-up! Anyone else here going to that one?...

Ophelia, so dogs may get spring fever too? An itch in their paws to amble off...

Bruce, Exactly. While Braise was away, I decided to write the FAQ edition instead of sharing any news... as we did not have any at that point!

[Eileen deCamp]

Hi Kristin,
I'm so glad that Braise came back. She just wanted to do some exploring. Love the pictures of the pups!
I downloaded The Paris Wife on my Kindle yesterday.
Have a great weekend!

[Nick]

Hi Kristin

Another couple of spelling typos, I'm afraid!

'strangly'--do you mean 'strangely'?

'irisis'--plural of iris is irises

[Kristin Espinasse]

Nick, thanks for these edits. On my way to fix them now...

TGIF, too many spelling errors. I need to blame it on something: why not a busy week? :-) 

[Bill in St. Paul]

Great to see the pictures of Smokey and Braise again. I've mentioned before that our dear, long gone Golden Theo disappeared one day when I was out of town. He came home around 9pm very tired and thirsty. His paws were a little raw but otherwise he seemed OK. Then about a month later we were watching a parade on the U of MN campus and one parade car got too close to another and squealed their brakes - Theo dove behind us and started to shake. The only thing we could figure out was that when he was gone for the day he almost was hit by a car, or maybe was hit but not hurt by a car. The car must have squealed its brakes trying to avoid Theo.

[Candy in SW KS]

Ah, the misadventures of wayward pets! They make us crazy, n'est-ce pas? Perhaps her nickname could be "MissAdventure" :) I had a pound puppy I had rescued whom I nicknamed "Houdini". I swear she could find every possible way to get out of the yard. I would spend hours patching it up and head to work, and there she'd be-in the driveway-when I got home! She drove me crazy!!!! Then, I put up an electric fence and VOILA! that solved the problem. But I would catch her looking longingly at the gate . . . :) she is running her little heart out in doggy heaven now. (No electric fences there, I'm sure!) So glad Braise is home.

[Julie F in St. Louis, MO]

Oh, Kristin. When I saw on FB that Braise had gone missing I felt your pain. My dear Millie had a mix of beagle and Husky and Australian shepherd. The first summer we had her she escaped practically every time we opened the door. Her hound nose took her exploring and her Husky/shepherd endurance kept her always one step ahead of me as I chased her. I first trained the family to exit through the back door into the fenced yard so she couldn't escape as often. Then I took her to obedience class so I wouldn't have to worry that she would be hit by a car. But the biggest lesson was mine. I figured out that she had a strong need for adventure so almost every day for the next 12 years, rain shine snow heat, I took her on a long walk. We went a different route every day so she would never get bored. I loved experiencing the world through her eyes.

And on a final note, during her last summer I left the gate open when working in the front garden one day. I guess Millie was tired of waiting for me to take her on a walk, so twenty minutes later I realized she was gone. I raced up and down the sidewalks, looking in back yards along the alley. I was just getting ready to jump in my car and search further afield when a car pulled up with Millie in the back. We live in a dog-loving neighborhood, and even if we don't know all the people, we recognize all the dogs that walk up and down the sidewalks. These wonderful people saw her loose and heading up to a very busy street (she must have been trying to get to the park she loved), so they corralled her and brought her back to me. Dog love is great.

[Lawrence J. Krakauer]

That picture of Braise running down the river is great. What a feeling of exhilaration and the joy of being alive! We can learn a lesson about enjoying life from our dogs.

I like the minor typo in Marianne Rankin's comment above: "on needs a 'u' after the 'e'." Clearly, she meant "ONE needs a 'u' after the 'e'." But in French, that 'ONE' is 'ON', and of course, when you write ABOUT French, sometimes it turns INTO French (I've had the same thing happen to me).

[Nancy L.]

Ahhhhh...Spring seems to be coming to Provence! Not here in Connecticut yet, but what glorious photos of colorful buds and green grass. Winter has been harsh this year and I am grateful for this glimpse of green!

[Herm in Phoenix, AZ]

Salut Kristin,

A poem for the occasion:

Dog gone! It was quite an event
Help! Our Braise has done went
Looked high, low and around
She’s gone! Nowhere to be found

Darkness sets in, as does fear
Still not a word do we hear
Where will she choose to sleep?
What company will she keep?

Finally the saga began to unfold
And the real story could be told
With no remorse, this dog just gloats
“Hey, I was just feeling my oats!”

[Karen from Phoenix, AZ]

Kristin,

So glad Braise is back. It is so hard wondering what happened. Our
little girl Sox who is 16 now always got a lot of exercise and never wondered. As a matter of fact in our front yard she would stay for hours not going past our property line. She doesn't move as well now, still longs for her time outside but cannot walk far. Pets are such a joy! xoxo

[Ronnie McCarthy in Surprise, AZ]

Hi Herm! My children and I met you at the FWAD meetup/hike in Phoenix. They still talk about it and all the wonderful people we met! My daughter, Monet, loves your poem. Just wanted to let you know!

Kristin: TGIF for sure!! The almond tree photo is stunning. As always, I enjoyed your post for today. I'm so glad your Braise is back at home. Be well and bon weekend!! :)

[Lynn]

TGIF for sure and possible much worry about your beautiful dog! I would be out of my mind if one of my dogs went exploring overnight. Yogi and Manfred are both small dogs and not a bit of hound in them. So glad Braise is home safe - really enjoyed the pictures. Have a great weekend.

[Michael Wrenn]

Bonjour Kristin,

I'm glad je ne suis pas le seul qui fait des fautes d'orthographe. I have found that with Microsoft Word making corrections for me that I find myself questioning my French spelling more and more when I am doing explanations in class (thus offline). It keeps me humble and reminds me there is much more to learn. I also don't think it is a bad thing for the students to see their teacher make a mistake now and then. It reminds them that we are all learners of this beguiling, yet wonderful language.

Glad to know that Maman Braise is saine et sauve after her ballade nocturne.

Reading you is such a pleasure, Kristin. Merci mille fois.

Michael in Napa Valley

[Erin Thruston]

Kristin,

Braise's nose looks very dark in the photo where she's feeding the pups, but where she's cuddling Smokey after the attack (the sweetest, loveliest, most adorable photo!!!), it's mostly pinkish. Any clues as to how this happened? Did her nose turn colors or was it just the angle of the feeding photo that threw me? I just love your dogs!!

[Newforest]

just opened my "fugese" e-mail a minute ago and was sure somebody would have already mentioned the unfortunate loss of "u" after "g"... which affects the pronunciation as well as the spelling.
So, Braise is our "fugueuse"...
Kristin, this story reminded me very much of a dramatic "fugue" you reported last year (Spring? Summer?). I wanted to read it again, but couldn't remember the title ... and there is no archive...

BTW, 'jalopes' under the top picture:
it's 'jalopies', isn't it?
and surely "strangley must be strangely"
-> just a sign of being tired, I think!
Don't look any further... you're simply tired, and suffering from the after-effects of "la fugue"!

----------------
For those interested in the French language:
--- "une carriole" = a jalopy
When 'jalopy' is used in a familiar and slightly pejorative sort of way -> meaning a delapidated old car - its translation in French is "une vieille bagnole"
Here, the picture shows "des vieilles bagnoles abandonnées"

--- About "et ben" = Well,...
-> "ben" (with "en" pronounced like "ain" as in "bain /"aim" as in "faim" ...) is familiar for "bien", and is very commonly used in spoken French.
-> Spelling: "eh bien" is more correct than "et bien"
-> Common expressions using "Eh ben", in spoken French:
- eh ben oui / eh ben si = well, yes...
- eh ben non = well, no
- eh ben quoi? = and so what?
- eh ben mon vieux / eh ben dis donc = well I never
Nice to have Marianne explaining the hard and soft sounds of "g"
I have gathered a few examples and will add them in a separate post, for those interested.

-------------------
About the photos:
Lovely selection! I don't seem to recognise the first one of Braise (?) running down ... (a river ?) so, a recent one? I love it!
Kristin, is what you call 'the canal' the same as 'the stream' mentioned in previous newsletters? or is there also a canal running along your property? ...

Bye for now
...imagining the irises... and the ducks...

[buffy]

The trees in the first picture are beautiful. I love Spring. Have a wonderful weekend!

[Newforest]

Thanks to "la fugueuse",
the little drama, the worries...
a spelling mistake,
and the positive side of it!

French hard "g" and soft "g"
Here are 4 points to add to Marianne's explanations regarding hard and soft "g" in French.

Remember:
1) in French, "g" is ALWAYS hard in front of a, o, u and (ai, an, ain, on... au, ou.....)
Examples:
- la gare = (railway() station,
- la gorge = throat
- lugubre = gloomy, mournful
- la conjugaison = conjugation
- un gant = a glove
- le gain = earnings
- de l'estragon = tarragon
- à gauche = on the left
- goûter (verb) = to taste

2) in French, "g" is ALWAYS soft in front of e, and (é, è, ê, er, eur, euse... ent ...) and also in front of i
Examples:
- le genou = knee
- la géométrie = geometry
- léger, légère = adj light
- la fougère = fern
- la gêne = inconvenience, embarrassment, discomfort - poverty
- nager = to swim
- le nageur, la nageuse = swimmer
- la gentillesse = kindness
- la girouette = weathervane

Careful: a soft "g" sound in French is like the sound you pronounce at the end of the English word 'plea[sure]" - so, don't add 'a little d' sound in front of it!

3) The power of a French "u" placed between "g" and e, é, è, ê, et, eu, er, erre, or between "g" & "i"
-> it transforms the soft "g" into a hard "g" sound. See following examples:
- en guenilles = in rags
- la fugue = run away, fugue (in music)
- la drogue = drug
- guérir = to cure
- être fatigué = to be tired
- naguère = (lit) recently, formerly
- la guêpe = wasp
- faire le guet / guetter = to be on the look out, to watch
- la gueule = face (for an animal)
- fougueux/fougueuse = spirited, highly enthusiastic
- fatiguer = to make (somebody) tired
- la guerre = war
- le gui = mistletoe

4) The power of a French "e" placed between "g" and a, or o,
-> it transforms the hard "g" into a soft "g". See following examples:
- rougeâtre = reddish
- George (Christian name George)
- la rougeole = measles

[Herm in Phoenix, AZ]

Hi Ronnie,

I enjoyed the meet-up also. It was good that you were able to bring your children. We’ll have to do it again; Maybe a potluck or cookout so we can socialize more.

À bientôt

[Joan Linneman]

Of course, English spelling and pronunciation are also largely dependent on the phantom e that keeps a g or a c sound soft. That's why French students rarely misspell words like courageous and enforceable.
Bon weekend a tous! Joan L.

[Karen from Phoenix, AZ]

Hi Ronnie, its me Karen. I met you also. I walked with your
daughter Monet on the trail. Tell her hello for me. Hope
you guys can meet up soon.

[Marianne Rankin]

Suzanne and others, I'm glad if my notes on U, etc. in French were helpful. Newforest expanded on them. Lawrence, I reread my post, and Yes, it was supposed to be "one," but "on" fits, as you pointed out.

I sometimes mix French and English while speaking, although not usually in writing. I know how to spell in both languages. But in sending e-mails in French to a friend, I have to proofread them afterwards, and retype in spots, because the program tries to automatically correct the words thinking they are wrong in English, and I get some odd changes.

[Newforest]

just thought of 2 words ...

As you know, the French adj "long (masc)/longUe (fem)" = 'long'
and the French adj "large" = 'wide'

so, here we have 2 good adjectives with the letter "g". In the masculine form (long), "g" is mute, but it becomes hard in the feminine form (longUe) -> hardening effect of the "u" placed immediately after "g".

If still practising or trying to remember a few words to illustrate the hard and the soft "g" in French, you might like to memorise the good pair of nouns that come from the 2 adj mentioned in the above paragraph. They rhyme with "coeur" and "bonheur" ('heart' and 'happiness'). Here they are:
With a hard "g":
--> la "longueur" = length
With a soft "g":
--> "la largeur" = width

Bye,

Bon week-end à tous et à toutes!

[Kristin Espinasse]

Erin, It must have been the angle (or did I darken the overall photo... cant remember). Is it normal for Braise to have a pink truffe? (do goldens noses vary?) I have wondered about this in the past...

Herm, thank you for the right on poem. You have obviously been through this situation before... else how could you so perfectly describe those behind the scenes thoughts and feelings?

Ronnie and Karen, so good to see your conversations here.... following such lively conversations in the desert. So glad we were able to get together and make these memories. Now well have to organize a hike in NY... when Ronnie moves!

Bill in St Paul, in addition to getting to know everyone here, little by little (recognizing names and writing styles)... it is a pleasure to get to know everyones pets. Several names come to mind... though I dont dare name them, lest so much as one be left out. I like to think of your Theo as up there with our Lily (oh, now Ive gone and named names...; in addition to getting to know the names of everyones pets, weve gotten to know those furry friends whove passed on and stories, such as yours are always welcome here).

Candy, love your MissAdventure :-)

Michael, Merci! (And, oh gosh, I make a mistake-a-minute around our mostly Francophone home)
: it is truly refreshing to know that we French-learners are not alone in the still-makes-the-same-mistakes category (dont even talk about masculine or feminine!)

Thanks, everyone, for such interesting and helpful comments. Newforest, we cant thank you enough for sharing your Francophone finesse with us: and for being such a caring teacher. And thanks again, Marianne!

[Robyn Daniels]

Hi Kristin

As a writer, I just love this piece. It displays your deep connection with nature, your innate powers of observation and your intense pleasure of all things visual. Sorry to hear Braise caused you some concern over her disappearance. I understand that our pet dogs and cats have no concept of the passing of time so she was unaware of her 'absence' - also we must remember that animals have an inner life of their own and who knows what needs she had to stay out all night. The thing is she came home. Perhaps a sense of Spring in the air. Robyn x

[Jules Greer]

"LE COIN COMMENTAIRES" - There is nothing like waking up to this little corner of my world on a beautiful Sunday morning in Puerto Vallarta. I just knew there would be a few of my friends here waiting around to see what happens while they sip their coffee.

Robyn - I love how you describe my little Angel Kristi's writing....ha-ha...I think she has us all fooled. Kristi has the special attention of that big man ABOVE, therefore He has placed her in all kinds of situations to refine her senses in regard to all things out of her comfort zone. Yes, as an innocent child she was fully connected to all the wonders of nature, that is why I would find little frogs stuffed under my sheets as she passed by my bed in the morning. She was the one who was out at dawn skating up and down the path in front of our little trailer...singing her own special tune. Because of your kind words Robyn, I know, as only a mother can know, that your words are feeding her writing spirit on this beautiful new day.

Now I'm off to read the rest of the posts I have missed out on since yesterday...I'm sure I'll be back later on today.

If I knew how to put one of those links in for a song it would be singing "Yes, I think I love you". I'm sure one of you 'guys' can pop that in for me. Oh how Kristi and I fuss over the male commenter's when we are on the phone. I can remember when we had only one BRAVEHEART - who was our first Kristi? I'll have to check.

Big confession!!! I have my first internet crush...I saw this guy giving a speech and he just stole my heart away...maybe it's because he looks a little like John and has the same tone of storytelling. I'm off to get another fix.

XOXO

JULES

[Jules Greer]

The time logged in on my little note is wrong, it is really 7:09 a.m. here in Mexico. I will be happy when they come up with a computer that I can talk to - Mr. C. please fix my clock...and while you are at it please fix my filing system so I can understand what I have done in Picasso.

XOXO

JULES

[Alastair Grant]

Thanks Kristin for encouraging me to post this. It's my attempt to write a passage using only French words which are common in English - so anyone should be able to read it. It was not easy to write and has been correctd for me - some of the story got lost in translation! However here it is for comment - and spot the faux amis:

"Après une visite à une galerie d'art, les cousins, Emil et Jacqueline, décident de faire une promenade le long du boulevard St. Germaine ou ils rencontrent leurs amis Charles et Michelle Olivier sur la terrasse d'un café prés de la place Charles De Gaule.

Le boulevard est très occupé ce matin avec des enfants qui sont en vacances et des touristes qui apprécient l'air frais, le ciel bleu et le soleil. C'est les vacances de juillet. Emile trouve une table à quatre – située sous un parasol. Les quatre amis se détendent.

Jacqueline - la brunette – est d'une nature animée. Michelle, la blonde, porte une mini-jupe très élégante. Elle a l'air très languissant et fume une longue cigarette. Jacqueline porte un jean rouge et une chemise de satin rose. Elle a des espadrilles sur les pieds. Les deux garçons portent un jean, un T-shirt et des baskets.
Le propriétaire du café envoie le serveur prendre les commandes de rafraîchissements. Charles et Emile demandent un café. Michelle choisit de l'eau minérale. Jacqueline demande une orange pressée

Soudainement la tranquillité du matin est rompue par des sirènes de police et d’ambulance. Un accident s'est produit sur la place Charles De Gaule. Regrettablement la tranquillité a été dérangée.

Les enfants sont disparus. Ils sont allés voir l'accident et les spectateurs sur la place sont tranquilles".

[Alastair Grant]

Kristin - that picture of Smokey dozing securely on his mother's bosom is surely a winner as a card for some special occasion - such as Mother's Day! I'd buy a dozen!

[Jules Greer]

Hi Alastair,

I absolutely love your post - what a great idea.
I hope you will post it again on MONDAY'S POST of
FWaD. Be sure and put it in that days comment post as I don't think very many people will be stopping by here - it's too late in the day.

XOXO

JULES

[Erin Thruston]

Kristin,

I had a Maltese for 13 years and as she got older, nearer to the end of her life than the beginning, her little black nose turned pinkish-brown. Maybe it's an age thing...or maybe it's just something that happens to certain unique dogs. Aaaahhh, these pups that make our lives so much better for having them in them!!

[Ronnie McCarthy in Surprise]

I love the pot-luck idea, Herm.

Karen, Monet talks about you as her new adult friend. She drew a picture for you and Kristin. You all really had quite an impact on our family.

Kristin- the hiking possibilities in NY are endless! The Hudson Valley is glorious and I can't wait to return. A NY meetup will be fun. :)