quand le jour viendra

Break free, break through, break-the-rules...  in fashion, in writing, in gardening, in cuisine, in living. Pictured: the latest "escapee" in our garden: allium (representing unity, patience, and humility).

quand le jour viendra

    : when the day comes

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Example Sentence, from today's letter written by Newforest:

Vous lirez tout ça demain ..., bientôt ...., un jour ..., quand le jour viendra... You will read all that tomorrow..., soon..., one day..., when the day comes...

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Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French Grammar makes mastering grammar easy. Check out the book's reviews and order here.

 

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

An Unexpected Tribute

The following French words were written by Newforest, who regularly enriches us, from a quiet perch in the comments box, with French words and their meanings.  Thank you, Newforest, for sharing these gems of the French language via your responses in the "coin commentaires". The following response sent via email, is a follow-up to the April 26th newsletter and I thank Newforest for letting me share this unexpected tribute.
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Note: In the following letter, Newforest responds to a story I wrote, one taking place in a French home-improvements store, where I am killing time when a customer with a hell-on-wheels heart captures my eye in time  to calm a condemning mind and reignite an old dream...

 

Newforest writes:

Pour passer le temps,
to pass the time,
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ou plus précisément:
or, more precisely:
..
pour TUER le temps,
to KILL time,

on attend, on attend...
we wait, we wait...
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On peut parfois attendre bien longtemps,

Sometimes we can wait a very long time,
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paisiblement,

peacefully,

nonchalamment,
cooly,

anxieusement,

anxiously,

désespérément.
desperately.

Quel désagrément!
How unpleasant!

Efforcez-vous de prendre votre mal en patience,  
Try hard to grin and bear it,

en faisant le poireau, s'il le faut ...
by waiting a long time, without moving, if necessary...

Encore faut-il être joliment patient,

You might have to be pretty patient,

évidemment...
Clearly...

Quand on en a assez de poireauter, qu'est-ce qu'on fait?
When we've had enough waiting, what do we do?

On fait les cent pas dans la rue, ou devant un bâtiment...
We pace back and forth in the street, or before a building...

On marche de long en large (sans liaison entre "g" et "en"!)
We walk to and fro (no joining the "g" and "en"!)

On arpente solitairement les avenues...
We stride alone along the avenues... 

On prétend s'intéresser aux vitrines des marchands.
We pretend to be interested in the shop windows.

Un jour, pour tuer le temps, un écrivain entra dans un supermarché,
One day, to kill time, a writer entered into a supermarket,
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genre grand bazar équipé pour ceux qui adorent bricoler!
a kind a great bazaar for those who love DIY!

et là... !? ... Choc! Attraction! Eblouissement! Miracle?
and there...! Shock! Attraction! Amazement! Miracle?

Les yeux de l'écrivain en question se sont accrochés
The eyes of the writer-in-question cling
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à une personne dont les traits et qualités
to a person whose features and qualities

frappèrent son imagination et sa sensibilité.
would strike her imagination and feelings.

Elle reconnut la présence et l'âme d'une héroïne,
She recognised the presence and the soul of a heroine,

l'héroïne d'un conte pour les petits et les grands.
the heroine of a story for children and adults.

Savez-vous que cette femme écrivain au grand coeur,
Did you know that this woman writer with a big heart,

pleine d'idées, d'imagination et de bonne humeur,
full of ideas, imagination, and high spirits,

donnera vie à toute une série d'aventures,
will give life to a series of adventures,

à de la poésie en action, à ...  Chut!... Vous lirez tout ça
from poetry in action, to... Shhhh!... You'll read all of that

demain ..., bientôt ...., un jour ..., quand le jour viendra...
tomorrow..., soon... one day... when the day comes...

Encore faut-il que l'auteur en question se libère des liens du confort quotidien,
But it is still necessary that the author-in-question free herself from ties of daily comfort,

évitant les mille et une excuses plantées le long de son chemin,
avoiding the thousand-and-one excuses planted along the way,

et soit finalement seule, face aux paysages, menant les personnages
to be finally alone, facing the scenery, leading along the characters
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dans des aventures qui en-chan-te-ront
in adventures that will enchant

(mais oui, j'en suis sûre)
(yes, of course! I am sure)

les lecteurs de 'sept à soixante dix-sept ans'.

readers from "seven to 77" years old.

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Thank you, Newforest, for your touching words and for remembering my dream of novels-writing! I continue keep this goal simmering on the back burner...  Meantime, your words offer heaps of encouragement. Merci beaucoup!

Le Coin Commentaires

To comment on Newforest's letter -- or to correct my English translation -- please click here. Many thanks again for sharing your responses to this post in the comments box.

French Vocabulary by Newforest

* nonchalamment = lazily, cooly
* un désagrément = unpleasant feeling
* s'efforcer de = to try hard
* prendre son mal en patience = to grin and bear it

* faire le poireau / poireauter (click here for a word-a-day entry on this term...) = to wait for a long time, without moving, without walking,
Careful... * faire le poirier = to do a headstand!
(le poireau = a leek   and  *le poirier = a pear tree)

* être joliment patient = to be pretty patient / to have loads of patience
* en avoir assez de poireauter =  to be fed up with waiting and waiting
* faire les cent pas / marcher de long en large
= to pace to and fro, to walk to and fro, to pace up and down
* arpenter (la rue) = to pace up and down (the street), to stride along
* bricoler = to DIY (Do It Yourself, to work indepenently, without professional help)
* faire semblant / prétendre = to pretend
* s'accrocher  = to cling
s'accrocher à quelqu'un = to get emotionally attached to somebody
*les traits = here, the features
* quand le jour viendra = when the day comes

* un éblouissement = glare, dazzle (by very strong light)
- Here: amazement, dazzling experience
- and it also means dizzy spell

* se libérer = to free oneself
* évitant = avoiding
* les lecteurs 'de 7 à 77 ans' = readers of all ages and conditions

NAME THIS FLOWER (click here)... it's for Newforest, in thanks for today's words, and so much more!

 

With special thanks to the Dirt Divas... for this and the other blooms bursting in the garden.

Upcoming events: Taste Chief Grape's Dentelle wine on May 16th from 6 to 10 PM (note that Jean-Marc and Kristin won't be able to attend this time!)  at restaurant l'Office in Paris.

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A Feast at the Beach. Travel back in time and immerse yourself in the Provence of the late 60s. Sensitively told, filled with humor, tenderness and a beautifully descriptive narrative regaling the reader with the tastes and smells of Southern France, A Feast at the Beach deftly blends the foods of Provence with stories that will touch your heart - and just may inspire you to rediscover your own joie de vivre. See the reviews, here.

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

 

Some of you asked about this flower, which goes by the common name: Love in a Mist. Now read about Amour en Cage, or Love in a Cage