cahier
Monday, March 21, 2011
A couple of Max's cahiers from 4ème (8th grade). More than in the classroom, cahiers are used in many French establishments...
le cahier (keye yay)
: notebook, exercise book
(from the Latin "quaterni" or "set of four": the first cahiers had four pages... from the pliage, or folding, of one page)
le cahier d'exercices = workbook
le cahier à spirale = spiral-bound notebook
le cahier de textes = homework notebook
Audio File: The sound files will return soon... now that Chief Grape is back (I'll get him, shortly, at the airport in Marseilles).
A Day in a French Life... by Kristin Espinasse
The Art of Bookkeeping
I am at the bank trying to deposit a royalty check (made out in US dollars). I watch as the mademoiselle behind the counter is overcome by a look of doubt.
"Et qu'est-ce que c'est comme société?" she interrogates, pointing to the name at the top of the check.
Mademoiselle's question sounds like an accusation in the ears of the homebody who is hearing it. Standing there in muddied boots and an unironed chemise I wonder whether my appearance has anything to do with things? No, I reason. You are once again reading too much into it (besides, it's impossible to see my boots from where she is sitting).
Meantime, Mademoiselle is waiting for an answer...
"C'est une maison d'edition," I point out.
I am instantly ashamed of the smug feeling I have just enjoyed in announcing that the check has been issued by a publishing house! But any puffed-uppery is short-lived when, like soiled clothes tossed into a laundry chute--I am abruptly released from Pride thanks to Truth. (Truth is, the young teller makes more money in one month than I have made in six months of book sales... and the exchange rate sure doesn't help things!)
I watch as Mademoiselle Money-Maker reaches for a thin spiral notebook; inside, I see handwriting scrawled across les pages quadrillées. Next the bank teller practices what I have come to know as "French Data Entry". Forget, for a moment, France's history of being on the cutting edge of data processing (remember Le Minitel?), the French still revert to ink when it comes to documentation.
I stare at that flimsy cahier. Will she note the check information in there? Will my money be safe?....
Since moving to France, I have seen and been intrigued by the modern-day uses of scholastic notebooks by the likes of dentists, secretaries at town hall, the local garagiste, and, now, the banker. Record-keeping at its French best! In the flip of a curlicue-covered page (French longhand is unmistakable), my dentist can tell me my children's oral history. (Note: the same dentist also has the latest Mac with which to view those cool tooth diagrams on the big screen... I guess cahiers are more for documenting than for drawing).
Such old-fashioned ways and means for information recording are a breath of fresh air in this technologically chetchy society. But I have to admit that it comes as a relief when I notice the bank teller doing a backup (...and typing the check information into a computer database).
All that scribbling in the cahier seems like a lot of extra work... but then again... if Mademoiselle's computer ever gets fried as mine once did... then I am grateful knowing it's all been documented--my not-so-smug salary--via dotted I's and crossed T's.
Le Coin Commentaires
Have you, too, noticed the French tendency to use cahiers to record data? Is it just me? Or do the French have a tendency to note... and to note encore!? Share your experiences... and ask/answer questions in our community corner (aka the comments box!)
French Vocabulary
la mademoiselle = young lady
Et qu'est-ce que c'est comme société? = what kind of company is it?
une chemise = shirt
C'est une maison d'edition = it's a publishing house
le Minitel = in the early 80s, pre World Wide Web, the Minitel (picture a small computer terminal) was an online-information resource (users could look up telephone numbers, reserve train tickets, do online banking... way back when!)
les pages (f) quadrillées = the cross-ruled, checked pages
le cahier = notebook
le/la garagiste = mechanic
"Fanfare on the Front Porch" Thanks again and again to the Dirt Divas for coloring up our world. These flower arrangements were created by Doreen. She gave them to me at Malou's house, after tea and a "books-n-gardening" meeting. We loaded the freshly planted pots into the trunk and I drove wildly, excitedly home. So much so that when I opened the trunk there was dirt everywhere. I tucked the clumps of plants back into their upended pots... and followed Doreen's instructions: put the two outside (in any weather), and the others indoors until the threat of frost passes.
I could not imagine, then, that from the clumps of dirt and scattered greens... up would come this jubilant scene! P.S.: Doreen had apologized for the plastic containers, suggesting I set them into something a little more eye-catching. I hope these boots will do the trick! Many thanks encore, Doreen and Malou. I hope to see you here again very soon! To comment on the flowers or to share your own gardening notes, join us in the comment box, click here.
You will find more stories and photos of the Dirt Divas in the "Garden" section.
Exercises in French Phonics is...
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"useful and practical"
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Posted by: Sorcha | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 11:33 AM
I too have a penchant for using cahiers.
Yes the information can be found on line, but I like the coziness of having it in writing at my instant beck and call despite power outages, forgotten passwords,
and the like.
And there is nothing like opening a new cahier and starting anew!!
Vive le cahier!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Mary-Anne Helms | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 12:05 PM
Those boots, they can't be still alive?
Charles
Posted by: Charles | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 01:11 PM
Hi Kristin,
I understood the French pretty well, but I didn't understand a particular word you used that I assume is in English: chetchy.
Could you enlighten me on that word?
Posted by: Gail Jolley | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 01:30 PM
My ordinateur portable is crammed to the brim with files, but for my most important thoughts I still pull out my cahiers and my T-ball Jotter stylo. Ideas seems so much more real and secure when I write them. I love all of my side notes and cross-outs. Yes, I can do that with the word-processing program, but it just isn't the same.
As for the French and their cahiers, I buy several when I'm in the country. Wonderful souvenirs. And for their over-reliance on them -- I'll have to check it out this summer, but all I know is the French love la administration for everything.
Beautiful flower photo. I'll have to read all your garden entries soon, but I'm in a race against mauvaises herbes this week before warm weather really hits.
Félicitations on a royalty check!
Posted by: Julie F in St. Louis, MO | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 01:36 PM
I enjoyed your post! I did not think le cahier à spirale existed in France! My daughter is studing in France this semester and I had to send her notebooks from the US. She was not able to find them in Strasbourg.
Posted by: Kim | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 01:40 PM
As I sit listening to the rain pound on the windows on this first full day of spring, I am inspired by the photo of your boots and flower pots. Although there are snowflakes mixed with the rain, the pansies have been planted on the deck and the tulips have pushed through the soil in the planter box. When the sun comes out again, I too will be gardening. Thanks for the colorful reminder, Kristin.
Posted by: Suzanne, Monroe Twp., NJ | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 01:42 PM
Thank you for the Latin derivation of "cahier," which explains for me where the Italian for exercise book, "quaderno," comes from. I did take Latin (five long years of it) but the word for exercise book never came up. My Latin vocabulary was heavy on Roman legions, spears, marching, and people conquering and being conquered!
Posted by: Passante | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 01:47 PM
Hi Kristin,
I love the photo of la vache and les fleurs! I hope Jean-Marc or one of the kids can make an audio file for "le cahier". That is a word I would have pronounced wrong.
Have a great week! I am off to Richmond, VA today to visit the Picasso exhibit from the Musée National Picasso, Paris.”
Posted by: Eileen deCamp | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 02:03 PM
Ma cahair favori, Moleskine - pocket-size hardcover notebooks in many forms for writing, art, etc.
fyi:
What is Moleskine? ( mol-a-skeen'-a)
MOLESKINE is the legendary notebook that has held the inspirations and ideas of everyone from Van Gogh, Picasso and Hemingway to famed author, Bruce Chatwin. Artists, authors, and geniuses of all variety have long appreciated the simplicity and superior functionality of these notebooks.
Originally these books were produced by small French bookbinders who supplied the Parisian stationery shops frequented by the international avant-garde. However, In 1986, the last manufacturer of Moleskine, a family operation in Tours, closed and Moleskines were gone – but not forgotten. As a result of their previous popularity and demand, they did return. In 1998, a small Milanese publisher brought these books back for writers, artists, travelers and all free-thinkers around the globe. (Blurb from their website.)
Kristi, the flowers are beautiful. I have been puttering around the back yard several days - in my "briar patch" at last. Yea Spring.
Posted by: Pat Cargill | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 02:06 PM
I love French "cahiers". I think "les cahiers à grands carreaux" look more interesting than the 'lined' exercise books they sell here in England.
Ahaaah" and what about the French "carnets" (note books), with small and neat little squares? -> "les carnets à petits carreaux"... Aren't they inviting?
Kristin, I don't know whether "cahiers" are used by all the French "employés de banque", in the way you described. I've never seen any "cahier" being used at "La Banque Postale", (the 'postal Bank' I go to when I am in France). I can't remember having noticed them being used in shops, restaurants, markets or supermarkets. I guess some French shop keepers may have "un registre" used in the same way as here -> to write down orders made by customers ... (in small shops)
My favourite French "cahiers"? without any hesitation, I'd say:
-> "Les cahiers CLAIREFONTAINE", (avec spirale). At home, I have an A5 version - too big to be called "carnet" I suppose? Well, it's a sort of lovely "petit cahier"! It is "à petits carreaux" and "avec reliure spirale". It lives happily on a shelf behind my laptop and is half full at the moment!
PS
will add something about "le quadrillage" of French "cahiers"
Posted by: Newforest | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 02:06 PM
"le quadrillage typiquement français
-> Réglure Seyès"
The ordinary "cahiers d'écolier" (used in French primary schools) are "cahiers à grands carreaux", "réglure Seyès" -> a special "quadrillage" with three minor horizontal lines inside each square - like this replica someone tried to create with his computer:
http://data0.eklablog.com/charivari/perso/seyes%20moyen.pdf
Why that sort of "quadrillage"?
The idea came from a French school Inspector, at the very end of the 19th century, to help French primary school children with their handwriting. He established rules on how to form and shape letters and how to link them, using 3 horizontal lines inside squares drawn on paper.
For ex: vowels must be lodged between the 2 bottom lines, and so are consonants c, m, n, r, s, v, w, x. Letters d and t sit on the bottom line on the square and the vertical line of these letters must go up to the top of the second line inside the square. Letter l sits on the bottom line of the square and must stretch up to the top of the 3rd line... etc etc. They were rules for writing all the "lettres minuscules" (small letters) and "les majuscules" (capital letters") respecting proportion and regularity...
A couple of years later, Jean-Alexandre Seyès 'stole' the idea and patented his "quadrillage". This was the beginning of the 0,8cm square divided by 3 horizontal lines into 4 spaces of 0.2cm.
The "réglure Seyes" is still used nowadays and it makes a French exercise book look ... very French indeed!
Note:
You can now buy some "cahiers Clairefointaine" (réglure Seyès") in England but they are not used in English primary schools - they are not very well known by the general public (and they are expensive!)
http://www.bureaudirect.co.uk/products.asp?partno=SM%2F105692
Posted by: Newforest | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 02:56 PM
Un grand merci!
Kristin, thank you very much for the flowers on your front porch. Here, Spring is at our doorstep, full of primroses, yellow daffodils and forsythia flowers. Le printemps is still a bit shy and 'tearful' ...
Today, just "un tout petit sourire printanier".... but it's lovely!
Yesterday, we bought 2 Osmanthus and a Photinia red robin, as we wanted some evergreen shrubs to fill up a 'hole' along a mixed hedge in the front garden. So, I'll soon switch off, walk to our compost heap, fill up a wheel barrow, and do some planting... I will need long woolly socks in my wellington boots, and some extra warm clothes, as it is still quite chilly outside.
Bienvenue au Printemps!
and a very happy Welcome back to Chief Grape!
Posted by: Newforest | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 03:06 PM
I'm leaving all of my notebooks to Kristi.
Kristi is the only one who would ever find the gold amidst the chaos.
Whenever I see or hear the word 'gold' I am instantly transported to a moment in time when I opened a letter from Kristi's future father when he was not sure that he wanted to continue our relationship.
His words were: "All that glitters is not gold..." I kept that letter, which broke my heart until I lost all of my possessions in 1997, sadly all of my memento's, photo's, eleven full bookcases, paintings, clothes (three mink coats) jewelry were lost. I had a beautiful library, complete with an old judges desk with lion-claw feet (I always felt so powerful when I sat behind it and plotted my life and dreams.
All things pass - mental photo's and words will always be with us, a simple sentence from Kristi's adorable mind will come to visit me at the most appropriate of times.
In the end we are left with a composite of all we have imbibed in throughout our life -
and I laugh when I think of Kip's letter to me long ago - truly, all that glitters is not gold.
XOXO
JULES
Posted by: Jules Greer | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 03:13 PM
Ahhhh the cahier de vie. Indispensible tool for communicating with parents of the children in Maternelle. I laughed (to myself) at the conseil d'école (PTA) when it was proposed that all parent communication would be made, at least in duplicate, by email since they had all of our emails, n'est ce pas? The answer was a flat out, non. Not everyone had access to emails. It was also pointed out that not everyone could read either... My comments end here.
Posted by: Nackey | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 03:24 PM
Kristin,
#1 I have a "thing" for notebooks, and the French ones, especially. They can be found in the U.S. at specialty stores and are VERY expensive (for papier, anyway).
#2 There are days when I would just as soon "shoot" my washing machine and laundry, but I think the word you were looking for is "chute," non?
#3 Will you be home at the end of April and/or beginning of May for two American ladies d'un certain age to stop by and say bonjour? Two who read your every word. Two who think perpetually about France, or more specifically, about Provence. Two who will be traveling sans kids, husbands, friends who don't see France through our eyes, etc. You get the idea ~ la liberte!
Posted by: Susie | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 04:17 PM
Hi Sorcha, Are you reading the online version? Depending on your email program, the newsletter version might show less ads. And thanks for your email, which I received. I'll email you back soon :-)
Charles - LOL! Those are your boots, aren't they, from the previous harvests? I missed a wonderful photo oppy last fall... when the boots were covered with bright blue copper sulfate. Each time I passed the blue boots I sighed, "I'll take your photo at the next chance..." Eventually the rain took it's first chance!
Hi Gail, I admit, "chetchy" isn't part of my everyday vocab either... but the word came to mind as I typed the sentence. I double-checked the meaning ("sexy") and decided that "technologically chetchy (or "sexy") society" could work!
Kim, you might be right about that (I'm having doubts as to whether I've seen any spiral cahiers here...)
Eileen, a little bird told me that it's your birthday today... Joyeux Anniversaire! Does anyone share this special day with Eileen? Who else has a March bday on the way? (Besides my sister, Heidi, and Chief Grape?) Eileen, enjoy your time at the Picasso exhibit!
Newforest, so glad you brought up those carnets (like you, I have one one--or so...--on my shelf!) We'll see if we can talk more about these in the future - as they are so close to many or our hearts!
And thanks, Newforest, for your note about the bank's cahier. I think this particular cahier in question had to do with protocol for checks. The teller seemed to be simply consulting the handwritten notebook. I doubt the bank writes down each and every transaction in their cahier (perhaps only foreign checks?). Then again, she may have simply made a note of something... whilst entering the actual check info on the computer (which was not functioning so well, I was told...).
And, Newforest, thanks for the fascinating history of the "quadrillage" and how it was used to train students to write or to do cursive...
Mom, Wow, I never knew the story of "The Letter"! (oooohhhhhhhh!) I'll have to tease Dad about that one! (And, yikes, that was a close call to "non existence"!
Susie, "Shoot!" Another spelling mistake hits the dust! (Thanks for the correction :-) and we'd love to see you two ladies at the end of April. Email me!
Posted by: Kristin Espinasse | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 04:47 PM
Merci beaucoup, Kristi, pour l'histoire au sujet de cahiers francais. It takes me back to my time in France as a student at L'Institut de Touraine in Tours back in the fall of 1992. I loved buying and using those lovely cahiers, especially since I have a thing for paper and writing anyway! I still have my large cahier I used for class and a mini one I carried around to record new vocabulary words.
I am also reminded of a French teaching assistant at my university in the States. I loved her typical French handwriting and treasured letters she sent me after she returned home.
It snowing right now in Vermont but the birds are busy and spring will come. I can't wait to pot flowers! Thanks for the beautiful picture and welcome home to Chief Grape.
Posted by: Carolyn in Vermont | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 05:10 PM
Jumping back in here to offer another vote for Moleskine cahiers. I can't live without them when I travel. They come in so many different configurations, are lightweight, and are flexible. The little pockets in the back are perfect for stashing the wrappings of wonderful little biscuits I get with my tea or our ticket stubs. I carry the small one with me at all times in my camera bag for making notes on the move, jotting down new words or my agenda, or to offer up when I don't understand the spoken French and need someone to write what they are saying. The larger ones are back at the apartment or hotel for end-of-day journaling. And I find them in so many more interesting colors than black when I'm in France so I buy a few (only a few because with the exchange rate they are très cher).
Posted by: Julie F in St. Louis, MO | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 05:26 PM
As usual, another great post about life in France. I haven't yet been but after reading your stories I will surely feel at home once I do visit. I also love journals and yes, as one reader said, new ones are the best but these look like an experience in itself.
Regarding the deposit, why don't you have the publisher do an auto deposit? I've been doing that for a while and I like it so much better than a paper check.
Not to worry about the lack of sales or the teller making more money than you. I learned a long time ago that more often than not the value of changing one person's life with my books is more rewarding than the money in the bank (although that's nice too!:) And it's always when I'm fretting about the numbers that a really moving and inspiring story of how my little island dog philosopher, PUG, has helped someone repair their lives.
Keep up the great work. You totally rock!
Jackson Dunes
Pug At The Beach ~ an island dog who is part Dalai Lama, part Jimmy Buffett and a whole lotta fun!
http://www.ThePugLady.com
Posted by: Jackson Dunes, Pug At The Beach | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 06:05 PM
My birthday passed earlier this month of new beginnings...Spring is just around the corner here in Montague, Michigan. Unfortunately the present I received four days after my birthday was a hysterectomy to remove ovarian cancer. But there is hope on this 21st day of March. There is the hope of freshness, of beautiful flowers, of a cleansing of our Earth and hopefully the promise of many more birthdays to come. If the flowers can poke their little heads out of the earth after a long winters nap, I like to imagine that they also had hope. If we don't have hope we are lost.
Posted by: Sharon - Montague, Michigan | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 06:09 PM
Kristin,
I love the flowers. I have crocuses blooming and my daffodils are still flowerless. I spent 5 -6 hours for 2 days cleaning my gardens of leaves and such as well as my lawn. And alas today, we had snow, but it is melting now and will be gone shortly. I'm anxiously awaiting le primtemps.
The French still prize hand written notes and such, whereas the most of the american students today can not do cursive writing. Everything is done on computers and calculators and phones. Then when one considers texting, we realize that students and young adults don't even write full words or sentences. How r u 2day? LOL
I am showing my age. Oh well, what is new?
Posted by: Kathleen | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 06:45 PM
Being English, born and bred, I am always a little surprised when I see the word "dirt" used for "earth". Dirt to me is something that makes one dirty but earth is something you plant things in.
Posted by: Harebob | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 06:52 PM
Like so many I too love, love, love cahiers--especially the French Clairefontaine. I have found them here in some specialty stores, but they're expensive. And it's much more fun to buy them in France and have a good excuse to browse a French stationery/paper goods shop. I'm counting on finding some soon when I'm in France. And hoping to have a little visit with you, too, Kristin!
Posted by: Marti | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 07:20 PM
Kristin, this post about cahiers made my morning. For years, I've made earnest attempts to process all of my thoughts, plans and dreams via computer, to no avail! Much to the consternation of my techno-minded husband I still run my day, and many other things, using pen, paper and other old fashioned means. Just last night, I was met with a quizzical, though patient, look from him when I pulled out a simple calculator I had just bought to manage our budget with. I actually like technology (I'm sending this from my iPad, to which I'm almost surgically attached), but I think at some point we try to make things too complicated by using it, when a few flourishes with a pen fills a need beautifully.
Posted by: Candice | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 07:23 PM
The flower with boots attended by the vache photo is wonderful. You are so creative and artistic in what you see and capture through your lens. Thank you!
Posted by: Marti | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 07:24 PM
Joyous Spring! We celebrated the arrival of this sweet season with a breakfast of freshly picked morels, after a magical hike through the sun-lit forest.
It does surprise me, though I’m pleased to hear, the use of notebooks is a common business practice in France.
Your post today reminds me of a poem by Mary Oliver (I think it was you, Kristi, who emailed a poem that lead me to purchase her book!):
With Thanks to the Field Sparrow, Whose Voice Is So Delicate and Humble
I do not live happily or comfortably
with the cleverness of our times.
The talk is all about computers,
the news is all about bombs and blood.
This morning, in the fresh field,
I came upon a hidden nest.
It held four warm, speckled eggs.
I touched them.
Then went away softly,
having felt something more wonderful
than all the electricity of New York City.
Posted by: Stacy, Applegate, Oregon | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 07:52 PM
Bonjour! I will forward this to my French students!
We can't live without cahiers. We learned to write with a cahier. We wrote journals in a cahier. I copy down many a recipe in cahiers, especially when I am doing culinary research in Morocco.
I wish we could find good old fashioned cahiers in the US. And yes, I do own 2 computers, just like your dentist, but I trust my entries in a cahier more than I do on an Excel spreadsheet! call me demodee.
Kitty Morse, author
Cooking at the Kasbah
Posted by: Kitty M | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 08:03 PM
Gardening notes? Gardening you say? Sigh. I look out the window and sees spring white. Lots and lots of white. And an entire week's forecast of daily snowfall. Gardening is still something I can only dream about doing again one day.
Posted by: Laume | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 08:42 PM
Loved the flowers. Now when those boots have seen their last day, you plant flowers in them. I have some boots that were my father's from WWII that I plant flowers in. Old cast iron kettles, old watering cans, all sorts of things work! My garden is a bit eclectic.
Posted by: joie | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 09:32 PM
Jules, what happened to all of your things? A flood? A fire? Glad you, at least, escaped.
Yes, the flowers are really lovely. Around here, we have danger of frost for another month, but I bought a few hardy plants recently to brighten up the yard.
I always wondered about why the French (and Europeans, et al.) seem to like the quadrillage. For learning how to write, it could be helpful, I guess, although I find it distracting. I looked at the Seyes paper, and I think it would be confusing for children - too many lines. The "block" notebooks were available in Lebanon, where we lived for a while, along with thin lined notebooks in blue covers that the local children used for schoolwork.
In the USA, several types of paper are now available for beginning writers. There are really widely spaced lines in blue, with a faint red line in the middle to help with letter formation, and an empty line (really a space) to help beginners separate their lines (i.e., row of words) of writing.
The next step is paper with somewhat less widely spaced lines, with a thin red or blue dotted line in the middle for proper letter formation, and no spaces between the lines.
Finally, one gets to the usual "wide-ruled" paper, but without any other indications for letter formation, used in approximately grades 2-8. By 9th grade, students are often using college-ruled paper, narrower than the "elementary" paper.
I've never seen the quadrillage paper used in school for anything but math - analytic geometry in particular - or maybe physics.
I guess one can write on anything, if one gets used to it.
Posted by: Marianne Rankin | Monday, March 21, 2011 at 10:17 PM
I also love Moleskine books for writing, journaling and sketching. They are my favorite. I even keep a planner on my desk which is a Moleskine. Computers are great but I have to admit I love writing things down.
Love the picture today, beautiful flowers. We are having a rainy day
in the desert.
Welcome Home Chief Grape, how your adventures were successful.
xoxo
Posted by: Karen from Phoenix, AZ | Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 12:17 AM
Kristin, Love the photos, love the stories, love the dogs., But (honte a spell check) it is a laundry chute. From chute. When i was a child in New Orleans, slides in a park were known a chute y chutes.
amdla
Posted by: Anne Daigle | Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 12:24 AM
Hooray for those wonderful Moleskine notebooks. I also use them all of the time when something really impt. needs to be recorded.
I purchased my first one in Germany a number of years ago. I saw them last September in London at Fortnum and Mason.
But best of all, they're right here in the USA at both Borders (for however long it survives) and Barnes and Noble.
There is just something wonderful about taking pen in hand and writing things down. If I want to reread anything I just "open the book." There's no pulling up documents, clicking to open, etc. A pen, a Moleskine notebook and good thoughts...priceless.
Posted by: Luci | Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 03:42 AM
Hi Kristin
Uh oh! Sounds like you came up against French 'bureaucracy' at its finest at the bank but in today's computerarchy (is that a real word or did I just make it up) it is prudent to record everything in hard copy too.
I too love those French cahiers with their little squares instead of lines but here in England I tend to use a small notebook for ideas/doodles and a project book with dividers and plastic pockets where I can tuck in drawings, magazine cutouts etc not to mention any receipts that are related to the project.
I'm very excited and off to the Children's Book Fair at Bologna this coming weekend to hawk my wares complete with project 'cahier' - I've never been before but I hope to find either an agent/pulisher/animation deal or all three if my angels guide me true (I found another white feather today that tells me they are with me when I get discouraged, as all putative authors due at times!) I quite like the idea of being taken up by Simon and Schuster who will be there and whom I believe you have published with (do you have a contact name that might be helpful?) but will see what comes about. Wish me luck!!
Robyn xx
PS I've already secured my first 'reading' at a school in May and hope this may be the beginning of further such events as the book is designed as a therapeutic tool for 7-12-year-olds with an accompanying workbook/journal called 'TEA with Angel-Kat'. It is a private school with a strong pastoral bias (they actually have a Director of Pastoral Care! - apparently this is usual in private schools here in UK). Hope this is a contact that will lead to replication of the event and uptake of my book/workbood in the educational field.
Have you ever thought of taking your 'work' into private schools teaching French/writing/photography - I think it would work very well and maybe secure some word of mouth sales to increase your royalty cheque and maybe find another income string if you want - I think you would make a very engaging 'prof'.
Posted by: Robyn Daniels | Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 08:48 PM
I will be celebrating my birthday in my evening French class writing in my "cahier" (on 03/30/2011). :)
Posted by: Lisa A., CA | Thursday, March 24, 2011 at 05:35 PM
and as a result there are more cool cahiers available in france than I've seen in many places in the US. AS an Architect I'm drawn (pun intended: -) to the written word/graphic expression. Vive le France
Posted by: jim Kachik | Thursday, March 24, 2011 at 06:00 PM
Hi Kristin:
Have you ever heard of "le cahier roulant"? I was in 6ème and the teacher had this "cahier roulant" for one student to do homework in it. And the next day, another student would be assigned to use that cahier.
I never questioned what it was for. Now thinking back, it must be some sort of "souvenir" of that class for the prof maybe? Je me demande si ça se pratique encore.
Posted by: Millie | Saturday, March 26, 2011 at 08:21 PM
Thank you for your quick response to my problem of no longer receiving "word a day" thru my e-mail. Just by chance I rec'd "sourire", but none since. I am so glad; it was so lovely I shared it with my French class. Teacher had us all read it together. Also, I have saved all the e-mails I've rec'd to go over again and again. I hope we can get the e-mails coming again. Merci.
Posted by: Barbara Michels | Saturday, March 26, 2011 at 09:21 PM
Hi Kristin
here I am writing you from the village in France where |return each year to indulge myself painting my colorful impressionist
paintings each day
I so enjoyed your posting from Jules re ones possessions, as I have each year disposed of most of my personal items and passed onto my family anything they wish to have and now literally live out of two suitcases. It does give one a sense of freedom. Isn't wonderful to see all the different colours popping up all over the countryside, makes one feel so full of the
"gold" of sunshine.
One again thank you for brightening my day with your delightful emails.
your art friend from New Zealand
June
Posted by: June Furey | Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 01:13 PM
If it weren't for French cahiers, I never would have stumbled upon Clairefontaine notebooks, which I now seek out online or while in the small stationery shops one finds in New York City but alas, no more in Los Angeles. Clairfontaine paper (and that of its sister brand, Rhodia) is the most smooth and sturdy to be found--perfect for us fountain pen iconoclasts.
Posted by: Karendesign | Friday, April 08, 2011 at 05:36 AM
Dentists are really becoming techie like the rest of the world. Almost all of the industries today, all over the world, invest more on gadgets or facilities with advance technology to gain more quality product and efficient service. And it’s nicer to have great visuals so that the clients would understand every figure easily.
Posted by: Cecania Tallmade | Monday, April 18, 2011 at 05:43 AM
I can not think this kind of post was made in earnest. Is it April Fools Day something like that?
Posted by: garcinia cambogia | Friday, February 01, 2013 at 01:50 AM