FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

And I almost forgot...Happy Birthday!

Kristi, you have bared your heart for so many years to us, your readers. I have loved and have looked forward to not only this blog but also your books. I’m amazed at what a prolific gardener you are and what beautiful homes you’ve created. I love hearing about your children your husband and especially your mother. Your blog is so special. Thank you so much.

Oh, where to start! There are so many stories of yours that touched me. All the stories about Jules and her painting, the kids and their milestones, Jean-Marc and le sac 🤣, the trials and tribulations of building vineyard...Smokey being attacked and his wonderful recovery, and you and your garden, and all the times you were afraid to put yourself out there, and you did and it was wonderful and not nearly as bad as you thought it would be.

It's been a pleasure being let in to share all those wonderful experiences with you all these years. Joyuex anniversaire, Chere Kristi. May there be many, many more! 🥰

Your photos drew me to this blog and to Instagram. Those window shutters painted in a special shade of blue all around your part of France are in my memory for good. A box of notecards I had included some with those same window shutters, so I knew the photo was taken in France.

The bicycles, and the long series of chair photos are also images in my mind from you.

I loved learning about olive trees, almond trees, fig trees, and grape vines. Only your blog could teach me about those.

Bon anniversaire!

Amicalement

My special memory is the reading you did at Shakespeare and Company. It was my last night in Paris on that trip and I made sure I was all packed up and ready so I could concentrate on listening to you! And...I sat next to Ann Mah! Bonus author! It was a delightful evening, one I will never forget!

Thank you!

Happy Birthday! I have been reading for many years now. I love all the stories but especially loved when we got to meet up with you and your sister here in AZ. It was such a joy that I got to meet Herm as well. What a special person he was and enjoyed dinner with him and his wife Sharron for years. You brought us all together, that is so special. Big hugs.

I live every post you send us, but the o e I refer to often is your yogurt cake recipe- tres´ Délicieux! Joyeuse anniversaire 🎈

Cheryl, I was there that night, too, at Kristi’s reading at Shakespeare and Co with the lights on Notre Dame out the window. What a wonderful evening that was with Kristi!

Bon anniversaire! I am so thankful for your blog...I learn so much. I appreciated the tomato pie recipe. Delicious! I am now recreating with grandkids on the playground. It is good to be back there.

Bon Anniversaire, Kristi! I have been following your blog for so many years, I can't even remember how long! The first time I read it, I was captivated by your unpretentious writing style, your beautiful, artistic photos, and your enjoyable stories of daily life in a country I have long desired to visit but have never been able to! I have also loved getting to know your family, especially as your kids have become young adults. Oh, and I love your tomato tarte recipe! Yours is the only blog I have stayed with and read every issue that comes out. Thank you for sharing your life with us, and may God bless you with many more years of writing!

Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉
I just love your stories and your descriptions of French life.

I especially remember how sad I felt for you and the family when Braise passed away.
I know that for you it was losing an important member of your family.
I have been reading your stories for many years and I have kept you all close to my heart.
Bon anniversaire et "many more". Janine

Bonne fete. Thank you for sharing your journey filled with ups and downs. I wish you health and much happiness in your new year ahead.

What joy you have brought to me - just reciting your life in France, and particularly the marvelous photos you've shared. I so much miss living there in Dijon, and being part of the neighborhood life - joining in their protests over the bus route changes - chatting over the fence - amusing them as the crazy Americaine. With your "letters" it feels as though I continue to be there, at least in spirit. And with our open heart and frank tales and adventures, you permit me to join you. I have particularly enjoyed your Mom, as I lost mine in 2005. They'd have liked one another I think. So on your birthday let me say that it is you who has given the gift.

Dear Kristi!

So many posts I have enjoyed about your family, pets (including the chickens), your gardens and more! Those April 1st posts come to mind when I would fall for the fun you were having with us. I am a little wiser now but have no doubt you have the words to pull the wool over my eyes once again!

Thank you and Happy Birthday! 🎁🎊🎈

During our visit to France in 2012 for French “recyclage”, a friend told us about your blog. We liked it. We were staying nearing Orange and signed up for a “dégustation” at Rouge et Bleu. We moved to the Orange area and also managed to get to a “degustation” at your “mas” near Bandol. It has been a pleasure reading your blog.
Bonne anniversaire.
PS— one time waiting for our TGV heading for an outing in Paris, a young American asked questions concerning the trip. She had been at Domaine Rouge et Bleu for the “vendange”! Sweet moment. (Sometimes, the French word is just not replaceable by the English one.)

Kriste,
You have shared your joys and struggles over these years! I feel like I have been with you from the start! Our numerous travels in France have been the highlight of our lives. We almost got to one of your readings! I have made some of your recipes and been amazed at your gardens. I must not omit the courage of your sobriety while living on a vineyard! Bless you and happy birthday! Mine was last week but I have grown so much older! Jan on Cape Cod

émerveillement

(A description of your blog.)

Kristi,
You are incredibly human and so Divine. Thank you for sharing yourself, your beautiful life, and always gently bringing up ‘food for thought’ … It’s no wonder you have such a huge and adoring following!

Happy Birthday! 🎉🎊🎈 You are the gift! You are joy. You are love.

~ a fan in Florida
with extraordinaire dreams of France 🇫🇷

I have always admired the gracious way you respond to corrections, seeing them as a way to learn. I actually have a refinement of the definition of playground. The public playground would be called a terrain (or aire) de jeu, the cour de récréacion is just for a schoolyard or school playground. I have been reading your blog since I found out about it in The American Library Association journal, Booklist, when it reviewed your book Words in a French Day, which I bought and loved. I remember many poignant moments in your blog, but one was especially sweet, when your son said that there was no girl at school prettier than you! Bonne anniversaire!

Happy Birthday! Thank you for all of your interesting posts. I love words, and I especially love the word "saperlipopette" that you introduced!

Cher Kristi, hope this is your best birthday ever!! We have been faithful followers of you since 2007. We were lucky enough to vacation in Provence just a few Kms from Rouge Bleu. We have so many good memories of our visits with you, Jean Marc , Jules and the kids. Our favorite post, which we are so grateful for, the “Story of Nai.” Nairayeh was a young woman who died in a car accident and her parents, agreed to donate her organs. I received her pancreas and a kidney. This life saving surgery has given me 15 (and counting) wonderful years to enjoy life, making and sharing wonderful memories with our friends and my husband Lee.
Thanks again for sharing our SPECIAL story and promoting organ and tissue donations. You may have saved many lives by posting our story.
Maureen Templeton-Adams et Lee Adams
PS we just meet Lynn and Ron McBride (SOUTHERN FRIED FRENCH blog) we knew through you blog. Celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary with an Apero with them in Charleston SC.

Cher Kristi, Bon Anniversaire!
I have enjoyed this blog for almost 10 years now! It started in French classes (at your alma mater - ASU), and I have kept reading, both for the French and because I just enjoy your genuine, gracious, sweet blog. I makes me smile, cry, and laugh. I've been able to live in France (vicariously) through your stories and it delights me to imagine it! Thank you for sharing your life in France!
All the best to you in the coming year! ♥

Bon Anniversaire, Kristi! I have looked forward to opening your blog for many years now. You allow your readers to participate vicariously in your daily life in France, and everyone loves that. I tell my daughters, jokingly, that I wish I knew as much about THEIR thoughts and activities. I admire your skill in shaping your stories into an essay form; you're quite the pro. You know how to share your life and yet maintain the level of privacy that family members surely desire. That's a balancing act. I have enjoyed so many of your stories, particularly ones that involved your kids when they were young. Another period that is vivid in my memory is when you were learning how to serve the relentless meals and take care of the needs of the people who came to help with the grape harvest at the first vineyard. I felt anxiety and exhaustion along with you.

Bon Anniversaire! Fete-le bien!

Wishing you very happy birthday. I may be your newest reader, signing up during the last year. I read the archives start to finish in a few weeks, dodging covid. 20 some odd years of your life in short form! Our lives are so different but I couldn't wait to get back to the next "chapters". Your openness, sense of humor, daring, caring, loyalty, etc, etc, just shines through across the miles, years, and cultures. Happy to make your acquaintance!!

Bonne fête, ma belle Kristi. Amicalement, Bill Crow de Vancouver Nord

Kristi, happy birthday to you! I have been reading your blog for soooooo long! I especially remember meeting Jean-Marc and his wines after introducing him to Tim and Phyllis. Seems like ages ago. And my favorite memory was finally meeting you, and J-M, for lunch on the beach ! We hope to do it again someday. In the meantime, have a wonderful Christmas and a happy, healthy new year!

Cabanon, au commencement. Later – many, many souvenirs, grace a vous (sorry – no accent marks available). Happy Birthday – and keep writing!

Bon anniversaire! As a (now former) French teacher, I have found your blog to be a frequent reminder that French culture is not just something that my students learned from a textbook. I used a number of your posts in discussions, and as lessons. My favorite one was Jackie's lament about not being able to wear make-up, which I used as a springboard for teaching reflexive verbs.
I have also appreciated your courage in addressing your sobriety. I also love les poissons d'avril.
Merci pour tout.

Joyous Birthday, dear Kristi! There are bits and threads from your many stories woven into my memory as if I experienced the event right alongside you. What is most precious about this to me, is in this tapestry of you writing candidly about your daily life, I am made to feel as if there is not miles or years between us.

May your birthday fill you up with joy, love and peace!

I went to France in 2007 and I wanted ‘everything French’ when I returned to the States. I found your wonderful blog and never looked back! The two entries that grabbed my heart the most are the attack on Smokey and the cancer on your forehead.
I’ve loved everything else too. I fondly remember meeting Jean-Marc in Houston. I was as excited as if he were a movie star!

Bon anniversaire en retard Kristi! I don't remember when I started reading your blog, but it was years ago, when I still lived in the US and I fell in love with it for its amazing honesty and your beautiful writing style. It is the only one that has stuck with me all these years. When I moved to Cassis, it felt as if almost knew someone nearby, even though somehow, time seems to fly by and I haven't kept in touch as I would like to, I know you are there! Thank you for the pleasure of reading you and Happy Holidays to you and your family.

Hi-I keep a journal of phrases and poems that strike me, and here are quotes from two different entries you made, both maybe maybe 6-8 years ago, that I have often thought about.....

"Little did the berger know-and little do we all know-that out there, somewhere, someone is trying to comfort us without us even knowing."

and this one-

(after describing cats scrambling for food under a restaurant table)....."Love is sometimes the same way, appearing in scraps. And suddenly, strutting along through life, tough as nails, we are dumbstruck by our hunger."

When I read through this journal, I come across these quotes, and they always make me smile. So you see, it is interesting what can stick in your mind.....

You are always in my thoughts and my KITECHEN with that incredible tomato tarte......
Thank you for all of your shared times with your family, your inpiring writing, and I hope there will be many more to come. Joyeux Noë and bonne anniveraire whenever that is.

I think I’ve been reading your blog from the very beginning and have loved watching your kids grow up, meeting your marvelous mom, falling in love with Smokey and meeting Jean-Marc in person at a Southern California wine shop.

Are your posts available in French? If so, how did I miss this and how do I read them in French? I would love that... albeit so much easier in English :)

I’m very late to this party, however I will still take this moment to wish you a belated happy birthday. As well, to tell you that I have been reading your blog for many years. I can’t recall how I found you, however I do recall that taking the few short minutes to read it, was my few stollen moments of « me time » when my children were young (they are now into their mid 20´s). You blog has made me laugh and tear up, but mostly connect to authentic family and community life and relationship stories, that resonate with me for one reason or another. Thank you! Wishing you many more happy birthdays.

Kristi,
I remember the day we barged into your not-yet-finished home in the north of Provence. It was cold and windy, some weeks after harvest, and you didn't have heat or much of anything. But still, you were the kind host and took time to brew some tea or coffee and place a plate of biscuits on the table. Thank you so much for that precious memory. Jann has been a subscriber for some time and is constantly telling me all she has learned from you. We both purchased The Lost Gardens and appreciate so much how you both shared your life story with us. Happy birthday and many more to come. Sending kind wishes from distant Healdsburg.

I remember being so moved by the story of your daughter and her eventually awful experience in Florida. To have been far away from her at that time must’ve been so difficult for you. I empathized! My then-20 year old in the late 90s had a negative situation arise while completing study abroad in Guatemala. I’m sure that “fellow-feeling” is why this one sticks in my mind. You’re adept a writing about universal values, an in another language, too. We are only as happy as our children, yes? Bon anniversaire!