FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

"A step closer to Italy," in today's photo, and increasingly off track in today's story. Read on.

une larme (larm)

    : teardrop

Audio file: The captain of this ship's away, so your stuck with my sound recording today... Download MP3 or Wav file

D'ou viens ces larmes? Where do these tears come from?

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

There was once a time when I would wake up and know precisely where to go and what to do: go to your desk and write. For ten years a regular edition, a deadline, and an interactive readership structured my day. My job was to watch life unfold and then try to report back about it, with crossed t's and dotted i's and many experimental flourishes in between.

But for the past few months much of life's unfolding has slipped by, unreported, after I received a friendly gag order from my husband. I understand the need to keep quiet about a certain changement in our life, but this particular restriction has thrown me off course.

Increasingly weak-willed, I have begun to lose my sense of direction—along with the motivation to get back on course. Worse, there is a growing temptation to flounder. Lately, in between productive spurts, all I want to do is watch YouTube gardening videos and vegetate. Permaculture and permarest. Voilà, c'est tout!

This morning I woke up and wondered, What if I stay in bed all day? and so I looked over at my husband, who was reading the news and sipping the tea I'd brought him previously, and I said... 

"Et si je restais au lit?" 

"Of course, Chérie, stay in bed all day," Jean-Marc replied.

I thanked him for his blessing. Next, I got up, showered, and dressed. Sometimes all a wayward soul wants, more than a resting place, is the hope of a resting place. 

I eventually found my way over to the computer, in time to set down these words. I can't place the tears, though.

 ***

And a question for you... From 2002-2005 this journal went out daily; in 2006 it became a "thrice-weekly" edition. Some say once-per-week would suffice. What do you think? Would you like to receive  these updates once, twice, or "thrice-weekly"? Thanks for your feedback here, in the comments box.

French Vocabulary

un changement = a change

voilà, c'est tout = there, that's all

et si je restais au lit? = and what if I stayed in bed (all day)?

chérie (cheri) = dear

Down memory lane: me and Jackie in 2005. Jackie (now 14) and Max (17) get their braces off tomorrow!

Jackie, 7 years later. Smokey says : I'm putty beneath your arms!

Jackie, walking away. Smokey, "What, no more putty? How about my washer-dryer impersonation? Wait! COME BACK, my Princess!"

Changing subjects, I had the chance to visit George Sand's jardin in Nohant (in the Indre department of France). I even swiped a few seeds, collecting them ever-so-gently, hopefully unnoticeably. This yellow flower is the "achilles" flower.