Kristin Espinasse's Blog, page 68
March 13, 2015
Fleurs des Champs & medicinal plants in our vineyard
Purple tansy, or phacelia cetifolia, is an excellent insectary plant and heaven to the local pollinators (a veritable bee magnet!). While phacilia is known to attract les abeilles, my husband, alias Chief Grape, uses it to clean the soil of his vineyard (folding it into the soil, once the flowers have passed). The parcel, above, was planted with grapevines last year. See what the field looks like now, in the pictures just below. (That's my Mom, upper right. She will be here in 6 weeks...
March 9, 2015
arrosage: hand-watering the vineyard, this week's visitors and Paint in Provence!
Yesterday morning. Do you remember the lively scene, last June, when we picked the almonds from this tree? Click here for those pictures and the story: "A food that guarantees happiness, luck, health, and offspring."
arrosage (ah-roh-zazh)
: watering, spraying
Improve your French pronunciation with Exercises in French phonetics. Click here.
AUDIO File: Listen to Jean-Marc Download MP3 or Wav
Arrosage. Ici, à Mas des Brun, on préfère l'arrosage à la main...
March 4, 2015
Tirer sa reverence & Jean-Marc's quiet tribute
Jean-Marc, watering 5,600 baby vines by hand. When I posted this picture on my Facebook, Jeanne Asakura wrote: Such a peaceful scene. There's a reverence about it as well.
Jeanne, your words couldn't be more true. Read on in today's story...
Tirer sa révérence
: to go, to pass away
Beautifully renovated and decorated home in the Luberon. 4 bedrooms and a study with a sofa bed, each with ensuite (full) bath. This villa comfortably sleeps 7-9 adults.
A...
March 2, 2015
Planter des Vignes + photos of our growing vineyard!
Baby vines are capped in red wax. The leaves will soon burst through.
Bonjour! Mostly pictures for you today--an exciting phase 2 in the story of our Bandol vineyard, "Mas des Brun." Enjoy and thank you for reading. (To see the videos, visit my instagram page.)
planter les vignes
: to plant vines
AUDIO FILE: listen to Jackie read the example sentence:
Download MP3 or Wav
Planter les vignes. Mon papa et mon frère plantent les vignes.
To plant vines. My dad and...
February 28, 2015
En vrac + most visited pages at French Word-A-Day
She must have been 6 when she first visited this store. At 17, our daughter Jackie still loves to shop for candy en vrac. Picture taken in Briançon, Les Hautes Alpes.
EN VRAC
: in bulk, in gross, loose
bonbons en vrac = bulk candy
du thé en vrac = loose tea
AUDIO FILE: Listen to Jackie read this example sentence
Download MP3 or Wav
Le vrac désigne des marchandises qui ne sont pas emballées ou arrimées.
Vrac refers to merchandise that is not wrapped or ...
February 24, 2015
Doggy bags in France: how the French react to this foreign custom
Having never seen a doggy bag at any restaurant in France, ever, I have no illustrative photo to launch this edition. However, I do have dozens of pictures of Mr Sacks (pictured left), who will be our sac à toutou standin today.
TODAY'S WORD
Le doggy bag (franglais)
AUDIO FILE: Listen to Jackie read the following sentence:
Download MP3 or Wav
En France, le doggy bag, pratique américaine qui consiste à emporter dans une barquette les restes de son repas au restaur...
February 20, 2015
Etat des lieux + homeless in Aix-en-Provence
The handy-dandy serpillière, or French floor rag. If you have ever rented a place in France, you know the frenetic tidying up that takes place before you hand back the keys and hope to recuperer la caution or get back your deposit check!
TODAY'S WORD
état des lieux (eh-tah-day-lyuh)
: an inventory or a walk-through to assess the condition of a property
Style & comfort in the beauty of the Provencal countryside. 4 bedrooms & a study with a sofa bed, eac...
February 17, 2015
Homeless in France
Abbé Pierre's "holy anger" drove him to fight for the rights of those sans-toit, without a roof over their heads. Take a moment to read about this great Frenchman, and thank you for sharing this post with a friend.
France and Monaco Rentals: short-term holiday rental properties throughout France. Click here for pictures.
TODAY'S WORD
le (la) sans-abri (sahns-ahbree) noun, masculine & feminine
: homeless person
...
February 14, 2015
Becot, bise, bisou: kisses in French on Valentine's Day
Don't miss our daughter Jackie's soundfile today, and enjoy this snapshot of Smokey and the heart shutter (roses are from Cousin Audrey).
On this, the 14th day of February, la journée de la Saint-Valentin or la fête des amoureux we begin with a string of lip-swaying nouns. Go ahead and pronounce the first line in the next paragraph and just feel your lips move to and fro—the exercise is a perfect warm up for un bisou!
TODAY' WORD: un bécot
(bay-koh)
...
February 11, 2015
Accueil, mille-feuille and "bringing the squirrels to their feet"
Feuille, or leaf, ranked as one of the hardest French words to say in our recent "Most Difficult Words to Pronounce" poll--which, incidently, revealed alot of enunciation angst among readers. Today, let's take a lesson from this cat... and relax :-)
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TODAY's WORD: écureuil
: squirrel
AUDIO FILE: Listen to Jean-Marc (sounds like...
