SCAT!

 Il n'y a pas de quoi fouetter un chat !

There's nothing to be mad about!

This expression can be translated in the literal sense to "there's no reason to beat a cat."

Vocabulary

fouetter:  whip, beat; whisk (culinary)

filer: to scat, to scram

©2022 P. B. Lecron

EVERY STAMP TELLS A STORY

Elle était toujours là

 A page from a French child's stamp collection

Collecting stamps is an activity that makes the philatelist, be he young or old, feel connected to a nation's history. 

Queen Elizabeth II will always have an important place in the pages of history, and a special place in the hearts of the United Kingdom's French friends.

A remarkable and much beloved global leader.

©2022 P. B. Lecron

YONDER-LAND

 La vie en pittoresque

A glimpse of mountain life in the French Alps on a trail near Pralognan-la-Vanoise.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Lecron

Vocabulary

la randonnée pédestre: hiking

faire de la randonnée: to go hiking

balader: to hike, stroll, walk, ramble

un aperçu, un coup d'oeil: a glimpse

©2022 P. B. Lecron

COME WHAT MAY

Stepping into surrealism

 Advienne que pourra

Come what may

The city of Versailles has a multitude of amazing monumental, high quality mural art.

Entitled Curious Botanist, the above is the work of internationally acclaimed Ukranian artist

Vladimir Manzhos, known professionally as Waone. It's a tribute to the famous 18th century naturalist 

Bernard de Jussieu, for whom this neighborhood of moderate rent housing in Versailles is named.

More to come!

©2022 P. B. Lecron

NOT EVEN A CAT

Il n'y a pas un chat 

Today's expression means there's not even a cat to be seen, or simply there's nobody around.

Southwestern French countryside sunset photo courtesy of Patrick Lecron

©2022 P. B. Lecron

ORCHID ENIGMA

Un mystère

How could a large orchid plant survive in a closed, all but abandoned house which had not been entered for years? That was the question we pondered as we looked with some elderly friends into the window 

of a house they had the duty of checking on. Sitting on the floor in the middle of the living room was a healthy orchid in a large cache-pot. The lady who had lived in the house had died several years before, and remarkably everything in the house had remained exactly in its place, untouched. 

Yet there was that orchid, alive and well. What was its magic? Then it occurred to me. The old house was in the Pas-de-Calais, a very rainy area and the large potted orchid must have been placed at some time in the past in a spot to catch the drip of a leaking roof.

Vocabulary

un cache-pot: a plant pot

une fuite: a leak

un toit qui fuit:  a leaking roof

un mystère: a mystery

Speaking of mysteries . . .

Marianne Lecron's latest children's story will

charm and intrigue French readers young and

old alike. In it, Papa Lapin follows a series of

curious tracks in a very heavy and mysterious 

snow that lead him to saving springtime! An 

adventure full of ups, downs and new animal

friends. For ages 4 to 99. Fullly illustrated 

with original aquarelle and ink drawings by 

yours truly.

Le Lapin à la recherche du Printemps is 

also available in English, The Rabbit in Search

of Spring. Both are sold worldwide on 

Amazon.

©2022 P. B. Lecron

WHERE THERE'S A WILL, THERE'S A WAY

Quand on veut, on peut. 

When you want, you can--it's the underlying theme in a French children's story I wrote and illustrated, Une Véritable Petite Souris. In it Iris, an ordinary gray mouse, fantasizes about being the legendary French tooth fairy, known by French families everywhere as La Petite Souris.  

With ingenuity and an iron will, Iris overcomes obstacles to realize, in a way, her dream.

The above photo is of a page from the fully illustrated book.

Expression

Avec une volonté de fer, une souris peut renverser une éléphant.  This Tibetan proverb translated to French, means in English that with an iron will, a mouse can overturn an elephant. 

Available in French and in English, Une Véritable Petite Souris and A Genuine Little Mouse, are available on worldwide Amazon sites. Take a peek inside by clicking here and here.

©2022 P. B. Lecron

JUST SO

Un chat tuxedo

 A tuxedo cat in the Parc Bagatelle with a Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories look of  

The Cat Who Walked by Himself. He is undoubtedly fed by an association of kind souls 

who tend to feral cats living in the Parisian park. 

Kipling had a great fondness for France. Included in the British poet and novelist's body of work is Souvenirs of France in which he relates late 19th- and early 20th-century experiences. A must read about that epoch and the French people.

Vocabulary

une allure distinguée:  a distinguished appearance

©2022 P. B. Lecron