PEONY LOVE

Friend Sylvia shares a photo of her peonies, or pivoines, which are in full bloom now in her country garden in the south of France. Merci!

©2019 P. B. Lecron

COCK-A-DOODLE-DO

Grown in France

It's strawberry season and French growers proudly distinguish themselves from their Spanish competitors with some cocky packaging. The basic declaration crows that these strawberries were grown in France.

Vocabulary
cocorico:  cock-a-doodle-do; crowing
un emballage:  wrapping, packaging
sous emballage cellophane: cellophane-wrapped
s'emballer: to get excited about something, to go overboard on things

Something else to crow about . . .
My Franco-American daughter has revealed a new talent...she's a children's book writer!
Check it out by clicking here for the French version, or here for the English!

©2019 P. B. Lecron

A MOMENT OF CALM IN LYON

A view of sunset in Lyon as seen from the left bank of the Rhône looking onto the lavish Grand-Hôtel-Dieu. The site has undergone transformations and expansions through the centuries. At first a refuge and meeting place for traveling clergy during the Middle Ages, it became an important hospital opened to the public in the 15th century. Interestingly, the 16th century French monk, doctor, and humanist, Rabelais, authored La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel during his appointment there. The building's white stone façade and dome were achieved in the 18th century. The impressive landmark is the largest historical monument in Lyon, and is now a luxury hotel and a trend-setting commercial and business center. In the background is the 19th-century Gothic Revival basilica, Notre-Dame de Fourvière. Photo courtesy of Ian Byrd.

©2019 P. B. Lecron

A GRASSY RESERVE

A haven of tall grass is reserved for the resident peafowl nesting in an out-of-the-way area in the otherwise well-manicured Parc de Bagatelle, one of Parisians' favorite botanical gardens. The park is located in the heart of the Bois de Boulogne.

Vocabulary

un nid:  a nest

un site de nidification:  a nesting site

les paons:  peafowl
un havre:  a haven

Meet Monsieur Paon!

He's a sympathetic, although vain, friend of Papa Lapin in a delightful new series of French children's stories authored by Marianne Lecron. The first two books are Le Lapin et la Lune and Le Lapin et le Roi Grenouille, and their English versions, The Rabbit and the Moon and The Rabbit and King Frog. All are available worldwide on Amazon. You can take a peek by clicking on the titles! 

©2019 P. B. Lecron

POTS AND PANS

Window shopping at a kitchen supply shop in Paris. These professionally-oriented stores where amateurs may also shop, are overwhelmingly interesting--especially for the culinary tourist. The reference is Mora, 13 rue Montmartre, in the first arrondissement. 

Expression
Tomber dans la marmite: to have an inborn talent; literally to fall into the cooking pot

Vocabulary
une marmite:  a cooking pot, pot
cuivre:  copper
une casserole: a saucepan

©2019 P. B. Lecron

QUITE A HANDFUL

A showy Pullman Orient Express rose from the garden of friend Sylvia in the Gard who says this variety reminds her of organza. Thanks for the photos, Sylvia!

Vocabulary
une poignée de: as much as as a hand can hold; a small number of; a handful of
organdi(e): organza, organdy


©2019 P. B. Lecron

AND SOME MORE

An old wooden wheelbarrow seems to have been planted as a focal point and extra treat for the eyes along a path in Monet's Garden at Giverny. Brouette is the French word for wheelbarrow; you'll sometimes hear it used in the expression "et des brouettes," meaning some more or a little more. This use came about because a wheelbarrow is generally used to carry inexact or variable quantities.

Get cosy with a French children's story!
Anyone at any age can boost his French proficiency by reading . . . and there is no better starting place than a fully-illustrated and vocabulary enhancing children's story like Le Lapin et le Roi Grenouille. It and its English version, The Rabbit and King Frog, were written by Marianne Lecron and are available on worldwide Amazon sites. Click on the titles to take a peek!

©2019 P. B. Lecron

AN ECO-INDUSTRY AS OLD AS THE HILLS

We were on a nature walk and came upon this square basin laid in stone, like one of many that can still be found in Brittany. It was in such basins of stagnant water that flax plants were macerated in a natural, bacterial retting process to breakdown and separate their fibers for the production of linen, a rich and centuries-long industry in the Côtes d'Armor. Photo taken in the Domaine de la Roche Jagu.

Vocabulary
un bassin de rouissage:  a retting basin
le lin :  flax 
une toile de lin:  linen

©2019 P. B. Lecron

PERMANENT WAY OUT

Philosophizing in the parking garage

In a hellishly complicated and unfathomable parking garage of a French shopping center, this directional sign gives cause to pause for existential questions, and possibly even some relief from them!

Click here for a nutshell explanation of Jean-Paul Sartre's fundamental tenants of existential choice presented by BBC Radio 4.

© 2019 P. B. Lecron

SAY IT WITH FLOWERS

When it's time to tiptoe. . .

A sumptuous array of tulips and primulas adorn this plate-bande, or flower bed,

bursting with color at a shopping center in Versailles.

Expression

Marcher sur les plates-bandes de quelqu'un:  to step on somebody's toes; to encroach on

Vocabulary

une plate-bande:  a flower bed

une primevère:  a primula

sur la pointe des pieds: on tiptoe

Read in French!
We're pleased to post these links to the French and English versions of a new children's story, written by my daughter and illustrated by myself: Le Lapin et le Roi Grenouille, écrit par Marianne Lecron , illustré par P. B. Lecron, and The Rabbit and King Frog. Click on the titles to take a peek!



















©2019 P. B. Lecron