Where She Went...And What She Ate

I'm planning to stop in again a bit later today to give you a little peek into a French Halloween but in the  meantime...

...I want to share a couple of views from yesterday's hike along the Côte Bleu, a stretch of rocky coastline extending from Marseille to l'Etang de Berre.  Little pearls of villages are strung along its length.  The starting point was the port of Ensuès la Redonne...

...and the picnic stop was overlooking this little bay of brave souls...all of whom hiked in to enjoy the day here...

...or here.

Perfect picnic, n'est pas?

And Bodhi, you ask?   He was having a grand time with his favorite girlfriends! 

Hope your week is off to a good start!

leslie

Bon Dimanche

L'Eglise St. Eustache, Paris, France

From the beggar who installs himself between me and the market each day...to the vendors at the market...to acquaintances passing in the street, "Bon dimanche"* is the greeting exchanged each Sunday here in the 'hood.

I send this greeting out to all of the gentle readers of La Fourchette on this last Sunday of October.  (We changed our clocks back last night!)

Bon dimanche!
leslie

*  good sunday

ps  I'm hoping this angel's prayer pose is sending good vibes for the coming card launch!  We're close!  Keep checking! 

The Path Heading Into All Saints Day

Bon weekend à tous!
leslie

ps  Check back in the next few days - the card shop is opening!

To Market, To Market

This playful monument, in L'Eglise St. Eustache, honors the vendeurs at the fresh produce marché of Les Halles - which was located for centuries adjacent to the lovely old Gothic church.

 

 

Off to the marché later this morning - in spite of intermittent raindrops.  I'm less in search of seasonal veggies than moody images in the soft light of late October in these parts.  In fact, I'm hoping to spend the the next couple of days in the same fashion:  gathering images.  Bodhi is off to his babysitter's for the weekend for a play date with Madame's two girls (who look like miniature versions of Bodhi) and I'm planning to getting out into the world for some photos and a hike with a friend....weather permitting.

Have a lovely Friday!

Ciao,
leslie

Café Allongé

 
The literal translation of café allongé is "elongated coffee"; a café order made by anyone who prefers a softer kick and thus, their espresso watered down a bit. 

For today, café allongé refers to extending our Paris café sitting with one more stop - extending the visit that began at lunch yesterday.  I just wasn't ready to leave yet.  How about you? 

Grab a good book.  Let's find a table near this Woody Allen-looking fellow and enjoy the rest of the day right here.

Ciao,
leslie

Wednesday Window on Provence...errrr....Paris!

Lunch with a friend who's visiting in town is on my agenda today.  Wish there was a faster train to Paris.  I'd settle in at this little café for a bite to eat, some catching up and a bit of people- (and dog-) watching à la Paris!

Ciao,
leslie

Mardi Meteo

Aujourd'hui, il pleut.

One of the challenges in my French language acquisition was assigning masculinity to the weather.  For example, 'Today, he rains' is the current condition - as noted above.  Of course, 'he' is sometimes heard as 'it'....and somehow that all gets sorted out by the listener.

Happy was the moment when I eventually nailed down that weather was a he.  

Distinguishing between 'rain' and 'crying' - pleuvoir being 'to rain' and pleurer 'to cry' - was still a challenge.  Once conjugated, they looked different on paper but sounded very similar as they zipped past my still-adjusting ear: 

il pleut (it rains) 

and  

il pleure (he cries)

When a certain California Girl stumbles over those sneaky little silent consonants and mashes her endings, she ends up in Stevie Ray Vaughan territory:

Aujourd'hui, le ciel pleure.

Put your hands together for today's meteo delivered in musical form - thanks to B.B. King, Albert King and the aforementioned musical meteorologist, Stevie Ray Vaughan.  Enjoy!

Uploaded by dimebag62 on Jun 12, 2006

Ciao,
leslie

Monday's cuppa...

A quick espresso (usually taken in one gulp!) and you're off!  Now get to work!  It's Monday.

Have a lovely start to your week.

Ciao,
leslie

Sunday Brunch Anyone?

How about here?

A hidden little courtyard in Paris.  A table and chairs...toss a bit of white linen over it...you bring out the basket of croissants and I'll grab the coffee.   Cozy, non?

Bon dimanche!
leslie

ps:  a note about 'mon oeil*'...the generalist (yes, French is leaving its mark on my English...as one of my gentle readers noted), otherwise known as the good ole family practice doctor, suspects it's some sort of allergic reaction (perhaps to the constant wafting up of mildew and god-knows-what-else from the apartment just below me!)  He gave me a prescription for antihistamine drops...which was free to me when I picked it up from the pharmacie!  wooohooo!  With my French healthcare and my mutuelle (a supplementary private insurance we all have a choice to buy from any number of companies - at a very reasonable rate, mind you), my prescriptions are free!  And I'll get a healthy reimbursement from both my French insurance *and* my mutuelle, which will cover a big chunk of my 23€ fee paid to the good doctor yesterday!   Imagine that!  Universal healthcare in a democracy.  Who'd uh thunk that would ever work?!

Have a lovely day.

*  I'm actually referring to 'my eye' here, but the French have an expression:  mon oeil, used to show disbelief in response to something one's just heard.  The phrase can be said aloud while gently tugging down on skin of the highest point of the cheek (just below one eye) with one's forefinger to pull the lower lid down a bit - or simply expressed with the gesture itself.  Either way, it is to say:  'yeah, right'  - and show a sense of disbelief or unwillingness to accept what's just been said to you.

Class dismissed.  ;}

Bon weekend!

It's Saturday!  Plan a Paris play-date - like this one...or a play-date wherever you may be.

Moi?  I'm going to visit my generalist ("on a Saturday?!?" I hear you say.  Why, yes. Yes, on a Saturday...and it will only cost me 20€ on top of that!  What a country!) to have him take a peek at my right peeper as it's been puffy for ... errr...months and I'm tired of it.  I'm quite certain it's not an age-thing.  I don't thing age-things come with an itch.

Then I'm off to a new salon to trim and sweep some highlights through the tired mop that has me looking as if that puffiness might just be an age-thing after all. 

I'm hoping that at the end of this day, I'll look better than I did at its start.  Fingers crossed.  {And I mean everyone!  Fingers crossed everyone!  I need all the help I can get today!  ;}

How are you spending your Saturday?

Bon weekend,
leslie

Good Friday

No, no, silly goose!  Not that Good Friday!

Just stopping in to wish you - and this nun! - a happy Friday.

Bon weekend à tous!
leslie

C'est une fille!

Felicitations to the new little princess in the kingdom!  She added herself to the population of Paris last evening around 7:30p - the first baby to be born to the Palais de l'Élysée*! 

Unfortunately, her father, Nicolas Sarkozy, was unable to meet her upon her arrival, showing up a handful of hours later.  His presence was required assisting in the "birth" process of a fiscal policy for our rag-tag lot of countries known as the European Union.   Along with Germany's president, Angela Merkel, their shared labor will hopefully keep us from dissolving into financial ruin.  (Good luck with that, by the way!  We're all on pins and needles waiting to see if we sink or swim.  We don't care if the financial plan is a boy or girl - we just want it to be healthy.)

All happy wishes to the newest member of the First Family! 

As she gets settled into the palace, we'll be putting a few little things aside for her first trip to Provence.  (Although, we're pretty sure that baby will be dressed in black - like all fashionable young ladies in Paris.)

Ciao,
leslie

*the White House of the French republic

Wednesday Window on Provence

A peek into a provençale courtyard...

...happy Wednesday to all!

Ciao,
leslie

I Heart ...

A little miracle at Les Calanques de Piana, Corsica

... Keith, at Taste of Garlic, and all of my gentle readers that were checking in through the summer and haven't deleted me from their blog lists.  (Actually, truth be known, I even heart the ones who deleted me!)  You're right, Keith: consider me grounded. At least until I find my way into the rhythm of regular posting.  There will be no gallivanting around until we're back on track.

I'm touched by the award at the aforementioned Taste of Garlic blog for - lack of posting.  What a hoot!  I could go all 'Sally Field' on you all but, if I recall correctly, she actually showed up to accept her award.  I'll accept, with great pleasure, this fine recognition on a rather delayed schedule.

Thanks to all for the welcoming me back so warmly.  My disappearance was the result of having had the lovely honor of people visiting - as they tend to do when one lives in the south of France! - from May through mid-September.  Between trying to be 'the hostess with the mostess' for those very welcome visitors, some planned little jaunts hither and yon, soaking up the energy of being with some of my favorite California peeps... and oh yeah! ... that little thing we call working full-time...well...the days months just flew!

Forgive me...and know that my tendency to go underground is just...well...just how I recharge when my battery is spent.  Part of my introverted charm. 

For the moment, I'll stick with a daily photo to share from my little French life and fill in the blanks with words as the spirit moves - and time allows...'cause that full-time work thing is kicking into high-gear!

À demain...et merci encore!
leslie

Knock, knock!

Anybody there?!

Oh my.  Did I say "See you in mid-July!"?  I really meant mid-October! 

No I didn't. 

I really did mean July because I'm quite the optimist and I thought I could keep up with the pace of things...but clearly...I did not.

What I did do is have a really wonderful summer filled with...

...fun in many forms...

...chilled rosé to cool down the temps (which were mild, let me tell you!)...

...the blessings of daily bread...

...several good books...

...a really lovely wander through corsica...

...a float down the river Sorgues...

...and a time to muse about "la fourchette de la route"*...

So if you're still out there...and you'd like to take a peek into this little French life, then we can simply put one foot in front of the other and see where we go together.

I'm going to take a break from the kitchen but will share a photo a day and catch you up as we go along. 

One of my projects is to get these cards up and selling as I know many of you have been patiently waiting for that little shop to open.  I'm not very adept at building pages in which selling and such must go on.  I'm working on it though, and if I can't get it going in a reasonable time frame (read that to mean "a couple of weeks"), I'm going to turn to a pro to get it done.  So keep your fingers crossed and I'll keep you posted.

I hope your summer was fabulous in equal measure and that you are finding the autumn to be as gentle a transition as it is in these parts.  Absolutely lovely!

Thanks for being there...et à bientôt!

Ciao,
leslie

* the fork in the road (but you knew that, didn't you?!)