Monday, December 31, 2012

NUTS

Il faut casser la noix pour en avoir la chair.
proverbe français

He that would eat the kernel must crack the nut; God gives the nuts, but he doesn't crack them.

Vocabulary
la chair:  flesh
casser:  to break

©2012 P.B. Lecron

Sunday, December 30, 2012

FOLK ART

This grotesque-style 19th-century nutcracker carved in the shape of a tête de vieillard has been cracking walnuts and hazelnuts for generations in a French friend's family.
Vocabulary
un casse-noix, un casse-noisette:  a nutcracker
une noix:  a walnut
une noisette:  a hazelnut
un vieillard:  an old man
l'art populaire: folk art

©2012 P.B. Lecron

Saturday, December 29, 2012

SAND AND FOAM

At Cabourg
Vocabulary
le sable:  sand
l'écume:  foam

Expression
Le marchand de sable est passé.
The sandman has passed.


©2012 P.B. Lecron

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

AWAY IN A MANGER

Twelfth-century Syrian nativity scene, one of the many treasures on the walls of the Cathédrale Notre Dame in Saint-Omer. 

Vocabulary
une mangeoire:  a trough, manger
emmailloter:  to swaddle, to wrap up
un maillot:  a jersey; shirt
un maillot de corps:  an undershirt


©2012 P.B. Lecron

Saturday, December 15, 2012

MITTENS

Learn French with Pompon
Un chat avec des moufles n'attrape pas de souris. 
Pompon, A French Education's mascot--or should I say mask-cat, illustrates an ancient Greek proverb: a cat with mittens doesn't catch mice. 

Vocabulary
les moufles:  mittens
attraper:  to catch
une souris:  a mouse
un tapis de souris:  a mouse mat (for computers)

©2012 P.B. Lecron

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

OH, MY DARLING

Les clémentines de Corse sont arrivées! 
Quality controlled Corsican clementines are picked by hand with their leaves, and only at maturity. No storage room ripening for these babies.

©2012 P.B. Lecron