Gifts from France
Tins of Galettes Le Mont Saint-Michel and La Mère Poulard
Haribo Dragolo Candies
Two pots of Crème de Caramel au Beurre Salé
Miel de Lavande de Provence and Miel de Tilleuil
Jet Gum en Chlorophylle Fort, Cassis Fort, Eucalyptus Menthol Fort
Half a baguette, smashed in my purse
French prayer cards
Three small A l'Olivier olive oils
Côte d'Or Chocolat au Lait for Tante Mand
Livre des Huiles Essentielles Chémotypées
Lavender, dragon, camphor, citronella, tea tree and rosemary oils
Castle and knight sticker and book set
Four sticks of bois de reglisse from the pharmacy
Plant candies
Numerous homeopathic medicines, L-52, and various powders and tablets that you gotta "laisse fondre sous la langue."
Bellarom Chocolat au Lait et au Lait extra fin éclats de noisettes
Chestnuts and a spiny bogue
Rocks from Charité sur Loire
A square piece of pink marble from a field in Bretagne
Dried thyme, lemon thyme, dragon, and laurier (never to serve raw!) from Impasse Gerbole and Fred and Stagef
Miniature Catholic prayer book with prayers in French and Latin
Encre Or, golden ink, in a tiny bottle from the castle at Angers
A dragon wing from a Breton Happy Meal
Kinder surprise eggs
Three snail shells from the ramparts at la Charité
Rose hips from the town square at Loudun
A Bretagne rose from Megan Brown
a handfull of fragrant dried grass from the hillside at Gerbole
Wooden sword and dagger
French chevalier and cheval figurines
Children's books, Le Petit Breton, Breton music CDS and CDs of French comptines for children from Lisette
Antique book, Napoleon Intime
F. Jeantet Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2011(ohh oui, ça se garde...tu peux garder ça dans la cave!)
book of Breton names
Le Peuple de L'Herbe record
two children's Breton coffeemilk bowls
La Bamble cup set
one yellow plastic cup from La Bogue d'Or, complete with pants clip for drinking while gesturing, and diagram of the brain's creative centers
one yellow plastic cup from La Bogue d'Or, complete with pants clip for drinking while gesturing, and diagram of the brain's creative centers
An entire Swiss raclette set-up that melts cheese to serve on boiled potatos and stuff, then you eat a bunch of melted cheese on potatos with patte negra jambon on the side and then an obligatoire sieste after that
Two Laguiole knives traded for a coin on La Toussaint
Blue #2 race car given to the baby by Lisette "fait dans le Jura!"
Paris pillowcase from Viviane
Sacré Cœur dish towel from Viviane
La Louisiane par Example, un Film de Robin Marck et Marie Lafon, pretty awesome!!!
We bought and received all of these gifts, most to give, some to keep, but really, the most valuable gifts I received while in France were the words, expressions and songs...
We bought and received all of these gifts, most to give, some to keep, but really, the most valuable gifts I received while in France were the words, expressions and songs...
A few expressions that people used that piqued my ear:
Merlin l'Enchanteur -Merlin the Wizard
Aire de... A rest area! Ex. Aire de Chante de Perdrix, Aire de Bois de Chinon, Aire de Plaisance...
Aire de... A rest area! Ex. Aire de Chante de Perdrix, Aire de Bois de Chinon, Aire de Plaisance...
Blanche sur rouge, rien bouge.
Rouge sur blanche tout fout le camp!
A saying about French red and white wine order. White on red, nothing moves. Red on white, everything's coming out!
A saying about French red and white wine order. White on red, nothing moves. Red on white, everything's coming out!
Je vous laisse, avec la jeunesse! Lisette upon her leaving the party. I leave you with your youth!
T'as vu la vièrge! You have seen the virgin. You are mistaken, are seeing things, are crazy. (a personal favorite)
T'as une main dans la terre, une main dans le ciel. Something Fred said on Halloween night.
Faire la fricassée de museau. When two people are making out with their big noses all smashed together. It makes a nose fricassée.
Y'a anguille sous roche! There is an eel under the rock. Something's hidden.
Le chien aboye, la caravan passe. -Jean's wisdom. The dog barks, the caravan passes.
La nuit, tous les chats sont gris. Lisette's "at night, all cats are grey."
Il pleut comme une vache qui pisse. Interesting! In Ville Platte we say, "Like a cow pissing on a flat rock."
C'est comme pisser dans le violin. It's like pissing in the violin. That is to say, it's like doing nothing of any use.
Arêtte de chercher midi à quarorze heures. Quit trying to find noon at two pm.
Kerzee- très noir- a Breton for December, this was interesting to me because Mr. J.D. Soileau said that his grandmother called January le mois noir, the black month, because it was so dark.
And the songs...
The second song from Tours, that is a
chanson du répertoire traditionnel de haute Bretagne, that made me cry when I heard it:
This one, Trois Petits Tambours, was the theme song of the trip. Here it is sung by our group, Plume Farouche and led by the incredible Megan Brown. This was the song that helped calm my boys down when they were homesick and the song that George, Miche, Casey and Morgan sang while tromping down the streets of Paris (right!?) Thank you so much, Megan, for bringing it!
A kid's song that Lisette gave to Julien, which he loves: Jean Petit Qui Danse
Fred and Lisette sang La Famille Tortue one to the boys when they were fussy, and it worked like a charm!
Fred sang me this song La Morvandelle from La Bourgogne:
(not the best version, but you get the idea!)
(not the best version, but you get the idea!)
And finally, a video Fred showed me that it really beautiful and interesting. She called the singer, Camille, "dingue" which I recognized as a word I grew up saying to describe a silly or aloof girl. She's so dingy, we'd say! In short, I came home from France with many treasures in my hands, but infinitely more in my head and heart.
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