Fluency – Page 7 – The Paris Savannah Connection

Cheese – by ANDROUET

Here is a link to one of the best and most famous cheese sellers in France. Savour.

In English … and other languages!

Notes from a weekend out at sea – by Catherine Rendon.

Some mornings the tide brings in lots of sand dollars. This is what it brought in this morning!

by Catherine Rendon,

This past weekend we went sailing on an old wooden boat, a 30ft Morris, named “Joy”. The captain, Michael Richter, is the first mate of the R(esearch) V(essel) “Savannah” –Skidaway Oceanographic Institute’s boat. Michael and Paul are diving buddies and friends. “Joy” is heavy and slow and her teak deck is weathered. I started and finished the last of Larsen’s Millenium trilogy, my feet overhanging the bow occasionally being splashed or having the water cover my feet. The water like wall paper with a design of random cannonball jellyfish patterned here and there. On our first day out we saw four big old turtles swimming out at sea. They saw us too, big and heavy and quiet.

In the evening when we anchored we were surrounded by dolphin and were so close we could hear them breathing. They sound just like people. It was odd, looking at the night sky up on deck and hearing these familiar sighs and breaths so close by and not know them. They probably felt almost at home with our similar noises just above them. Yesterday we sailed back at a steady six knots from Hilton Head. We saw dolphins,pelicans diving and terns sitting on an old floating log, plus plenty of fish jumping. We sailed into a late summer squall/ It was beautiful. Turner would have liked all the greys. Then it was sunny again and we docked. We got back and jumped into the pool and got all the salt off ourselves. We had swum in the sea off of “Joy” but the current was ripping. We anchored near a shrimper whose anchor dragged all night and by morning he
was a distant silhouette.

On … the Isle of … Hope!

SLOW

NARROW

ROAD

Coincidence that this sign, slightly hidden from view, should be posted … on an island called “Hope.” Maybe instructions for … life?

Is “thank you!” enough?

No. Probably not. Not just by itself. So let me add the essentials:

For your hospitality in the myriad meanings of the word:

Thank you, Murem, Tom and Eric! Thank you Sandra! Thank you Ann & Enoch! Thank you Leonard & Suzanne. Thank you Ronnie and Ann. Thank you Sherry, Brian, Stephanie & Lem and Macayla. Thank you, Charlie Teeple! And Thank you Raymond! Thank you Catherine & your wonderful friends! Thank you Gordon. Thank you Denis! Thank you Eric!! Thank you Sheldon! Thank you Gayle, Martin, Armide, and Constance !!! Thank you Chase. Thank you, Ted. Thank you Betsy. Thank you Lisa. Thank you Roger! Thank you J’maih! Thank you Arlinda! Thank you Howard!

Thank you Mom! Thank you Dad! Thank you Kay!

Thank you Tybee … Thank you Savannah.

“Thank you” … and “I’m sorry” : Putting it into words. So … please forgive me if I didn’t mention YOUR name … C’est un simple oubli! Just human forgetfulness. Forget and forgive.

By the way … if you just change the vowel “a” in thank to an “i,” … you come close to the origin of the word: think.

The English word “thank” comes from “think” which, in turn comes from … thought.

If you think about it for a minute … “Thank you” is simply … thoughtful.

“L’étranger te permet d’être toi-même, en faisant de toi, un étranger.” E. Jabès.

Those of us who live, or have lived our lives outside the country or the culture we were born into will appreciate what Edmund Jabès wrote. As well as those of us who have the role of hosts … Jabès, born in Egypt, later made his home in Paris.

“L’étranger te permet d’être toi-même, en faisant de toi, un étranger.”

Edmund Jabès.

Among the many “translations” possible, what’s yours ?

“L’étranger” : the foreigner? the other ?

“te permet d’être toi-même” : lets you be yourself ? allows you to be yourself ?

“en faisant de toi” : by making you, by rendering you, by turning you into

“un étranger” : the foreigner, the other …

Quote of the day

“Quand le train entre en gare, le voyage n’en est pas pour autant fini !” J.B. Pontalis

Literally,

“When the train pulls into the station, this doesn’t mean that the trip is over.” ML

Newsletter: July 29, 2010

A couple of nights ago while I was watching the sun setting from the Back River pier, I could see flashes of lightning far off in the distance and once in a while hear the deep low sound of rumbling, grumbling thunder. Those are both powerful phenomena. Light against dark; sound against silence. In fact, threatening phenomena … so powerful … so beyond our control.

It took some time for the winds to bring the clouds as far as the ocean but, once the sun had gone down – I almost wrote ‘had gone into hiding for the night’ – the clouds did come and fast and then the flashes of lightning seemed to come quicker and quicker, the thunder louder.

A torrential downpour begins with a single drop of rain … then another and another and another until you can’t count them anymore and you certainly can’t escape the drama … you can only take it in, experience it, live it, and marvel at it.

There was a deafening loud, booming clap of thunder; lightning like fireworks and flashes showed who was in charge and then STOP. The lights went out. The ceiling fans stopped. Darkness took over. The rain was coming down in torrents. The storm had taken over. I thought about the story of Jonah on the boat before he jumped overboard.

… The rain continued … and continued … and continued …

I fell asleep. And you don’t know what happens while you’re asleep, do you? Remember the story of Rip Van Winkle?

Well, a sound woke me up … the ceiling fan started to turn again … a light went on somewhere … I must have hear the refrigerator start up again … Signs that the electricity had come back on. I looked at my watch: 3:31 am. I went outside. Pools of water on the ground. Stars, a universe of stars above.

I thought for a moment: This is one of the reasons I’m here. Even if I didn’t know it, even if I hadn’t been aware of it until then: The Connection.

The back in time connection. The connection to real places and events, sources. The connection to people you know … even when you meet them for the first time.

There’s a saying that says: There’s no place like home.” Well, I’d say …

“There’s no place like Tybee.”

This land … by Woody.

Folk music is all about folk – people, family, friends, you and me and everyone else; individuals coping with life’s everyday cares. Happy ones and sad, hard and sweet.

Folk music provides us with a country’s history because it’s the people’s history … and how can we understand the present without a feeling and grasp of the working people who’ve lived before us, built our railroads, plucked our cotton, suffered the dust storms and prayed for rain? Brought us to where we are? Not only with their successes … but also their failures. Folk is about “everyday” people in touch with their emotions, their strengths, their weaknesses, their environments.

American folk music is so incredibly rich that I’d like to introduce you to a few tunes, stories, people and songs. Far from today’s global political stage, these songs are rooted in everyday experience. Pionners. Immigrants. Roamers.Expressions of work, love, family, discovery.

Without the advent of sound recording, they’d be lost. Fortunately, there are many many recordings and thanks to a fellow whose name was Moses Asch, the Folkways Collection was a lifetime project to guarantee their perennity … and I, at least, am grateful to him and his team for their work. Vanguard Records, too, as well as major and minor labels produced artists whose souls are still very alive.

Folk music is for listening. And here’s one of the classics: Woody Guthrie, of course.

PS.The Folkways Collection put about 2 dozen podcasts on the net for free downloads on iTunes (and maybe elsewhere!) … and this leads me to one of my father’s, bless his soul, favorite sayings:

“A word to the wise is sufficient.”

“We’re not out of the woods yet”

One of my students came across this great expression listening to an interview with the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Interview by by Calvin Sims.

(There are a number of remarkable interviews in the “Interviews” section of the Video Library at the NYT.)

the woods: you can imagine being in the midst of a forest.

not out of the woods = still lost in the midst of that forest.

not out of the woods yet > while we’re still in the woods, we will eventually get out to a clearing.

“On n’est pas sorti de l’auberge!”

If you’re interested in useful expressions and pronunciation … subscribe to the Paris Savannah Connection.

Newsletter: July 9, 2010

Good news!

Isn’t that what we live for? When things finally happen for the best? When hopes and dreams come true … and not just by good luck.

Like health:

all systems are working the way they’re supposed to … or you’re getting better … feeling better … getting some exercise … and you’re not such a great client at the pharmacist’s;

Like … achievement: