Rue Renard

One of the very first words I ever learned in French was the word "fox". I learned it from an episode of Doctor Who, ::insert reader's lament and add "Here we go again. Will he ever shut up about Doctor Who?"::.

The Mind Robber, in short, trapped in the Land of Fiction, Jaime and Zoe get shut into a giant book, a French book, and they are turned into fiction. The text on the giant page is in French, presumably from some sort of French grammar school reader. The title of the chapter is "Un Renard". There is other text, and I should watch it to see if I can find out what it is and then see about purchasing the full book. That's one of my very first French words, possibly THE first... brought to me by PBS and the BBC.

Every time I see this sign along side this rural, central PA road Route 322 during my many journeys to and from my home-away-from-home, I am instantly reminded of that particular story and my earliest exposure to French.

"Rue Renard" is French for "Fox Street".

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Fleur-de-lis

My first of what I hope to be many entries is of a steeple on a church at my home-away-from-home. I rediscovered it the other day on my way to work and thought this would be a perfect picture to start this project on.

The Fleur-de-lis (Lily Flower), while prominent in many cultures long before it became a symbol of France, I believe in the modern era, its proliferation and symbolism around the world is credited mainly to French culture and exploration. This picture was taken in Clarion, Pennsylvania at the First United Methodist Church.


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À trouver la France/Finding France

Project: "Finding France"

One of my students had inadvertently inspired me and I came up with an idea this Summer while teaching. I was going to make it an out-of-class assignment, but there was no time. So, it occurred to me that this would make an interesting new project for myself... possibly others....

I'm calling it, À trouver la France/Finding France. It's a photographic project where in my short range journeys, I gather photographic evidence of the impact the French have had in my little neck of the woods.

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