Mon animal préféré

Mon animal préféré est un dragon // My favourite animal is a dragon

Today's prompt is nice. "Dragon". I like it. And it is written exactly the same in English and in French

Magie silencieuse

La neige est une substance magique. Et sa magie est silencieuse //
Snow is a magical substance. And its magic is silent.

I have already drew various pics related to today's Inktober prompt - "snow/neige" a few times. But what the hell, lets have another one.

I remember well that feeling when you wake up on a winter morning and everything seems a lot more quiet than normal. Means that overnight it snowed a lot. The cat is going to have a very quiet morning.

And he is hatless again, I must note.

Des balançoires sous l'Arc de triomphe

Je ferais installer un toboggan géant sur la tour Eiffel et des balançoires sous l'Arc de triomphe // I would have a giant slide on the Eiffel Tower and swings under the Arc de Triomphe

Today's prompt is "swing", "balançoire". The quote I found is rather charming. It is by Catherine Leblanc, from her book "Ah, si j'étais président!" (Ah, if I were president).

She was probably thinking multiple swings, but the cat is very individualistic, like all cats.

Poor Min, poor Min, poor Min

She was the roughest, toughest frail

The Inktober prompt from today - frail - is kind of difficult again. While looking for an inspiration, I checked out the meanings of the word and was pleased to be reminded that one of them was simply "a woman". Minnie the Moocher came to mind and I did a little research. I sort of wish I didn't but well, here goes:

"Minnie "The Moocher" has died. She was a familiar figure In downtown Indianapolis. A 82-year-old woman whose real name was Minnie Gayton, she acquired the quaint nickname of "The Moocher" by regularly begging food from grocers and carting it off in a baby buggy. She slept in doorways, on porches and in garages. During the record-breaking blizzard, her body was found on a porch, blanketed with snow. She died from exposure"

So here she is, the toughest frail,  pushing her baby buggy full of food through the blizzard.

And to make somewhat French-er, the French equivalent is "frêle". Example of use from Michel Eyquem de Montaigne - La plus calamiteuse et frêle de toutes les créatures, c'est l'homme// The most unfortunate and frail of all creatures is the man.
 

une forêt enchantée

After a brief hiatus where I liked the English prompt a lot more, the cat returns.

Here he is, having a game of hide-and-seek (cache-cache) in an enchanted forest.

I do not know whose eye is that in the tree hollow.

construire un pont

Les politiciens sont les mêmes partout. Ils promettent de construire un pont même là où il n'y a pas de fleuve. // Politicians are the same everywhere. They promise to build a bridge where there is no even river.

Inktober prompts make me look up all sorts of things. Today's prompt "build/construire" brought me the above quote by Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev. In Russian it sound like this : "Политики везде одинаковы: они обещают построить мост там, где и реки-то нет". I am not sure why he said it, still need to look it up, but I wasn't even aware that he said it.

Here is a very fat cat promising a bridge. Enjoy his empty promise.

de l'assiette à la bouche

L'indécis laisse geler sa soupe de l'assiette à la bouche // An indecisive lets his soup freeze on the way from the plate to the mouth

Once again, English and French Inktober prompts are a bit different in meaning. But at least I managed to find a nice quote with "geler" in it.

It is supposedly by Cervantes but my search for the original version failed.

The soup in the pic is probably борщ, judging by the color, and the eater is not so much indecisive as distracted - they are reading a book while eating their soup. The book is propped on a bread bin. I just know.

Plus cher que le poisson

Quand l'appât vaut plus cher que le poisson, il vaut mieux arrêter de pêcher // When the bait is worth more than the fish, it's best to stop fishing.

Today's Inktober prompt is "bait", "appât". I looked for some phrases containing the word and google came up with this creole proverb. It was obviously created a goodish while ago, when people fished to eat. Now, if you consider how much an average hobby fisherman spends to catch a fish (the gear, the transportation, the time spent), the input/output ratio is astonishingly high (of course, some of them don't even eat the fish, so we are talking about division by zero here).

I understand it is a pastime, not a way to feed yourself. Still though.

I also remembered one time when we were on a several-days hike in Crimea and met a fisherman fishing for trout in a small stream. He was using red caviar as a bait. I remember being rather puzzled by it.

So, here is the cat fishing. And no creole proverb can possible stop him.

Violence aveugle and not so blind

Mindless violence versus mindful one

Today's Inktober prompt in French gave me certain trouble. I believe that "stupide" and "mindless" (the English original) are not the same, although admittedly it is the first translation that google translate gives you.

So. I decided to go with "mindless". The cat settling down with popcorn to watch something suitably explosive vs the self-same cat practicing kendo with his bamboo sword.

To keep with the overall theme of this blog, I can tell you that French equivalent of "mindless violence" is "violence aveugle", i.e. "blind violence".

1st October, Inktober prompt — Bague

Une bague est un article de joaillerie qui se porte généralement au doigt //
A ring is an item of jewelry that is usually worn on a finger

Here cometh October, and the first prompt of Inktober 2019 is bague, ring.

Please note that while rings are usually worn on fingers, the car doesn’t have such appendages.

Ring-related pics on Shutterstock — here.

Tout au long de la route.

Les services de la mairie ont planté des bouleaux tout au long de la route // 
The town hall department planted birches along the road

When I was a kid all these years ago, I had an impression that birches, especially silver birches, were somehow exclusive to Russia. I am not saying that the idea was being actively planted, I don't think anybody was bothered to do it. But what with it being the symbol of Russia and practically nobody ever allowed outside of the Soviet Union, well, you can see how it might have developed.

It wasn't only me who was under this impression. Later on when the regulations became slacker and the brain-drain began, suddenly we got exposed to what the "outside" was really like. I remember my university friend sharing with us a little observation his relative brought back from his visit to Canada: "You know, every fifth tree is not a silver birch".

So. I don't know where the cat is playing hide-and-seek (cache-cache). Could be anywhere.

L'univers tout entier

Si l'on considère l'univers tout entier, notre planète Terre est un point minuscule dans l'espace //

If we consider the whole universe, our planet Earth is a tiny dot in space.

Have you heard that the intelligent life on Earth was started by space-travelling cats to provide them with a nice holiday planet?

Well, now  you have.

Sous le sort des sorcières...

Sous le sort des sorcières, le prince charmant se transforma en crapaud //
Under the witches' spell, the charming prince turned into a toad

Poor prince. He doesn't look pleased at all.