La Vie en Rose 🌹

(Life in pink)...

Have you ever experienced La Fermière?

My girls introduced me to it, via the brand’s lemon-flavored yogurt. It’s super creamy, lightly sweet—very dreamy.

The other day while shopping for groceries… what was this?

Rose-flavored yogurt? From La Fermière. In the cutest red clay cup.

It didn’t matter whether the yogurt was going to be good. I have a thing for roses, so into the cart it went.

A few days later, when I decided to take a tiny adventure in taste on a sunny afternoon, I couldn’t just open the rose yogurt without taking a few pictures first.

What to put with roses and red?

It seemed fitting to pair a Royal Albert Regal series teacup I had found at my mom’s after she passed away last autumn. I’d never seen the cup before. So beautiful. Very Valentine. I bought a second one for my younger daughter for Christmas, and I’m thinking we’ll use them for our little Valentine’s tea on Saturday.

My girls adore Valentine’s Day, and always plan it as a time to celebrate our happy love. This year my older daughter will make pineapple upside-down cakes in mini tins. Together, the girls will make tea sandwiches. And perhaps we’ll drink some “fancy tea,” which is what we call Betjeman & Barton’s Red Garden rooibos, which is actually light green.

I know. Did you even guess there was such a thing?

It’s divine.

If you aren’t a fan of rooibos, it still might be worth a tiny tasting adventure. The light green rooibos does not taste woody like the red. And the “Red Garden” blend from Betjeman and Barton simply refers to the… wait for it… roses! And strawberries.

Oh, là là. 🌹

Like endless Roses are Red poems, once I started down The Rose Road that my little La Fermière purchase inspired, I got all but lost. (Note to self: this is always a sign for a writer. It means possibility. A series. Even a book. Don’t try to cover it all in one post. So. I will save many of my rose findings for another day.)

La vie en rose means “life in pink,” but we’d say in English “through rose-colored glasses.” And that is not always a compliment.

Just for a moment, though, let’s think.

What are the upsides of seeing life in pink?

I’m reminded of how Anne Frank kept a photo of a beautiful skater on her wall in that cramped secret place in Amsterdam. To Anne, the photo was a glimpse of enchantment. A “pink lens” she gazed through to infuse her days with hope and loveliness, despite (malgré) the hardships.

In her diary on July 11, 1942, Anne wrote: ‘Our little room looked very bare at first with nothing on the walls; but thanks to Daddy who had brought my film-star collection and picture postcards on beforehand, and with the aid of a paste pot and brush, I have transformed the walls into one gigantic picture. This makes it look much more cheerful…’ Among those photos that Anne used to color her grey world while she was in hiding with her family were three pictures of Olympic Gold Medallist Sonja Henie of Norway…

—Skate Guard Blog

Seeing life “in pink” can be a saving grace.

It can also invite us to wander joyfully. And isn’t it in wandering that so much good can be found, created, and brought to life?

As a creative person, I know the world often agitates against “seeing life in pink.” But it’s what I’m good at. Ever since I was a child. Looking at old photos, you can see it in my eyes, my smile, my whole aspect.

Becoming who we’re meant to be creatively means embracing who we are.

Yes, malgré (despite) the hardships of the world and sometimes of my own life I take a very specific angle. Beauty, enchantment, hope.

Life in pink. La vie en rose. 🌹

(translation: as always, L.L. :)

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🌹 i love the way it looks like there’s a heart just beginning to descend onto the fermière lid (top of pic, about 2/3 of the way over). it’s out-of-frame, the way good things sometimes are before they reveal themselves in our lives

🌹 and… ! i found the french version in the store now: bisou bisou (kiss, kiss)

🌹 okay, and you need to see the inside, right? complete with spoon at the ready

No post titled “La Vie en Rose” would be complete without French singer Édith Piaf’s famous song, which brought hope and joy to many after WWII.

I couldn’t choose just one version. Indécision encore! (Indecision again.)

“La Vie en Rose” in French x 3 🌹

Éva Lenoir – La Vie en Rose (Jazz Chanson Cover Édith Piaf| Vintage Paris Remake)

Edith Piaf / La vie en rose (1946) *With lyrics*

Mireille Mathieu - La vie en rose (Bonsoir Mireille 15.04.1982) (VOD)

Des yeux qui font baisser les miens
Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche
Voilà le portrait sans retouches
De l’homme auquel j’appartiens

[CHORUS]
Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas
Je vois la vie en rose
Il me dit des mots d’amour
Des mots de tous les jours
Et ça me fait quelque chose
Il est entré dans mon cœur
Une part de bonheur
Dont je connais la cause
C’est lui pour moi, moi pour lui dans la vie
Il me l’a dit, l’a juré pour la vie
Et dès que je l’aperçois
Alors je sens en moi
Mon cœur qui bat

Des nuits d’amour à plus finir
Un grand bonheur qui prend sa place
Des ennuis des chagrins s’effacent
Heureux, heureux à en mourir

[CHORUS]

La la, la la, la la
La la, la la, ah la
La la la la

*
Translation of French Version of “La Vie en Rose” (via Babylangues)

With eyes which make mine lower,
A smile which is lost on his lips,
That’s the unembellished portrait
Of the man to whom I belong.

[CHORUS]
When he takes me in his arms
He speaks to me in a low voice,
I see life as if it were rose-tinted.
He whispers words to declare to me his love
Words of the everyday
And that does something to me.
He has entered into my heart
A piece of happiness the cause of which I know full well.
It’s him for me, me for him in life
He said that to me, swore to me “forever”.
And as soon as I see him
So I feel in me
My heart which beats

May the nights on which we make love never end,
A great joy which takes its place
The trouble, the grief are removed
Content, content to die of it

“La Vie en Rose” in English 🌹

Hold me close and hold me fast
The magic spell you cast
This is la vie en rose
When you kiss me heaven sighs
And though I close my eyes
I see la vie en rose

When you press me to your heart
I’m in a world apart
A world where roses bloom
And when you speak,
angels sing from above
Everyday words seem to
turn into love songs

Give your heart and soul to me
And life will always be
la vie en rose.

And when you speak
angels sing from above
Everyday words seem to
turn into love songs

Give your heart and soul to me
And life will always be
la vie en rose.

🌹 Like roses? You might also like my post The Rose Tea Table