16.39 - Fishing cats, French bubbles & the seasons in southwest France
Tomas k - Senior News Editor 
Today at a Glance: Your FREE weekly newsletter
Bonjour mes ami(e)s !
It’s wonderful to have you back here with me today. Bienvenue !
In this newsletter, you’ll find three wonderful fresh articles taking you to France beyond the cliché.
And later today, PAID subscribers will receive the 16.39.a edition of le Bulletin — with a new Deep-Dive Essay that began with some missing Pushkin, a very clever deception at the Bibliothèque nationale de France… and sent me somewhere I really wasn’t expecting.
Not PAID yet? It’s not too late to upgrade and have tonight’s edition arrive in your inbox →
À bientôt !
Warmly,
Judy
3.10.26
INVITATION & RSVP:
The MyFrenchLife™ French BookClub is back. DISCUSSION EVENT: 7 & 8 NOVEMBER 2026
We’ve started reading Live Fast (Vivre Vite) by Brigitte Giraud, 2022 Prix Goncourt winner. I’ll be hosting, together with returning co-host and valued contributor Keith Van Sickle, who suggested this book.
Now’s a great time to get the book and start reading, in French or English; our discussion will be in English. RSVP is essential to receive the access link.
I’m looking forward to many of you joining us in a lively chat.
HERE you’ll find the invitation and RSVP form→ This event is across many time zones - check the time for your location←
Judy
1. MyFrenchLife™ Magazine new articles
“There are many talented contributors to MyFrenchLife Magazine and I thank all of you for sharing your experiences with us in such an engaging manner.
You take us right across France & deep into many worm-holes. We delight in discovering
and learning more about France beyond the cliché”
Merci
Judy
a) Seasons in the Southwest: Early Fall
by Valerie Rivera
After six blazingly hot canicules this summer, early fall slides in like a dream of what summer used to be — crisp mornings, warm afternoons, and just the right temperature for lingering outside with friends. More than once, I’d had to cancel plans because of the heat — 100°F (38°C) at 8 pm! I shake off the angst of unexpectedly being sequestered inside for weeks.
Now it’s time to lean into whatever remnants of summer are still available to us. Fortunately, the marché gourmand in Sainte-Terre that we all look forward to has been rescheduled until the end of September. For such a small town, this festival is a delightful surprise…” wrote Valerie.
b) Rue du Chat-qui-Pêche: The Paris Curiosity
by Pierre Guernier
Many tourists stroll along Rue de la Huchette without even noticing Rue du Chat-qui-Pêche. This little passageway is tucked away between the hustle and bustle of Rue de la Huchette and the River Seine, in Paris’s 5th arrondissement.”
Tourist guides often describe Rue du Chat-qui-Pêche as Paris’s narrowest street. That’s so true: at its narrowest point, the street is just 1.8 metres wide, just enough for two people to pass without bumping into one another…” writes Pierre.
c) Champagne’s Genesis, Courtesy of Dom Pérignon
by Eveline Chartier
Some of you likely sensed that I would write about Champagne soon.
There was some foreshadowing when you touched on Dom Pérignon and Benedictine monks. (see links at bottom of this article)”
Awesome, I love that you are paying attention!”
Indeed, Dom Pérignon was part of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Pierre d’Hautvillers, which some consider as the birthplace of Champagne, the sparkling wine. There are many myths that revolve around Dom Pérignon, including that he was the ‘inventor’ of sparkling Champagne.”
This is false as no one person ‘invented’ Champagne. Ultimately, there was an evolution of Champagne…” wrote Eveline
And…Coming later today for PAID subscribers…
Paris was texting long before we were
by Judy MacMahon
LOOK WHAT YOU STARTED, JENN…
Regular Contributor, Jenn Bragg wrote about Paris’s old carte pneumatique and, well… look what she started.
I hadn’t quite understood what she was describing. Then I discovered that, by 1933, 427 kilometres of pneumatic tubes ran beneath Paris, connecting nearly 130 post offices.
And what travelled through them?
The actual handwritten message.
Dinner arrangements. Changed plans. Something that simply couldn’t wait for tomorrow’s post. Into a cylinder it went, rushing beneath Paris before being delivered into someone’s hands, often within a couple of hours.
Of course, I went looking.
And 427 kilometres later, I found myself wondering about something rather more intimate than pneumatic engineering…
→ PAID: Read Paris was texting long before we were
[Not PAID yet? Upgrade and come underground with me →]
2. Merci mille fois
“Thank you for subscribing to ‘le Bulletin’, the newsletter of MyFrenchLife™ Magazine.”
Judy MacMahon
Merci mille fois d’être ici, mes ami(e)s. Thanks for being here.
Well, where have our Contributors taken us this week?
Valerie has had us breathing in those first misty mornings of autumn in southwest France, while the grapes are being picked and village life begins to change with the season.
Pierre squeezed us into a Paris street barely wide enough for two people to pass, complete with a fishing cat and a story that may, or may not, be true.
And Eveline poured the Champagne… before promptly telling us that Dom Pérignon didn’t invent the bubbles after all.
Merci, Valerie, Pierre and Eveline.
This is exactly what I love about our Contributors. One minute we’re amongst the vines, the next we’re disappearing down a tiny Paris street, and before long we’re questioning something about France we thought we already knew.
And merci to you, mes ami(e)s, for reading, commenting, following the wormholes and coming along with us each week.
There is always another corner to turn. Another story hiding somewhere.
And apparently, occasionally, a fishing cat.
À bientôt !
Judy
judy@myfrenchlife.org
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