Author Archives: Patricia Gilbert

About Patricia Gilbert

Patricia Gilbert is a French teacher. She's Canadian, lives in the United States, but dreams of living in France. Follow her on Instagram @Onequalitythefinest and on Twitter @1qualthefinest.

Plus ça change

Posted on June 8, 2020

As I’m writing this, it’s June, the time for graduations and yearbooks. Graduation was held via Zoom at the school where I teach French, and yearbooks were released online and “signed” virtually. In my own high school graduation yearbook, I … Continue reading →

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Ma vie parisienne à mi-temps

Posted on June 1, 2020

Whether you are post-confinement or mid-confinement you may be needing a new book to read or listen to. And if you’re like me, you’re dreaming of when you can next get to Paris. I recently enjoyed the audio version of … Continue reading →

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Le mystère Henri Pick

Posted on May 25, 2020

My Covid reading program is moving right along. I just finished Le mystère Henri Pick, by David Foenkinos. I picked it up when I was in Paris last summer. It was getting press after a film version – which I … Continue reading →

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Le roi de la mode française

Posted on May 18, 2020

French fashion designer Pierre Balmain was born on May 18, 1914. He was studying architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1934 when Edward Molyneux offered him a job. He had already undertaken some freelance design drawing work … Continue reading →

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En coulisses

Posted on May 11, 2020

Today I got the news that I knew was inevitable, the summer program in Paris where I have worked for a decade will not run this year. As the French economy begins to re-open, there is currently no word on … Continue reading →

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Les palais de Saint Petersburg

Posted on May 4, 2020

I have a very nice husband. Not long after we moved to the States in the mid-90s, I saw an article about an exhibit dedicated to Russian Imperial treasures. Having been fascinated by the Romanovs for many years – even … Continue reading →

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Art Nouveau

Posted on April 27, 2020

At the end of my summer job in Paris last hear, my team game me a lovely coffee table book, Art Nouveau: Posters, Illustration & Fine Art from the Glamorous Fin de Siècle, by Rosalind Ormiston & Michael Robinson. I’ve … Continue reading →

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Le Chateau du Grand-Lucé

Posted on April 20, 2020

Have you ever been bitten by the jealousy bug? I must say that the first time I came across Los Angeles interior decorator Timothy Corrigan showing the wonders of his very own, authentic French château, I was a little jealous. … Continue reading →

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Rousseau et l’école de Barbizon

Posted on April 13, 2020

Théodore Rousseau was born in Paris on April 15, 1812. This French landscape painter, hailed as the leader of the Barbizon school, came from a family with no connection to the art world. Rousseau developed a deep love of the … Continue reading →

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Les Peintures

Posted on April 6, 2020

I finished another book I’d been slowly working my way through, thanks to the necessity of staying at hime for social distancing. Les Peintures, by Thérèse Burollet, provides a description of every painting, listed by the artists’ last name, in … Continue reading →

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