Quote ~ I was born to a woman I never knew and raised by another who took in orphans. I do not know my background, my lineage, my biological or cultural heritage. But when I meet someone new, I treat them with respect.... For after all, they could be my people.
James Michener, Author
Edith Piaf
She was named Édith after the British nurse Edith Cavell, who was executed for helping French soldiers escape from German captivity. Piaf colloquialism for sparrow was a nickname she would receive 20 years later.
Her mother, Annetta Giovanna Maillard was of French-Italian descent on her father's side and of Moroccan origin on her mother's. She worked as a café singer under the name Line Marsa.
Louis-Alphonse Gassion Édith's father was a street acrobat with a past in the theatre. Édith's parents soon abandoned her, and she lived for a short time with her maternal grandmother. Edith’s father took her to his mother, who ran a brothel in Normandy. And there the prostitutes helped look after Piaf. From the age of three untill seven she was blind.
How lucky I am, look at my beautiful morning.
Most of us are lucky to have had a fairly normal childhood. These last few day the news reports are full of the frightening scenes in Haiti, some of those children who have survived this disaster will never have a real childhood again.
The word effrayant means terrifying, scarey.
The word sinistre means a big catastrophe
