Business meeting in Provence (Emmanuel, me, and Père Vannier).

“Every man has two countries,” said Thomas Jefferson, “his own, and France.”

Our third president put his money where his mouth was, spending over $10,000 of his salary on French food and wine for state dinners at the White House; a handsome sum in the early 1800s.

Today we have Julie & Julia, of course, and a passion for France continues to burn in many Americans, for French fashion as well as food, French art, French music, architecture, literature, even French technology and French sex.

I myself recently completed my 47th trip.

It was the best yet. After years of searching for authentic French stuff for clients ranging from Mrs. London’s Bakery and Cafe in Saratoga (a Balanchine favorite) to major national companies, I was finally doing it for a little undertaking called France Ici, and thank you for stopping by.

France Ici offers finds that go beyond the expected. Affordable classics. One-of-a-kind collectibles. Plus, there’s another entire dimension that’s a glimmer at this point: the France Ici Community.

My dream is to become a living resource for people who love French things and love to share them and would love to have a place to call their own. It starts off with Comment spaces appearing here and on Facebook, gradually introducing new features in months ahead. All kinds of forums for information, discussion, assignations of ideas. A Marlène Jobert fan club? It’s about time.

You can click in now to have a say on Facebook or the France Ici site itself. Or sign up now to get France Ici e-news and special offers. Or both.

As in any passionate affair, America and France have had their spats, e.g. Freedom Fries; but as a 2008 Congressional Research Report concludes, the fundamental ties between the two countries — including $1.2 billion in mutual transactions every day of the year — those ties remain powerful indeed.

You can say amen to that.