Spring sports in our local school district have almost come to an end. This seems to be such a short season! The weather is also now closer to summer than spring. Those windy, mild days have changed into still, hot days. The blossoms on the trees are drying up, and the bees are buzzing. The school kids are buzzing also, with all kinds of activities. Track is a collection of sports that is very popular with kids of all ages. It includes sprinting(1), long distance running, the hurdles, shot put, ...
May 08, 2019•10 min
As promised, today I will go over the grammar points from my last podcast, 'Jungle'. As you will remember, I danced the night away to the music of this British band. And all that dancing brought to mind some useful phrases. 1. Winter had been 'extraordinarily' long. We lose the sound of the first 'a'. Extraordinary - adjective Extraordinarily - adverb. a. The little boy was 'extraordinarily' descriptive about his day. b. The cat was extraordinarily brave; it fought the dog and won! 2. It's just ...
Apr 10, 2019•7 min
About a month ago, a friend and I went to Seattle to do something that we don't normally do. We went to a concert. Winter had been extraordinarily(1) long here, so I decided that I needed to get away and do something fun. Thankfully my friend, Sandra, wanted to do the same thing. As she likes to shop, she suggested that we spend the night after the concert, and then spend money the next day in the shops! It is just as well that(2) we spent the night, actually, as the concert finished at midnight...
Apr 04, 2019•7 min
If you haven't heard of the shingles, then today I will teach you something both interesting and important for your health. The shingles is actually a virus. It is one of the herpes viruses. I have had close contact with it recently, as my mother has it. Don't let the pretty sound of the word fool you; shingles sounds like jingles, a happy ringing of bells. Well, its quite the opposite. It is horrendous. I think it should be renamed to something like, 'The dark knife', or 'The burning storm'. It...
Mar 13, 2019•8 min
Does your mind ever wander? Mine does, all the time. I find that I am constantly thinking about things. My brain rarely(1) seems to keep quiet. In Tai Chi we call this 'The Jumping Monkey' which is a wonderful image. I suppose our brains are supposed to always be thinking, but sometimes it's really distracting. Shopping, for example, is a time when you want to have a clear plan of action with no distraction. If you don't, you could end up wasting time or money, or both. So many times I've come h...
Jan 31, 2019•8 min
We've lucked out this year (1). We're lucky because the winter has not been too hard. Yes we've had snow, and some freezing conditions, but it really hasn't been bad at all. I've been able to walk the dogs without falling on the ice, and my daughter has been able to practice her soccer moves on a more or less snow-free lawn. Everyone is back into a work or school routine, and Christmas seems like it was a long time ago. There are a few traces of decorations left around the house, but I'm not goi...
Jan 15, 2019•8 min
Things are changing fast in my household. My third boy, Robert, is now driving. He's only 16, and that to me seems far too young to be 'behind the wheel'. Thankfully, he doesn't drive very far, so the chances of(1) him getting into an accident are not high. As soon as he passed his driver's test, he bought a few things for his vehicle so he could look like and be a proper driver. Tissues, chapstick, hand sanitizer, phone charger, and gum, are of course essentials to have in the car. Then there w...
Dec 17, 2018•8 min
Halloween was fairly uneventful this year. It is a huge day of celebration here in the U.S, but as my children are teenagers now, we are less involved in the 'trick or treat' tradition of dressing up and visiting houses. Also, we don't tend to get many visitors in our neighborhood because it is actually quite spooky: no street lamps, no side walks, and a dark orchard with derelict buildings immediately as you turn into the area. It doesn't surprise me that parents don't drop their kids off to le...
Nov 07, 2018•8 min
There's nothing like(1) being in a crowd of 60,000 people. There's nothing like it, if they are all happy and dancing to the same music. Yes, you guessed it; I went to a concert with 59, 997 temporary friends. We were all happy to be together. I took my daughter and a friend of hers, and I was as excited as they were. Ed Sheeran was the main singer of the evening. I pride myself in(2) being a sort of up-to-date mum, so I was already familiar with some of his songs, and what he looks like. And he...
Sep 17, 2018•8 min
Snakes are creatures that I rarely see. Actually, I have no desire to see them. They're not really my cup of tea. My sister, however, used to have a very large corn snake. It was yellow and white, and its very long body filled its glass cage where it would only occasionally move. Once a week Suzy would feed it a mouse which, in a flash, would disappear down the snakes throat, and then it would go back to its rather boring existence. It was, you could say, the easiest of pets. Here, where I live,...
Aug 14, 2018•5 min
We spent the 4th of July at Lake Chelan for the first time just a couple of days ago. As you know, the 4th is the national holiday celebrating the independence of the U.S from England. It is a day off for everyone, and usually involves a huge fireworks display. My sister-in-law owns a cabin that is right on the lake, a perfect holiday home, and an exciting place to get together and enjoy the water and the celebrations. I must say that the fireworks were definitely not the highlight of the evenin...
Jul 07, 2018•5 min
Summer is a busy time, though some people think that it isn't. "So, what are you doing with all your time off, now that you don't have to drive here and there for school?" people have asked me. I smile politely, but think, "You have no idea." Yes, summer is busy. Mind you(1), that is partly my own fault. I am a project maniac. For some reason I feel compelled to constantly take on new projects. One of this season's tasks is to go through the whole house and garden. The aim is to minimalize and t...
Jun 30, 2018•10 min
When my husband and I visited China, I must say that we weren't very organized. My husband was focused on work, but I hadn't done enough research into making our finances(1) work in China. Though I had notified my credit card companies that I would be using the cards in China, I failed to get a pin to withdraw cash. I also was completely unaware of Alipay. And Alipay is everywhere. If you are not yet familiar with it, you soon will be. It is a financial organization, owned by Alibaba, which prov...
Jun 09, 2018•10 min
I never thought that I would get here, but here I am. China, that is. I'm so excited that I'm sure even my sentences will have grammatical errors. This was an unexpected(1) trip, an opportunity that suddenly came my way. I would have been an idiot to not take advantage of my good fortune. Of course, I could have(2) stayed at home for the week, and done the usual things, you know: work, cooking, laundry, walk the dogs. However, as I have my mother and in-laws available to help, I jumped at the ch...
May 09, 2018•9 min
Coffee is very important to people in the U.S. Washington State is the birthplace of Starbucks, and the city where the first one of them opened is Seattle. You could say that the subject of coffee there is as natural as breathing. If you are lucky enough to visit that splendid, green, innovative(1) city, you will easily find your way to Pike Place Market where the famous coffee shop is located. There is always a long line of people waiting to buy a drink, and that line fills the standing space i...
Apr 13, 2018•9 min
It has been many years since I've lived in a big city. I used to live in London, and part of me is still there, I think(1). If you follow my podcasts, you will know that I go back whenever I can, even if it is just for an hour's lunch with one of my girlfriends before I fly home. There is just something about the city vibe(2) that I love. It's intense, a showcase of human creativity. Samuel Johnson, a famous English writer from 1700's said, "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; fo...
Mar 22, 2018•9 min
Just about the time that I consider giving up sugar, I visit Belgium(1). It wasn't good timing! I wouldn't have missed my day in Brussels for anything, of course. However, as I walked around the shops near Grand Place, everywhere I looked, I was tempted. The Belgians like their desserts, and desserts are made with sugar. Belgian chocolate is known all over the world for being one of the best. I expected to see some elegant displays of chocolates, but what I didn't expect was the amount of shops ...
Feb 27, 2018•11 min
After my trip to Paris this January, I decided that I would spend one day in Brussels. I had never been to Belgium before, and I longed to(1) go to a place I had never visited. Brussels was the obvious choice for me, as the train journey from Paris is less than two hours. After saying goodbye to my son, I headed to Gare du Nord. Talk about(2) a busy station! I went through security quickly, and found my seat. I was relieved to be on a train and on my way. I was tired; jet lag and saying goodbye ...
Feb 06, 2018•10 min
During my recent travels, I had the opportunity to go to Paris. I was only there for a few days with my son Hudson. I went there to get him settled in school, and to make sure that he seemed happy with his arrangements. "Mum, I love this place," he said to me at one point. He was amazed by the city. There is so much history, art, and spectacular architecture that you can be pleasantly distracted for years. I hadn't been to Paris for decades, and only had vague(1) memories of certain places. One ...
Jan 22, 2018•10 min
In your country, do you have a Humane Society? By that I mean an organization that looks after unwanted animals. The U.S does; it is a charity that works for the good of animals. Here, in each state, you can find these places under the actual title of The Humane Society. The animals that are rescued from bad situations, or found on the streets, are housed in buildings where they get the food and medical attention they need to be healthy. It mainly serves dogs and cats, as they are prolific, and ...
Dec 15, 2017•11 min
I am becoming a minimalist. It's a slow process, but it is definitely happening. For many years I haven't practiced giving or throwing things away, neither has my husband. It is so easy to put things that we no longer need in cupboards and closets, and then to conveniently forget about them. So, the result has been an accumulation of stuff. But, the season has changed, the tide has turned (1), and I'm in motion to do what I should do. There are many charity shops here where you can donate unwant...
Nov 21, 2017•12 min
It's already the end of October, and everywhere there are signs of magic. There is no debate that this season, at least in this part of the world, is the most magical of the year. Over the space of just a few weeks, summer has melted into Autumn. Even though the temperature is cooler, the colors are warmer. Supermarkets have rows and rows of large orange pumpkins outside. The seasonal fruits and vegetables have changed from corn and zucchini, to squash and rosy apples. Shorts and t-shirts have d...
Oct 25, 2017•9 min
I have recently updated my app. Some of you will be thinking, "Thank Goodness!" It was overdue (1), to say the least. Some people think that I'm quite 'techie'(2) because I have an app for smart phones and iPads, but I'm not at all. I simply supply the material, and someone else puts the app together. In fact, I wasn't even aware that an app producer needs to update the product. So how did I realize that this needed to happen? The answer is that my own app on my phone wouldn't work. "What on ear...
Sep 28, 2017•8 min
Monreith Animal World is a small petting zoo that is just down the road from my father's house in Scotland. When I was visiting him in August, we decided to go there for a day out. My daughter is an animal-lover, so she jumped at the chance(1) to go. It was a beautiful, breezy, sunny day, so the animals were visible and active. My father and step-mother chatted with the owner when we first arrived, so Domini and I ran ahead, down the allotted(2) path that took us past all of the cages, pens, and...
Sep 19, 2017•9 min
"Very unhealthy" reads the daily smoke report on the internet for our area. I've been checking this website each day for the past week, as the smoke from state wild fires has surrounded and filled our valley. The AQI is what I look at: the air quality index. I've only just (1)found out what that means. It is a number generated by measuring the levels of four things: carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, particles, and ground ozone. Each day a new number is generated several times, so the public can ...
Sep 07, 2017•13 min
From my last podcast you already heard how impressed I was with Amsterdam. What I didn't talk about was how(1) much fun it was. Another point of its 'intelligent design' enabled me to feel like a kid again: the bicycle lanes. These run parallel to regular traffic, but are totally separate. Cyclists have their own lanes and even their own traffic lights. Everybody seems to give way to the cyclists, even the pedestrians(2)! Both cars and bicycles share the road in only a few places, other than tha...
Aug 26, 2017•9 min
I'm back from a trip; you might have noticed that I was gone for a few weeks. I apologize for the liberty; I do tend to(1) disappear once a year without warning my listeners. It's something that I need to do. I go in search of adventure and inspiration, so when I come back, I have interesting things to podcast about. It also makes me mysterious, don't you think? If you've been following my podcasts, you probably already know that I go back to the UK to see my family each year, and that is exactl...
Aug 21, 2017•8 min
Bowling is, I think, an underestimated sport. It's often just considered entertainment. The nearest bowling alley to us is across the river, and is a place for both serious entertainment and serious sport. Half of the day is devoted to parties, and includes bowling for an hour, pizza, and a huge amount of pepsi or root beer. That all comes as part of a package that you can buy online. If a member of your family, or a friend, has a birthday, for example, you can arrange the party on your computer...
Jul 22, 2017•8 min
So what do you do when it is too hot outside to garden or play? If you're smart, you will call some friends, jump in the car, and go to the nearest lake. Lucky for me (1), there is a lake 45 minutes away called Lake Chelan. It is huge. It's actually 50 miles long and 1,486 ft deep (at its deepest point). There are lots of little beaches around the edge of the lake, some of which have become camping grounds. As the water comes from the mountains during the spring, it is clean and cold. Some peopl...
Jul 09, 2017•9 min
Ok, I've got your attention with the title. Not everybody has a tarantula in their garage. I don't, actually. It is a temporary resident at my mother's place. She, of all people (1), does not appreciate this unwelcome visitor. She doesn't tolerate insects in general, unless of course they are ladybirds that are good for her flowers. I have memories from my childhood of hearing her yell, and then would come the sound of 'thump, thump' as she would use a shoe to squash some poor, unsuspecting(2) i...
Jun 28, 2017•11 min
