英语博客：A stowaway praying mantis.

图片1 Those of you who listen to my podcast on a regular basis, know that one of my hobbies is gardening. Whenever I have a free moment, I'm out there planting, weeding, or sowing seeds. It is September now, and the season for growing is just about

英语博客：The colors of Galloway.

One of the places we stayed this summer was Whithorn, Scotland, where my father lives. It is one of many picturesque towns in Galloway. Whithorn happens to be very famous; it is considered possibly Scotland's first town. It is the starting point of C

英语博客：Friendly or scary?

As I drive around town, I find myself saying the occasional oooo!, ahhh!, or oh?! Do you know why? There are Halloween decorations all over the place, and they make a real impression. There seem to be two approaches to decorating for Halloween: frien

英语博客：A Smallwood's tradition.

Every year, either in the summer, or around October, we make a trip to Smallwood's Farm. It is a family-run farm with a petting zoo. All of the produce grown on the farm is sold directly to the public. Through the years, it has grown from a small att

英语博客：Oksana, Daniel, and Russel.

My good friend Nataliya called me a few days ago, and invited me to a concert at a local church. There is a very good Russian pianist, Oksana Ezhokina, you might have heard of her. I vaguely remembered the name. She has performed a few times in Wenat

英语博客：A stack for winter.

We used to have a large pine tree in our front garden. It was a very tall, old one. It was planted about thirty years ago, but last year, we decided to cut it down. I wouldn't normally agree to chop down a tree, but this one was yucky. Half of one si

英语博客：An eye for light.

As we move into the middle of November, the countryside seems to be changing every day. The colorful leaves that decorate the whole valley are beginning to fall, and preparations are being made for the long, cold winter. I am trying to go for walks a

英语博客：Bilingual night.

One of the things that I had on the calendar this month was the bilingual night at my children's school. It is held a few times a year, to inform parents about progress being made with the school's dual language program. Tonight was the first meeting

英语博客：Gingerbread houses.

Aren't holiday traditions great! I'm always fascinated by the many ways that people of different cultures celebrate special times. We use symbols, songs, colors, food, actions, religious rituals, and get togethers to express our humanity. And we all

英语博客：Do I make you nervous?

I have recently been conducting interviews with people in town who have businesses. Why? Because I am beginning to build a website of interviews and dialogues. I hope to launch it before Christmas;....let's see if I can get it ready in time. It sound

英语博客：Messing about on the water.

During the weekend, I took my two youngest children to the park. My youngest son had insisted for the best part of half a day, that we go fishing. It's not exactly the right season for catching a fish, but for 'messing about on the water' it is just

英语博客：A feather nest.

It's time that I bought a new camera. I need a digital that has a decent zoom. I realized that the other day when I was outside, trying to get a good shot of two birds who were nesting. I had been busy throwing the ball to our dogs, when I saw a flas

英语博客：Perfume in the air.

Something has been happening recently that pleases me a lot. My newly planted roses have been flowering. For some reason I didn't expect them to make such a show this year, with them being new. My entryway project has continued, and I ended up planti

英语博客：Road works.

This Spring, we have experienced an unusual amount of rain, so much so that it has caused problems in many areas. I was driving to a local bakery the other day, when I came to some road works. I had to stop my car and wait for the heavy machinery to

英语博客：Oh my gosh, the crazy pruning.

Just opposite where we live is a cherry orchard. It must be about four or five acres. In the late winter or early spring, the trees get pruned. Excess branches are cut off in order to make the trees more productive. That system works, and is understo

英语博客：Beautiful anemones.

图片1 Beautiful anemones. The entryway of our house is finally beginning to look pretty. I have recently transplanted plants from other areas of our garden to the walkway that leads up to our house. After choosing a tree to shade the area, I though

英语博客：Climb to the sky.

Every two weeks, on Wednesdays I meet up with a friend of mine, and go for a walk in the park. Today was that day, and though it was really rainy, we had a nice time walking and chatting. I took my camera just in case a photo opportunity presented it

英语博客：Netflix and cable madness.

The financial crisis has hit Wenatchee quite hard in the past year or so. Businesses have closed, some people have lost their homes or jobs, or both. Everyone seems to be more careful about spending, and it has become normal to be frugal, or very car

英语博客：Spelling mistakes.

I was checking the comments on my blog today, hoping to get some feedback from my lovely podlisteners, when I came across one that was a bit worrying. Huy Mai very kindly complimented my podcast and informed me that I had made a couple of spelling mi

英语博客：Ant invasion.

Have you ever walked into your kitchen first thing in the morning and found that little, tiny strangers have moved in? And not only have strangers moved in, but there are hundreds of them, and they are eating your food. Ants. Ants. Where do they come