英语博客：Fire and sugar.

Ah, Spring is here, and we are back to the normal good weather activities. This weekend, we had a couple of the kids' friends over for a 'sleep-over'. You can probably tell by the name what a sleep-over is: the kids come and play in the evening and e

英语博客：The Golden Goose (part 2).

The Golden Goose (part 2). When Samuel reached for their snack, he found a magnificent sweet cake and a large bottle of cider for them to share. My, look at this, said Samuel. I am glad I have much more than stale bread to share with you. When they f

英语博客：The Golden Goose (part 3).

The Golden Goose (part 3). The minister saw the odd procession and cried out at the three sisters, Have you no shame, girls? Why are you running after the boy? It's just not right! He tried to pull the youngest girl away. Suddenly, he felt that he wa

英语博客：Unpack those bags!

Hello everyone, and welcome back to A Cup Of English. I'm very excited to start this season of podcasts; I have a lot to tell. I have been away, with my family, travelling around Europe, visiting family, for about 6 weeks. We had a great time, but no

英语博客：Quite a social calendar.

Do you use calendars very much? I do. Without them, I'm sure I would forget a lot of appointments. I have a calendar conveniently placed in my kitchen, just above where I do my podcasts. I have a collection of other important things on this 'mini-des

英语博客：Little dragons.

My energetic daughter has been begging me to take her to karate classes. She had already enrolled in gymnastics, and our rule is to do only one after-school activity each season, so I decided to only look into it, and not agree or commit myself to ta

英语博客：Bingo.

This past Friday night, I was settling in for the evening, when my youngest son said, Mum, can we go to the family bingo night at school? I groaned inside, not wanting to go anywhere. I had received an automated voice message from the school a few da

英语博客：After school.

One part of my daily routine during the week is to pick up the kids from school. I'm sure that a lot of you listening now probably do the same thing. Thankfully, I live very close to the school where three of my children go. It's literally a three mi

英语博客：Shooting skeet.

Have you heard of skeet shooting, or perhaps clay pigeon shooting? Well, we are beginning to do it. Having been inspired by his grandfather in Scotland, my son Cass caught the bug. Doing it once when we went to stay with my father last summer just wa

英语博客：Choose a treat.

It's great to be back podcasting to you again. I had a lovely Christmas break with my family, and now have plenty to podcast about. I actually have had a problem of no internet connection for about four days which has been very frustrating. When that

英语博客：The U.S. Census.

We can't move forward until you mail it back is the saying on the recent campaign to get everyone to fill in their census form. As required by the constitution, a census has to be conducted every ten years. We have all received the forms in the mail,

英语博客：The blossom season.

This podcast was inspired by Kimiyo from Japan who recently E-mailed me a photograph of the cherry blossoms on the street where she lives. She told me that, at the moment, the wave of blossoms is moving through Japan, and so she decided to capture it

英语博客：Woof, woof no more.

I have great neighbors. They are friendly, I trust them, and they are helpful. What more could I ask for in a neighborhood? As a friendly neighbor myself, I do what I can to keep my relationship with the people next door to me a positive one. The nei

英语博客：Andorra.

图片1 Beginners. Andorra is one of the smallest countries in Europe. It is high up in the Pyrenees. If you look at the map of Europe, you can see that it lies exactly between France and Spain. It is a very mountainous area that has spectacular view

英语博客：The Furry Salesmen.

A strange type of creature has been appearing in Wenatchee recently. Apparently, it comes out when the weather gets nice. It is very tall, furry, and generally has a smile on its face. Unlike most other animals, it likes to be close to people and tra

英语博客：Germ busters.

In the kitchen yesterday, I was considering all of the language that we are exposed to around the house. Containers of food and cleaning fluids can all teach us a lot of a new language. Even some small appliances often have instructions of some kind

英语博客：Fatty, fatty.

I heard today that eating nuts helps to lower bad cholesterol. That's good news because I love nuts of all kinds. I always have a stash of almonds and walnuts in the fridge. Apparently, in order to have the full benefits of these nuts, they should be

英语博客：The Magic Chair.

Do you ever have aches and pains? Do your muscles ever get sore? Do you get headaches? My husband used to until a couple of years ago. He would come home from work with tight shoulders, or a headache, or a knot in his back, near his shoulder blades.

英语博客：A weekend ride.

What do you do at the weekends? Do you do anything special to let off steam or to get inspired? I suppose it depends where you live and what is available. After a hard week's work, it is nice sometimes to not do anything. If you look around, though,

英语博客：Oil change at Oil Can Henry's.

I got a phone call from my husband the other day, Hey babe, can you take the car to get the oil changed please? It's overdue. As he works forty-five minutes from town, he rarely has time to run those errands back in Wenatchee, so he gets his secretar