英语博客(A cup of English):094 Father's Day.

Beginners. Father's Day is celebrated here in the United States on the twenty first of June. It is a day when special attention is given to fathers. Shops are filled with cards of all sorts, thanking the fathers and grandfathers for being great peopl

英语博客：Amaryllis.

Something has grown in my mother's kitchen this Winter. It is tall, beautiful, and bright red. If you're in the room, you can't help but * look at it. It's an amaryllis. It was given to her as a Christmas present, and she has been growing it from a b

英语博客：The wrong shoes.

I haven't ever had a reason to visit a podiatrist (which is what we call a foot doctor), until recently. I don't have any problem with my feet, thankfully. I suppose, over the years, the shoes that I have worn have been good enough to keep me out of

英语博客：A swimming lesson.

Every Tuesday, I volunteer to drive several kids from school to the local swimming pool. They go once a week* for six weeks for a full hour*. It's actually a new experience for my children to be able to swim during school hours; usually, P.E., or Phy

英语博客：Potato Power.

The Skagit Valley is a beautifully dreamy green valley located between the Cascade Mountains and the Puget Sound. It is very close to the border with Canada, and right next to the West Coast. I went there a few months ago with my husband, as he had a

英语博客：Airsoft beebees.

It's no secret that boys of a certain age like guns, even if they are *make-believe. I remember that before my boys ever had any plastic weapons, they would use other toys, or even sticks, and pretend that they were guns. Perhaps they were influenced

英语博客：Chirping Chicks.

Oh, I haven't been getting much sleep recently. It seems as though* the whole world is noisy. It's summer, and every living thing is feeling fully alive, and therefore, making lots of noise. I often have to put our two dogs in the garage in the early

英语博客：Preparations for a barbecue.

One of the things I like most about Summer is barbecuing. As a person who cooks all the time, it's so nice to have a break from the kitchen, and to do some rapid, easy clean-up cooking on the barby. Over here, it's often the men who are in charge of

英语博客：Watermelon eating competition.

Are you enjoying your Summer? It is in full swing now. The clothes shops are full of swimming suits, bikinis, and barbecue equipment. Flowers are out, and most families find a swimming pool to enjoy. There were end of year celebrations for schools, h

英语博客：A Cougar in Town!

The local news the other day was just the kind of news that I don't want to hear. A cougar had wandered down from the nearby mountains and was found in a residential area of town. Now, I know that we live in an area that is close to wilderness. You d

英语博客：Native American Sculptures.

Art seems to be a very personal thing, as far as what a person does and doesn't like. You must have found that, at some point in time, you have been in a place where all of a sudden you come across a piece of art that you absolutely love. That happen

英语博客：Who invented the Garp?

Like many good things, the Garp started out as an idea. A boy had been told by his Science teacher to make an instrument involving specific measurements and the number eight. Well, the idea moved around in the mind of the boy for a few days, changing

英语博客：I'm on Facebook.

Well, everyone, I've taken the plunge and joined Facebook. I signed up months ago, but didn't really start communicating properly with people until a couple of days ago. You can find me under, believe it or not, Acupof English. I had to put in Acupof

英语博客：The cost of teeth is rising.

We've had teeth all over the house recently. My children just happen to be at the ages where they are all losing teeth. For my oldest boys, it's no longer a novelty. They have gaps here and there where teeth are growing in. And the contrast between t

英语博客：Ethanol anybody?

Today's podcast is going to test your knowledge of ethanol. What is it? How is it made? And what are the advantages and disadvantages of using it? I asked myself these questions recently, when I drove past a gas station that had a sign saying 'No eth

英语博客：An intimidating meeting.

Last week, as some of you know, I met with the Superintendent of Wenatchee Schools. I was very nervous, for some reason. I had never met him before, though I had seen him a couple of times in School Board meetings. My intention was to encourage chang

英语博客：Firewood for free.

I was driving down the road the other day, to go to Walmart, when I saw something that really caught my eye. On the left hand side of the road, infront of a house, a huge tree had been cut down. It was so big that it took up all of the house owner's

英语博客：Daily homework.

Did your teacher give you your homework packet? is a question I ask my children often. Every week they get a set of papers that are stapled together, each paper being either a math sheet or a reading and writing sheet. For the longest time, I couldn'

英语博客(A cup of English):017 Keep fit

Keep fit, even when it's cold. Beginners. Winter is just about here in Wenatchee. The air is cold; we have heavy frost most mornings. Thankfully, the days are still quite sunny, even though they are short. What do children do in the afternoons, after

英语博客：Ali Baba

Ali Baba. In a town in Persia there lived a man called Ali Baba. He was a poor woodcutter, and he struggled each day to feed his wife and children. All he ever wanted was to own a shop in the town, sell goods to his neighbors, and have plenty for his