A Cup Of English

Well, I've done it. I have waited long enough. You could say, "It's about time!" So, I finally decided to put my toe in the water and try it out. Am I making any sense? Did you notice that I am using several idiomatic phrases? I'm just showing off. I'm talking about my new Youtube channel called A Cup Of English. And the reason I'm using idiomatic phrases now is because I have a new, short video s...

One American tradition that I have experienced is Powder Puff. It has a strange name, I know. It is a high school tradition, and is centered around(1) a flag football game played by young women. It has been around since 1930's, and is a fund raiser for charity, or for a high school event, like a dance. It usually takes place in October, before Homecoming which is another, even better known U.S tra...

Come with me, for a walk around my October garden. This day has a touch of magic, so I must be in it; I don't want to miss it. For a few minutes we can put the busyness aside(1), and step out into a world of calm and color. While we have been so occupied with the things of life, the worries, the obligations, the plans, the world of plants and creatures has been turning. It turns with the seasons....

Is there a certain food that makes your mouth water? A few of my favorites are: curry, lasagne, pad Thai, and sushi. We are lucky enough to have a few sushi restaurants here in Wenatchee now. It took a while to get them! They are proving to be really popular. To satisfy the American palate(1), they serve hot food as well as sushi. I suppose, in a place that has cold, snowy winters, it is nice to h...

The phrases: climate strike, greenhouse gases, and global warming should be familiar with anyone who listens to the news. And now with the help of social media, young people are becoming aware of the science behind how human activity affects the world. "Mum, can you excuse me from P.E please? I want to take part in the strike,' my daughter told me over the phone a few weeks ago. "Strike?" I though...

For all of you nurses, nurses' assistants, doctors, and anyone else who is interested in, or involved in the medical profession, this podcast is for you. A subscriber to my Youtube channel A Cup Of English, Maria, recently asked me to go over the nursing reading and practice that she needs as a nurse. As my job is medical interpreting, I am familiar with a lot of medical language. So, today I will...

About one week ago, I found myself on a beach in Seattle called Alki Beach. I had gone there with my husband for a couple of days, just to get a way from it all(1). As we have been to Seattle on many occasions, we decided to do something different. For years, we have stayed downtown, gone shopping, and eaten in nice restaurants. Enough of that! We both love natural environments, and needed a refre...

Imagine being in a tiny, coastal(1) village in Scotland in the summer. The air here is pure: a mix of ocean and forest smells, as the village is sandwiched between both. The area of Dumfries and Galloway, in the South West, has intense sunlight during this season, even though there is intermittent rain and a fair amount of wind. It's when the wind stops, you feel the warmth of the sun, and everyth...

It was the first day out in a few months that my mum had had, when we came across a hidden treasure. I had expected simply to take my mother for a drive, stop somewhere for lunch, and find a place she had told me about that sells plants. She is an avid(1) gardener; she can make anything grow, and has an elephant's memory for plants and how to propagate them. This would be a welcome break for her,...

They're furry, flexible, and playful. They have sharp teeth, and will nip (1) you if you are not careful. They are highly energetic, but will sleep for 16 hours. Like cats, they groom themselves, but they apparently have an 'odor'... Like dogs, they can be trained, but their attention span is short when it comes to 'lessons'.They prefer to be in groups because they are highly social, and love to c...

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 pop...

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' descr...

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...

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 horr...

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 d...

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...

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, chapstic...

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 immedi...

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...

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...

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...

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. On...

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...

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, la...

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. Th...