Are you feeling a little tired and drowsy in this terrible summer heat?  Me too!  I decided to try a few English tongue twisters (早口言葉）, to wake up your mind and your mouth.  When I first learned Japanese tongue twisters, they were really good for practicing pronunciation, and learning about similar sounding Japanese.  For example: 庭には二羽鶏がいる。 (niwa ni wa niwa niwatori ga iru)  “There are two chickens in the garden.” or even better, にわの庭には二羽の鶏は俄に鰐を食べた。 ( Niwa no niwa ni wa niwa no niwatori wa niwaka ni wani wo tabeta.)  "In (Mr.) Niwa’s garden, two chickens suddenly ate a crocodile." バスガス爆発。　(Basu gasu bakuhatsu)　”Bus gas explosion.” となりの客はよく柿食う客だ.。 (Tonari no kyaku wa yoku kaki kuu kyaku da)  The guest next door is a guest who eats a lot of persimmons. So today. here are a few English tongue twisters for you to try.  Next time we meet, show me how well you can say them!

1. Rubber baby buggy bumpers.
2. Silly Sally sells seashells by the seashore. (good for practicing "S")
3. He threw three free throws. (for practicing "th") also,
4. Thirty-three thin thermometers.
5. Free fried fish at Friday's fish fry.

After years of work to get my yard looking like I wanted.   I think I can finally sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labor.  I took my grandson out in the afternoon, and just played on the grass.  It was so cool and soft. Then last week I had three of my children's English classes outside on the lawn.  I told the kids, take off your shoes and socks, just walk bare feet on the grass.  I think it was the first experience for many of them.  We sat down, had a lesson and then played some games.  I'm looking forward to more "outdoor classes", and introducing them to some American games I played outside as a child. Also, I'm really looking forward to having a lot of barbecues in my yard this summer.  Sitting outside on my lawn with a cold beer, cooking steaks, aah!  What could be better?   I hope you can enjoy the fruits of your labors, in your garden, in your family, in your job, IN YOUR LIFE! See you soon.

My grass finally turned green and got long enough to mow.  I was so happy to mow it for the first time.  I love the smell of freshly cut grass, and the lawn looks luscious after I finish. When I was a child, I used to hate mowing the lawn every week.  We had a huge lawn and our mower was always having engine trouble.  Now that it's my lawn, I don't mind at all, actually I look forward to this job each week. It's funny how our perspective can change.  Work changes into fun and things I enjoyed in my past are now too troublesome to do.  It made me think of this song.

This week in the news . . . With the terrifying news that President Trump has decided to pull the USA out of the Paris Climate Agreement, let's learn a few phrases about the environment . . . . . .before it's too late. Eco friendly, or Environmentally friendly:  Policies, services or goods that don't harm the environment.  (Riding your bicycle to work is much more eco-friendly than taking your car.) Eco bag:  A bag that can be used many times and does not harm the environment.  (Don't forget your ecobag at Max-Valu, or you will be charged extra.) Carbon footprint:  How much carbon dioxide (CO2) you produce in your daily life.  (I'm doing my best to reduce my carbon footprint, but it's more difficult than I thought.) Green: Something that is good for the environment.  (The Tokyo Olympics are trying to be a green olympics, do you think they will succeed?) Renewable energy: Energy that is produced by sun, wind or water etc.  (A huge project is starting on the coast of Akita, hundreds of windmills for renewable energy.) Deforestation: Overlogging that kills forests.  (Honduras has the worst deforestation problem in the world.  They have lost 37% of their forest cover in only 15 years.) Desertification:  The growth of deserts in usable lands.  (The desertification of Northern Africa is a huge problem for all of us.) Global warming: increase in the surface temperature of the earth.  (Trump speaking only adds to global warming!) Greenhouse effect:  the warming of the atmosphere.  (All these cars in the world are adding to the greenhouse effect.)

I hope it's not too late.  Will the future for our children and grandchildren, be this,

or this?

Last Saturday, I finally finished the last piece of my lawn. It feels so good to be done.  Now it's time to sit back and enjoy it . . . . . . . except for the mowing, watering, weeding, fertilizing, aerating, etc. etc.  Oh well I can still enjoy it. Today I want to teach you some phrases used when you finally finish something. I laid the last piece. It's all done! That's it! That's all she wrote. Elvis has left the building. Stick a fork in it, it's done. That's a wrap. That's a done deal. Have you finished something this week?  Tell me about it!  

Did you enjoy your Golden Week?  I had a good time.  We visited my son in, Hokkaido.  We took the Shin Nihonkai Ferry up and back. We went to many beautiful places that I have never seen before; Lake Shikotsu Mount  Yotei Cape Shakotan (積丹岬) Kyuu Yoichi Fukuhara Gyoba ( 旧余市福原漁場) Mount Tengu, Hitsujigaoka Observation Hill Former Hokkaido Government Office Building And of course, Clock Tower We ate some great food at Tony Roma's But, . . . . . while we were there, somebody KEYED MY CAR!!!   Thirty years in Japan, and this has never happened to me before.  I was very disappointed.  Also, there were so many aggressive drivers in Hokkaido.  I don't want to complain, but I was a bit surprised. Today's phrase is "a mixed bag". We use this to say it's a mixture of good and bad, for instance, 例文 Our trip to Hokkaido was a mixed bag, we had a great time, but my car was keyed! Obama care was a mixed bag, but Trumpcare is much worse! For me, spring is a mixed bag, I love all the new flowers and plants, the warm weather, but my new classes start, and I'm always so stressed out! I'm looking forward to hearing about your Golden Week.  See you soon!   P.S.  Welcome to my new reader from Sendai!  Hello Mr.  Saito.  Thank you for the postcard!

  Did you have time to get out and enjoy the cherry blossoms this year?  Last year at this time I was so busy putting in my new grass, that I didn't have any time or energy to enjoy the blossoms. Last Sunday I was able to get out and visit the best spot for cherry blossoms in Akita, Taihei River!  Sorry Senshu Park and Asahi River.  I think Taihei River is better!  We walked along both sides of the river, and saw many blossoms and many people.  It was a very refreshing walk. I'll share some of my photos with you, but first, a few phrases. Hanami is a very Japanese tradition, so today's phrases are all original Japanese phrases about 花見 in English. The blossom forecast (開花予報、kaika yohou) cherry blossom front　(桜前線, sakura-zensen) night sakura (夜桜yozakura) dumplings rather than flowers (花より団子, hana yori dango) Did you know that Japan has donated cherry trees to many cities around the world, and they now have their own local　花見　traditions.  Here are a few: But I still think Taihei river is the best.  Enjoy Cherry Blossoms!