There are some sakura trees at my local shrine, so this morning I went there to look at them & paint this small (100x150cm) picture. As usual I wrote the place & date at the bottom of the picture.
I hope to go to a cherry blossom viewing party this Sunday in Gifu. Maybe see you there!
Grammar:
- DRAW a picture/circle/map (with pen or pencil) OK
- PAINT a picture (with paint) OK
- WRITE a letter/the date/your name OK
- [write a picture/circle/map] X!
Besides (以外) beachwood, I also like to look on the beach for fishing floats like these. They`re colorful, right? I found two when I went to the beach last Saturday. I found the other ones on previous trips. My collection is growing...
Which one do you like best? I think the pink & brown one is nice. I also like the small orange one.
Grammar:
- Which one(s)...?
- the (adjective形容詞) one(s)
Yesterday I went to the beach to collect beachwood. As you can see, I found some interesting pieces. I will use them to make things like toys, containers, furniture, picture frames etc.
After collecting wood on the beach all morning, I went to an Italian Restaurant* for lunch. I chose a table by the big front window to enjoy the great sea view.
Soon the weather will warm up & lots of people will start going to the beach, so the beaches will be cleaned up. Then it will be hard to find good beach wood.
Grammar:
- Go/went to (place) to (verb動詞 ) = ...動詞しに場所に行く/行った
- Go/went to (place) for (noun名詞) = ...名詞に場所へ行く/行った
* Palazzo Italian Restaurant: http://d-atom.tv/para.html
You probably saw on the news that Ramos, Santos & Kawaguchi joined FC-Gifu. Big names. Big news.
Anyway, FC-Gifu played their first game of 2014 on Sunday. I saw on TV that they won 3-1. Yay!
I didn`t go to the game, but I read on the FC-Gifu website* that 11,000 people went. That`s a pretty big crowd for a J2 game.
Grammar:
- I saw on the news (that)...
- I read in a magazine (that)...
- I heard from a friend (that)...
* They have a great new English language page ( http://wearegifu.wordpress.com/ ), written by... Teragoya teacher Stuart! Excellent job, Stuart!!!
Today I went to Inuyama Castle. After looking at the castle, I had lunch in this restaurant nearby. It`s interesting - it`s a converted* `kura`, which is a traditional, thick-walled storehouse. I like this kind of (こんな) building.
Grammar:
*convert = change, so:
オーペンカー (Japanese English) = a convertible (English) because you can change it from `roof on` to `roof off`
A student of mine had trouble making scones.
I recommended trying my recipe ( http://jp.bloguru.com/otto/160064/scones-recipe )
After trying my recipe, she was happy.
She gave me two of the scones which she made.
I enjoyed eating them.
It was a win-win outcome (outcome = result = こうけっか).
Thank you for making scones, Chikage!
Gerunds:
- have trouble ___ing
- recommend ___ing
- After ___ing
- enjoy ___ing
- thank you for ___ing
I`ve been waiting ages (ages = a long time) for the chance to take a photo of this car. I knew this garage on Route 22 had it, but they always kept a cover on it. I could just see the wheels, & sometimes the rear bumper, but that`s all...
I waited and watched... waited and watched...
Finally (やっと) last week the cover was off & I could get some photos of it.
It`s a 1964/65 VW Type 34 Karmann Ghia. It`s kind of rare (めったにない) , so I think I`m lucky to have seen this one.
It looks a bit (a bit = a little) like an old Mazda Cosmo I saw: http://jp.bloguru.com/otto/190440/cool-car-in-kagawa
I really like it. How about you?
Yesterday I went to the annual Nitten art exhibition at The Aichi Prefectural Art Gallery in Nagoya.
I liked this painting, 「大楠図〜生樹の御門よりイメージして〜」by Masatsuga Itoh . It reminded me of Ishigaki Island in Okinawa - it looks like my photo, right? Also, there are three swallowtail butterflies in the painting. At the place I took that photo, I saw various swallowtail butterflies.
Yesterday was the last day of the exhibition, but if you missed it this time, don`t worry too much - you can catch it at the same time & same place every year.
Site:
http://www.nitten.or.jp/index.html
List of Paintings (click & view): http://www.nitten.or.jp/exhibition/45_list_japanese_all.html
Have you been watching the Winter Olympics? I enjoyed watching the women`s curling. I`d never watched it before, but the rules are pretty easy to understand; they are similar to the rules for a sport called `lawn bowls`. Lawn bowls is popular in Australia, especially with old people, but it`s not so popular in Japan.
Lawn bowls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrqzcS0D8_8
I thought curling was also the name of a sport in Ireland, but I made a mistake - that`s called `hurling`. As you can see, curling & hurling are not the same.
They are very very different.
Hurling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDgLwZd1Ag4
I`d like to try curling & lawn bowls one day. I really don`t want to try hurling ever.
When McDonald`s have a new kind of burger on sale, I like to try it. Today I tried their new `Hot & Groovy Beef Burger`. It`s a silly name & kind of embarrassing to order:
"Hi. Can I have one hot & groovy beef burger, please?"
Anyway, it tasted pretty good - a bit hot but not too much. I guess it tasted groovy too. I don`t know - what does 'groovy' taste like? Like gravy maybe?
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yukio 
bokushi 
田仲なお美 
PSPINC JP 
内倉憲一 
birdy 
エメラルド 
KUMA 
mokomoko