[Easy English Blog] Breakfast

slice of loaf bread with dog face

Photo by Buenosia Carol on Pexels.com

What do you have for breakfast? I notice that most people have the same thing for breakfast every day.  I have coffee and toast. I put Vegemite on my toast. Most people don’t know about Vegemite. It seems to be unique to Australia and New Zealand. There is a similar product called Marmite. It came from England I think. If you grow up eating Vegemite, you like it. But most people think it tastes awful.

If you eat toast for breakfast maybe you put margarine and jam, or butter and honey, or margarine and peanut butter, or margarine and Vegemite on it. People like different things, but maybe everyone has the same experience when they drop their toast on the floor. The toast always lands upside down! It always lands jam side down!

Patricia @ I Talk You Talk Press

[Short Story]Listen to your Heart

animal dog puppy pug

Photo by Torsten Dettlaff on Pexels.com

Sandy is very worried. Sandy will graduate from high school. He can go to university. But Sandy has a problem. He wants to go to university, but he doesn’t know what he wants to study.

His high school has an advisor. He goes to talk to the advisor.

“I don’t know what to study at university,” he says.

The advisor asks, “What do you like? Do you like math, or science, or languages or reading books?”

Sandy says, “I like math, science, languages, and reading books. I like everything. I have good grades for everything.”

The advisor laughs. “You are lucky,” she says. “You can study anything.”

Sandy is angry. “But I have to choose one thing! I don’t know what to choose!”

The advisor says, “Listen to your heart. University costs a lot of money. University study is difficult. You must work very hard. You will only be happy at university if you study something you love. What does your heart tell you to do?”

Sandy stands up. “My heart is not talking to me!” he shouts.

He walks out of the advisor’s office. He walks down to a park near the high school.

He sits on the grass in the park. I must decide what to study at university. Do I want to be a scientist? Do I want to teach English? Do I want to work for a finance company? I don’t know.

 Sandy sits in the park for a long time. He is tired, and he is worried. He falls asleep.

When Sandy wakes up, he feels something strange. There is something small and warm next to him. He looks down. A very small dog is on the ground next to him. The dog is very young. The dog is licking his fingers.

“Where is your mother?” Sandy asks the dog. “Where is your owner?  You are too young and too small to be in the park alone.”

Sandy thinks the little dog needs food and water. He picks the little dog up. He walks back to his family home. He gives the dog food and water.

The little dog is very thirsty and very hungry. When the dog finishes eating and drinking, it falls asleep. Sandy finds a blanket. He puts the blanket in the kitchen. He takes the little dog to the kitchen and puts it on the blanket. Sandy goes to his room and plays computer games. When his mother comes home, she comes to Sandy’s room and says, “There is a very small dog in the kitchen. Did you bring this dog to our house?”

Sandy is sleepy but he says. “I found the dog in the park. I wanted to take care of it.”

His mother laughs. “Oh, Sandy,” she says. “You are an animal lover. That’s OK. Your heart tells you to be kind to animals. You are tired, so please sleep. I will look after the little dog.”

Sandy thinks, My mother knows my heart. I love animals. I must study to be an animal doctor. My heart knows more than my head.

[Easy English Blog] Christmas presents for pets

adorable animal blur breed

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Do you have a pet? Do you buy it presents? In my family, we have always had dogs. We treat the dogs like members of the family. At Christmas, we give each other Christmas presents, so of course, we give our dogs Christmas presents too.

There are many kinds of Christmas presents for pets available. We usually buy toys or dog chews or treats for our dogs. We wrap them up in wrapping paper. The dogs love ripping the wrapping paper off the presents!

One dog we had was always very careful when he took the wrapping paper off his presents. It seemed like he knew there was something special inside, and didn’t want to damage it. He took a long time to unwrap his presents. Another dog we had ripped the paper off as fast as he could! He just wanted to get the present as quickly as possible!

I often buy presents in Japan for our dog. I’m sure she doesn’t understand the difference between and English present and a Japanese present, but I like to get her something different. I wonder what I can buy this year…

Heather @ I Talk You Talk Press

[Easy English Blog] 500 yen saving

person holding coin

Photo by maitree rimthong on Pexels.com

Every year, I save 500 yen coins. 500 yen is around $4 – $5 dollars. When I get a 500 yen coin in my change at a shop, I don’t spend it. I put it in a special case for 500 yen coins. I have been doing this every year for around five years. My goal is to fill the case. The case can hold 100 coins. Once, I managed to fill the case, but usually I can’t. I usually manage around half or a third.

I start in January and continue until I go home for Christmas. I used the money I have saved to buy travel insurance and my train fare to the airport. It is a big help, because I spend a lot of money at Christmas.

This year, I have filled just over half of the case. I didn’t reach my goal, but I’m happy anway. I will try harder next year!

Heather@ I Talk You Talk Press

[Easy English Blog] Flu jab

addiction aid bottle capsule

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Do you get a flu jab? A flu jab is an injection to protect against influenza. I started getting a flu jab around six years ago. The first year I had it, I felt very strange afterwards. I was really dizzy and I felt sick. I also had double vision!

From the second year, I have been fine. One thing I have noticed is that I catch fewer colds during the year. I used to catch around three or four colds a year. When I was a child, I caught around five or six colds a year.

Now, I only catch one cold a year, usually in autumn. Is this because of the flu jab, or because my body is changing as I get older? I don’t know, but I’m glad that I don’t get so many colds anymore.

I started to get a flu jab every year because I caught influenza seven years ago. I caught it over Christmas. It was really bad timing. I couldn’t enjoy Christmas with my family because I felt so ill. I never want to experience that again!

I had my flu jab for this year a week or so ago. It wasn’t so painful, but my arm was itchy for a few days after. I hope it protects me from colds and influenza this year too.

Heather @ I Talk You Talk Press

[Easy English Blog] News

administration articles bank black and white

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

How often do you read, watch or listen to the news? I read online newspapers every day. But I wonder if this is good or not. Of course, it is important to know what is happening in the world. We need to know about the situation in other countries and in our own countries. Many things happen which affect us directly or indirectly.

However, most news is negative. We rarely see happy news stories. How does reading, watching or listening to negative stories every day affect us? Does it make us more negative? Does it give us a one-sided perspective of the world? Many good things happen in the world every day, but we rarely hear about them in newspapers or on news sites.

I’m going to try and cut down on the amount of news I consume. Instead of checking the news sites a few times a day, I’m only going to check them once a day. I wonder if this will have an effect on my mood…

Heather @ I Talk You Talk Press

[Easy English Blog] Getting ready for winter

black and white cold fog forest

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Winter is coming quickly this year. I’m going to start preparing for it now. I have already bought some warm sweaters and warm socks. But the thing I am worried about is my car.

I need to change my car tires from normal tires so snow tires. I also need to buy a new spade to dig the snow. Lasy year, we had so much snow. It took a long time every morning to dig my car out of the snow. My spade is old, so I’m going to buy a new one. I have to buy one early  because they soon sell out. I’m also going to buy de-icer spray. I can spray this on my car windows to melt the ice.

I have snow boots. They are good for walking in the snow, but not so good for walking on ice. Last year I fell over walking down a small slope. The ground was hard and cold and I hurt myself! This year, I will try and avoid places like that, and stay on flat ground. I’m lucky in that I don’t have to go out very early in the mornings. A few years ago, I had to leave my house at 7:00am to get to work. So I had to start clearing snow at 6:00am. The roads were very slippery because it was still early in the morning. This winter, the earliest time I have to leave my house is 9:00am. This will give me more time to clear snow, and hopefully, the roads will be easier to drive on.

We had a very hot summer this year. I hope we have a mild winter.

Have you started preparing for winter?

Heather @ I Talk You Talk Press

[Easy English Blog] White lies

person s right three fingers

Photo by Oleg Magni on Pexels.com

Do you tell white lies? I think everyone does. A white lie is a small lie which we tell people so we don’t hurt their feelings.

For example, your friend gives you a birthday present. You open the present and you hate it. What do you say? Do you tell your friend you hate it? Or do you say “Thank you! It’s wonderful!” Many people will pretend they like the gift so their friend does not feel bad. That is a white lie.

Or, what do you say if your friend has a new haircut and you think it looks terrible? Do you tell your friend it looks terrible? Or do you say it looks nice?

I told a white lie not so long ago. My friend bought me a doll as a present. I don’t like dolls. Also, I don’t like having many things. But what could I say? My friend was really excited when she gave me the present. She said “I hope you like it!” When I opened the box I thought “Oh no! It’s a doll!” But I said, “Oh, a doll! It’s so pretty! Thank you!” Was I right to say this? Should I have told her the truth? If I had, maybe she would have been very disappointed. I didn’t want to hurt my friend’s feelings, so I told a white lie. Of course, I should be grateful that she bought me a present. It means she was thinking about me. I should accept it with gratitude.

Heather @ I Talk You Talk Press

[Easy English Blog] Fashion

woman leaning on brown stoned post

Photo by EVG photos on Pexels.com

Do you keep up with the latest fashion trends? Do you read fashion magazines?

Some of my friends and family do. They buy fashion magazines every month, and buy clothes that are “in fashion”. They are always looking for the next fashion trend and thinking about fashion for the next season.

I am not really interested in fashion, so maybe they find it difficult to talk to me about it. I buy clothes that I like, rather than clothes that are in fashion at the moment. I like folk-style clothes, with embroidery and colourful patterns. I also like wearing black.

For me, wearing something I like is more important than wearing something that is in fashion. I also prefer to be comfortable, so when I choose clothes, I always think about comfort.

When I worked in an office, I wore a suit every day. Now that I work alone, I can wear what I like. I usually work in casual and comfortable clothes, unless I am meeting a client. When I am meeting someone, I try to dress smartly.

This is enough for me. I don’t feel like I need to follow fashion trends. I feel comfortable wearing what I like.

Heather @ I Talk You Talk Press

[Easy English Blog]No autumn leaf viewing this year

nature red forest leaves

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Autumn is my favourite time of year. I love the colours of autumn and I try to go autumn leaf viewing every year.

Unfortunatley I didn’t have time to go this year. This is a shame, because the area where I live has so many beautiful autumn leaf viewing spots. There are many mountain temples in the area, and they are all so beautiful in autumn. One of my favourite temples in Kiyomizu-dera in Yasugi. (There is a famous temple in Kyoto with the same name.) It is in the mountains and has a pagoda. It is surrounded by trees which look beautiful in October and November.

I feel like this season passed by so quickly. I had some free time the other day, so I went for a run. The trees in the park are nearly bare. They only have a few leaves left. I guess I left it too late to visit temples this year. It is almost winter. Now I have to prepare for my trip back to the UK so I’m going to be very busy over the next few weeks. I will have no time to see the last of the autumn leaves. I hope to make more time to see them next year.

How about you? Did you go autumn leaf viewing this year? Where did you go?

Heather @ I Talk You Talk Press