Otto's blog

Blue Beetle

12月

5日

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On the way to work this morning I noticed this old VW Beetle parked near our school, so I whipped out my smartphone & quickly took a photo.

Vocabulary:
whip 名詞: 鞭
whip 動詞: 鞭打ち / 泡立てる
whip out 動詞: さっと取り出す

Hobbies Podcast #3

11月

25日

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In this podcast, I talk about my hobby of gardening:

https://bohmeenglish.podbean.com/e/the-bohme-english-podcast-24-ottos-gardening-listening%e7%b7%b4%e7%bf%92%ef%bc%89/

This is a transcript:

Hello, everyone. In this podcast I`m going to tell you about another one of my hobbies – gardening. But not vegetables or flowers – a different kind of gardening. But before I tell you what it is, let me explain how it began.

So when I was growing up in Australia as a kid, I loved playing sports – tennis, swimming, cricket, and so on. Then when I was a teenager, I really got into football – or 'soccer' as it`s called in Australia, Japan & the US. I especially loved watching English Premier League football on TV – the teams` uniforms looked so colorful & cool, and the atmosphere in the stadiums, with all the chanting & singing, really impressed me. Another thing that caught my eye when I watched those games was the beautiful condition of the pitches – the grass was amazing. The pitches looked like big green carpets; completely different from the sort of football fields I was used to playing on in Australia, which were usually dry, hard & dusty - really terrible, not to mention painful if you enjoyed slide-tackles, which I did.

So anyway, inspired by that, I decided to try turning my house`s front yard into an English-style football pitch. It was in pretty poor condition when I started, but I watered it every day, pulled out weeds, and cut it whenever the grass grew an inch or so. And little by little it started to turn from brown to green, and the naked dirt patches became covered in nice, healthy grass. Finally, after a couple of years, it ended up looking pretty good.

So there you are – I like grass gardening! And in fact, even though I now live in Japan, I still do this hobby, but not in my house`s yard, which is pretty small. Instead, a few years ago, I decided to become a volunteer groundskeeper for a small park near my house. I go there about once a week to cut the grass, pull weeds & pick up trash. I`m sure some of the neighbors think it`s strange, but I don`t care – I enjoy it, and my kids play there, so it benefits them too. Also, little by little, I`m getting closer to achieving my ultimate goal & dream – to create a beautiful, grassy, English Premier League-style football field in my own neighborhood!

Trayful of Limes

11月

17日

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The limes on my lime tree were turning yellow, so before I left* for work today, I harvested them. As you can see in the photo on the left**, I got a trayful. I didn`t pick all of them, though. I left*** a few small ones on the tree - maybe they will grow a little more. I took the photo on the right a few weeks ago - fortunately this guy wasn`t in the tree today.

Vocabulary:
- * leave (= 出る) --> left [過去形]
- **left = 左
- *** leave (残す) --> left [過去形]

A Bagful of... What!?

11月

16日

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The Biwa beach that I visited was pretty empty - just a handful of people were there, walking their dogs, or sitting on benches. A couple were beachcombing, like me, but I don`t think they were collecting what I collected - walnuts & water chestnut seed pods*. I had an idea, so I gathered a bagful of them. What do you think I`m going to make? Hint: Next month is December. The answer is in comments.

* https://jp.bloguru.com/otto/341395/water-chestnut-seed-pods

Vocabulary:
- a bagful/boxful/mouthful of ___ = 袋/箱/口にいっぱいの＿＿
- a handful of ___ = a small number/amount of ___
- 'A Fistful of Dollars' (Movie name, in Japanese: 荒野の用心棒) = 拳固にいっぱいの金

Biwa Beachcombing

11月

15日

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On Saturday I took a daytrip to Biwa Lake. I went to Maibara Station by train, then rode my folding bike (折りたたみ自転車) down* to a beach near Hikone Castle, where I found a couple of small rubber balls, a lure, a float, & some lighters with a little gas left in them (I was going to use them to make a small fire to make coffee, but there was a convenience store across the road, so I just bought coffee there instead).

I didn`t ride far on Saturday, but when I packed up my bike & carried it up** the stairs at the station, my legs felt tired. I guess I walked a lot without realising it.

Vocabulary:
- 'down' = *南 or 下
- 'up' = 北 or **上

Mystery Mihama Mountain Mushrooms

10月

28日

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After camping one night in Wakasa-Wada, I packed up & went by train to Mihama, where there is a mountain that I hiked up several years ago. That time, I saw wild deer & wild boar (イノシシ), but this time, I only saw some wild... mushrooms. I don`t know much about mushrooms, so I can`t tell you what kind they are. Do you know?

Anyway, so I didn`t see any wildlife, but the view from the top of the mountain was nice. As you can see, the side facing the sea is very steep, so although I wanted to explore the beach, I didn`t want to climb down.

Vocabulary:
- HIKE UP a mountain: walking on a path, not using hands
- CLIMB a mountain: very steep, using hands, maybe special equipment e.g. carabiners, ropes, etc.
-　岐阜の金華山での「ハイキング」は『hike up』を使った方がいい

Rowboats to Rent? Or to Borrow...?

10月

28日

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In this picture of Wakamiya Beach you can see a row (列) of row (コグ) boats on the right. I guess you can rent them during the summer. But how about late autumn? I didn`t see anybody around to ask. Maybe I could just quietly borrow one for a little while and nobody would mind... Haha, but not this time. As you can see by the length of my shadow (影), it was getting late, so after taking this photo, I headed back to the campsite.

Vocabulary
- rent = 借りる (+ pay money)
- borrow = 借りる (free)
- Be careful: rental: 形容詞. rent/rented: 動詞

Still Violinin`

10月

27日

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At the other end of the beach where I camped, there`s a nice park with a unique view. I took this photo there, then I noticed a sound... someone was playing a violin... playing a violin badly... Haha - I think it was the same guy I heard when I came here last year: https://jp.bloguru.com/otto/posts/2019/11/15 I`m glad he hasn`t given up. It must be a hobby that he really likes. Or his music teacher is very strict (厳しい )?

Grammar
- ____の場所 = [place] where ___
- ____の人 = [person] who/that ___
- ____の物 = [thing] which/that ___
- ____の時 = [time] when/that ___

Wakasa-Wada Camping

10月

27日

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Last week I went camping in Fukui. I arrived in Wakasa-Wada around midday, set up my tent, then went beachcombing. My main target was fishing floats. As you can see, I managed to (= tried & could) find several, so I was satisfied. I was also pleased with the weather - mainly sunny, with some clouds. Another good point was that the campsite was almost empty - in Japan, people mainly camp in summer only.

Grammar:
- Be careful: 'main' is 形容詞, 'mainly' is 副詞, so 'My main purpose...' OK, but 'The mainly reason...' WRONG

Restored & Customized Mitsubishi Delica

10月

13日

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I saw this cool old Delica at Hashima Costco. I actually used to own a Delica like this (in Australia), but eventually it got rusty & needed a lot of repairs, which would have cost a lot of money to fix, so I got rid of it. When I saw this one at Costco, though, I thought, "Hmmm, maybe I should have kept mine & restored it..." I could have put a tyre on the front too... Why? Hey, why not!

Grammar:
- would have + 過去分詞 =　～だっただろう
- should have + 過去分詞 =　～をすればよかった
- could have + 過去分詞 =　～することができたのに