In the summer heat, there’s nothing better than a cold drink to help cool you down. And if you’ve got a sweet tooth like me, that cold drink has a tendency to actually be ice cream!

I can’t only eat ice cream in the summer, though. I need more variety in my life. So, one summer treat that I occasionally indulge in instead is shaved ice. Usually, I pick up some shaved ice during festivals, but since they’ve been cancelled this year, I was hurting for some fruity ice. Luckily, I was introduced to a little shop by Ogaki Castle that sells it all season long. After a long, hot day, I was so excited to stop by and enjoy some melon shaved ice. It was lime green, icy cold, and super delicious. In the shade of the trees in Ogaki Castle’s courtyard, I found the perfect venue for enjoying my melon-flavored ice shavings. It was a nice afternoon. However, I knew I had a long, hot walk ahead of me, so what else was I to do but brace for the heat with yet more shaved ice? I had to make up for the lack of shaved ice earlier in the summer, after all. So I got some lemon shaved ice, as well, to enjoy before the long, sunny, humid, skin-melting walk home.

Stay cool, everybody!

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タイトルの英語は柔軟性という言葉です。

なんだかいい響きでこの単語が昔から好きです。

みなさんにもそんななぜだか好きな単語があったりしますか？

この言葉は体や物の柔軟性のことを表すときに使ったりしますが、

スケジュールの柔軟性を表すときなんかにも用いられます。

スポーツをする人にとって柔軟性は怪我をしにくい体づくりにかかせませんね。

英語を勉強する上でもこの柔軟性はとても重要です。

秋になってきましたね。

朝晩涼しいのがうれしいです。

最近また、パン作りを始めました。

昔近所のパン教室に通っていたころは、よく続けて作ったのですが

すっかり忘れていました。クロワッサンまで先生に習ったのに・・・

とりあえず、あんぱん、お総菜パン、レーズンやチョコ、ナッツの

入ったパンを思い出しながら焼いてみました。

手ごねでやってもオーブンの発酵機能を使うと以前より時間短縮で

出来、これなら時々焼いてみたいと思いました。

baguette（バゲット）

bagel（ベーグル）

croissant（クロワッサン）

melon bun（メロンパン）

Ann bread（アンパン）など

どれもおいしそうですね！！！

みんなはどんなパンが好きですか。

2020 has been a really strange year in a lot of ways.  It’s difficult to overlook all of the negative ways the world has been affected this year, but, while being mindful of it all, it is important to find some positives as well.  

Many sports leagues had to adjust their schedules for the safety of their employees, so the sports calendar has been very weird.  But it has worked out in a way that the leagues of all four major American sports – MLB (baseball), NHL (hockey), NBA (basketball), NFL (football) – are running at the same time!  The NHL and NBA are both primarily winter sports while MLB plays every summer.  The NFL runs from late summer through winter.  So in normal years, all five sports being played at the same time would never happen.  And on top of that, European soccer is already back up and running, so all of my five favorite sports are currently being played.  As an avid sports fan, this is like heaven!  Every day, there are so many games to watch.  It can actually be difficult to keep up, but it’s nice to constantly have something to watch and statistics to analyze.

人生で初めてできました。「ものもらい」が一般的な呼び名のようですが、岐阜県では「めんぼ」その他、「めいぼ」「めばちこ」など地域によって呼び名が違うようです。英語では何ていうのか調べてみると「sty」＝「スタイ」①豚小屋　②汚れた場所　③ものもらい

っていうことで、写真は「豚小屋」になっちゃいました。　I have a sty in my left eye.（左目にものもらいができちゃった。）