"The Lonely Trail" Frogs and Toads

It was getting late as the sun aimed for the sea in the west. The weekend was quickly coming to a close. I suddenly had the urge to escape to one of my favorite places - a hidden canyon whose trails knew me well - a place I felt I could walk blindfolded and still see.

Only two hours remained before stars awoke to gaze down on a nocturnal world. Soon after I had left my car and was upon the trail - I started to sense something strange - something odd. Perhaps I should be saying - I sensed my lack of senses.

Here I was - late in the day - at a time when all nature opens her lungs and fills the air with life, with song, whether it be the beautiful whistle of a bird, or the chirp of a cricket - it is the song of nature.

My mind swirled with the thoughts of the day gone by and it was this day that led me to this escape - this canyon whose trails knew me well.

I looked high into the sycamores' crowns - its branches cradling a sleepy sky - but where were the birds - their songs, their chatter. A voice within me suddenly stopped me to say, "Listen, it's a Wren Tit." "No," I said. "It can't be. That's a Towhee no doubt." For that moment I could hear.

But soon I started to look inward again - thinking over the day's events. The day was in a large way, a sad day, but in another way - it was a day of beginning. A day of strengthening bonds. The canyon sounds were drowned out as tears fought their way out of eyes and into the the cool air - now rushing down the hillsides to greet me at the canyon bottom. I actually felt this coolness, but something too was missing here. These early evening breezes always greet the traveler with a potpourri of scents - smells of drying spring and summer grasses, of hillside fennel, of creekside willows and mulefat. it is the smell of nature which always pleases me and surprises me at my ability to smell so many scents.

I noted in my journal at the send of my hike how I missed the feel of the soft earth under my boots and the color of the sunset. My emotions were too wound up to allow my senses to come alive.

On the trail, let go and let nature sink in.

Pink Skink

THE PINK SKINK

By Philip Schanberger

Narrated by Carol Corone

All rights reserved. © ApplePieBrasil

I once had a pet skink whose color was pink.

Now that’s quite unusual, wouldn’t you think?

He had a long tail that was bit by a mink,

so he dragged it around, complete with a kink.

Two Wings, A Couple Prayers and Some Sleepless Nights to Paradise

It's been a long strange journey - someone once wrote or perhaps sang. But the phrase kept coming back to me everytime I put my head down somewhere to sleep. Ever since we pulled out of Gilbert, Arizona on our trek to Southern California, something new popped into the picture trying its best to rattle the nerves of a tired troop of folks embarking on a serious move in life.

We rolled out of Gilbert late in the morning, way past the original plan of 4am. It was fortunate for two young boys that procrastination was a very large part of our follies - especially that Saturday morning. As I closed the car door and reached for the keys, one of Thiago's best friends raced into the driveway on his bike. Thiago lowered his window screaming, "Rylan, Rylan."

After some discussion back and forth on the plans for the trip, a goodby was tossed back and forth, while I studied Junia's eyes. A pool of tears had formed in each eye and I knew where her thoughts were. Rylan was one of Thiago's dearest friends and the reality was that they would soon be separated by thousands of miles.

We drove west under a warming sun. Already into triple digits, I was anxious to see and feel the coastal paradise of San Diego. We finally arived in San Diego close to sunset.

A call to 411 for the hotel address yielded a strange destination. We located the address after circling several blocks of one-way streets and looked at each other as we pulled into the parking lot of a shoddy looking hotel. At the very least, it would mean a hot shower and a bed to all cram into, but something kept telling me that we were not supposed to be at the Harbor View Inn. A small child peered out from a top story window and I kidded the little ones that she was a ghost that haunted the hotel. Junia walked down to the check in desk fronting a busy downtown street. Lucas raced past her and into the street as we all screamed for him to stop. Inside the smalled crammed lobby I was startled to see the little ghost girl waiting. I wondered how could she be in the lobby so fast. After quizzing the receptionist, Junia determined that we were in the wrong place.

In the parking lot I phoned at least three Holiday Inns with each one responding that they did not have our name on the reservation list. Finally, one hotelgave me a central number to call. Bingo, we confirmed that we had reservations at one of the hotels that I had previously called.

We drove into the Holiday Inn Harbor View around sunset. Gathering two baggage carts, we loaded up all ten bags and additional backpacksa and carry ons. I thought about my family's trips across the US and how good it was to hit the bed each night we stopped after hours of driving. I recalled that the hotels were Holiday Inns or Howard Johnsons.

WHEN SHE WATCHED THE SKY RAIN GOLD

By Daddy

Kaydon with baby Lucas

November 19, 1995 – To Our Daughter Kaydon

At just over one month of age – she was ready for her first mountain trek. It was to be her second hike already in this young life of hers and she was proving to us that she welcomed an unpaved world.

On this November morning – when sleep is as valuable as the rising stocks of this Saturday morning’s business page – we three decided to venture – beyond the world of pillows and warm sheets – to a world - a young girl had never seen.

We packed up the wagon with a supply of baby essentials – milk, diapers, extra clothes, and plenty of adventurism.

We arrived just past midday at our destination – William Heise Regional Park near Julian, California. We were prepared for a typical cool autumn day with heavy shirts and sweaters, but we were rather – greeted by a typical Santa Ana – minus the winds – day.

Kaydon, after a quick change of clothes, was ready to hit the trail. This day would take her higher than she had ever been in her young life. Her bluing eyes – wide as the heavens above – gathered in like a vacuum, this peaceful world that greeted us.

With some anxiety stirring within me, we decided to set forth on a trail that we had never hiked. Maps to me appear as lines drawn on an artist’s desk – lines that exist for a moment, but disappear when paper is folded. Although essential for safety, they often publish trails too busy with foot traffic.

It is soon evident after fifteen minutes that once again the lines have disappeared and we find ourselves smiling and saying, “Where ever we go – it’s still a beautiful day.”

The trail starts out rather steep and Kaydon chooses to nap as Lisa carries her just behind me. Now and then, as the sun gently shines upon her rosy cheeks, she sneaks a peek and cracks an ever so slight smile. It is, though, a smile, a sign that her heart is awash in love, with a mother’s heart beat against her tiny body and a soft mountain breeze to caress her. It is the purest of smiles.

As the wind slows – this mountain world comes to almost a complete stop. Quiet reigns, but for a moment, broken only occasionally by the flutter of a scrub jay’s wings or some other bird – until the soft wind returns.

Today the wind is a welcomed friend – its coolness – chasing the heat from our necks and drying the dampness on our brows. But aside from its cooling benefits, it brings with it a bit of magic so evident on this autumn day.

As the trail winds down the mountainside, we find ourselves walking beneath a canopy of Black and Canyon Live Oaks. The contrast of the Black Oaks’ yellowing leaves and black branches against a mountain sky so blue is so pleasing to the eye. It is here – while stopped to admire its riches, that a young girl’s sleepy eyes crack open. Perhaps her young ears detect a yawning earth – as a breeze soon begins to comb through the tree tops. What happens next – is one of the reasons this place pulls me back.

Tugged loose from their slumbering branches – dozens upon dozens of black oak leaves yellowed by an autumn clime – float down from above in a golden shower, to the waiting earth.

No longer showing sleepy eyes, Kaydon looks up at the falling gold – with pure amazement filling her eyes – an ever so slight a smile breaks out again. On this autumn day it is the purest of smiles.  At that moment I too feel my heart awash in love convinced by the site of a little girl who watched the sky rain gold.

I love you Kaydon.

The Differences Between English and Portuguese

The differences between English and Portuguese Introduction:

Portuguese is a Romance language and part of the Indo-European language family. It is closely related to Spanish. It is spoken by about 180 million people world-wide, principally in Brazil and Portugal. The Portuguese spoken in Europe (EP) and the Portuguese spoken in Brazil (BP) are further apart in terms of pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary than the English spoken in England and the English spoken in the USA.

Alphabet: The Portuguese alphabet consists of 23 letters (lacking the K, W and Y of the English alphabet), plus 11 letters with diacritics such as the Ç. Punctuation corresponds largely to that in English. The English writing system, therefore, presents little difficulty to Portuguese learners. (But see below for problems with spelling.)

Phonology: Brazilian Portuguese is a syllable-timed language, in contrast to English. This can result in learners having serious difficulty reproducing the appropriate intonation patterns of spoken English. This is less of a problem for EP speakers, whose Portuguese variety is stress-timed like English. Portuguese contains about 9 vowel sounds (plus 6 diphthongs) and 19 consonant sounds. This is fewer than English, and there are fewer consonant clusters. These differences can result in the following pronunciation issues:
 • failure to distinguish minimal pairs such as rich/reach, pack/puck orhead/had
 • inaudibility of unstressed vowels at the end of a word, e.g., part (for party)
 • problems with diphthongs such as in hear/hair
 • the inclusion of vowel sounds before, between or following consonants, e.g., estrap (for strap) or monthes (for months)
 • nasalization of the final /m/ or /n/, so ran, for example, becomes rang
 • the expected problems with words such as then, think or breathe
 • failure to discriminate between words such as pig/big or gale/kale
 • substitution of ear for hear or high for I.

These are only some of the pronunciation issues, but they give a good idea of the serious difficulties facing ESL students who want to sound like English native speakers. And they explain why even some very proficient Portuguese speakers of English never lose their accent.

Grammar - Verb/Tense: Much of the English verb system will be familiar to Portuguese learners since the same features exist in their own language. However, some significant differences exist, which may lead to mistakes of negative transfer.

For example, interrogatives in Portuguese are conveyed by intonation. This results in questionable English such as You like me? or He came to school yesterday? The use of the double negative in Portuguese leads to such errors as I don't know nothing.

Tense choice is a significant problem for most learners of English. It is clear that advanced students will struggle, for example, to choose the correct tense to talk about the future or to choose between the present perfect simple and the present perfect continuous. At a less advanced level the main area of difficulty lies in the choice of the appropriate present tense. Mistakes in this area include: He has a bath .. (= he's having a bath ..) / She is knowing .. (she knows ..) / It is ages since I don't play tennis .. (=It's ages since I have played tennis. Beginners also make errors in using modal verbs. Sentences such as I must to go now are common.

Grammar - Other: Portuguese word order is a little more flexible than that of English; and there are variations between the two languages in the placement of adjectives, adverbials or pronouns and in the syntax of sentences containing indirect speech. However, basic Portuguese sentence structure is similar to that of English so learners have no especial difficulty expressing their ideas comprehensibly. Following are some further grammar differences that may result in interference mistakes.

Firstly, English prepositions are difficult for Portuguese learners since their own language has far fewer, and there is no simple correspondence between those that do exist and their English equivalents.

Secondly, there is a single possessive pronoun for his/herwhich agrees in gender with the item 'possessed'. This can lead to ambiguity in sentences such as: She's having lunch with his brother (= her brother). Personal pronouns, especially direct object pronouns, are often omitted in Portuguese, which gives rise to mistakes such as I told (=I told him).

Thirdly, there is only only question tag in Portuguese, in contrast to English which has several different ones depending on the tense and form of the opening words. Errors such as She's coming tomorrow, isn't it? are the result.

Vocabulary: Because of shared Latin roots there are many English/Portuguese cognates, which can facilitate the acquisition of a strong academic vocabulary. (There is less overlap in everyday vocabulary of the two languages.) A corollary of cognates, of course, is the presence of false friends. Here are just a few of the many that wait to trap the Portuguese learner of English: parents <> parentes (=relatives) / familiar <> familiar (=respectable) / local <> local (= place).

Miscellaneous: A spelling reform in Portugal in 1911 made Portuguese spelling much more phonetic in order to help raise standards of literacy in the country. As with all learners whose native language is phonetic, Portuguese ESL students have significant problems spelling English words that they encounter first in spoken language and pronouncing words that they encounter first in written language.

© Copyright Paul Shoebottom 1996-2012 http://esl.fis.edu

Gerunds - Figuring them out.

I commonly see errors with the use of Gerunds or Infinitives. It's natural to confuse these two interesting components of the English language.

Gerunds
Summary: This handout provides a detailed overview (including descriptions and examples) of gerunds, participles, and infinitives.
Contributors:Purdue OWL
Last Edited: 2011-12-09 01:47:54
A gerund is a verbal that ends in -ing and functions as a noun. The term verbal indicates that a gerund, like the other two kinds of verbals, is based on a verb and therefore expresses action or a state of being. However, since a gerund functions as a noun, it occupies some positions in a sentence that a noun ordinarily would, for example: subject, direct object, subject complement, and object of preposition.
Gerund as subject:
• Traveling might satisfy your desire for new experiences. (Traveling is the gerund.)
• The study abroad program might satisfy your desire for new experiences. (The gerund has been removed.)
Gerund as direct object:
• They do not appreciate my singing. (The gerund is singing.)
• They do not appreciate my assistance. (The gerund has been removed)
Gerund as subject complement:
• My cat's favorite activity is sleeping. (The gerund is sleeping.)
• My cat's favorite food is salmon. (The gerund has been removed.)
Gerund as object of preposition:
• The police arrested him for speeding. (The gerund is speeding.)
• The police arrested him for criminal activity. (The gerund has been removed.)
A gerund phrase is a group of words consisting of a gerund and the modifier(s) and/or (pro)noun(s) or noun phrase(s) that function as the direct object(s), indirect object(s), or complement(s) of the action or state expressed in the gerund, such as:
The gerund phrase functions as the subject of the sentence.
Finding a needle in a haystack would be easier than what we're trying to do.
Finding (gerund)
a needle (direct object of action expressed in gerund)
in a haystack (prepositional phrase as adverb)
The gerund phrase functions as the direct object of the verb appreciate.
I hope that you appreciate my offering you this opportunity.
my (possessive pronoun adjective form, modifying the gerund)
offering (gerund)
you (indirect object of action expressed in gerund)
this opportunity (direct object of action expressed in gerund)
The gerund phrase functions as the subject complement.
Tom's favorite tactic has been jabbering away to his constituents.
jabbering away to (gerund)
his constituents (direct object of action expressed in gerund)
The gerund phrase functions as the object of the preposition for.
You might get in trouble for faking an illness to avoid work.
faking (gerund)
an illness (direct object of action expressed in gerund)
to avoid work (infinitive phrase as adverb)
The gerund phrase functions as the subject of the sentence.
Being the boss made Jeff feel uneasy.
Being (gerund)
the boss (subject complement for Jeff, via state of being expressed in gerund)
Punctuation
A gerund virtually never requires any punctuation with it.
Points to remember:
1. A gerund is a verbal ending in -ing that is used as a noun.
2. A gerund phrase consists of a gerund plus modifier(s), object(s), and/or complement(s).
3. Gerunds and gerund phrases virtually never require punctuation.

American Football Basics and New English Vocabulary

AMERICAN FOOTBALL – It’s hard to watch the bouncing pigskin (ball) and it’s hard to understand any sport when first introduced to one.
I thought that this would be a good time to introduce some American culture to my friends in Brazil. After all, they have been kind enough to teach me so much about this country’s beautiful culture, whether it be sports, food, drink, or the wonderful people in this diverse land.

With the National Football League’s season winding down to the final four games of the season (Championship Round: National and American), Pro Bowl and the Superbowl), I got the idea of posting some general and not so general notes on my blog about football. First, a little history:

HISTORY: History of Football
American football was started in 1879 with rules instituted by Walter Camp.
By Mary Bellis, About.com Guide

The Pigskin aka Playing Ball
Derived from the English game of rugby, American football was started in 1879 with rules instituted by Walter Camp, player and coach at Yale University.
Walter Camp
Walter Camp was born April 17, 1859, in New Haven, Connecticut. He attended Yale from 1876 to 1882, where he studied medicine and business. Walter Camp was an author, athletic director, chairman of the board of the New Haven Clock Company, and director of the Peck Brothers Company. He was general athletic director and head advisory football coach at Yale University from 1888-1914, and chairman of the Yale football committee from 1888-1912. Camp played football at Yale and helped evolve the rules of the game away from Rugby and Soccer rules into the rules of American Football as we know them today.
One precursor to Walter Camp's influence was William Ebb Ellis, a student at the Rugby School in England. In 1823, Ellis was the first person noted for picking up the ball during the soccer game and running with it, thereby breaking and changing the rules. In 1876, at the Massosoit convention, the first attempts at writing down the rules of American football were made. Walter Camp edited every American Football rulebook until his death in 1925.
Walter Camp contributed the following changes from Rugby and Soccer to American football:

• one side retained undisputed possession of the ball, until that side gives up
the ball as a result of its own violations
• the line of scrimmage
• 11 on a team instead of 15
• created the quarter-back and center positions
• forward pass
• standardized the scoring system, numerical scoring
• created the safety, interference, penalties, and the neutral zone
• tackling as low as the knee was permitted - 1888
• a touchdown increased in value to six points and field goals went down to
three points - 1912

The NFL or the National Football League, was formed in 1920.
POSITIONS:



SIMPLE ENGLISH IN AMERICAN FOOTBALL: Make sure you checkout the video and English vocabulary lesson at the website below. It will teach you a little more about the game involving not a ball, but a pigskin. Enjoy!

http://funeasyenglish.com/classroom-free-online-english-language-lesson-january-30.htm

TERMINOLOGY: (taken from Dummies.com and written by Howie Long and John Czarnecki);
Football fans have their own language when they talk about the game. To keep up, it’s useful to know what terms like down, extra point, safety, and snap mean.

• Down: A period of action that starts when the ball is put into play and ends when the ball is ruled dead (meaning that the play is completed). The offense gets four downs to advance the ball 10 yards. If it fails to do so, it must surrender the ball to the opponent, usually by punting on the fourth down.

• End zone: A 10-yard-long area at both ends of the field — the promised land for a football player. You score a touchdown when you enter the end zone in control of the football. If you’re tackled in your own end zone while in possession of the football, the other team gets a safety.

• Extra point: A kick, worth one point, that’s typically attempted after every touchdown (it’s also known as the point after touchdown, or PAT). The ball is placed on either the 2-yard line (NFL) or the 3-yard line (college and high school) and generally is kicked from inside the 10-yard line after being snapped to the holder. It must sail between the uprights and above the crossbar of the goalpost to be considered good.

• Field goal: A kick, worth three points, that can be attempted from anywhere on the field but usually is attempted within 40 yards of the goalpost. Like an extra point, a kick must sail above the crossbar and between the uprights of the goalpost to be ruled good.

• Fumble: The act of losing possession of the ball while running with it or being tackled. Members of the offense and defense can recover a fumble. If the defense recovers the fumble, the fumble is called a turnover.

• Hash marks: The lines on the center of the field that signify 1 yard on the field. Before every play, the ball is spotted between the hash marks or on the hash marks, depending on where the ball carrier was tackled on the preceding play.

• Interception: A pass that’s caught by a defensive player, ending the offense’s possession of the ball.

• Kickoff: A free kick (the receiving team can’t make an attempt to block it) that puts the ball into play. A kickoff is used at the start of the first and third periods and after every touchdown and successful field goal.

• Punt: A kick made when a player drops the ball and kicks it while it falls toward his foot. A punt is usually made on a fourth down when the offense must surrender possession of the ball to the defense because it couldn’t advance 10 yards.

• Return: The act of receiving a kick or punt and running toward the opponent’s goal line with the intent of scoring or gaining significant yardage.

• Sack: When a defensive player tackles the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage for a loss of yardage.

• Safety: A score, worth two points, that the defense earns by tackling an offensive player in possession of the ball in his own end zone.

• Snap: The action in which the ball is hiked (tossed between the legs) by the center to the quarterback, to the holder on a kick attempt, or to the punter. When the snap occurs, the ball is officially in play and action begins.

• Touchdown: A score, worth six points, that occurs when a player in possession of the ball crosses the plane of the opponent’s goal line, or when a player catches the ball while in the opponent’s end zone, or when a defensive player recovers a loose ball in the opponent’s end zone.


NOTE: I'll be posting more about this sport in the coming days and weeks. I hope at the very least, you learn some basics and some new English.