April Showers

When I was young, we remembered a rhyme: April showers, bring May flowers.

It was easy to remember because we often got rain showers in April and many beautiful flowers bloomed in May. Sometimes we also got a lot of rain in May, but there were always beautiful flower in May.

We always thought that early Spring was the rainy season, but different places  have different rainy seasons.

We also got a lot of rain in the late Fall. It always kept the air very clean and we had a lot of natural drinking water.

Do you have a rainy season?

Rainy Race

Sunday morning I was in a bike race at the Suzuka F-1 Circuit. We use the same course as the F-1 racing cars and the motorcycles. It is really fun to see thousands of bicycles on the racetrack.

All morning it was raining very hard because a typhoon was coming. If you get wet while riding it is easy to get too cold, so I wore a jacket. Sometimes when I race, I overheat. That was not a problem on Sunday.

The race course is 6.6 kilometers for one lap. My team rode 21 laps in 4 hours. That means we traveled 138.6 kilometers at an average speed of 34.6 kilometers per hour.

It felt great to get some exercise. Have you ever been in a bike race? Did you enjoy it?

Clean Air

Yesterday it rained a lot. Today it is still raining.

Some people complain about the rain. They say: it is cold; they will get wet; it is dark and depressing; they can’t go outside; and so on.

My feeling is different. I think: the air is being cleaned; the beautiful green trees are growing; the birds and frogs and animals can drink; fresh water is being stored in the mountains for our supply; and so on.

I think growing up in rainy Washington State affects my feeling. When I was a child, we often played in the rain.

Do you like the rain? Do you hate the rain?

Weather

This morning the sky was overcast. We often use the word overcast when there is an even layer of cloud across the whole sky. Sometimes when it is overcast, the cloud layer is very thin. When that happens, it is very bright like a sunny day. Today the layer was thick, so it was a little dark.

Around noon many large clouds formed. After that we had a downpour. We use the word downpour, when there is a heavy rain falling everywhere. It was a little scary driving on the highway because there was water on the road.

In the afternoon, the downpour stopped and we just had drizzle. We often use drizzle to describe a very light rain. In Seattle, most people don’t use an umbrella for drizzle. They don’t get very wet because the rain is so light.

What kind of weather did you have today? Tomorrow we are expecting rain again.

Fuel Efficiency

My car is a Honda Fit. One reason I purchased this car is it’s high fuel efficiency. Many people think that Kei cars are very efficient because they have small engines. The Fit actually gets better gas mileage than all of the Kei cars.

Recently, I was thinking about how to get better efficiency. I noticed that driving just a little slower on the expressway increased the efficiency a lot.

Today I drove home on the expressway and got very good gas mileage. I think I will drive slower now.

What kind of car do you drive? Do you think about fuel efficiency?

Beautiful Weather

Recently the weather has been getting warmer. Many days were warm, but got cold at night. Soon it will be too hot during the day.

Today it was sunny and warm all day long. Tonight it is cool, but not cold. I think this maybe the best weather of the year.

When I was driving today, I had the windows open. It felt very good to have the warm wind in my hair.

How is the weather where you are? What time of year has the best weather?

Either Hot or Cold

Everyday we need to drink lots of fluid. Our bodies are mostly water. If we don’t get enough to drink, our bodies don’t function well.

In Japan many people drink tea. I like tea, so I often drink tea. Every morning, my wife makes a thermos of tea for me.

During the winter she fills my thermos with hot tea. During the summer she fills it with cold tea. The weather is getting hot now. This month she started putting cold tea in my thermos.

Do you prefer hot tea or cold tea?

Safe Country

My wife went to Starbuck’s today. When she got home, she didn’t have her purse. She realized she left her purse at the store.

There was a lot of money in the purse. Also, there were important documents in the purse. She went back to the shop to get the bag. The bag was still there and everything was still inside.

She felt very relieved.

In Japan it seems normal for items to be safe, even if they are left behind.

Have you ever forgotten something valuable? Did you find it?

Strange Schedule

Often I can take vacation during Golden Week, but this year I can’t. Friday, April 29th was a holiday. Tuesday, May 3rd through Thursday, May 5th are holidays, too.

On Monday, May 2nd and Friday, May 6th I have to teach many classes. This makes a strange schedule: 3 days off, work 1 day, 3 days off, work 1 day, 2 days off, and back to normal.

Do you work during Golden Week?