英语播客 A Cup of English A house for the birds.

Before I start this podcast, I'd like to let you know that I have corrected a mistake I made on yesterday's podcast about cherry blossoms in Japan. The photo I included was actually of dog wood blossoms. I didn't realise at the time, but I have corrected the photo and uploaded one of cherry blossoms.

Today's podcast is about a very special bird house that was presented to me the other day by my husband and son. The day that we came back from our recent trip to Seattle, I was busy unpacking and puttiing things away. The kids went off to their various bedrooms and started playing, and my husband disappeared for a while. I assumed that he was in the garage, tinkering with his bicycle. It's his hobby afterall, and he enjoys cleaning and preparing his bike for the next big ride. Some time had gone by when I realised (realized) that I hadn't seen my youngest son around the house. He is usually the loudest and busiest, so normally, I can tell exactly where he is. Suddenly, I hear him stomping through the garage with his cowboy boots on, running upstairs, rummaging noisily around in his room, and running back downstairs. I met him as he was zooming around the corner to head outside again, "What are you up to, monkey?" I asked. "I'm building a birds house with dad," he replied, showing me his armful of kids tools that he had gathered from his room. I only had time to say, "Oh," and he had already disappeared. About half an hour later, my husband walks in carrying a bird house made of thin branches. It was very well made. Most of the branches had been cut to the same size, so it looked very even and balanced. There was a little, square hole in the middle of the front, the entryway, and a perch just above it. "I can't believe you just whipped this thing up!" I said in amazement. "It's lovely!" "Robert made most of it," said my husband. Robert gave me a big smile; he was very proud of himself. "So, where shall we put it?" asked my husband. "In the front yard," I replied, "far away from the house; the birds are already very noisy early in the morning." For now, the house is still in the kitchen. I'm not in a hurry to have birds move into it. I think I'll keep it around as a reminder of my kids' creative skills.

Grammar notes.

Related vocabulary: to tinker, to stomp (stamp), to rummage, to zoom.

1. My father loves to tinker with old engines. You can always find him fiddling around with mechanical bits and pieces.

2. The child was really angry about having to share his toys, so he stomped (stamped) his feet and frowned.

3. When you go to a yard sale, you will have to rummage around in all the clothes to find something you like.

4. The motorbike zoomed right past the police car at ninety miles per hour.