Sometimes Missy Elliot is a Sulky Elliot. Okay, I say sometimes. Often. Every day, basically. She’s very deprived, as we all know. We will play fetch literally until she can no longer stand, and she just collapses on the ground. But then five minutes later, she’ll finally manage to stand again, and she’ll start haranguing you to play tug o’ war, even though she’s still panting so much that she can’t even hold the hedgehog in her mouth. And you’ll say, “No, Missy. Drink some water, Missy. Lay down and rest, Missy.” And she’ll give you this wounded look, like you’re actively torturing her.

She’s a literal puppy, and, boy, is she wont to use those puppy-dog eyes on you. And she absolutely gets away with it, too. Look at that adorable niecey baby!! Why is everyone so mean!? Sulky Elliot only wants all the fetch and all the tug o’ war and all the popcorn and all the belly rubs, and she wants them all NOW!

She’s lucky she’s so cute!

みなさん、こんにちは。

１０月がやってきて、いよいよ秋の訪れを感じる季節になって参りましたね。

この季節がとくに好きな人も多いのではないでしょうか？

旧暦で言うと10月は神無月ですね。この月に全国の神様が出雲大社に集まり、各地を留守にするためそう呼ばれるらしいですね。

今週末はいよいよ今年度の二回目の英検一次試験ですね。受験するみなさん、神頼みはもしかしたら今回は効き目がないかもしれませんが、自分を信じで頑張ってくださいね！

写真は、我が家の窓にへばりついていた小さなモリアオガエルです。あなたは爬虫類、好きですか？苦手ですか？

英語名は、Forest Green Tree Frogと言われるそうです。

今日から消費税があがりますね。

9月には、駆け込みで買い物をした人も多いのでは。

友人曰く、ショッピングセンターでの買い物かごの

中を見ていたら、豆ばかり買い込む人、シャンプーを

いくつも買う人、缶コーヒーの山の人。

なるほど、その人にとって大切なものなんですね。

温かい気持ちになります。

私は、新幹線のチケットや、シャンプー、そして

ミシンを買いました。

英語で消費税は・・・

consumption tax/sales tax

軽減税率は・・・

reduced tax rate

というわけで、外国人に説明する時は

（消費税が2019年10月から10％に上がります。）

The consumption tax rate will increase to 10% from October1.2019.

（お店で食べる時は10％、持ち帰る時は８％）

The eat-in tax will be 10%,the take away tax will be 8%.

そして自分に言い聞かせるように

（衝動買いはやめないと）

I should stop impulse buying!

I really like Japanese food, but occasionally I get a craving for some heavy, hearty dishes from back home.  This weekend, I really wanted something very very American for dinner, so I decided to make a big, delicious chicken bowl.  One of my favorite things about big meals in the US is mixing everything together into one big pile of flavor – this is one reason that Thanksgiving dinner is my absolute favorite meal of the year.  I kept it comparatively simple when I made these chicken bowls, though.  

I guess it’s sort of like a ‘donburi’ in Japan, except instead of rice, the dish is served on a bed of mashed potatoes (yum!).  I cut and fried some chicken breasts and made mac n cheese, corn, and green beans.  But the most important thing about any kind of dish like this is the gravy.  I prepared a brown gravy and poured it all over the top of everything.  It was delicious!  The one downside of a lot of this kind of American food is that it is extremely heavy and you get full really quickly.  It’s not the healthiest thing to eat, but once in a while it’s good to just go a little crazy and eat some good American comfort food.