Category: Reading Practice

Intermediate to Advanced: Too much information! (but fun!) In 1800’s and 1900’s Europe and America, ghosts seemed to be everywhere. Everyone had seen one, talked to one, gotten a message from one–or knew someone who did. Even the Queen of England sent out invitations for “tea and table tipping”–a type of seance where ghosts supposedly…

Last week I was in my garden tending some plants when I heard whomp whomp whomp just over my head. I had bent down to inspect one of my plants and was looking at dirt instead of the sky. What was that? It reminded me of a day when I was a kid, hanging out in…

Intermediate to Advanced  (length, slang, US popular culture references)   It’s 3 a.m. Jake and I are lying awake in the old fold-out bed in the living room of our “transition” apartment, listening to the inevitable creaks and groans of too much humanity pressing against itself all around us. “I’m really starting to like this…

Intermediate to Advanced Level   Driving in southern California is a test of your stamina, reflexes, and intuitive understanding of the concept of flow. You are locked into several lanes of bumper to bumper traffic, all roaring along at speeds (if we’re honest) much faster than the 70 mile an hour speed limit. We’re all…

Cold weather’s here, and my living room doors won’t close properly. There’s a nice, crisp breeze blowing through the house. Ice is forming on the inside of my windows. And last week, we already had an early, light snow! Something’s got to give. So this holiday week, workers came to install new doors (ones that…