mes amis

I am working on a project about a park that I visited in Japan during a recent exchange program. I need to know the meaning of "ふるさとのこみち". That's how this area of the park was labeled on the sign; no kanji was used. The area in question is basically a boardwalk through a marsh, with a pseudo-historical house or mill in the middle.

( Photos )

What does ふるさとのこみち mean in this context? こみち on its own means path or lane, and ふるさと is hometown or historic village, but I'm having trouble putting them together.

http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/weekly/~3/151487507/nameless_hurricane_that_much_more

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/nameless_hurricane_that_much_more?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

MIAMI—Thousands have already fled the popularly dubbed "Hurricane That Shall Not Be Named," to escape its destructive winds and chilling impersonality.

http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/weekly/~3/203843584/bush_acknowledges_existence_of

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/bush_acknowledges_existence_of?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

"We can no longer ignore the facts — carbon dioxide is real," Bush said.

http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/weekly/~3/326345377/28501

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28501?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

WASHINGTON, DC–According to a World Wildlife Fund study released Monday, stuffed-animal biodiversity is rapidly rising, with the number of species available in plush form up nearly 800 percent since 1990.

http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/weekly/~3/326345378/33062

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33062?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

WASHINGTON, DC—Days after unveiling new power-plant pollution regulations that rely on an industry-favored market-trading approach to cutting mercury emissions, EPA Acting Administrator Stephen Johnson announced that the agency will remove the "E" and "P" from its name. "We're not really 'environmental' anymore, and we certainly aren't 'protecting' anything," Johnson said. "'The Agency' is a name that reflects our current agenda and encapsulates our new function as a government-funded body devoted to handling documents, scheduling meetings, and fielding phone calls." The change comes on the heels of the Department of Health and Human Services' January decision to shorten its name to the Department of Services.

http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/weekly/~3/326345379/31731

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/31731?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

COLLEGE STATION, TX–Texas A&M sophomore Bryan Datillo was jolted from a light sleep during a Botany 101 lecture Monday, when his professor, discussing the various methods by which experimental hybrid crops are developed, uttered the word "hydroponics." "I was kind of dozing off, but then I heard Professor Guyer say 'hydroponics,'" Datillo said. "I was like, 'Whoa! Now we're finally getting somewhere.' Unfortunately, he just said some boring shit about tomatoes, so I went back to sleep."

http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/weekly/~3/326345380/temperature_of_coffee

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/temperature_of_coffee?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

WASHINGTON, DC—A report released by the Union of Concerned Dietitians stated that not only will the temperature of coffee increase by nearly...

http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/weekly/~3/326345381/arizona_burned_to_stop

http://www.theonion.com/content/radio_news/arizona_burned_to_stop?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

Onion Radio News - with Doyle Redland

http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/weekly/~3/326345382/46207

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/46207?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

A recent survey indicated that bald eagles would soon be taken off the endangered-species list. What do you think?

http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/weekly/~3/326345391/51375

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/51375?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

If you had asked me three years ago if I was ever going to have a gardener, I probably would have thought you were out of your tree. Sure, I loved...

http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/weekly/~3/326345393/i_refuse_to_let_some_beached

http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/i_refuse_to_let_some_beached?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

Joshua! Kylie! Help your father and me unload the minivan. You can take care of the lighter things, like the mini-cooler and the badminton net. Daddy will carry the poles. Take your beach towels, too, and don't forget that Ziploc bag with the sunscreen. I don't want you kids getting sunburns. They say the worst skin damage occurs when you're young. Joshua? Kylie? Why are you still in the van? You haven't even unbuckled your seatbelts. Let's go!

Good times tiramasu and dinner too.

Girls using boku. I thought I remember reading in every book on Japanese that boku is for boys or is boyish, but it seems even the girliest of girls will use it. Do they use it to make a statement or something? Like some kind of feminist thing?  I hear Ayumi Hamasaki use it constantly in her music, and many other female artists as well. And Ayu does have a number of feminist/girl power songs (my name's WOMEN, Real Me), so that's why I'm wondering if her using it has something to do with that.

And another thing, if it's this widely used, why do even the most recent books say it is used by boys?

Other Fish in the Sea - Jeff Faerber

The Golden Boy (named Socrates)



The Wicked Maid (called Ferreira Leite)



and that's why Portugal makes me wanna

organizing get-togethers makes me anxious. everyone will ask me what to bring, and i always tell them to bring whatever they'd like. i'm not the type to fork over a grocery list of things i need you to bring to some shindig i'm planning. but at the same time, i feel totally responsible if we end up short on plastic cups. or if there's a really weak turnout. come to think of it, i'd probably end up feeling guilty or responsible for unpleasant weather conditions.

'but traci, you have no control over the weather.'

'i know, i know... BUT STILL!'

fuck. i need to learn how to just relax. we're having a picnic at delores park tomorrow afternoon. there should be anywhere from... i'd say ten to thirty people. it's hard to plan when you have such an indefinite guest count.

it's important that i never, ever miss the fireworks display. when i was little, my cousin and i would call the fireworks the 'oooohs and ahhs' because that's what people coo as they stare up at the colourful explosions.



this is kimberly and i on the fourth of july two years ago. we look so young, but it was really only two years ago. we ate cheese and drank wine by the ocean and watched the fireworks. then we came back to the house i was staying in at the time and we had out first sleepover. aww.

So after two years, my favorite pair on sunglasses broke.

The problem is sunglasses of a similar style and brand (RayBan) are ridiculous. €120 when I paid only $100 in the States.

So, I'm hoping some of you may be able to point me to reputable online German retailers where the prices may be cheaper. Doesn't have to be specifically for sunglasses.

Danke im voraus!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFKMDauqQFU

Alan Sues (b. 1926)

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0837297/

Memories of Lost Cosmonauts

In a small russian village,
on the outskirts of vladivostock,
an old woman stares at the night sky
thinking
wow, there's a lot of junk in space
though she can only see the slowly fading stars
she knows that the sky is littered with
dead satellites
castaway bolts from a thousand spaceships
and somewhere
two skeletons in a capsule
holding eachother tightly
circling the globe perpetually
waiting to fall into the atmosphere
and burn dust to dust

She was there at the launch
clandestinely
she had known the girl in college
and had lusted after and slept with the boy
one dark and quiet winter's night
however, now she stood anonymously
almost a mile away, after bribing the guard
nobody was supposed to know about this launch
the sky had become a funeral pyre for many a cosmonaut
all forgotten,
though their parents, friends and lovers still wept
and as she watched the rocket launching,
and then disappearing,
she turned away and went home to listen to the radio

Hours she waited
Two days then slowly passed
but no word
the secret police showed up on her doorstep
confiscating and burning the small keepsakes she had
love letters, jewelry, that empty tin of caviar
they all shared, laughing,
on the night the power went out
now there was nothing left
but her memories
and memories fade

Every night she still stands there
looking at the stars
hoping for new constellations
but none appear
because nobody, not even space itself
remembers the lost cosmonauts

Do any of your languages, native, fluent, passing knowlege have a word for the sensation that happens when you think you are going to get one taste, and you get another? For example, in Chile (where I live), popcorn is generally eaten sweetened. Not sweet-and-salty, just sweet. In my native US, it's usually salty. The first time I ate popcorn in Chile I was totally unprepared, took a bite and got this sensation, this... something- is-wrong feeling. It's not disgust, because I don't mind sweet popcorn. But it's this weird sensation, and this period of confusion and then adjustment.

Got anything? Thanks. Also any neologisms in any language might be fun to work on.