犬 Dog

ケビンのお友達家族が、めちゃ可愛いビーグルの子犬を買いました。ケビンもペットを欲しくてたまらないのですが、長期日本帰省する我が家はちょっとペットを飼うのは難しい。
Kevin's friend's family bought a beagle. He is SO cute. Kevin wants one as well, but it's difficult for us to keep any pets since we take long vacation to go Japan.
でも我が家には沢山可愛いあみ猫、編み犬、編みグマなどなどがいます。今日我が家のあたらしい一員になったワンちゃんです。
But we have many cute Ami-cat, dog, bear etc. This very cute little dog is the new member of our family just joined today.
お友達とツーショット。Nice couple photo with his friend.

鳥のえさ台 Bird feeder

以前パティオにかけてあった鳥の餌台を庭の角に移しました。そしたらまあ、鳥達が次から次と家族や仲間を連れてきて、あという間に餌がなくなってしまいました。時折戦いになっていることもあります。今日はなかなか良い写真が撮れましたよ。（写真をクリックしたら大きい写真が見れるかと。。）この鳥達、多分House Finch（メキシコマシコ）.の家族親戚達かと思います。
I moved the bird feeder from the gazebo to the corner of the yard. Then, more and more birds are coming with friends and family. The seeds were gone in a few days! At times, they get into fights. I got a good picture today. (Click on the photos, then you can see the bigger picture, I think..) Those birds are probably House Finch and its' relatives.

準備OK? Be prepared?

いや〜、本当にまたまた嫌な病気がはやっていますね。しかも私たちはメキシコに近い南カリフォルニアに住んでいるじゃあないですか。皆さんにはご心配をかけているかと思います。今のところテメキュラは大丈夫です。とか言いながら、私は土曜の夜から熱を出し、日曜日には熱が３９度を超え体中痛くてすぐに医者へ。のどの炎症ということで抗生物質飲んだら、月曜日には熱もすっかり下がって、今日は元気ですがちょっとビビりました。台湾駐在中の時のサーズの経験を思い出して。。。本当に嫌な気持ちです。一応、マスクも沢山。手洗いうがいをちゃんとしています。
Oh no, it's again another kind of terrible disease. And we are in S. California just next to Mexico. Thank you for your prayer and concern. We are okay for now in Temecula. Well, actually I started fever Sat. night and it got really high on Sunday. My body was aching and got scared a bit knowing what's going on here. So, I went to see a doctor right away and it was the bacterial infection in my throat. I took antibiotic on Sunday and I woke up fine on Monday morning. This epidemic reminds me of Sars' experience we had to go through during our stay in Taiwan. Not a very good feeling to remember.... I got many masks. Washing our hands and gargling well!

男の料理 Boy's cooking

理輝は学校の家庭科でいろいろと実用的なことを習っていることは今までにもご紹介しました。今回はいよいよ料理に突入。先日学校で習ったばかりのクッキー。家でもう一度おさらいして、作ったものを先生に持っていけば、成績に追加点をもらえるということで、彼は今日３種類のクッキーをなんと１時間以内に手際よく仕上げました。
I had posted about Riki's learning so much practical things in his home economics class at school. They are into cooking now and made some cookies few days ago. His teacher told students that if they make some at home and bring them to her, she will give students extra points/credits for that class. So, Riki made three different sweets in less than an hour. 学校で習った通りに、ちゃんと計ります。He follows the lessons he had at school and measures everything precisely.



片付けをしっかりすることも料理の内。The cleaning was part of the recipe.


３種類ものクッキーを手際よくあっという間に上手に仕上げてびっくりしました。私にもできません。。クッキーは皆で美味しくいただきました。
I was very impressed by the way he finished baking all three different cookies in such a short time. I cannot even do that. We really enjoyed his yummy cookies.

こんなに!! THIS MUCH!!

ちょっとびっくりしませんか？この山盛りの砂糖の量！！ペプシ１缶、３５５ml, 栄養表示には４１グラムの砂糖と書かれています。どうしても気になって、今日は実際４１グラムの砂糖を量ってみました。予想外の量にびっくり。この小さい缶に大さじ３杯半の砂糖ですよ。これから暑くなるとついつい冷たいジュースに手が伸びますが、気をつけないといけませんね。
Does this surprise you? Look at this amount of SUGAR!! A 12-FLoz- can of Pepsi contains 41g of sugar according to the Nutrition Facts. I had to actually see how much is the 41g of sugar, so I measured. WOW, to me it was a surprise. I didn't expect this much( about 3 1/2 Tbsp) of sugar in a can. It's getting hot here and we thirst for cold drinks, but we must be careful what to drink.

デザート Dessert

先日お友達がルバーブのケーキを焼いてきてくれました。ルバーブの酸味と生地の甘さがとてもマッチして美味しかったので、レシピを送ってもらいました。でも今の時期ルバーブはお店に出ていないので、 冷凍ブルーベリーで作ってみました。これがまた大成功。このところの美味しい焼き菓子に、いつも以上に家族からの賞賛と愛情を受けている私でございます。
A couple months ago, a friend brought us some Rhubarb cake she baked. The slight sourness of the rhubarb and the sweetness of the base matched so well and the cake tasted delicious, so I asked her for the recipe. Since I cannot find rhubarb in shops here now, I used frozen blueberries instead. It was GOOD. Because of all the tasty baking I am doing lately, I am receiving more praise and love from my family.

Rhubarb Dessert
Base
2 cup Flour
4 tea spoon Sugar
3/4 cup Margarine or Butter (softened)

Mix and press into the bottom of 13 x 9 inches pan, bake at 375F(190C) for 15 minutes.

Filling
2 Eggs
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1/4 cups Flour
3/4 tsp Baking powder
3 cups Rhubarb or I used Blueberries

Mix and put on top of the baked crust. Return the oven and bake for 35 minutes.

時計草 Passion Flower

草花の好きな私は常にその写真を撮りためています。といってそれらの草花の名前など調べることもないのですが。先日あるきっかけで他の花について調べていた時に、たまたま私が数ヶ月前に撮った花の情報が載っていました。しかもその由来がとても興味深いものだったのでご紹介したいと思います。

I like plants and flowers and always take pictures of them. But I never really bother to check their names and info. Few days ago, someone gave me some description of a flower and that interest me to investigate further information. While I was doing that, one of the pictures on that site was the picture of the flower I pictured few months ago and the information caught my attention. It's very interesting and I would like to share it with you all.

この花。和名は3つに分裂した雌しべが時計の長針、短針、秒針のように見える特徴のある花を咲かせることから時計草。
外国では、花がキリストの十字架を象徴していることから、パッションフラワーと呼ばれている。この植物はキリストの受難を象徴する形をしており、花の子房柱は十字架、3つに分裂した雌しべが釘、巻きひげはムチ、副冠はいばらの冠、5枚の花弁とガクは合わせて10人の使徒、葉は槍などと言われた。

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish Christian missionaries adopted the unique physical structures of this plant, particularly the numbers of its various flower parts, as symbols of the last days of Jesus Christ and especially the Crucifixion:
The pointed tips of the leaves were taken to represent the Holy Lance.
The tendrils represent the whips used in the Flagellation of Christ.
The ten petals and sepals represent the ten faithful apostles (less St. Peter the denier and Judas Iscariot the betrayer).
The flower's radial filaments, which can number more than a hundred and vary from flower to flower, represent the Crown of Thorns.
The chalice-shaped ovary with its receptacle represents a hammer or the Holy Grail
The 3 stigmata represent the 3 nails and the 5 anthers below them the 5 wounds (four by the nails and one by the lance).
The blue and white colors of many species' flowers represent Heaven and Purity.

Outside the Christian heartland, the regularly-shaped flowers have reminded people of the face of a clock; in Israel they are known as "clock-flower" (שעונית), and in Japan they are called tokeisō (時計草, "clock plant").