Meena's Journal--A plant is like a pet.

This is a plant in our garden. The pot that is under the leaves has no plant in it. The pot above is the one that has been growing these long vines. The green leaves are quite dusty some mornings, so Mama uses the hose to not only water the plant but also to clean its leaves!
I think that from one point of view, plants are pets. They are like animals. Because they are alive they need water. The ones in the rainforests are not tended by a human so those are wild. They are alive, so they could be a kind of pet. And a little care will make them happy.
They need water
And they like being washed
And they are alive—
That is wondrous, isn’t it?

(Meena took the photo.)

When it's too hot to play outside....

Here is footage of Sawyer riding around the dining table on a Ripstik. Listen for Meena practicing a hymn in the background, as well as a vegetable vendor calling out his wares.

暑くて外で遊べない時、悟志と創也はリップスティックを家の中で乗ります。バックグラウンドで美奈のキーボードを練習している音が聞こえます。野菜を売りに来たおじさんの声も聞こえます。

Seth's swimming pool

Book Nook?

３輪バイクのタクシー。黄色と緑のオートリクシャー。３人乗りだけれども、５人でも乗れる。大きなバスやトラック、車、牛の間をするすると通り抜けていくのは、ローラーコースターのようなスリルだ。外は４０度ほど暑さ。路上の煙たい空気にむせる。うるさいエンジンの音で、話もできない。そんな環境を無視して、小説の世界に入り込んでいる悟志。

Bumper-to-bumper traffic. 100 degrees. 5 people crammed on top of each other. Auto-rickshaw on Outer Ring Road, New Delhi. (We're in a green-and-yellow three-wheeler just like the one in the background.) Kissed by pollution, caressed by vibration from the hot motor beneath our seat...What better place to read a novel?

Meena's Journal--Salt Clay Day

9th June, 2010

Last Friday morning, I woke up. That was the day we make Salt Dough clay!
Mama had found a recipe in a book, so we all could make things with air-dry-clay!

This day was also the day we had Anjuli and her brother Sean to our house for a sleepover.
That day Hannah Beth came too.

We all played till Mama called us to the dining room for snacks--mainly popcorn and apple juice with cookies on the side.

Soon after that we started making things out of salt dough clay. I made…
a lot of snails
a pizza
a cat and her bed with fish.
Sean made a praying mantis and a man,
Sawyer made Twinkies and Toshi made a stubby man with glasses and a stubby onion.
And a stubby owl.
The dough is still drying out before we can paint it.

This was the day before Anjuli went to the USA for one month--so tragic because she is a good friend!

Humayun Tomb

We took our guest to the Mughal monument nearest to our house (15 minute's drive north): Humayun's Tomb (which became the prototype for the Taj Mahal, which would be built later in Agra, 5 hours' drive south). You can read more about it (with lots of photos) on Wikipedia.

It rained the morning we went, so we enjoyed being in the royal gardens on one of the coolest days of the summer so far!

オーストリラリアからのゲストと共に、世界遺産であるフマユン廟へ行ってきました。家から車で１５分くらいのところにあります。昨晩雨が降り、とても涼しい気持ちのよい日でした。

South Indian food

We took our Australian guests to eat South Indian food.

We ordered "thalis" (in this case, large plates with lots of smaller dishes of

lentil stew, vegetables, coconut-based dishes and yogurt, with breads to eat with your hands.)

南インド料理のレストラン。大きなお皿に、小さなお皿のいろいろなカレーがついてきます。これは一人分です。これを手でぐちゃぐちゃっと混ぜて食べます。