Twinkies

Sawyer loves Twinkies...

...though he has never even tasted one! He loves the sound of it. In his creative writing, almost always Twinkies are there, as the name of a person, the name of a weapon, or the name of a village, etc. He is obsessed with them. Twinkies somehow even appear in his history or science reports--and then I have to make him write all over again.

In English class, he had to write a research paper. He couldn't think anything to write about except Twinkies. His report is below.

Next year we will go to the USA for 3 months or so. There he will have his first bite of Twinkies. I wonder what will happen to his Twinkies fever after that......

Twinkies

by Sawyer Seth

Twinkies are one of the favorite snacks in America. James A. Dewar invented the Twinkie in 1930 during the beginning of the Great Depression. James Dewar worked for the Continental Baking Company. He was afraid that the company would go bankrupt because they had a lot of expensive equipment for making Little Short Cake Fingers. They could only make Little Short Cake Fingers six weeks a year during strawberry season. So he decided to make a new product using the same equipment. First, he injected a banana kind of filling inside a little cake with a syringe- like tool. But because of the war, they had to switch to vanilla flavor. It was so good that even when the war was over they kept using vanilla cream.

There are over 17 Hostess factories scattered around the USA. Together these produce around 500 million Twinkies a year,1,000 a minute ,16 a second, and using at least 40,000 miles of wrap a year. Twinkie production is quite amazing!

Did you know that Twinkies might actually be healthy? Lewis Browning (said to be the “Twinkie king”) ate at least 22,000 Twinkies in his lifetime, and he lived to the nice old age of 89 years. Also, James A Dewar (creator of the Twinkie) lived to be 88 years old. He said that the key to his long life was “to eat a twinkie a day and to smoke a pack of cigarettes.”

There are some very interesting facts about Twinkies. Here are a few: Some people make “Twinkiemisu” (instead of tiramisu), Twinkie sushi and even Twinkie wedding cakes. There is a guy who hung a Twinkie on a black board for thirty years; when he took it down he said, “It was a little brittle but probably still edible.” Another very interesting thing is that the White House put a Twinkie in their time capsule for the new millennium as “an object of enduring American symbolism.”

Before he died James Dewar said that “Twinkies were the best darn tootin' idea” he ever had. I agree. (Well, at least I agree to the name being the best idea he ever had). Perhaps Twinkies should be the American symbol (not the bald eagle), as well as the national fruit!

Nice Weather

After the hottest summer in 50 years followed by the wettest monsoon (with widespread flooding) in 32 years, the weather is finally getting nice! We can go outside without fighting the heat, humidity or waterlogged roads.

今年の夏は５０年ぶりの猛暑。モンスーンは３２年ぶりの豪雨。最近、ようやく天気がよくなってきて、公園へ遊びに行きました。

Prayer retreat

Every so often Roger and I take turns to go on a prayer retreat at the Catholic nunnery just around the corner from our house. These are Carmelite nuns who have taken a lifetime vow to be "married" to Jesus. Once they have completed their vows, they stay in the same compound for the rest of their lives. Since they can not go out, they have 2 small guest rooms in an outer section of the nunnery for their families to stay overnight if they come visit them. Those rooms are open--and often available--for outsiders to stay in for personal prayer retreats. The cost: $8 a night, including three simple meals and two teatimes!

ロジャーと私は時々、（代わりばんこに）一人で祈りのリトリートへ出かけます。近所にある、カトリックの施設に止まります。そこには、修道女たちが、祈りに人生をささげ、外に出ることもなく生活をしています。修道女たちは外に出ないので、家族たちが時々会いにきます。そのためのゲストルームが開いていると、外の人も泊まれるのです。一晩３食付で、１０００円以下です。

Sister Hilda lives with the nuns, though not under their same vow, so she herself can go outside. She takes care of us, when we stay there.

私たちの面倒を見てくれる、ヒルダさんです。

The rooms are simple, but peaceful and quiet. I always come back refreshed & grounded in Jesus.

部屋や、ベッドは質素ですが、静かで穏やかな場所です。イエス様だけと共に時間をすごし、元気になって帰ってきます。

Hiroko's Acrylic -- A replication of Van Gogh's "Starry Night"

Art!

Among the 8 homeschool children who are all friends, I organized an art class led by an American educational consultant who has an art degree. The first week, we learned about "lines" and studied the art by Piet Mondrian, such as this painting: ホームスクールをしている友人たちの間で、子供のために美術のクラスをはじめました。美術課を卒業したアメリカ人の友人が先生です。今日はラインについて学びました。また、ラインをいっぱい使って絵を描いたピート　モンドリアンについて学びました。






They all created art inspired by the works of Mondrian. Even though we saw the same sample painting and heard the same lesson, everybody made very unique art all using only straight lines. Top left is Satoshi. Top middle is Minna. and bottom left is Sawyer. このピートモンドリアンの真似をして、まっすぐなラインを使って、それぞれが絵を描いてみました。上の左は悟志、真ん中の上は美奈。下の左端は創也の絵です。

Then a few days later, some of us adults who love art (mostly from our local church and our neighborhood) got together and just had an community painting day. We sat in our living room and painted whatever we wanted using the medium of our choice....while enjoying many cups of teas and yummy food. I am so excited that our lives are filled with creativity. 数日後の土曜日、アートが好きな友人が、絵を描く集まりを持ちました。教会の方、近所の方々などです。それぞれが、好きな絵を好きなミディアムで描くのです、、、あまいチャイを飲みながら。

Indian Clothes

This is NOT how much Satoshi lost weight from dengue! (Though he did lose some weight, it wasn't anything near this much.) This is how Indian traditional pants are always made--one size fits all. When I was pregnant, I did not need special pants! --Hiroko


Our children dressed up in Indian clothes to visit our friends to celebrate their special holiday!

Monsoon Lake

The park in front of our house floods every time it rains. The kids cannot play there if it's flooded. But I think it is rather beautiful.
近くの公園は雨が降るたびに、水溜りでいっぱいになります。モンスーンの湖です。