Sometimes, nature has the power to make people change their schedules. On April 8, there was a solar eclipse in the U.S. It went from Texas in the south to New Hampshire in the northeast. Day turned into night for a couple of hours. There was a partial eclipse in New York City, too. The moon covered almost 85% of the sun at the same time that a professional baseball game was scheduled. The teams decided to move the game to a later time in the day so that the eclipse didn’t bother anyone. My sister, who lives in New Hampshire, took today’s photo. How did she watch the eclipse? She used a colander, a bowl with many holes that cooks use to drain boiled pasta. The shadow of each hole showed the same partial eclipse on the ground. (139 words)

The new school year has started in Japan. The Japanese school year starts in April and goes to March of the following year. This is different from many other countries where the school year starts in September and goes to the following summer. Another difference is the entrance ceremony in Japan. The first-year students and their parents go to school for a ceremony. They wear nice new clothes or new uniforms and take pictures next to the sign at the school gate. Other countries don’t have a ceremony. Children start taking classes from the first day. One thing is the same, however. Many children find the first day of school exciting but sometimes a little frightening. （116 words）

I went to a festival at a Buddhist temple on Saturday. You could buy food and drinks, and people came to sell everything from secondhand books and toys to pottery. It was like a flea market. I met a couple who were selling crepes there. They came in their house! They have a very small house on the back of their small pick-up truck. It is only the size of three tatami mats inside. They travel around Japan, going to the south in winter and to the north in summer. I asked the man, “How can you live in such a small house?” He said that they spend most of the time outside. They only stay inside when they sleep and when the weather is bad. (126 words)

What is the difference between “cherry” and “sakura”? The word “cherry” in English makes me think of fruit. Black cherries are sweet and easy to eat. Cherry pie is made with tart cherries and sugar and is delicious hot. Another popular dessert is cherry ice cream. When I heard the word “Sakura,” I used to think of trees and flowers. These days, however, I think of sweets. “Sakura mochi” is one of my favorite sweets. It is made with sticky rice, sweet beans, and a salty cherry leaf. It doesn’t taste anything like American cherry desserts. There are many other sakura-flavored sweets on sale now. My wife and daughter even found sakura-flavored rice balls on sticks (“dango”) and maple leaf-shaped cakes with bean filling (“momiji-manju”).

We had such a warm winter this year that I was sure the cherry blossoms would come out early. Then suddenly, in the middle of March, it got much colder. The high temperature went below 10 degrees and the low temperature went below 1 degree in Nagoya. It was winter again! We hardly saw the sun, and it kept on raining. Then, a week ago, the sun finally came out. The temperature went above 20 degrees. This is the kind of weather cherry trees were waiting for. They started blooming, and people started coming out for picnics. Spring is here at last!