Until the Industrial Revolution came along and turned children into cheap labor, children were the opposite: valuable labor. Either they helped out on the farm… or they helped their masters, and in turn their masters taught them a skill by which they could eventually make a living… Adults and children worked together, and there wasn’t such a huge gulf between them. Not that children were considered mini-adults, unloved and exploited. Just that children were expected to rise to the adulthood all around them, not stew in adorable incompetence. – Free-Range Kids: Giving our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going …
Late start to the day – catching up on sleep after the weekend! Hooray for birthday parties! Mondays are chore days: water plants, do laundry, etc. Odd that this Monday didn’t also include make yogurt or bake bread. We picked beans from both the back yard and the P-Patch plot, as well as tomatoes. Made a garlicky roasted corn soup – must remember to add some notes to the cookbook regarding the extra garlic and onions that went into the soup this time. It’s a lovely, creamy thing – just right for a cool and almost rainy dinner. Also cooked …
Caitlyn likes to make this weird lip-smacking/kinda-kissy noise, which I can’t stand, partly because it’s repetitive and partly for some unpleasant associations which she wouldn’t understand if I tried to explain. She thinks it’s a bird noise. Fine by me, just don’t do it where I am, so I don’t hear it. So, Me: “Don’t make that sound, Caitlyn, or do it where I can’t hear you.” Caitlyn: “Ok.” But the Annoying Sound resumes. Me: “Don’t make that sound!” Caitlyn: “But I covered my ears!”
An African gentleman, probably Somali, boarded the bus we were riding to school this morning. Older, in a three piece suit, henna’d beard, traditional hat, talking on his cellphone. Caitlyn looked at him, turned to me and said, “He looks like God.” “What?” “The man over there. He looks like God.” “He looks like God? Why?” “Because he’s wearing the same hat.” “Oh? Does God wear a hat like that?” “Uh-huh.” “Does God also talk on the phone?” “Sometimes.”
Really excellent post: Becoming Indigenous (thanks, Ian, for the link!) As the old system collapses under it’s own weight, things inevitably become more local. Local food, local business, local entertainment. This is a good thing. It’s important to be rooted – read this and find out why.
Caitlyn came upstairs this morning and announced to her sleep-fogged parents that she had dressed herself in shorts and a short-sleeve shirt because: “It’s spring! Now we can eat popsicles!” I’ve been explaining for days that just because it’s the first day of spring doesn’t mean that it’s suddenly going to be warm and flowery. I think school might be complicating matters. Caitlyn explained the other day that on Friday, “while we’re sleeping, the Seasons Clock is going to go” – sharp hand motion going from left to right, made with a not-quite-thunking sound – “into spring. Then there will …