Saguaro fruit, miracles, and the history of art

The rain has dried up and it was time to harvest saguaro fruit again. We headed out to Alamo Canyon in Organ Pipe National Monument where there are huge stands of fairly short saguaros--all the better for picking.

Alamo Canyon, Organ Pipe National Monument

A beautiful red head

Loaded with fruit

We got home and found this; our first egg (on the right) from our girls. You go, girls!!

One of the local eggs we've been buying (left) and Bess, our Araucana's, first beauty (right)

I found Jazz playing my guitar a la August Rush

After we got the saguaro fruit into the dehydrator and everything cleaned up, Grandma decided she wanted to watch a movie, How Art Made the World: How Humans Made Art and Art Made Us Human. Jazz absolutely did not want to watch it, but before long she was deeply into it. In fact when Grandma went to take a nap, Jazz kept watching and didn't stop until I insisted that there would be another opportunity to finish this 290 min. movie. Learning just keeps happening.

Last week, one of the mom's from my homeschool group asked me if I stopped [homeschooling] for the summer. I replied that Jazz is learning all the time. Well lately she has been doing more schooly stuff. She went to public school, her choice, for about 4 months during the first grade school year. During this time she learned to read (she was well on her way anyway) but she has not been interested in doing much of it. This week she has been asking to read to me out of a 1950's Alice and Jerry reader given to her by a little old lady down the street. And even though she hasn't read much more than a few signs here and there, her reading has improved tremendously in last 5-6 months. The Alice and Jerry reader is easy for her now, which she loves because it allows her to read it dramatically instead of stiltingly.

She's also writing again--this time copying down song lyrics into a special notebook. A few months ago she was writing a novel and taking notes about chickens and horses from some books she got from the library. Since then, she hasn't written much, but like the reading her writing has improved. This is something I've noticed several times as she has been writing things for a long time but tends to go through phases. Each time a new phase starts her writing has improved. Practice makes perfect does not apply to developmental tasks like reading and writing. And in answer to the homeschooling mom's question, "Not only is she learning all the time, I couldn't stop it if I wanted." Well I suppose I could suppress her passion and joy in learning by imposing a curriculum on her. Thank goodness I'm on this path and thank you to all the books, blogs, and websites that have helped on the way. I have some posts linking to stuff that did help inspired that journey here and here and here.

This evening, I just barely got on the computer and before I knew it I was watching this. Oh my word how did I find this when I need to hear the message so badly right now. Oh thank Universe for your goodness. Amen.