{life with a curious and crazy 13 yr old}
What has this gal been up to? Mushroom walks and apple picking, for sure — my little Ronja–, but also pottery class and crochet: getting her craft on. At home Duende is making hand-painted beautiful-3D paper flowers, she designed a whole layout of doll dresses in tweed, and is practicing some nail polish painting skills from a recently acquired book. She reads a bunch, dances a lot, and likes puzzles, mazes, and games. She loves Samhain and has been thinking about a costume for months (might be something vampiric, methinks, or kitty — or vampire kitty!). It was chilly enough the other night she begged J for a fire in the woodstove and we were all very cozy.
For schooling, she’s decided she wants to learn some Italian so she is beginning to practice that and this week she is reading the graphic memoir Mexikid by Pedro Martin. D actually set up the last art show for the shop; a collection of Homeschool Art, cleaning and framing the pieces, curating the organization — making themes and aesthetic decisions (the kids loved it!). She has an essay on why she arts due next week, and a physics intro book to get started on. She’s been baking a lot so her math skills are up and she surprised me the other day dropping some knowledge on herbs and foraged plants. She’s a sharp one.
D has been joining in on some store events, too. Attending author readings, writing a poem for the (scary Friday the 13th) open-no-mic poetry night, processing sumac at a foraging workshop, and sitting in on the St*tch ‘n B*tch. She’s generally a good help at the store, too — she can run the register, dust and vac, restock, stamp bags, deliver some bread for the folks who order from the other shops on the street and even go to the hardware or grocery store for emergency goods or the bank for change, hang event posters, clean and bake in the kitchen, make and set up the coffee, and still have time to relax and read a bit, play a hand of Uno or Boggle, and visit the library. Let me amend my statement above — she’s a great help. And on Tuesdays, she takes the trip to Portland to deliver shares with her father (and I know it’s their thing, very cute…).
She seems sassy sometimes but Duende is a good kid and a thoughtful peach. It seems like she’s been cleaning her room since the dawn of time but if that’s all I have to contend with for now, I’ll take it.
Rock Bottom Homestead 