Close to nature

I am in India these days and I am fascinated by how close to nature and cycles of nature life is here, even in heavily populated cities. "Being close to nature" doesn't imply taking a walk in the woods and hearing birds - that is much more easily and pleasantly accomplished in the US. What I mean is that here relatively small natural phenomenon affect daily life much more than in the US, where only something big like a hurricane affects daily life. Here is an example.

It is almost mango season here and when I got here trees were loaded with green mangoes, on the verge of ripening - tart and sweet. Then we had a week of flash storms - strong wind and rain lasting only for couple of hours or so every other day. Lots and lots of green mangoes fell from trees. The very next day after the storms the vegetable markets were full of many varieties of green mangoes being sold at throwaway prices and within a few days my mother, my aunts and our neighbors were busily preserving green mangoes in a variety of forms for rest of the year. Tarter varieties were sliced and dried in the sun to be used in dishes that need tartness. The chunkier tart mangoes were pickled in oils and spices. The sweeter varieties were made into chutneys and sweet pickles. I had no idea so many things could be made with green mangoes!

Another example is how well people know when the season of a fruit or vegetable is, almost down to the week of the month. It is very common to hear "Oh you want to eat Dussehri mango. You are leaving on the 5th? It is close. They usually start coming to the market around 10th." or "If you had come two weeks ago you could have had wonderful radishes. Now they are bitter and no good."

I cannot imagine this happening in the US. Yes, we hear of a crop being spoiled but it never ever changes the selection in the grocery store. Store selection is not much affected by the season either except for maybe berries. After having lived in the states for 15 years, I still don't know when certain fruits and vegetables are at their prime. Of course there is the berry-picking season and apple-picking season, but when is the cauliflower-picking season? I should start visiting farmer's markets more often.

Milestones

When our kids are little we track all the little milestones - the first solid food, the first word, the first step. As they got older I stopped paying attention to milestones and hence I thought I'd record the milestones my older kids have reached this year as they turned 6 and 8.

1. My older one started talking to her friends on the phone. Doesn't do a lot but seems comfortable with calling up people she wants to talk to
2. My younger one learned to tie her shoelaces. I bought her shoes with laces, quite accidentally, and she became a pro at it in two weeks. I have never bought my older one tie-up shoes and so she still can't do laces.
3. My older one has gotten more conscious about dressing/undressing in front of others. She also becoming more aware of her body.
   
4. Older one has started doing a little cooking. She makes very nice chocolate muffins from a recipe she got on a Barbie website, I think, and needs almost no help during the process. She can also make herself a scrambled egg with some help.
5. The girls walked to school on their own. OK so they did it once and didn't want to again. They come home from school by themselves too. I go to pick them up and then stand around chatting to other moms. They take the keys and leave, and reach home 5-10 minutes before I do. It is still something that would not have happened last year.

What about your kids? Have they reached any such noticeable milestones?