How to Memorize the Declaration of Independence

I just had to share this image. These are the visual notes that my eighth grade daughter drew for herself in order to memorize a good size chunk of the opening of the Declaration of Independence. She had it memorized by the time she drew the last character. She uses this technique a lot--a true visual thinker. Can you decipher the code? I can't, but here's what it says, if you are curious (of course you already have this memorized, don't you?):

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

And not entirely unrelated, here are some visual reminders that backyard farming is fun, and fruitful. I thought for sure that we would not harvest much at all from our teeny garden because our summer was so cool and wet. But September rallied and the sun warmed everything up just enough. These are images of what we have been enjoying these weeks. Yum!

And finally, a funny picture of our funny puppy Lottie, now six months old. She chews up my sketches and gleefully terrorizes the cats, but we love her.

My nose is to the grindstone and I love it! Life is busy and rich and messy and good.