Marin Tender Tracks Day 12, Feb. 15, 2012

Waning Crescent Moon
Lake Lagunitas

What another wonder filled day!   The weather, though rain so needed, was still in it’s own glory of being. Just who it is in the very moment.  We were blessed with this beauty and were able to be under the trees with out a winter chill.   We went back here this week because last week right as we were leaving they found an area that they really liked and did not want to leave so, I promised them we could come back and explore. And, we did.  Straight away they went to the log over the creek that they wanted to test their balancing skills,  one by one, and crossed over it via shimmying( don’t really know how to spell that word!)    Of course our resident Mycologist, AKA Sidona, instantly found mushrooms that we all checked out.  When we were on the bus before getting out Simone found my Bone box and really wanted me to bring it out.  I did and all came over to check out all the different kinds of bones that I had. There were very small rodent ones, bird skulls, owl skulls, fox, seal, deer and coyote.  They did not know what any of them were but were given the opportunity to really look, see, notice and guess who these creatures might have been.  My favorite is sharing the pelvis. Almost all children and adults too, think that it is a head. Simone was very involved and enjoying all of this while Leo was the least interested. The time then came to pack them back up and continue on to the next unfoldment of the day.  The children ate and then, another adventure followed. Lenny, Leo and Bodhi were heading off down stream. We followed them and wound up climbing up and up a hill.  But where they took us was right to the Waterfalls where, with such joy, the embraced with moments of stillness and vocalizations of glee and delight over being so close to this natural wonder.    As we wound up getting further and further away from our backpacks I suggested that, for safety, we go back,and get them so that we would  have our food, water and first aid kits and then continue on. So, back to our packs we went, got them on and made our way back to the waterfall.

They were SOOOOOO happy to be on this exciting adventure so close to the waterfall and then climbing up the side of the hill off into the woods.   As we went through the woods we found some edible plants and more mushrooms to view.   We kept going and found ourselves at a road. Which way to go?  Leo and Bodhi had to figure this out together again.  There were at least four choices and in the end, we wound up going back the way we came and then off to a Redwood Grove where they spent the rest of our time there.   Bodhi, Sidona and Simone found more Redwood Burn to scrape and paint ourselves with.    Leo was very involved in trying to get this dead part of a tree down from a big Redwood Tree and Lenny stood way back watching with encouragement yet self protection for the potential fall of this big dead piece of wood.  He and I really wondered if he could get it down and he tried and tried and tried but alas, no success.  It was indeed a big undertaking.    There was a lot of exploring, discovering, group problem solving, movements of bodies and working together as well as being challenged together.  It was wonderful to see them move through all this with such group unity.

Finally, at the end of the day, it was Lenny’s turn to find our way back.  He was Guardian of Directions.  He took us back in a way I did not even see coming and it was fun for all and very quick!

The bus has been having this very funny on going scene of Sidona getting WoHe, the Orangutan Monkey and pretending that it is very sick, it dies, it comes back to life and we all give it some kind of rememdy to make it better as well as great sadness for it’s departure from this world.

An ongoing game and it continues to transform and transmute.