Marin Tender Tracks Day 16, 2012

Last Quarter Moon
Lake Lagunitas

All were here and the weather was filled with dark clouds and rain gently falling throughout the day.  They began by taking their time with getting just the right stuffed animal, the soft rabbit furs and just the right book. Each child chose one or two of the above mentioned. We sang our welcoming song and freely, the rain songs that have been hard to sing the past two months.  But now, we can and did sing them with GUSTO!  Then, we made our way to the adventure of the day.

When we got there Leo and Simone needed to finish getting prepared for outdoors and then I told them the plans for the day.
Since St Patties day is just a few days away I thought we would celebrate with a special story and then grinding our own wheat, making our own butter and cooking our own biscuits.  But first, we had to run over and see the BEAUTIFUL, FULLY FLOWING WATERFALL!!!!!!!!!  The waters were flowing and high.  Sidona later on said, “The land is all covered!”  and so it was.  They remembered where we had walked and hiked just a few weeks ago and how now it was completely submerged.  The excitement was high in us all and the beauty was stunning.   They had all helped bring different things that we needed for the day to the shelter before hand so we took our time taking in this natural wonder of the gift from the Sky world, WATER!

They started to eat and I told them the story of Shawn O’Hoologhan and Mrs. O’malley and how she made cream into gold.  From there they, with my new little hand cranked grain grinder, took turns grinding the wheat. Then we poured the very, very white cream into a glass jar and started to shake, shake, and shake.  They all took turns but, I must say, I got my workout today because I was left doing the final touches on this journey. Phew! our lives are a piece of cake compared to when women made all the bread, butter and cooked all the time!   During all of this the boys were VERY much wanting to play in their favorite Redwood Tree so they ran off. The girls were very happy cleaning up and “setting the table.”
When all was ready, time to eat was called and they came running!  They sat down and the biscuits got covered with butter and “organic” agave syrup.  Leo was very happy that it was Organic and gave a big smile when he found out.  They ate it all up accept Sidona really just liked the butter and the syrup, though she never really took a bite of the bisquit and Lenny ate half of his. The other three asked for seconds and they all LOVED the process.

When I brought out the cook stove and lit the burners they were all enthrwalled with the flames and their colors.  It was fun to see their enthusiasm with even a camp stove.   After eating they cleaned everything up and then went to play. They just had a GREAT time out there in the rain and the woods.  Simone was a little cold so we went back to the bus to get her a hat and mittens.  Sidona and Lenny came along and got mittens as well.

For the rest of the day Leo and Bodhi were REALLY into pushing each other, rough housing, falling in the mud and water and loving it but Lenny was not as involved with that and there were some social struggles from this.  I turned them all into Mighty and galant warriors and the girls were the Queens of the Realm.  The Mighy and Galant Warriors had to follow a special code or they would loose their most precious swords.  The Queens were to observe ( which that had been doing all along and loving it) and deem if the Mighty Warriors were staying true and fair to the grand CODE!

After getting ready to ride home and getting on our way the rough housing turned into much harsher words that seemed beyond acceptable and an invitation to put those words away and use softer ones came forward.   They complied and off we went and back after our first longer day.