Marin Tender Tracks Jan. 13, 2015 Day 31

Waning Moon
Roy’s Redwoods

Jai and Enzo were not with us today and they were missed.  Enzo was sick and Jai was with his brothers class on a field trip.   It was another wild yet very full and explorative day.   Even though it was a crisp and cold day anywhere away from direct Sun I wanted to take them back to Roy’s Redwoods because on the weekend I found our snake still laying right where Lisa left it.    Theron had been very, very excited about this snake, his Mom shared, so he was delighted to go back and see it.  And we did.  They needed to scout the land to remember exactly where it was left. They finally found it and examined it with curiosity.  However, they were mostly cold and the wet grass got Ariels feet wet for sure.  I also wanted to share with them something I found with regards to the fire from a few months back but alas, the need to be warm straight away was needed so, off we went in search of the warmth.
We looked up towards the tops of the Trees and saw SUNNNN!  and off we went, through the woods, up the trail but then…….the children found lot’s of tracks and figured out that they were horse tracks. However, some were REALLY deep while others were light and then poof, they were gone.  We trailed the tracks for awhile and made guesses as to how come some were so deep and visible and others not. Nico said because the ground was wet and there, he was on to something. At some point he will put together the wetness and the density or pliability of the mud and move along those lines. Thea was really into it and she and Linsey tracked these prints for quite awhile after the others had moved on.  There were other tracks that they found and it was delightful for me to hear many of them throughout the day ask each other questions such as “Is it ( the track)going up or down” ” What direction do you think it is goin?” and ” Which way did we come from?” and the like.
We found a very sunny spot and scampered up the hill. Well, all but Velia, Hana and Ariel who were back with Linsey.  The rest of us got to the top of the hill and took off many layers because now we were sooooo hot and then the children, on their own, ran down the hill to help the others up.   We settled in, sang songs, learned new ones and heard a short story about Why Some Trees Leaves Stay Forever Green and Others Do Not.  It is the time of year to focus on the trees. It is the time of the North,the coldest of days and our tall standing Tree Friends.  The story was about a contest. This later led into an impromptu Contest game of our own:  Find five leaves that are all shaped differently.  Thea and Nico really got into this and began to search all around.  Julian and Theron decided to be robbers and steal what Thea and Nico found. Well, this required yet another story about a Robber and The Beggar.  It also required some assistance with knowing when to “steal” your friends treasures and when not to.  Basically, ask if someone wants to play a game that you like.
Thea and Nico got 4 out of five leaves and throughout the day the children had remembered Plantain and were eating it when found.  Another game was birthed inspired by Nico wanting to play Hide and go Seek.  He and Linsey hid and Julian, Theron and I became Coyotes looking to find Rabbits for our lunch.  There was a great deal of eating that went on.  I became a Turkey vulture hovering over the deceased Rabbit/Linsey because I don’t kill things. I needed to wait until the Coyotes were finished and gone.  Chasing and running up and down the hills happened then a “pee party” with the girls.
I began to play my occarina and Hana danced the dance of a beautiful butterfly.  All the girls got into different dances of different animals and shortly after Julian and Theron gave us a “show” which we all watched. The girls then became mermaids and I played music so they could dance and give us their show.
There were some struggles with Velia hitting Hana and Theron protecting Hana by hitting her.  Oh dear, this would never do so, we had our first real “council”.  The talking Grass stem stick came out. We all put our magick into this transformed grass stem so that it would aid us in listening to each others needs and one by one they heard what each other wanted.  Often these councils can then find agreed upon solutions but on this day, just hearing each others needs was all that they were able/up for taking in and then off they went into ” you be this and I be that.”  They wound up in two sweet and very mixed groups where they all turned into “families.”
We then gathered our things and made our way out of , the now, hot sun and into the cool and refreshing forest to see if we could find the signs of the past fire.
We came to the fallen trees that looked indeed freshly burnt but no fire smell.  Did the past down pour of rain wash away the smell of fire? Were these really fresh burns?  No matter, the children climbed up, in and around this huge fallen and burnt tree. We gathered pieces of very nice charcoal and these pieces turned into writing tools and baby bottles.  Velia was the baby and Julian the Dad. Hana and Linsey went off finding more mushrooms from what we had found at the beginning of the day.  I made a broom and the children played with this to sweep up their new home.   They were delighted that they could climb up so high. We found a great little Gnomey home and Ariel loved this so with it’s great window in it.   I laughed when Ariel tried to climb through a very small space. She had her backpack on and got a bit stuck.  She looked a pit like Winney the Pooh who got stuck in Piglets window after eating too much Honey!  She was distressed however but with a bit of patience, we  figured out the trouble, re adjusted her body so she could squish through the small space and POP out she came, unscathed by such an unexpected event. She did it and all was well again.
We were not able to draw in our big map book due to not enough time so in the bus they colored on their own papers and were delighted with this.