Marin Tender Tracks Nov. 20, 2014 Day 22

Waning Crescent Moon
Lake Lagunitas

EVERYONE was here today and the cloud children  were giving us all their great and powerful gift of RAIN!!!  It started out gentle but built and built and built.   Linsey and I decided straight away that setting up to build a fire AND cut and cook was a bit much so, we brought out the camp stove, went under the over hang little house there and set up our home for our day.
This day had a great deal of challenges to embrace what with rain, wet, some cold, cuts from cooking knives and not using them exactly as one expected to and just needing to do everything a bit different then in sun shiny weather.  Thea really wanted to take her pants off and pee but alas, from now on that is not a luxury to be had at Tender Tracks.  Hana wanted to keep her boots off, rain suite off and take off her coat but again, these are the joys of being in a warm home not a rainy, cold, dark day.  Nico, Thea, Hana and Ariel were not delighted when they were given mittens not of their exact color choice but what was being offered to them and Jai, Everett, Julian and Theron were in HOG HEAVEN over playing in the rain and the puddles!!!!  There was great diversity and extreme individuality going on and work with aiding patience as each child’s needs were given attention as Linsey, a Nurse called it, Triaging.  Who had to go to the bathroom the most, who was the most wet, who got cut the worst and……… so it went.
We brought out all the vegetables and Everett, Julian, and Theron were right there and ready to go.  More and more came in as the cutting got started and there was great care to share with them how to cut and to support their desire to keep their blood on the inside instead of seeing it come out.  But alas, Theron was the first to get cut and his bright red blood coming out of the middle of his palm brought me to carry him to the bus for the Big First aid kit in there.  The cut actually was not that big and as I was fixing him up Everett came in then Jai. One by one Linsey was sending them over!  Well, we all saw that they had red blood instead of green. Phew, that was good because otherwise you would have given birth to bugs NOT little beautiful boys!!!!!  I think Everett was actually proud of his cuts and Theron got over it all rather quickly and went right back to cutting however with a far safer technique and new appreciation for the sharpness of a knife.  :)))
Hana was VERY clear that she no longer wanted to cut her pumpkin because she REALLY did not want to get cut.  The sight of blood was not enjoyable for her. She also took quite a while to warm up, so to speak, to the days darkness, rain and lack of freedom to dress and undress at will.  The most fun for me in these types of situations is seeing, as happened with her today, the flowering of ease, comfort, acceptance and expansion into the beauty that is actually around them by days end. At one point, when she was a bit discontented, we sat together and notice how all the trees show us so many ways to move and dance.  We began to move our arms in the way the trees were holding their arms/ branches.  This was so very fun and beautiful.
The children however had so much fun cutting their vegetables and discovering which ones were hard to cut and which ones easier.  They put their cut veggies in the big pot then, with Linsey, filled it with water. We all gathered around to see the lighting of the camp stove, were given safety instructions for being around it and then off they went to play.
When the soup was finally finished they ALL sat at the table and received their bowls of soup with bread and cheese. Some ate quite a bit of the soup and others just gobbled up the bread and cheese.
After this the rain was pouring down, the children were playing all around, it was loud and noisy often, there were some boy scuffles with the usual suspects, clearing of these things and then  a bathroom journey, for me, with Ariel, Hana, Velia and Thea.  The boys just ran in the rain and PUDDLES!!!
We all cleaned up and then came the rather long process of one by one bringing them into the bus and changing them.  I do believe Everett had the most water in his boots though Theron and Julian did believe that they were the wettest.  It mattered not, they ALL were very wet!  and the bus was filled with piles of wet burrito sandwich clothes and boots, as you saw when we arrived back!
On the ride back they listened to Linsey read them more stories as she has been doing more and more on our comings and goings.
This was a full and robust day with, I believe, great growth and learning edges met and embraced.  And oh yes, there was the noticing of the cold and discomfort during the day and then the joy of the warmth of blankets covering them and the coziness of inside as we drove back.