Marin Tender Tracks Tues. March 15, 2016 Day 45

Waxing half Moon
Cascade Falls

All but Talay here.  And, the Sun decided to show up today in full glory!!!  So truly beautiful, warm, welcoming, sweet and invigorating.
At Deer Park however it was cold and we thought the whole day would be like this.  Not so!!!  As soon as we got to this new place of ours the many layers that went on in the bus quickly began to shed.  They immediately went down to the rushing creek/river as I set up circle.  Today was the day that we were making butter from Cream and watching it go from white to golden!!  I gave Michelle not the absolutely perfect directions to get here so we were wondering, “Where is Michelle? Where is Michelle?”  We listened, heard a sound like a  car door shutting and began to sing so she could hear us. But, it wasn’t her. We continued to sing and who should come up?? YES, MICHELLE!!!  They all ran to hug her , hug her. What joy!!  When they all came back to circle we sang our last song of the morning, got our snack of little, kind of green, scones out, put our homemade butter on and, happy they were.  But, what was in these little, early celebration St. Patties Day, scones????? Little, hard as gold and yellow as Daffodilly jewels. And what were the jewels for?  They were wishing stones to give to the waterfalls we were going to go to.   After a St. Patties Day story about a Leprechaun that found gold right in front of him and stopped chasing rainbows and Mrs. O’Malley who finally got the help she needed, we packed up and began our journey to the falls.  It was a bit of a walk for them but all along the way Rhett kept saying “it’s so beautiful, it’s so beautiful(everything we saw)”  And, it was true.  Every step we took was filled with such beauty!!!!! There were flowers they they all fell in love with and Alara found Plaintain for Velia to put on a little cut she had.  There were at least five poop adventures too today. Spring cleaning????:)
We climbed over a path that we called Mt. Goat Trail, traversed over rushing waters, found so many, many little waterfalls and off shoots of waterfalls flowing down the sides of the hills. They found mud, Ca. newts, beautiful, beautiful rocks, plants and on and on the wonders went.  Aaron was delighted with the many different shaped rocks he found and Alara kept finding rocks with so many different colors in them.   Ariel LOVED finding a stone that looked like it had a rainbow in it and Ione filled my hands with stones that she thought I should take home.  And Layton, she has been like spring, waking up and filled with the joy and excitement of the water and fresh air.
We finally made it to the waterfalls and their sound was soothing, strong as well as delightful and giggly.  We all looked at it from many angles and then looked for a place to eat. We finally decided upon the bridge up there as it really was the only safe place to sit.
After eating there was much more exploring there and giving our gifts to the water. What I saw and have seen is that most of the children shy away from giving away any kind of something that they like.  Rhett wanted to give our wishes together but then….the jewel was back in his hand. We were singing our song love is something if you give it away….you end up having more. He kept saying that “see, it came back!”  The desire not too loose that which you have an attachment to is strong.   Alara loved her two golden treasures and really wanted to give one to her brother and the other to her garden and Ione wanted one for her and one for her Mother.  Layton tried to keep track of hers but I am not sure if in the end she did. Velia I believe lost hers though it might have gone into her pack.  Aaron was a bit quiet today and held my hand more then ever. He still looked a little bit tired under his eyes and maybe he still was not quite over his long journey with being under the weather. He was happy though with all that he found yet quiet.  Rhett was actually quite quiet today too and when we all got back to the first creek for a little time in it before we had to leave, he just swam in the water in his entire rain suite.  Aaron took his boots off but no swimming and all the other girls stripped down and did their usual emersion into the water and a mud puddle. But then, they got cold and had to wash the mud off and get dressed quickly to go…… And oh my fun turned to something a little different but, with singing all the way through it we made our way back to the bus, and on our way back.  What an incredible day of joy, ease, good walking, and a belly full of all our senses being nourished!!!!