Marin Tender Tracks Tues. Nov. 10, 2015 Day 17

Day before New Moon
Lake Lagunitas

What a day of being absolutely present for fun to show up and guide us throughout the day.  As we drove in some of the children noticed that there was fire smoke up in the hills in front of us and that there were A LOT!! of fire trucks!  We were making guesses as to whether or not it was real fire or just a practice burn for the firemen.
Michelle needed to meet us at the Lakes so, when we got there we noticed and watched the fire trucks go by as well as checked out a BIG water fire truck near by. After that the children scattered about playing at this  new spot of ours near the “magick potion trough”, the Fairy home that Aaron and Xander keep adding too from Pups Pack and all the other wonders amidst this place.  Michelle came and we wound up by the waters edge playing with stones, watching concentric rings being made and following some tracks on our way back with lot’s of guesses as to who made them!! Tummies started to grumble however so off to circle we went.  We sang our new directional song, our other songs and Velia requested that we sing a Squirrel song from last year that is very, very fun.  As we began that song a very large helicopter kept going over our heads. We watched it go back and forth back and forth and were able to deduce that it was indeed a Fire Helicopter. And then, it went a little further away and got lower, and lower and lower as if it was going into a secret cave home because it finally went absolutely out of sight. Well, the draw to this was just too grand so half of them went running to check it out.  Michelle went with them and some stayed for circle, some came back and finally it was just the boys with Michelle that stayed. The rest of us were just lighting the candle and about to hear our story when, the others came running back!  They had a story to tell too!!!!!. They got to go INTO the helicopter!  The man there was very, very nice and he said we could all go in to it so, we stopped circle and made our way over with Io in the lead guiding us. On the way there we found bones that later on we spent time with and had an incredible discovery!  But for now….When we got there the Fire man had just been called out so he had to get in the helicopter and bring water to the fire on the hill. This fire was started by the Lightening the other day and was smoldering. They say they can smolder and then ignite when the earth gets drier again.  Many men were up the hill directing the helicopter to where he should dump the water.  They had all come from Lake County where they had just been working on the huge fires there.
So, he got in the helicopter, started it up, we plugged our ears and watched.  Up,up and away he went. We ran to the lake to see him fill the orange bucket that dangled from the helicopter with water from the lake, fly away to dump it on the fire and then come back.  He did this four times and we all sat on a great “viewing rock” to see this wonder take place.  When he finally stopped that and went back to where he was parking the helicopter we all ran over there.  He invited all the children in and there he was the best “Uncle” you can imagine.  He asked them many questions and got them so very engaged.  Michelle and I just stood back and enjoyed watching all the interactions. So precious, innocent and delightful.
All the other firemen came back after a while and we said our good byes to these very nice and happy men. We went to eat our lunch and they went to eat theirs.
At the end of our lunch we finally heard the helicopter start up and finally fly away.  Xander and some others said “We are alone now.” But alas we discovered we really weren’t alone we just didn’t have these nice men around us. We were however  surrounded by the birds, air, Earth, plants, trees, each other and so much more.  I brought out the hammers and nails for them which Rhett, Ariel, Xander, Velia and Aaron had such a good time with.  They hammered and  hammered into the tree stumps near us with delight!!   Michelle brought out yarn to braid the handles for the tinder bundle gathering bags that are almost finished and from there the children heard stories, played with yarn, hammers and fun for about a half an hour before we had to leave. In the bus Michelle drew some pictures of our day on our special board and they were delighted.