Palo Alto Tender Tracks Day 53, April 17, 2012

Waning Moon
Foothill Park, the big meadow

Alexi came but left straight away as it appears that what he was ill with over the past week might be coming back and Kashi was home not feeling well too.

The rest were here and in fine form.  Circle time started with more of a need for their bodies to move about so all but Gracey left to play on the big Redwood stump in the sun.  However, I made a decsion for them that they are more then welcome to choose to play but snack is part of circle and circle is when we sing, eat and hear story.  They all came back and settled in with much greater ease.
Before the big departure Jasper asked “What IS tender Tracks about?”  He seemed to be missing some experience at Tender Tracks and so I brought out, for the first time with this group, the “Talking Stick.”  This is the stick that when one person holds it, no one else speaks.  The person gets to share what is being called for.   They were asked what they needed and wanted for the day.  Anjalie, Gracy and ….? they shared first.   The rest passed but then were inspired and began to share.  What came out was a desire for, Lot’s of stuffies in the bus, blankets in the bus, to have Mom keep her promise about something after TT and on it went like that.   When we got in the bus I took a long time making sure that all their needs were met as they requested and they took quite a bit of time finding just the right seat to sit in and next to who they wanted to sit next to.  The rest of the day there was GREAT peace which was a bit different then the way the day began.

The story had them captured as it was about a beautiful and benevolent King.  All loved him as he was caring kind, respectful and loving towards all in his kingdom. However, one day he became very, very sad and no one, not even himself knew why.
A shepard boy who knew the songs of the Earth, Sky, plants and animals knew he could help.  He played for the king on his flute and (more to the tale, but for now) he healed the King and from that day forth the King each day would go to his special spot in nature and receive all the love, kindess and beauty of nature so that he could sing his own very special song too.  Or something like this.
The Intention of the story was multifaceted: working with feelings, connecting to nature for support, what it is to be in a position of power/King and some more themes.  I heard some of the boys later in the day saying “I am King, I am king!”

When we arrived at Foothill Park they knew right where to go and the new adventure began.    There were so many hightlights yet here are a few:

Anjalie found a “Sea Monster” in the pond.
YES we thought she did too!  It was a huge fish splashing back and forth.  We watched as it’s body made ripples in the water.
Audrey thought it was a Carp and was spawning and sure enough we found out later that  it was a carp.  We then saw
three of them swiming in the clear water in perfect flowing formation.  This was so much fun!!!!!
While we were watching them we discovered a Bull Frog just sitting out in the Sun.

Finding a fisher man:
Paul attached himself to him and this kind man, who used to be a ranger there, showed him all about fishing and the fishing
bait that he had.  He used only catch and release and all the children had questions about this!

I read them a great book called The Rabbits Wedding by Garth Williams. This is a book I love to read this time of year for this age
Much to my surprise they all came to listen to the book story.   They were all enthrawlled and laughed at some of the great spots
in the story.  One of the reasons I like to read it is because it has great spring nature games to play that the rabbits “role model”
in the story.   So, we played “jump the rabbit”  and, though not in the story, Fox chasing rabbit game from one marking spot to
another.   They delighted in these games.

There were many more discoveries and peaceful and “Kingly” sit spots during the day.  The boys were peacefully “fishing” with their Cattail rods on a beautiful rock on one side of the pond and the girls spent a lot of time building a nest for other birds in the grasses so it would be slightly hidden for the birds to be safe.

A glorious, glorious day!