Palo Alto Tender Tracks Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013

Waning Crescent Moon
Day 40
Arastradero Preserve

Evan was not with us today.
It was a glorious day with sun shining and though we thought it would rain the sky kept clear for us and never gave a drop.  Sad for the earth yet convenient and easeful for us.  We had not been here for quite some time and some of the children had memories of this place as we moved a long the trail.   There was great delight with following the Horse scat and tracks all along the trail.  Audrey was in great joy over discovering all the Coyote scat and the children were following right along.  They made it to different land marks given to find and then we wound up in two groups.  The boys and Miu were with me up ahead and Audrey was with the other girls behind.  They were in need of taking off this piece of clothing and that and this adjustment here and there.  We waited and waited and then decided to hide in the bushes to see if they would even notice us as they walked by. They were really taking a long time so we gave  the Coyote call and they called back. But still, no group. Where were they?  They called, we called but then I had us stop because they sounded so close we didn’t want them to find us straight away!  Finally they walked by and, the story was that there were at a cross roads on the trail and they didn’t really know which way to go and when we stopped calling they had to take more time to figure this out.  So, they followed our tracks, listened to their memories and instincts and FOUND US!!!  A great game and no worries of trouble were truly at hand.
Then we all went along the trail which was in direct sun and felt quite good.  Taz was getting very tired yet I told him there was a short cut and he perked up.  They had to cross over a little running creek instead of the bridge very near but, since I said it was a short cut, this was enough incentive to keep going on.  Taz and Kaden went up ahead and I told them which way to go. I also gave them instructions to just wait or give a call if they got a bit confused which way to go.  When we got to them there they were just sitting on the ground at the intersection of trails waiting.  To the right we went to get to our resting point for the day and all were content with this.
The rest made it in fine time. We left a sign on the trail but, they didn’t see it!!!
We were right in front of the pond and they went straight away to playing in, with and around this. There also was a great tree to climb on there and Emme found a delightful spot to sit and eat her lunch there. But, the others thought she was in the way for them to climb on it. But, was she?  They were invited to look all around and see if there were any other ways to climb up the tree.  Sure enough, several other entry points were found and all was well.
After lunch I brought out a “new toy”, a magnesium rod with a steel part for creating the spark to light the magnesium scrapings.
The ground was wet yet I scraped away. However, I could not get a true fire to spark long enough to catch the tinder that I had so, they all went on a grand adventure with Audrey to find dry wood in the midst of wet wood from recently past rains.  They came back with some good stuff but I never was able to make it work.  Ah well, no worries just great learnings.
Emme hid from us when we were leaving and, oh dear, where could she be?????
Looking and looking and looking we all did and, There she was, with her eyes closed standing next to the water like a tree.  She was a wonderful and quiet tree!!!!
The journey back was beautiful and their legs and bodies were well worked.   By the time we all got back there were many clothes that needed to be taken off because, as I said earlier, no rain or cold ever really came only the wetness from sweat from a glorious day.