Palo Alto Tender Tracks Tues. March 5, 2013

Half Moon
Day 46
Foothill Park-The Island

Alice was absent today.
Everyone was here and began the day with great fun on the laying down tree. This adventure was led by Emme.  Miu had many happy successes climbing by herself across it,  Jill shared with me.   Before she went over there though she took out her favorite spray bottle and sprayed the bus.
In the bus we still had great rituals of stuffies and about the day and where we were going and sending warm and healing thoughts to Alice.   Then, off we went.  When we got there we went to the big meadow, the snack was spread out and Kaden and Taz wanted their own.  Emme did what she use to do at circle, sit a bit further away and then Taz, Kaden and Evan, at different times went off to play.  Paul, Miu, Emme and Giselle “stayed the course” and showed great joy singing the new songs and hearing the story with a clue for the day in it.   After story though, Taz came running back for snack.   We then went to find our way to the Island. Paul is so proud that he knew the story from last year and that he knows the other way to the Island.  I invited him to lead the way and off we went.  On the way Evan found big long sticks that he wanted to use to build a house on the Island.  The boys and Miu all carried these varying length branches all the way around to the Island!
On our way though we ran into a man and a woman, she was 83 so the man proudly pronounced, who were cleaning out the extra vegetation in the lake.  They said too much of it takes away the Oxygen for the fish and besides, they said, ” It makes the Lake look more beautiful when it is cleaned up.”  We watched them and talked with them for a while and then carried on.
Once on the Island what joy.  They all found their spot to put their packs and then scattered with joy.
There of course was lunch and Hide and Go Seek and being Dragons, Panthers, Transformers, Coopers Hawks, Preditor and Prey.
We found what the story was talking about, the puffy soft cottony down on the Willow Tree from the Rabbit who used to have a very long bushy tail. When the Rabbit fell out of the tree his tail got caught on the branches. And that is why from that day to this the Willow trees in the spring have white cotton on it’s leaf buds……
The building of the house began after a while and we found a place to build it. Evan was the most involved and he carried on faithfully.  The others had varying games.  Paul found a stick that had a string tied on it with a rock and went fishing.  Emme caught pretend fish for the house. Miu was building with Evan.  Giselle and Aoife were Dragons on and off with me while Kaden and Taz were trying to eat us or killl us.  We learned about the Poison Oak, I hope! and only hid in places more suitable .
We all scrunched up on a rock in the Sun and looked at the magickal light fairies that danced on the surface of the water when Brother/Sister wind came and gave a mighty blow.  We watched how the currents blew and when we counted on our counting stick at circle we saw the feather on it blow and spent time figuring out what direction it was coming from.
No one really wanted to leave yet the sky was getting filled with more and more clouds and we, having  watched them throughout the day, wondered if we were about to get rained on.
“What kind of clouds make rain?”  “Do you really think it will rain tomorrow?”  And much speculating and observing the Sky world.
On the way back Jill read more books that they really enjoyed.