Palo Alto Tender Tracks Tues. May 28, 2013

Day 67
Gibbeous Crescent Moon
Rancho San Antonio

Emme, Giselle, Aoife, Alice,Paul, Jill and Myself all came today and were blessed with such wonderful critters to play with and view.   The weather was not too hot and not too cold.  The day began in the bus with Alice saying that her tummy hurt and that she wanted to punch it.  We had a little discussion about whether that would help it or not . I then brought them into slowing down the punching.  The intention is to bring more awareness to sensations and feelings and truly feel what is going on in their bodies.   By doing so they all wound up feeling their tummies much more and all became settled.  I then brought them into another “game” of warming their hands by rubbing them together and then slowly pulling them away from each other until they couldn’t feel anything between their hands.   Then, rubbing their hands again and putting them on any spot that was feeling poorly.  They REALLY liked these games and kept doing them on and off for awhile.
Once we got there the sky would become gray and questionable with a warmth that feels like rain might fall upon us at some point.  It never did.   And then, the sky would clear up with beautiful blue and gentle winds.

Emme was the Weather Watcher today and she really liked this.  She raised the feather counting stick to see what the wind was doing and decided that there was little wind. She found the faint blue in the sky along with the gray clouds above.  Giselle and Paul asked to be Guardians of safety.  Giselle went straight away to taking care of a cut that was no longer visible yet “it used to be there” said she. She really likes to put the tea tree/lavender oil on and then a bandaid.   Alice and Aoife chose to be the mapmakers and at the end of the day they drew their pictures.  They did not get too involved with this though and soon they ran off to play again.
Highlights of the day:
• holding a Darkling beetle ( which can be mistakenly called a Stink Bug: http://images.yourdictionary.com/images/definitions/lg/darkling-beetle.jpg

Paul did not like holding it so much even though he wanted to hold it. He decided that he didn’t like it.  Aoife is really a bit of a bug person, she seems to really like holding them all, and she had a lot of fun with holding and playing with this one.   Giselle held it for a bit but Alice and Emme just gave a quick peek.
• Watching a Ground Squirrel close up, about three feet away, eating a nut.  Throughout the day we watched a lot of ground squirrels going in and out of their holes and being with them fairly close up.  We were all in awe.
• Seeing and hearing Wild Turkeys RUN past us.  This was really something to see.
• Watching closely the Stellar’s Jays as they tried to eat some of the lunches that got left open.
• Hearing a beautiful story about How Colors Came to be and how the Rainbow is really the Colors smiling
• Watching closely rolly pollies and how they close up when they are frightened and open when they feel safe.
• Discovering Bay nut shells that can be used for carrying water for fairies or, pouring on my hair to fashion it!
• Listening and pointing to all the different sounds that we could hear and the different birds.
• Putting blind folds on again and walking across an open field either led or non lead.
•Playing a great stalking game.  One child sits down with, in our case the first aid kit, in front of them and with their eyes closed.  The other children stalk as quietly as they can up to the sitting child in order to get the kit without being heard. If they are heard then the blind person points a finger at them and they have to go back to the beginning and start over.  Each one took a turn and had a very good time playing this game.
• Hearing great Rabbit stories being read by Jill on the way back

This was a very fine day with ease, delight, and playfulness.