Palo Alto Tender Tracks Wed. March 20, 2013

Spring Equinox
Waxing New Moon
Day 25
Eleanor Pardee Park

Serena and Juliette were absent today.
The weather report threatened with rain all day and the skys did stay gray for 80% of the day. However, no rain in sight accept for right before everyone came.
Mindy and I set up the canopy, camp chairs and barbecue pit to make traditional Tender Tracks rainy day popcorn but first, and after all the children arrived, we went to the garden to find the Tree with the Lavender colored flowers.  There they found it and picked many blossoms.  I thought we would need to take the blossoms and then get water to rub them in our hands to make soap but the rains of the night provided the needed water to make soap in their hands.  The children soaped up right there.  Mishka was not interested in doing this and Zara was REALLY into doing this. The rest were just gently involved with washing their hands and then rinsing off with plants that already had water on them.  The tree is the Ceanothus: it looks like this picture below. To learn more go to this website that I found. Website address underneath the picture.

www.laspilitas.com/groups/ceanothus/california_ceanothus.html

After washing hands and walking around the garden we found a beautiful and very large cactus plant that had water in it’s leaves like a water sink.   Harper, Zara and Julian really worked at getting the water without getting stuck by the sharp prickers at the edges. Julian was proud of himself for not getting stuck.
Back at our little house, we got the fire going by singing a great fire song.  Then, we got the popcorn pot out and put all ingredients in it but, the popcorn was NOT popping.  We sang a few specially created on the spot popcorn popping magickal songs and after a few tries, YEAH the popcorn DID  pop, and pop, and pop, and pop and……it popped so high that it pushed both sides of the pot’s lid up and open!!!  The eating commenced and happy they were!!! I told them a story about a little goat herder whose goats went into a garden and he couldn’t get them out.  A fox tried, a rabbit tried and finally the very little bee was able to get the goats out of the garden.  We sang all of our spring songs and it is always so fun to watch these young ones try to move their hands the way the hand movements go with the songs.  Precious I believe is a fitting word for it.
Lunch time was at hand so instead of thirds for popcorn most of them got their lunches out. Then we went and got water to make “fire soup.”  After a time they all were busy stiring the water in the fire pot with sticks and having a GREAT lot of fun.
I wound up putting the canopy down to it’s lowest because I thought we ought to put it away but, this was too fun!  It was now like a very cozy fort and from this came a long game of Little Piggies and Big Bad wolves. We wound up making stick houses, a tree house and this was our brick house.  The wolves, ( we had groups of pigs and groups of wolves) after not being able to blow down the house, came down the chimney and fell into the boiling water.  Away ran the wolves to soak their bottoms in cold water!!  When I was the wolf we came over to make friends finally with the pigs but then, the groups changed!!!
Finally the games shifted and they were all over by the Laying down tree accept Mishka and I. He went from one thing to the next asking me, “What is this?” “what is this?”  I told him the english names and after awhile I asked him the Russian names.  We laughed and laughed because I found trying to say some of the Russian words more difficult then he found saying the english!!!
Davey saved the day many times during the day with his very thoughtful self as he looked out for everyone during play. When he brought out his lunch it was a bun with some sort of treasure inside it.  He made a hole and you could peek inside.  Another most beautiful moment was when Harper closed her one eye, put her open eye right up to the bun and tried to look inside to see what she could see.  She lifted her head up and said, “I can’t see anything!”  Davey proceeded to eat it all up.
We began packing up and then I called them over for a story about the Ginger bread man. Inspired by all the fast running that was going on.  But what should come by but, The tree Truck that dumps all the tree clippings.  Well, what grand competition.  At first the truck became incorporated into the story but alas, it was just too enthralling for most so, we just sat there in front of it and looking on with awe and wonderment.
Davey, Zara, Harper and I went back to the laying down tree and then, the parents began to come for pick up.