Tag Archive for: Wednesday 2016-2017

Tender Tracks Wed. Day 30

May 10, 2017
Lake Lagunitas
Full Moon

Jasper was absent today. It was his birthday but, due to stepping on a Bumble bee the day before and getting a very puffy foot, we were not able to celebrate with him as he staid home to rest his swollen foot.

Beyond that, it was a delightful day back from Holiday!
However, the day brought  MUCH cooler weather from the day before: close to 20 degrees difference!!!  The winds were up and the warmth of the sun was playing it’s customary hide and go seek.

No matter though, the children were alive with fun and exploration.
We began our circle time on our Sunny hill where the “witches brew pot” is and the Fairy house.  Alas, the Fairy house was not there and there was some disappointment around that.  However, they WERE delighted to play at the witches brew pot and filled it with lot’s and lot’s of wood and such. I really enjoyed seeing Avaline drag a VERY large log over to it and then pop it in the water!  Oliver wanted to splash, Susie didn’t want the splash, Vita was fine, Puma was just playful and happy and Ruthie was mesmerized with some Dandelion look alike flowers that she was playing with. And Oliver, well, Oliver did what he does so very, very, very well, FIND BUGS! and such. Yes bugs and critters of all kinds he always finds and today at the pot he found what looked like a deceased Cicada.

After circle of new songs that will last us through the end of the year and a new story that they will hear for a week or two more as it is a sequential story, we made our way to an adventure.

We went along a great path that they have been on before and truly enjoedy.  It meanders through the Redwoods, along the sides of Bon Tempe lake then out to the open sun and waters.  They remembered this place and ran down to greet it!  We then settled in for the fun of the day.

Oliver and Puma fairly quickly found a little one to one and a half inch frog. They played with that friend for at least a half hour when, at that point, I thought it best to give the little frog a break from handling. That was a bit of a challenge for them as they were LOVING it so. The other children got to see it yet were not so fully engrossed as Oliver and Puma! 🙂

Vita, Ruthie, Susie and Avaline were delighting in the waters edge, gathering “fish”/ lake plants, and putting them in our “cooking Pot.”
I made a make shift Pot out of sticks on the ground and they all added to this. I then made a fire pit while Linda was with them gathering. Ruthie was involved in the many plants that were around us and washing her hands with them all. She found wonderful Peppermint along the way and Linda then shared with us how lovely they smelled upon ones hands.

At lunch they all wanted to wash their very muddy hands. They first washed in the lake, then were given peppermint for a lovely smell.  And, there was the hand sanitizer too!

It was getting quite cold so I thought we would leave a bit early but after lunch they were having such a good time.  Susie actually was not having such a grand time. After lunch she curled up in my lap. She said she wasn’t hungry but that her tummy ached. I thought she might need to poop as that is often the case. No she said. Then she pointed to where it hurt; her lower left intestine. And within a couple of minutes after that she said she had to go poop. We went up the hill and sure enough, poop came out. After that,  she seemed just fine for the rest of the day.

Avaline really got into painting her face with mud. Susie was not so interested in that yet after a bit put some on her arms and loved it!!!!
Linda was playing with them and I began gathering materials to make a magnifying glass fire.  Puma and Oliver helped me gather as much dry moss and lichen as we could. I made a little fire that we put straight out and then they wanted to try.  Puma got really good at it and Oliver needed some practice.

Our walk back was fun as we walked together. Linda and Ruthie however, took a grand meander and came back with some stories. We hid from them and they found all the children!!!!

Into the bus we went and away home as well.

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Tender Tracks Wed. Day 30

April 26, 2017
Waning Crescent Moon
Lake Lagunitas

Though the weather report had us all thinking it really wasn’t going to rain to day it drizzled enough to make rain gear beneficial/needed.  It really didn’t rain but rather sprinkled on us most of the day.  We carried on quite easily however.

When we got to the Lake they immediately went to the place where the big water puddle was last week but alas, it was actually just a very small puddle now. They played very contentedly and found much joy in the mud.

We made it to circle and had a beautiful time celebrating Vita’s 4th birthday that will officially be in two days. She served the children the wonderful strawberry muffins that she helped make and she made sure that I said what they were correctly. “Strawberry muffins.”

Oliver and Puma really are the official Ca. Newt finders. Oliver however could be called the Bug Boy as he finds so many!!!  He found Banana Slugs and a new born Cicada. Right when he found the Cicada Vita’s Daddy rode by on his bike and stopped by. How special and wonderful!!!

I was with Oliver and Puma for a while with their new Newt friend. We were experimenting with what a Newt might eat. They both got their lunches but nothing in there appealed to the Newt. Then Puma carried, very creatively, my big back pack over. PHEW that WAS amazing how he did that!  From in side I got a little camp shovel. They used this to see if they could dig up worms to see if the Newt would like that. But, they were really having a hard time finding worms and the Newt crawled away while I was talking with someone.  Ruthie was VERY happy sitting inside her “home” the Redwood Tree leaning up against the tree and singing and singing. When I came over she said it was the Tree singing not her.  The rest of the children sat on a bench looking at the Cabin structure that they like to play under.  I now forget what they said they were doing but, it had something to do with families.

We got our belongings together and I asked Vita what direction she would like us to go. She pointed and up the stairs we went.   We saw one Turtle on our walk. When we made it to Woodpecker Haven Puma immediately brought that to our attention and we all stopped to listen, listen listen. But again, where were the Woodpeckers.  All the children accept Susie wanted to play “Bear.” The game where Linda is a bear and she chases them.  She was quite behind us with Oliver and Ruthie and Susie gets scared. Puma is very caring so he changed it to the Butterfly catcher game but she didn’t like that either.  So, she held my hand and we all walked down the trail still having fun and collecting treasures for Vita to put in the Birthday basket.   We stopped at the Fairy Pool inside the tree that actually houses hundreds of Mosquito larvae.
When there are no judgments about them it is easy to be in the children’s world of delight over seeing these little fascinating squirming beings in the water.

We went to a place that we haven’t gone to in a very long time. When they got there they IMMEDIATLEY remembered. Avaline said, “Let’s make a fairy house” as she remembered the elaborate ones that were made last time.  Puma and Oliver climbed right up the big fallen down tree. Oliver got stuck yet in his inimitable way he wanted to climb up even though it was really hard. I aided him in taking his time, slowing down, looking first to see how he could do it and then we worked together.  Jasper scampered up later.  Vita and Susie got into finding teeny pieces of glass in the dirt and making special piles with it and Ruthie was in 7th heaven riding on a fallen log.

We then ate our lunch together in the mist gently caressing us, played a bit afterward, all sat down together on the bench there to look out at the beauty of the place, listened to lot’s of birds, and then made our way back to the bus.

In there we had a bit of changing clothes and then sharing with Vita what the children had gathered for her for her birthday.

 

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Tender Tracks Wed. Day 28

April 19, 2017
Waning Half Moon
Lake Lagunitas

Susie still on holiday.

Today we celebrated OLIVER who was no longer three but FOUR YEARS OLD!  He brought snack for us all for circle too!

They were so delightful as they entered into the bus and as we passed out stuffed animals and shared stories of our holiday this past weekend.

They are all growing so much, maturing so much. I just love being able to share more and more with them about the natural world via certain story like games.  They are open and engaged and it is very fun.  The way they care for each other is and has always been beautiful.  As they have grown it is just more and more.

When we got to the lakes they rushed out as usual and went straight to the pond that is near by.

I brought a lot of things over to our sunny spot. The day started out briefly sunny but it didn’t take long to get a bit dark and cold. Was it going to actually rain??? No it never did but it did get colder then expected for a time.

Oliver and everyone else found this larvae? Caterpillar? and ran to bring it to me. At first he couldn’t find me and I heard him crying. I came straight over to him. He was crying because he didn’t see me and he so wanted me to see this new treasure.

At first I thought it was a caterpillar but then I saw that it had no legs nor segments like a caterpillar. It was about one inch in length, brown and moved a bit like a worm and was rather soft.  They found two of them in or near the water and the Redwood trees.  I have yet to identify it so, that is the mystery question of the day?  Do you know what kind of larvae it is with this bit of information?????

After finds like this and exploration we made it to circle to sing our songs and celebrate our friend Oliver! Which we did and, I read a sweet book about a girl wanting help find a present for her Mother for her birthday from a wonderful Rabbit.  Oliver passed out the snack he brought and all gobbled, gobbled, gobbled up the nice homemade cookies. 🙂

After circle the sky was dark and the children were getting a little cold so, I asked Oliver if he would like a walking adventure or an adventure with fire and popcorn. He chose the later.  That meant there was much to bring out and get for the fire.  They actually all went with Linda, I got the fire stuff, set it up and then, they came back to the fire.  We lit it together as they learned a new fire song and…the fire with one match took to a blaze.

The rest of our time with the fire we had much to learn about safety, smoke, tall fire, short fire, how to put sticks in and how not to, how hot it really can get and how beautiful it really is.

I didn’t have a spoon so I carved a stick to use to get the coconut oil out of the jar for the oil part.  They all took turns breaking up the oil with the stick and then I put the oil in the pan. We watched the oil melt then I took it off and put the popcorn in.  Most sat for about a minute waiting for it to pop but then ran off to the water faucet.  Saving water is still deeply in me so a little redirecting of the desire to play with water went towards the creek and other spots but then, the popcorn began to pop!!!! and pop and pop and pop until the top of the pot got pushed open with the popcorn!!!

It seemed best to eat a bit of lunch first and then go for the popcorn so that is what we did. We all sat around the fire with our lunches to eat as we watched the fire die down. Putting wood on the low fire was so much easier and safer now too. We watched some of the popcorn melt and that was fun as well.

It then came time, after lunch, to put the fire completely out.  There was a lot of going back and forth to the water spicket and taking turns pouring the water over the fire. First it was to hear the sound that was made when water and fire meet. Then it was feeling where it was still hot, still glowing read, and still needing water to put it out. They felt with their hands over it where the heat still was and then there was stirring it with sticks to get it good, wet and put out.  The fire pourers were mainly Avaline, Puma and Oliver and the stirrers were Vita and Jasper mainly.  Ruthie was in and out with quiet interest.

After all of that was done the rest of our day was spent by the water in the creek trying to get over a little damn that was built.  Vita and Puma made it over. Oliver did not and he was very unhappy about that.  Avaline tried but got into a bit of a pickle as Puma was brilliantly aiding her in getting over. But she was stretched out like a bridge and it wasn’t actually working. 🙂
I spent a lot of my time helping Ruthie figure out some pooping needs.

We also during the day were gathering some gifts for Oliver from the earth  for him.
In the bus we all shared, those who found him things, what we got him and why.

It was a sweet and lovely day….

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