Tender Tracks Thurs. Day 44

March 8, 2018
Waning Moon
Lake Lagunitas

Vita absent today and all next week. Gone to Hawaii to celebrate Mom’s Bday!!!  How wonderful!!!!!

Well, third day in a row that the expectation was to be cold and rain and,the opposite, again!  The day was simply so beautiful!  The weather was not too hot, not too cold and perfect to make a fire and cook hotdogs by.  And, that IS what we did.  However, as they came to the lakes they immediately ran out and went to their favorite stump where last Thursday they began making homes for Newts and slugs.  Today however they found, what could be called “GOLD” in their world. What was this gold you ask??  Red/Brown thick muddy clay!  Oh what wondrous fun they had with this all day!  And cleaning it off, well, I hope you have had luck as it is not so easy to extract out of the skin for a time. 🙂

I gave them a pan to use to gather it and they made something akin to sandcastles and mud pies.  These were the homes for the Newts.  There was, at one point later in the day, a bit of a conversation about how these creatures are what I would call, our relatives, in need of us noticing what is best for them, such as, Newts sleep on the their bellies not their backs AND, they do not like thick and heavy mud blankets with which they cannot move about freely. Oh dear, it is true so, different play strategies just needed to be found.

Puma and Austen got into some unhappy moments a couple of times and this led to slinging mud at each others face and head. At different times Ruby or I came in to see how things were going.  They actually, with just a little kind direction and redirection, worked it all out quite nicely and bonded even more deeply as friends after it all and, Austen obtained a new hair color due to it. 🙂  It was actually very impressive their willingness to move through, make some agreements on how to play with one another and then let go of being mad at each other.

Owen and Avaline spent quite a bit of time down by the creek together climbing on the logs and exploring the area.  Devin, after helping Ruby and me out quite a bit with the fire and circle spent the rest of the day louder, filled with more laughter and certainly A LOT more mud than he has ever before!  Actually, for a good part of the day, they all wove in and out of play with each. Each day their bond together appears to be getting tighter and tighter.  They speak to, and with one another in play, acceptance, and respect continually now.

Cooking the hotdogs was fun. We all came in to sing and give thanks to the fire and then today I used the Ferro rod to bring the fire to life and, IT WORKED!  The fire blazed and, after waiting to make some white coals, they got their hotdogs put on the stick that they carved and collected last week and then to the fire they went to cook them.  Ruby toasted the buns, I put the ketchup and, if they wanted, sour kraut, on the buns and eating them up they did. Some made another hot dog and the others, when finished, went back to their play.  Wishing for them to do something different would have been unjust it seemed as they were fully immersed in the state of creativity, exploration and absolute joy.  They spent so much time getting covered in mud, playing with the water, being redirected to the creek water, washing and….Ruby shared with me at the end of the day that when I was setting up lunch they were all down by the creek. Puma wound up climbing up part of a Redwood tree and then swinging from one of the branches like a vine in the jungle. They all spoke about it at the end of the day during Appreciation time.

When it was time to get changed I moved the bus to a sunny spot and a dry spot, got out all of their extra clothes and the best ever changing party took place. It went smooth as can be. They know now what and how to do this all.  When that was all done I brought out the large pieces of chalk and they drew on the pavement with joy.

And, at the beginning of the day, when they got in the bus, I played a game we’ve played before but I am deepening it now.  They close their eyes, I move something, they open their eyes and see if they can see what is different. They use their ears to hear where I am as well as take good notice of what is around.  This type of game has been being played more and more in and out of the bus.  They are ready and, it is a very old Nature Connection game of awareness to surrounding, expanding ones vision as well as hearing and putting pieces together, like a puzzle to, “read the environment.”