Tender Tracks Tues. Day 61

May 15, 2018
Waxing Crescent Moon
Lake Lagunitas

Everyone was back and today we celebrated Devin’s 5th birthday!!!

The day was unexpectedly very cold and gray yet for a few moments at a time the warm Sun would peek out and we would bask, momentarily, in this wonderful warm feeling and then, the gray cloud children would come and cover our beloved Sun’s warm rays again.

When we got to the Lakes I sent them straight over to see the wonderful bouncy tree that we have played on for the past two years.  It had been getting quite old and close to very unstable and alas, it was finally cut down.  Vita told me later what they had found, how they had walked all over it and explored and then, moved on.

Straight away Puma went to find Trilly Trully and Trippy Troppy but he could not find them!!  And then, later on, Devin finally did!

As we were getting ready for circle I came upon Puma and Austen harming a Ca. Newt to the point where I truly thought it was dead as it lay on it’s back motionless.  Of course, my first reaction was great startlement and disapproval. However, I knew that would do no good so, I said “Something happened?”  “Curious about something huh?”  I then shared what I saw from each one of them and that these are our relatives… and such.  I did state that we are not here to scare but to share and now they must make right what was done wrong. So they began to dig a hole to bury this gentle soul.  At some point, I asked them to stand up and look down at the Newt. Oh my they are soooo tall, and the Newt is sooo small. Then I invited them to look up at the very tall tree standing behind them and what would it be like if it had great arms to pick them up and then DROP them down upon the earth? Oh dear, that would not feel so very good so, back to tending to what is a good and kind thing to do for our little friend. As we were about to bury it, I picked it up and alas, it moved a little!!  It was NOT dead, it only appeared. The age-old trick of playing dead in order for your predator to leave you be took place right in front of our eyes.  I took care of it from there and they went to circle.  Though the description may not give the feel for the moment it was more of a gentle and clear moment of tending to our actions without judgment.  Ahhh, this feels so much better than anger!!

At circle we sang our songs, heard our birthday story, sang our birthday song, made wishes for Devin, he got his gift with a great big smile and then, he passed out his VERY yummy snack for us all to eat with thanksgiving.  And oh yes, the weather watcher, Austin thought that it would not rain but Vita and Avaline thought it would so, during the last part of the day when the clouds got very dark and the sky very gray Avaline said: “Austin, Look!”  As it was his job to keep looking at the sky and letting us know if it was going to rain.  We did get about 4 drops.

After circle and some great games, we packed up and made our way to a spot we have not been to in awhile.  They followed the verbal clues of our map and up the steps we went. We looked for the Duck and her ducklings yet did not see them so we walked along the ridgetop. Close to the end we saw one lone turtle swimming in the water. Avaline noticed that there was a space where the Duck and ducklings could get through. Last Thursday we saw the Mommy Duck hop up and over the big black tube in the water and her ducklings try and try. They could not.  Vita and Avaline thought that maybe they just grew bigger and were able to get over until we got to this open area.

We made it to our sunny spot and there they had the best time for the rest of the day exploring, being Mommy, Daddy, brother, sister and Devin THE DOG!!!  He LOVED this but he only loved Vita because ” She found me and I am pretending to like her” So he was pretending to like her in the game as a dog but the way it came out, well, pretty funny!  They all loved chasing him around and he barking all the way.  A Red WiBlackbirdird was very brave and kept coming around us and working at getting crumbs left from lunch.  Most agreed it was a strange name as the red was really orange.  We agreed with them.

There was Tulle there so I began making a little boat from it. They helped gather all of the materials, Ruby brought the first gift to weave into it. They all finally added their gifts as I finished the boat. At the end of the day, we all put our wishes, hopes and dreams from our hearts into the boat and then we sent it to sail out on the Lake.  From there we packed up and had a lovely walk home.

I was in the rear with Avaline and Vita and when we got back to the bus, WHERE WAS EVERYONE???  Oh dear, there were lot’s of ROCKS in the bus!!  From there the ride home was so sweet. Ruby and I sang and hummed a song for awhile then we sang, as we so often do a gentle call and response and they were so very still listening. Then Ruby created this wonder filled song story about these special rocks all the way back to the park.

Today was such a very, very beautiful day.  There is a gentleness in the group and an awareness that we have few days together.  Their five year oldness is showing up so strongly in their play as they really are playing together quite cohesively!  So touching, so fun, so delightful.