Tender Tracks Wed. Day 26

April 4, 2018
Waning Moon
Alpine Lake

What a very fun and delightful day.  The weather was kind, sweet and refreshing. We went to Alpine lake and discovered so much water, birds, Egrets, turtles, lots of Guardian/Poison Oak, the big rock to climb on and a pile of gray soft stuff to play with.  Now, there was the question of the day, what was that gray soft stuff anyway??  There was a big pile of gathered branches and leaves that had been there for quite a while and then it became a controlled burn.  The children did not put any of those pieces together and did not recognize what it was that they were enjoying.
These are the opportunities for tracking and learning to “read” the landscape and all the individual parts to put together in order to read the entire picture. And this is what reading is!!!! 🙂

We had our circle and I shared a story that I typically tell at the beginning of the year and then bring it back to this time of year.  It is a story about learning to listen to the animals for when we jump at them and try to catch them they just go away yet when we sit still they feel safer and come closer.                     So I told that and then, off we went to find turtles!

I threw out popcorn seeds along our trail and some of them helped me. We needed to lay a trail in order to find our way back. What fun it was to follow these kernels of popcorn coming and going!

When we got to the lake an unexpected thing happened. There were NO turtles!!  Usually, they are all lined up on this one log and when they hear/feel people coming they splash in the water and then come out one by one after a time when everyone has settled down in the area. That just never happened though !  🙁

No matter because the children went straight to playing on the “boat” there. Many of them climbed on the big log that looks like a boat and began to play. Others explored to the waters edge, while others took in the resting quality of the area.

We set up lunch so that we could watch the Turtles climb back onto the log but it just didn’t happen! So, and again, other adventures ensued.  The birds, egrets, Kingfishers, Turkey Vultures and more kept us company with songs and flights of beauty.

On the way back they all got quite excited to find and gather the popcorn kernels that were on the ground.  The Kernels were actually not as easy to see either.

When we were coming to this place there was a spot where the kernels ran out so, and oh dear, “How will we find the right path back???”  There was a great deal of looking at the paths as if we were walking back, really noticing the difference, checking out if we could see way far ahead for a landmark and way behind and many other directions and landmarks to consider. Therefore, by the time we were ready to go back, they all knew the exact trail to take in order to find our beloved Juniper Rose.