Wednesday Marin Tender Tracks Day 7, Jan. 11, 2012

Waxing Crescent Moon
Sorrich Ranch park

Leo was not able to be with us due to some mishaps and I am so sad about that.  He was missed.  This was such a beautiful day with the Sun as warm again as a fine Spring day.  We had much to do: paint the bus and stuff pillows with Cattail down.  I left the thread at home so sewing will take place next week for the children that wanted to sew their pillows with me. Others wanted to take them home and sew them with their families.  PLEASE do not wash these pillows unless you are interested in making a fine experiment,which could be quite fun too!!!

The children came excited for the day yet Benny seemed a little tired and he was sensitive and easily upset a good part of the day.  Quite workable yet tender.   However, today, there was more group unity and wholeness than I have felt before.  Benny and Lenny still had struggles over who was going to have a turn with this or that but when given an opportunity to decide if they really wanted to work things out with defensive postures or more respect one to the other, they chose the later.

When we got to the park they went straight to the big rock there to eat lunch.  Sidona said she already ate and the rest just ate straight up while I told the begged for story, The Gunny Wolf. This right now is a favorite of Sidona’s yet they all, accept Bodhi, request it as well.  After that there were those who had to pee, then playing up and down on the rock and then……PAINT THE BUS!!!
They really enjoyed getting their hands in the paint and finding all the places to put their marks, colors and creations.  Then they stood back to see their beautiful work.  A very unifying event.   After that we cleaned up and Lenny really wanted to go to the swings and the others really wanted to stuff their pillows so, after having a very fun time together putting sun screen on, we packed up everything, picked out which pillow cases they wanted for themselves and walked the short yet harder way up to the swings.    They made it.  Benny and Lenny went straight to the swings and the other three went straight to stuffing their pillows.  It didnt’ take long for Benny and Lenny to come down and join the party.   After the pillows were stuffed Sidona went and climbed high up in the tree nearest to us.  Simone wanted to climb up but didn’t make it as far yet still had fun.  Benny and Lenny figured out how to take turns with ease on the swing up above and Bodhi and I were having fun climbing rocks and finding treasures. There was a change of places and then Lenny and Benny went to the higher tree.  Simone and Sidona then figured out how to take turns. When it was Simones turn Sidona climbed up on the higher tree with the rest of us and Simone was singing the greatest songs while she was swinging, in full voice.  I thought it was BEAUTIFUL and so alive, authentic and organic!!!!  What a treat.   Bodhi found a great Buckeye under this Buckeye tree that we were under and the rest wanted to find some too.  Actually, he and Simone found a lot of Soap root on our walk up that the others were really interested in.  Then Bodhi found some rocks and I wanted to see what he was up to so he and I began to gather and then I began to make some stone knives.  Lenny really liked this.  He, Sidona and I were together while I was making these and I cut some rope to show them how sharp the stone knife can actually get.  Then he and Benny were really working on these tools for awhile.  Sidona, Simone and Bodhi thought it would be REALLY fun to “play a trick on me” when it was time to go and I just couldn’t find them anywhere!!! ( ok I really DID know where they were but, oh dear, maybe not!!)  And then, what were those sounds coming from behind the rock?  Surprise!!! they were there all along.

Trying to leave was a bit hard because they really were having a good time but alas, we had to.  The climb down was fun as Bodhi was trying to carry all of these soap root husks and Simone really wanted more Soap Root and her pillow to carry and a stick and…… Sidona didn’t want to put her shoes on or really she just wanted to stay a little longer and then there were some very cute dogs we saw as we were leaving and, oh dear, just too much fun.  And so that was how our day went, quite nice….