spring fair

On Thursday we joined our school community and celebrated Spring. The day held close a gentle rhythm as we crafted with the children making felt caterpillars, paper butterflies and beeswax flowers, we then listened as they sang and joined them as we all shared a feast. In the Kindergarten area, the kindergartens paid particular delight in showing everyone the little swallow nest above the table, where they have their lunch, a nest complete with chirping baby birds and mamma and pappa swallow providing them swiftly with tasty morsels.

We followed the children to the Maypole where the rest of the school gathered. Kindergarten 'opened' the maypole with a shower of petals and then sang and danced, much to the obvious delight of everyone. To me the sound of so many sweet, little, earnest voices singing together, made my heart do a little dance of joy.

The higher years then did a variety of maypole dances, with the configurations getting increasingly difficult. It was lovely sitting back in the shade on a grassy hill watching the children dance around with garlands in their hair and laugh as they made mistakes, became entangled and untangled and in some cases struggle as they tried to maintain their status of 'cool'.

As, I am sure, with most school events, I love the way that children hold so much reverence to the event at hand. It is beautiful seeing them hold themselves a bit differently, walk with intent and watch in awe. Poe and Ilo (and Scott and myself) were singing the songs well into the evening and the next few days.

Poe with his good friend, Izzy, she is pretty great. 

Today we drove out to Mylestom for a 4 year old's party. As we headed out Ilo noticed a calf, quite small lying next to it's mum, he yelled out delighted, we then noticed more and more calves, all over the place it was then I realised that over the last couple of weeks we have been noticing lambs, calves, foals and chicks galore, ah yes, Spring, that's right, animals being born. So this is Spring in the country.