Dear Friends,

         Blessed Spring to you!  As I write this I am on my way to Hawaii and feel as if I am going far, far away - my first time there!  We are offering four workshops on four islands to explore the possibility of starting a training there.  This means I will be in Hawaii on, or near, the first day of Spring!  Will there be spring mud in Hawaii?  I don't know.  But I do know that there are parts of Hawaii that have red soil like the red soil I grew up with and that my sons grew up with in Oklahoma when they were young.  We even have "Red Dirt" tee shirts for sale in our gift shops!  It dyes whatever it penetrates.

         So what do you think about Spring?  Is it the season that calls forth fanciful thoughts of flowers, bees, gardening, new life?  Or does it represent for you a difficult transition that begins with slogging through all the wet, the wind, the mud, the unpredictable temperatures?  Funny how these two experiences belong together.

         It reminds me of a conversation I had several weeks ago with one of our current LifeWays students.  She inspired me when she began to describe her journey with her Living Arts daily and weekly chart.  She found that over the winter holidays her efforts to "stick to the schedule" became a weight, a joy-stealer, something she needed to loosen up a bit.  However, as the winter continued to unfold, she found she needed to reunite with her chart as it helped her family to regain their everyday life footing.  We spoke about the dual nature of the word anchor.  On the one hand, the chart had begun to feel like the kind of anchor that binds and restricts movement.  On the other hand, it served as the kind of anchor that helped to keep her from floating away into growing chaos.  She mentioned how grateful she was to have it to come back to after choosing to loosen up for awhile.  I was

         Today, the day I am writing, is the first day of Lent.  It makes sense to me as I grow older that one does not get to have Easter without first going through Lent.  It is the season of letting go, of adjusting to change, of feeling the weight of "I'm still not who I want to be" before coming to a sense of "I'm changing and growing".  It feels like the perfect time for Christopher Fry's prose from The Sleep of Prisoners:

 "The human heart can go the lengths of God.  

Dark and cold we may be, but this is no winter now.  

The frozen misery of centuries breaks, cracks, begins to move; 

The thunder is the thunder of the thaw, the flood, the upstart Spring. 

Thank God our time is now when wrong comes up to meet us everywhere,  Never to leave us till we take the longest stride of soul folk ever took.  

Affairs are now soul size.

The enterprise is exploration into God. 

Where are you making for?

It takes so many thousand years to wake.

But will you wake for pity's sake?"

When I first read this many years ago it felt heavy, even a bit depressing, to me.  Now, however, I see it filled with hope.  Through darkness we find ourselves seeking and drawn toward light, hopefully waking up.  My wish for you this Spring and this Easter is that you will embrace whatever may be burdensome and see that burden as the gravity you need from which to springboard toward levity.

        May you be blessed with at least one opportunity to enjoy a mud pie,  jump in a rain puddle, see a rainbow, observe the first flowers blooming, experience a grand thunderstorm, observe birds building their nests, and hear the quiet of a tree budding.

Blessings on your work and play, 

Cynthia

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We sit in the mud... and reach for the stars.                   -Ivan Turgenev

          Spring is Coming! Rain splatters against the back door and the sound of water creates a hush in the neighborhood. The grasses bend and tomorrow the slippery ground will be mushy and add its own movement to my steps.  I still remember the smell and silky feel of the mud that we found in the canal that bordered my friend's back yard, this was my favorite playground and I devoted countless hours to exploring this area.  Jars of pollywogs became marvelous rewards that we cared for and observed for days. 

           According to Rudolf Steiner, children learn through ALL their senses, the young child literally "drinks up" daily experiences and the environment. In retrospect I can see that these early experiences allowed me to learn to trust the information my senses communicated and to "know" things through my hands.  I'm convinced these early experiences contributed to the development of healthy creative abilities and respect for the mysteries and wonders of our world.  

           At the child care center, children stick out their tongues trying to catch raindrops, and who doesn't remember the joy of jumping into puddles and the smell of freshly rained on earth!  A very special friendship began on the playground as 2 Vietnamese speaking brothers, a 3 & 4 year old, became fast friends with a Spanish speaking 4 year old boy.  The joy of chasing and catching bees bonded these three for weeks as they marveled at the beauty and speed of our garden bees.  It was beautiful to witness their joy in being together and the way they organized their play without the benefit of a joint language.  Shinning bright eyes, smiles, their movement sense and excitement communicated all that was needed to fill many mornings.  Now the children have moved on to dig in the garden patch and sprouting wheat berries, which amazingly children love to munch on when they have had the opportunity to watch them grow.  To encourage parents and let them know that playing with Mother Nature is beneficial as well as enjoyable I put together a list of the wonders of playing with mud, this also explains why children are going home a bit "dirtier" than usual these days. 

1. Did you know that studies have shown dirt to be good for your brain? Apparently, there are types of bacteria that are naturally found in soil which activate the neurons that produce serotonin - a key chemical in many bodily functions, as well as a natural anti-depressant. In other words, dirt can actually help make you feel happy.

2. Dirt is also great for the immune system, especially in children.

  Research has shown that early exposure to the naturally occurring microbes in soil will help build stronger, more disease-resistant children.

3. Children who play outside laugh more, which means they're happy! Amazingly two physical benefits of laughter are lower blood pressure and stress levels.

5. Spring time brings everyone outdoors, children become more adventurous, more self-motivated, and they are better able to understand and assess risk...as in my example above with the bees, after a surprising sting the boys showed respectful reverence for the bees! 

           AND I remember mud was the treatment of choice for sting bites, my grandmother and mother relied on this during the spring and summer. 

There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.                                                                   

           -Carl Sandburg

Living just two hours away from Calistoga, I admit I must make a pilgrimage at least twice a year.  I take to the waters and the mud baths and feel renewed and enjoy what feels like new skin. I remind myself that I do this for health reasons also and take comfort in the thought that without enough exposure to different bacteria and microbes the immune system doesn't learn to recognize its own cells, and some research considers that this could be a reason for higher rates of asthma, eczema, and other diseases. Other interesting trivia about mud assert that the four main properties of mud are:

• Absorbing power  --Mud has a very high absorption capacity, due to its colloidal size particles, and it has good qualities as an antitoxic and decongestive.

• Cicatrizing action  --Due to its high aluminum silicate contents, it cicatrizes wounds, eczemas and other disturbances of the skin very quickly. This translates into less scaring and marks.

• Stimulating capacity  --Mud absorbs several types of radiation (solar, magnetism, radioactivity, etc). It may be released again, but at a lower frequency, resulting in a very concrete potential of organic stimulation, which influences the body vigor and metabolism, thereby invigorating the cells reconstruction and accelerating all the organic processes.

• Antimicrobial effect  --Its highly powerful absorption effect inactivates the microorganism action and such action seems to be strengthened by a natural antibiotic capacity of mud.

To welcome spring, children will perhaps make mud pies, create sculptures and architecture  and perhaps a good barefoot walk in the warm, health giving mud is in order...I'm sure it will surprise the children so see teachers enjoying this too. 

   I made all my generals out of mud.

                                -Napoleon Bonaparte

          "Laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing, comes the springtime over the hills. O-over the hills comes the springtime ha, ha, ha, laughing over the hills."  The birds are singing and wearing their fanciest feathers.  The fruit and nut trees are blooming with lovely colors from a vibrant fuchsia to a delicate ivory.  There is a new shaggy calf in the lush green pasture next door.  Excitedly, the children find tender green leaves peeking out of the earth where we planted over one hundred tulips in the autumn.  Spring is coming! 

          Here at the little red farmhouse playgarden, the children spend most of the day outdoors tuned in to the subtle changes of seasons in Sonoma County.  They scarcely miss any newly opened flower, mushroom, moss or fallen branch on our daily walk to feed the animals in the pasture next door.  About the distance of a football field and down a little hill, our daily walk (the same each day) is full of magical new discoveries.  In the pasture next door a handful of shaggy highland cows, wooly sheep, horses and one very old and friendly goat greet the children as they offer carrots and a song.  On the way back we sing, some children run 

across the whole the meadow and some hold my hand and walk.  We open the back gate together and pick a few things from the garden that they planted themselves.  Even in the middle of winter, there is always something to find to add to our meal or a sprig of herbs for our water.  The wonder, beauty and simplicity of nature has everything and more that I could ever wish to provide in an early childhood setting.  But how did this playgarden come to be?

        One way that we mark the Easter season is by baking hot cross buns with the families in our parent-child program as well as with our own young ones at home. 

         On Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, we mix a large bowl of dough and the kitchen fills with the aroma of cinnamon and cardamom.  With our parent-child groups we mix the dough ahead of time since it requires several risings so we can go right to the work of shaping.  All hands, big and small, go to work shaping the dough into round buns.  What fun to roll and squeeze and squash it and then shape it lovingly into buns.  While they rise/bake we may play a little hand clapping game together using the old traditional rhyme/tune:

Hot (both hands clap lap)

Cross (both hands cross in front to touch own shoulders)

Buns (clap both hands with your partner across from you), 

Hot Cross Buns (repeat gestures again), 

One a penny (Hold up 1 finger) Two a penny (Hold up 2 fingers),

Hot Cross Buns!  (Same gestures as first line!) 

(With younger children, one can simply hold their hands and clap them together with yours, crossing on the words "cross")

We might also share this simple tale:

          Once upon a time, Brother John, a kind and gentle monk, was getting

 ready for Easter.  The people in the town were poor and hungry for they had no food.  Brother John was a fine baker and he longed to help the people of the village.  So it was that he set about baking buns to feed them.  (Gesture the kneading of dough and hum the tune "Hot Cross Buns", the children often hum along).  When the buns were baked, he decorated each one with a cross of sweet icing.  (Gesture crossing pointer fingers one over the other slowly saying, "criss-cross, criss-cross, criss-cross") On Friday, Brother John took the buns into the village and delivered them to the people.  With each bun he shared he said, "Half for you and half for me, between us two shall goodwill be!" (Repeat this several times with gesture of giving with hands).  And with that the people smiled and thanked him (Smile and nod) and from then on every year people baked the "hot cross buns" and shared them as a symbol of friendship and blessing.   (Close by singing together the Hot Cross Buns song). 

           Finally, we fill baggies with icing and snip off the end and put crosses on the buns.  Families then take some home to share with loved ones.  We may also take a journey to deliver them to neighbors. 

Recipe:

 1 cup milk                                                       1 egg yolk

½ c sugar (or honey)                                      1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ c shortening                                                ½ teaspoon cardamom

2 teaspoons salt                                              2 cups whole wheat flour

¼ cup warm water                                          2 ½ cups white flour

2 packages active dry yeast                            1 cup currants (optional)

1 egg                                                               3 tablespoons butter or shortening, melted                                                                  

1. Scald milk;stir in sugar, shortening and salt.
2. Cool liquid to lukewarm.
3. Measure warm water into large warm bowl, sprinkle in yeast.
4. Let stand about 5 minutes, then stir until dissolved.
5. Add lukewarm milk mixture, egg, egg yolk, cinnamon, and cardamom; beat in about 1 ½ cups flour.
6. Stir in additional flour to make a soft dough.
7. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface, knead until smooth.
8. Shape into ball, place in greased bowl and let rise in warm place until doubled,1-2 hours.
9. Punch down and knead in currants.
10. Divide into 16 portions and roll into balls/buns.
11. Arrange on greased baking sheet;cover and let rise again.
12. Bake in preheated oven 350 20-25 minutes or until golden.
13. Remove from baking sheets; brush with melted butter.
14. Cool slightly; decorate tops with crosses made with icing of:  (¼ cup coconut oil, ¼ c. honey, 1 tsp, vanilla extract, 2 T. rice milk, 2/3 cup "Better Than Milk" Rice Powder.  Or you can use a traditional icing of:  1 c confectioners sugar, ¼ t. salt, ½ t. vanilla extract, 1 ½ T. water).  

These are so popular, I usually double or even triple this recipe!  I have a gluten-dairy-free version as well as a quick brown bread recipe that can work for buns with just one rising if you are short on time! If you are lucky enoughto let the children collect the eggs for this recipe, please do!  Contact me at laura@blossomfamilycenter.org  for those versions.  Enjoy!

Submitted by Laura Olson, Austin, TX 

Columbus, Ohio

 Looking for Graduate Credits in Professional Development?

In the Ohio LifeWays Early Childhood Training to begin June 19-25 in Columbus, each week of training may qualify for 3 semester hours of graduate credits through Ashland University. Meg Freeling will guide this process and can be reached at Megfree@aol.com. Ashland is well respected and these credits may transfer to other colleges and universities.

For more information on the training or to enroll, contact Susan Silverio, spindlewoodmaine@gmail.com.  

Lifeways Austin coming in June 2011! 

Submitted by Laura Olson, Austin, TX

We are pleased to announce the beginning of Lifeways training in Austin, TX this coming summer.  So far a group of 15 lovely individuals plan to participate and we welcome a few more! We are fortunate to have a talented teaching faculty assembling to support Cynthia Aldinger who will lead much of the core coursework this first training year.  We will offer a schedule that meets four times a year:  2 weeks in June, long weekends in November and March, another 2 weeks the following June.  I am also blessed to be assisted in the administrative realm by Melba Caldecleugh, long-time, gifted Waldorf kindergarten teacher and dear friend. 

After serving as Spanish teacher and grades school class teacher at the Austin Waldorf School, I left to begin my own parenting journey and now have four beautiful children ages 4-12.  For the past five years, I have devoted my energies to developing parent-child and early parenting programs as Director of Blossom Family Center.  During that time, I had several opportunities to participate in local Lifeways events and was truly inspired and delighted by what I experienced and by the dynamic teaching of Cynthia Aldinger.  I also had the fortune to work with Heather Lanier from California during my Spacial Dynamics training last summer and was convinced once more of how essential this work is.  So it is with great joy and gratitude that I enter into the position of Director for the Austin training.  

New Training Coming to Hawaii!!

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

California Coast LifeWays Training 2011 update

Our wonderful, enthusiastic class of 14 women have gathered several times each month since September to immerse themselves in the LifeWays curriculum. To our delight we have learned among other things many, many new songs from Andrea Alfonso-Gibbs, experienced hands-on home health care techniques with Trish McPhee R.N., explored brain development and developmental theorists with Joan Caldarera, knit, stitched and felted with Marianne Alsop and were blessed with the tranquility of Hill of the Hawk Farm in Big Sur for gardening, hiking, nature observation, woodworking, cooking and baking with Heather Lanier.

This session ends with graduation mid June and a new group of students will begin in late August. Applications, limited to 14, are now being accepted for the next session. Please see our information sheet for specific class dates and the application on the LifeWays web site under Training Centers. Any and all questions can be directed to Marianne Alsop alsop@sbcglobal.net