michaelmas

yesterday we celebrated michaelmas! as a budding waldorf community, this special day marked a significant point in our growth. this was our third michaelmas together! we started holding community wide festivals with michaelmas as our first and so with this season we begin a new year of celebrations together!

the children weaved fairy looms and wet felted comet balls.

there was a lovely waldorf style puppet show with marionette puppets! i was so impressed with what these beautiful friends were able to pull off in such a short preparation time. now that we have such a professional puppet crew, i look forward to more shows in the future. ;)the skies opened up and a great thunderstorm rumbled overhead as we were gathered under this shelter for the show. this dragon was made for the first michaelmas. there was some controversy over whether or not the dragon should be present again as he is quite large and most of our children are quite young. when the vote was made to have him make an appearance we had no idea we would end up huddled in a rather small space with sheets of rain falling around us and thunder cracking overhead! it certainly added to the intensity for some of the wee littles which is unfortunate. i enjoyed his show though, especially knowing that matt was under there (as he was for the first michaelmas, too)!as has happened with several of our festivals now, the rains parted and the children proceeded in merriment splashing and running through puddles. it brings back so many memories for me as i loved to lay in mud puddles and roll around when i was young. it was always by myself though and i feel blessed that my children have a whole tribe to have these adventures with.mother earth snuggled sienna warmly.

the cider press is a staple of michaelmas for us and mr crowe is the cider master. such a fascinating bit of machinery and such a rewarding process for the children. not to mention the delicious cider to drink!

my sad little camera never captures the day as i wish it to....some day i will have the camera i long for. until then, i send you to my dear friends' blogs to see a much lovelier representation of the days festivities. both moment to moment and golden sun family have posts up from yesterdays celebration. if you consider that matt is inside the dragon (sounds grim, eh?), you can spot my whole family in their photos.

i can say that autumn is officially here. just two days ago it was in the 90s and the trademark colors of fall were missing from the branches around us. with that downpour that started at michaelmas, the rain has continued off and on and the temperatures have cooled down considerably. our yard is now speckled with the dappled yellow leaves of the great maple tree just outside our door.

welcome autumn! we are so glad to see you!