Day 104 of the pandacademic year looked to be a very lightly attended one. One Learner would be out the rest of the week from one cell for a family commitment, three others would be out from the other cell for a variety of reasons to include recovering from the Flying Squad day, four Learners are remote this cycle, and I would be out on the day so that I could get my second Covid-19 vaccination shot! But before I left I shot down to the drop-off point to meet up with Facilitator Ariel before the Learners arrived so I could hand the hot spot off to him. While we were there we filmed the first daily daily Instagram update with two Facilitators. All cycle I had been doing a quick check-in video and it was nice to be able to have another face in the video.
Facilitator Ariel then ran out to a local gas station to get some coffee and then returned to the drop-off spot to wait for the Learners. He, like those who would show up, were in a good mood but physically tired after the high energy, high mileage day of walking around North and South Lamar, the day before. Sensing the low energy from the Learners, Facilitator Ariel asked the Learners what bothered them most. Two Learners said their legs felt tight and pointed to the area behind their knee and the backside of their upper leg. Facilitator Ariel said, “well that’s your hamstring” and led them in hamstring stretches.
Facilitator Ariel then hosted the morning meeting where everyone shared their intentions for the day: fishing for the Learners, writing and editing footage for Facilitator Ariel. After a relocation of the group to the lake so that everyone could take it easy, Facilitator Ariel jumped on the remote call. During the call one of the Learners said that she can’t wait to come back in person because it seems like in-person is having lots of fun. They then moved onto other forward looking interest and goals and that same Learner said that she was moving the publish date for her book up to April! Facilitator Ariel had planned to write the blog post for day 103, that day, so the two of them got into a nice conversation about writing.
Over at the other cell, the Learners were split over where they wanted to hang out that day. The were deadlocked between the “cave” and the “apartment complex.” They’ve given interesting names to the various places that they like to spend time at. They then decided they would split the day, starting out at the apartment complex and then moving to the cave. (They ended up enjoying the apartment complex and stayed their all day).
During their move toward the apartment complex, one of the Learners asked about a plant and Facilitator Lauren told him that it was wood sorrel and that it was edible! The Learner tried it and loved it! He continued to munch away on it while she told him why wild plants are so nutrient dense and how adaptogens work. The other Learner claimed another wood sorrel patch and joined in on the munch party.
In the afternoon one of the Learners asked Facilitator Lauren for a story. With a captivated (not captive) audience, she told two stories: “Coyote and the Rock,” and “Coyote and Horn Toad.” Afterward, one of the Learners asked if they could paint, so Facilitator Lauren broke out some watercolors and the Learner got lost in his creation.
What a day to be fishing
At the end of the day Facilitator Lauren asked for her iPad back, and the Learner who had been using it said that he had accidentally left it in the woods. Facilitator Lauren said that they would go back together to retrieve it, but the Learner said he was afraid to go get it because some people were out there and “one of them is a loud scary woman,” who they’ve heard hollering up there before. When they got close to the spot where the iPad was, Facilitator Lauren let the Learners stand back so they did not have to interact with the woman. The woman saw Facilitator Lauren and began to harass her for wearing a mask in nature. Instead of trying to educate the woman on how how the virus is transmitted, common courtesy, or the value of solidarity within society, she retrieved the iPad and left.
Thrilled to be vaxxed!
Back at the other cell there was no problem with people they came across. While fewer people have been wearing masks when congregating with others since the governor prematurely removed the mask mandate, everyone we’ve come into contact with at least gives distance to those who are wearing masks. They had a “lovely relaxing day,” according to Facilitator Ariel. He finished his first ever Abrome blog post, much fishing was had, and two of the remote Learners said they were excited to be in-person next cycle. And I did get my second shot of the Covid-19 vaccine (Moderna). The other two Facilitators have their second shot scheduled in early April. It was truly a low energy, high impact day at Abrome.