Captivated in a world of play

So much has happened in the past few days!! I don't have a lot of free time, nor the energy during any extra half hour to update this. So I find that my list of things we have been doing is backed up pretty far.

Let's start with Friday; the reason I am here! Friday our first group of kids came to play in our play pockets. The Adventure Theater was a success, minus enthusiam from a child or two. But really I cannot say for those kids if they didn't enjoy the experience because perhaps they did. The first group did not have long enough to actually create or act a skit. The second group contained three gung-ho kids, two boys and girl. The girl had an incredibly imaginative mind and created all sorts of stories and a really cool "ant" type creature. The boys made bows and arrows and hunted down here creature in about 20 seconds and proceeded to smash it to pieces. The last group was filled with young girls who were shy and desired to be Indian queens and princesses. They didn't so much as act out characters or roles but I think they enjoyed holding royal staffs and wearing leaf crowns.

The other groups had some really cool things going on with a Bug City, a Fire Escape, a neat mud trampoline, and creating creature masks. Already we have re-grouped and have been conjuring up themes for this Friday's rendezvous in the woods.

I was pretty wiped by the end of Friday. Saturday we rose early to head to the waterside Farmer's Market. There were a lot of homemade crafts and a couple of produce stands. I imagined more people selling fresh shrimp and fish but that definitely was not the case. Still enjoyable. We walked back to the Guesthouse and prepared for the annual Crab Rodeo at Pea Island. Imagine a group of 12-15 college aged kids sitting along shallow, still water each latched to a piece of hemp string tied around a chicken neck. Kara used a plastic bag to "catch" the crabs as well pulled them out of the water and into the cooler. Eventually a car nearby let us borrow one of their nets. Overall we caught 8 big crabs, enough just for a taste. Some went wind surfing afterward, others to a lighthouse, and still more went to the kite flying at Jockey's Ridge. By the time the car with the cooler arrived to the house most of the crabs were dead and still some were dying. It ended as a fiasco and crabs were buried in the backyard.

Kite flying at Jockey's Ridge was phenomenal. We're not talking about tiny little kites you can make at home with tails and other weak sauces. These were HUGE!! There were squids, a whale, a scuba diver, and other various twirling and whirling kites.

Saturday night we ended with live music at a local, and very tiny, bar. There was barely room to fit our group comfortably plus a handful of locals. But we made it work, we are all proving to be comfortable near each other. Terry and Will met a man that takes sunset tours out on a sailboat and promised to take us Sunday night...for no cost!! We rode with other tour folk (several tipsy older couples) and it was one of the most relaxing experiences I've had. Smoke from the smoldering fire surrounded us but it hazed the ugly picture of mansions and hotels along the shore around us.

Yesterday we began Week 2 with Phil Waters, a brilliant playworker for the Eden Project in the UK. Check it out!! They have the largest indoor rainforest and the biomes are all "bubble" shaped to conform with the landscape. We have a narrative that we have been following the last couple of days, dodging and guarding ourselves from a population of "Its" that take the form of anything! My name in "Courterfall" (Waterfall = Courtney) and my powers (inspired by a small piece of the obituary page) allow me to cremate the Its. We're all totally into the narrative and have spent the past couple of days building the most pimped out fort, villages for our Guard Its (just accept it) and beach sculpture.

I am learning so much in a single day between the seminars and interactive sessions! I hate not updating frequently enough that I can do more creative reflection of the things we have done rather than just trying to list all of the things that have been going on. I reflect in excess amounts but we do so much here that most of it comes out.

But however I leave with one thought that occurred to me earlier: When captivated by a moment, where you become completely involved with what is "in hand", you are playing. It doesn't matter if you are in a formal work setting, school, climbing (for me), or whatever else you are playing. And play is a keystone for happiness. Do the things you love. It makes waking up each morning fun.

Status: Still a blast!!