February 20 – 24, 2012

This week in our Monday morning circle, we practiced a Persian welcoming poem for Carnival.

In the afternoon, some people decorated the house and others stayed in the dining room and sang songs with Forrest.

On Tuesday morning at 10:30, we started our Carnival celebration. This year’s theme was Persia. Sean dressed up as an airplane pilot and flew us to Persia (Iran). Once we arrived we went into our Persian tent (the big room) which was decorated with Persian carpets, curtains, pipes, drawings and gold lions.
After that we said our welcoming poem:
‘Come, Come whoever you are
worshipper, wonderer, lover of living.
It doesn’t matter who you are.”

Abegael tells us Persian stories

Then Patricia and Abegael recited some poems and told us about some of the great Persian people like Cyrus and Zarathustra. Abegael told us a story about the Chick Pea. Then Ruth T. organized a chick pea spoon race, followed by musical pillows and a dart throwing game. Manijeh, Mina and friends performed some Persian dances. Then we all joined in. It was such fun. Our morning ended with the Persian ladies singing their national anthem.

Wonderful playing and singing

During lunch time we ate chick pea soup which was specially made for us by the Persian ladies. After lunch we all gathered into the big room and Dr. Jacques played his guitar and sang Persian songs. After that Jeff did a Persian dance and then we had more stories and more dancing. We would like to thank the Persian ladies, Manijeh, Mina, and friends for teaching us about Persian culture, decorating, and providing us with their delicious home made soup.
On Wednesday morning, the farm group went to the farm and everybody else stayed back and worked in their workshops. In the afternoon, we broke into three groups – one group did painting, the second group did clay and the last group went for a walk.

This week in our Thursday morning college, Monique did a review of all of the things that we have learned about Iran and she asked us to remember our Carnival.
After a short break, we went to Sophia house and practiced the bells for our spring concert. In the afternoon we all sat in the dining room and sang songs.

Friday morning, the garden group worked in the basket workshop clipping greenery and twigs. In the afternoon, we started to rehearse for our next fairy tale ‘Hansel and Gretel’. Then, Ruth read and explained the story to us. We watched Monique act as the witch. This play will be performed on November 29th 2012.

February 13 – 17, 2012

This week in our Monday morning circle, Fred announced that he placed third in a swimming competition. Also during our news report Sean announced that Whitney Houston passed away on Sunday, February 12th. Then Cely told us about her trip to the Philippines.

After a short break everybody worked in his or her workshops.
In the afternoon, we all went to Summerhill where Hanna taught us polka steps.

On Valentine’s day, Wes dressed up as Cupid and handed out Valentine cards. Then we ate sweets. After that, everybody worked in their workshops.

After lunch we broke into our painting, clay and eurythmy groups.

On Wednesday morning, the farm group, Joe, Brian, Arash, Linda, Steven H. and John went to the C-dar farm in Squamish. Everybody else worked in their workshops.
After lunch, we broke into two groups. The first group did reading and writing with Sebastian and the second group did painting with Daniel, Hanna and Gundula.

This week in our Thursday morning college, Manijeh taught us some new words like I (Man), You (Shom) and He, She and it (OO). After that she reviewed the words that we have been practicing for the last couple of weeks. Then we danced to Persian music.

After a short break, we went to Sophia house and we practiced the bells for our spring concert. Meanwhile, back at the centre, Gundula worked on drawing roses with the rest of the companions.
In the afternoon, Monique’s novel group read ‘Peter Pan’ and John did clay with his group.

Friday morning, we sang the Camphill ‘Happy Birthday’ song to William and then we worked in our workshops. After lunch we ate Chocolate cake which was brought by William’s mother. Then we sang the traditional Happy Birthday song. After that some went swimming and everybody else stayed back and did singing with Forrest.

February 6-10, 2012

This week in our Monday morning circle, we sang Happy Birthday to Steven C. Then Ruth told us that Alexander the Great was born on the same day.
After a short break Gundula, Jule, John, Sherrene and myself went to the willow patch and we sorted the willows into different sizes.

Meanwhile back at the centre everybody worked in his or her workshops.
For dour of the days, Jade worked with her weaving group and Monique and Sebastian worked with their group making candles.

On Monday afternoon a group went to Summerhill where Ida taught us a new dance. Another group went for a walk to the park.

On Tuesday morning, Forrest led us in singing our spring songs. Also Ruth T.taught Arash how to play the lyre.

After lunch, we broke into our groups. One group did painting with Daniel and Hanna, another group did clay with John and Martha B. The third group went for a walk around the track.

Wednesday morning, the farm group went to C-Dar farm and everybody else stayed back and worked in their workshops.
In the afternoon, one group did painting with Gundula, Sean, Hanna and Daniel. The other group did reading and writing with Sebastian.

This week in our Thursday morning college we had another Farsi lesson in preparation for Carnival. Manijeh taught us how to say day and night. The word for day is rooz and night is shab.She also taught us how to count. After that she showed us how to write our names in Farsi and then she sang her National Anthem.

After her lesson, Ruth T., Manijeh and Monique met with us to plan our week’s preparation for Carnival. We’ve already made posters so on Monday, the 20th we will start decorating the house and on Tuesday,the 21st our Carnival will start at 10:30 am and end at 2:30 pm. During Carnival we will have Persian food, poems, dances and songs.

After a short break we went to Sophia house and practiced our bell playing for our spring concert. In the afternoon, John did clay with his group and Monique read a novel with her group.

During Friday morning circle, Charlotte read to us the Soul Calendar verse for this week and Ruth T.led some people did movement to it. Then everyone worked in their workshops and in the afternoon, Forrest did singing at the centre while some went swimming at the pool.

 

January 30 – February 2, 2012

This week in our Monday morning circle Aiden announced that he got second place in basketball over the weekend. Also in the morning, Ruth T., John and Michael P. went across town to cut willows.

After lunch, we went to Summerhill and practiced our Tango steps.

On Tuesday morning, Ruth T. told us that she is thinking about putting on a play called “The Good Friday Play”. This play is about twelve disabled people with different challenges.
In the afternoon we broke into our groups and one group did painting with Daniel and Hanna. Another group did clay with John and Martha B. and the last group did eurythmy with Ruth T.

Wednesday morning, we sang Happy Birthday to Marietta. The farm group went to the Waldorf School to help them tidy up the grounds and sidewalk for their upcoming Open House. Everybody else at Cascadia worked in their workshops. In the afternoon, one group did painting with Sean, Sebastian and Gundula. Another group did reading and writing with Jule.

This week in our Thursday morning college, we were introduced to Melody, a visitor from Wisconsin. Then Manijeh started her lesson about Iran.
She gave us a test on the words that we learned last week. After that she taught us the alphabet in Farsi. We learned that they don’t have the letter P.
She taught us new words like: Daddy (Baba), Hand (Dast), Leg (Pa), Hair (Mu), Face (Surat) and other words like ear, nose, mouth, teeth. Also we started to learn an Iranian dance. We are getting prepared for our Carnival on February 21, which will be about everything Persian.

After a short break we went to Sophia house and practiced for our spring concert. The concert will be at Summerhill and then we will walk from Summerhill to Cascadia where we will celebrate Cascadia’s 12th birthday.
In the afternoon, we gathered in to the back yard and celebrated Candlemas Then Michael told us that the ground hog didn’t see his shadow this year so spring is going to come early. Also he talked about the earth and the light coming from the earth.

Friday morning everybody worked in their workshop. In the afternoon, a group went swimming and everyone else stayed back and sang with Forrest.