Lantern Walk

Last night Nora Lee and I met our friends at Topanga beach and went for a lantern walk. The purpose of the lantern walk is to welcome autumn and to carry your light through the dark, symbolizing that even though the world gets darker in fall and winter, we still have our own light within us that we can nurture and share with others. The beautiful thing about flame is that you can share it indefinitely with others without depleting your own.

Last week we all made our paper mache lanterns using blown up balloons and colorful tissue paper. Nora Lee and I practiced walking with our lanterns in Matt's cave where is gets completely dark.

Last night we met around 6pm at the beach. It was the hottest day in history in some parts of Los Angeles. When I got in the car at 5pm to drive to the beach, my thermometer for the outside said 113 degrees! It was about 90 degrees at the beach when we arrived and it stayed warm throughout our evening.

When we arrived, Nora headed straight for the water to play in the tide pools and more importantly, the mud. She was wearing a beautiful princess dress which was covered in mud quite quickly. The kids played for about two hours as we watched the sunset and enjoyed the beach. As it got dark, we lit the lanterns and walked the beach while singing. One of the songs we sang was a new one to me. It went like this.

Burn little candle
Burn so bright.
Show to us your flickering light.
Turn the darkness into day
and slowly melt away.

We sang this in rounds and Nora Lee LOVED it! It was a beautiful evening.