September 30, 2019. 12:24pm

After only two weeks from my last sit-spot session, I was very surprised to see so many changes. My sit-spot is across the creek that runs on the west side of campus. After crossing the small bridge, the opening bordered by pedicured grass on one side and a wall of trees on the other is my sit-spot!

Going into my quiet observation, the weather overall was the opposite from before. With autumn on the rise, clouds have completely covered the sky; creating a grey overcast. Ever-so-slight breezes passed through, heading towards the North East. Now, despite these clear indications of fall, the air remains thick with moisture that clings to heat like velcro, forcing me to take off my jacket and expose myself to the chance of being eaten by mosquitos. What also caught my attention was the increased amount of leaves that have fallen when compared to before. This makes sense due to the transition into fall, but an odd connection I made was that these leaves seemed. to be more brittle than those seen about front quad or near the hill houses. Is that based on the kinds of trees the leaves came from? Is it human factors? Or maybe I am overthinking this haha!                

I did notice changes in my 3 chosen items from before: a nearby tree, a long (and I mean very long) blade of grass, and a small yellow flowering plant. First off, I had a difficult time locating the yellow flowers, until my eyes were caught by tiny flecks of gold. That was when I realized that, “yep, that’s it..”. It had lost the majority of its petals, which had happened to surrounding flowers. Another change I observed was with the blade of grass. It looked to have grown taller since my last visit, and had grown a tufted point. As for the tree I had chosen, it was also experiencing changes. It’s single low hanging limb was more bare with only a few scattered leaves about its extremities.

After my quiet observation, I took some time to walk about my sit-spot area. I honestly do not think that I would have taken time to do this if I was not instructed to, because the thought would likely not cross my mind. That is why I am glad that this was prompted. I decided to walk deeper into the the grassy plane, and I found many things that I would have not seen before. There were many different kinds of flowering plants. Also, I took notice in how the grasses covered the ground. Yes, there were some that stuck out, similarly to the one I observe, but the majority of the area looked as thought the grasses were squished into smooth waves that blanketed the earth below.

I soon returned to my sit-spot and took notice of the varied organisms around me. My favorite was definitely a gopher/groundhog(?) that went scurrying into the grasses, so fast that I did not have the chance to photograph it, let alone clearly identify it. After seeing it, I became more excited for what else I could possibly encounter. More fun things that I saw were monarch butterflies, that I assume were beginning their journey south for the winter. Some adaptations that they possess that ties in fall, would be their distinct coloring that can work as camouflage against orange leaves, or taking advantage of their colors to ward off predators. These adaptations were not very hard to think of, especially due to the many connections they share with the surrounding environment and other things I chose to observe.