My spot has not changed at all since last session. Everything appears to be the same, there is some displacement of some sticks and bushes up farther along the tree line, but my spot appears untouched. The weather has changed, and the ground is a bit softer, but it is still hard. It was definitely not the right decision to wear my heels because the ground in uneven and the hard ground makes missteps occur often.

Over the course of the semester my spot has changed greatly. At the beginning of the semester the forest was teeming with life, there was just enough rain to make the ground soft. All of the trees had lots of foliage and it was extremely nice. Now there is no foliage, none of the flowers are blooming (they are all dead). The tree line looks like a messy stick pile to me now, rather than a beautiful lush space with lots of different plants.

The weather was cold and windy. There were a few clouds, but not enough to cover much. It was bright when I got out there, but by the time I was wrapping up it was getting darker and the sun had almost set. I heard some light scuffling just inside the tree line along the ground, for my sanity I am assuming that it was a squirrel and anything scary. I heard so many cars this time, I’m not sure why so many people went out early on a Thursday afternoon, but they did, and they were not driving very slow along the road towards the East lot. One person honked their horn and scared the living daylights out of me, I was not a fan of that. Other than the cars and the light scuffling nothing happened at my sit-spot.

This experience has been a roller coaster. It started out slow and steady with the first two blog posts, then on the third there was the large hill, then we plummeted down the hill during the fourth and fifth and by this time we are finally pulling back into the loading dock. There have been parts that I enjoyed, such as just being outside in nature, and parts that I did not, such as seeing the snake and being out there at night. It has made me a bit more comfortable in nature, but not much because I am such a scardey cat that if a leaf were to fall it would scare the living daylights out of me. I learned that I am one to leave if anything feels out of place or I feel like I am intruding on wildlife space, which is definitely not my case with people.

The coolest thing that I experienced was the butterfly encounter during my second sit-spot. This was a wonderful experience to me because they remind me of my great grandmother. I remember calling my mom crying after the experience because leading up to it I had felt very out of place and alone, and having this experience made me feel so much better.

The bush from the first sit-spot on the left and current on the right.

The goldenrod from the first blog post on the left and current on the right.

The tree from the first blog post on the left and current on the right.