My sit-spot!
Sit-spot sketch
Emmaline’s Sit-Spot: Blog 1- 9/6/2020, 8:20-9:40am
My sit spot lay under the canopy of a billowing tree that’s leaves, arching up and over to form a giant umbrella, almost touch the ground, perhaps five feet shy. When I was first looking for my sit-spot, It was early morning, and the sun was just peaking over the top of the hill enough for light to shine through the trees canopy, as I was walking towards it in wonder; seeing that, I knew this was to be my sit-spot. The tree itself, or the trunk, is grey and has bark like string cheese, in that, it feels as if you could pull it off in strips. Most of the branches on the tree appear dead, are snarled, wrapped around each other, and are broken off. Yet coming off the end of them are these beautiful full and rich green leaves, shaped like tear drops. Around the tree, forming a circle following the canopy’s shadow, are hundreds upon thousands of small leafy plants that at first glance appear as clover, but really, are not. And right around where I sit is a mix of these clover-like plants, balled up dirt, and many other species of plants with holes missing in their leaves from hungry insects. And as I came early in the morning, at 8:20am (as the day went on they slowly started to disappear), there were these little fluffy nat-like insects flying around everywhere in the rays of the rising sun, giving the appearance of this little under grove having it’s own little ecosystem. That is why I chose under the tree as my sit-spot, because it felt secluded, yet alive.
My experience during my stay at my sit-spot, was a lot of chatter and noise, but not from people. As it was early morning, there was, as I’m sure you can imagine, many birds singing their morning song. One in particular sounded like a baby bird crying for it’s mom, south-west of me, but it was more like an alarm, in that it came about every 3 seconds, on repeat, for the whole hour and twenty minutes I was there. There were also the sound of crickets, (much louder in the early morning, than the overpowering sound of cicadas mid-day) the occasional croak of a tree-frog, and some cawing crows that I got a glimpse of here-and-there. And chattering above me, in a reprimanding way, a grey squirrel with a flickering tail was clearly asking me what I was doing near it’s home. So truly, my experience was very lively. As for scent, when I first showed up and opened my senses, I smelled dew, cut grass, and wet earth, but after a time I could only smell the faint scent of manure from the horse barn I was near. For the sky, I could only see flashes of blue from underneath the false sky of the canopy. I did however feel a breeze carried by the chilly morning, especially felt by my scalp, thanks to conductor of wet hair.
The leafy ground
The experience, internally, was also very magical and peaceful, as my mind had been pretty turbulent that morning. So going and sitting under a beautiful tree for a time, was very zen and grounding. A moment that made me feel very appreciative that I am alive, and able to experience the morning, was when the sun finally came to a point where it was shining it’s rays right under the canopy. And appearing, like a kaleidoscope, was thousands of holes in a big leafed plant 4-5 feet south-east of me. With the sunlight streaming through all those tiny holes in the leaves, It almost looked like pure yellow paint was splattered over them. The experience was lovely, and exactly what I had needed.
For my first focused time in my sit-spot, I felt pretty good. It was early so there was no foot-traffic, and though chilly that particular morning, it was all the more lively and grounding. It was really nice to write about all that I saw and I was shocked when I checked the time to see I was already ten minutes over the time limit. It’s like meditation, but more of appreciating all that’s around you, and truly “seeing.” Despite the peace though, It was hard to shut my thoughts off, because, as I’ve said I was feeling a little turbulent that morning, but I think every time I do it, it will get easier.
The three objects I am going to follow, are the leaves on the canopy, the bark on the trunk of the tree, and a leafy plant that sits next to me and doesn’t have nearly as many eat marks in it than the other plants around. Is it preference to the insects living in that area? I am going to follow the leaves on the canopy, because I’m curious about their color change for fall, and I’m curious as to why they are so healthy despite the state of the trees branches. I am going to follow the bark on the tree, to see if it starts to peel or stay the same. And I am going to follow the leafy plant next to me, so see if insects start to take more of an interest in it, since the other plants are mostly eaten up.
Green teardrop-shaped leaves.
Grey peeling bark on tree.
Partly Eaten Leaves
I love the details of the leaf in your drawing!
Your post was so poetic! I loved your descriptions of each of your senses. As I was reading, it was as if I was sitting in your spot, taking in these details. Anyways, your spot is beautiful and I absolutely adore your drawings!
I really like reading your post because it was very descriptive and it gave me an idea of what you could see and hear. I also really like your drawing it seemed very descriptive and I thought that your drawing of the plants are also very descriptive and give me an idea of what the plants look like in person. You are also very descriptive about what you can hear and it seemed peaceful. I also really like the pictures that you took because they seemed interesting and help you see more of what your sit spot looks like.
Hi Emmaline! I absolutely adored reading about your sit-spot. I have seen your sit-spot (since it is near mine), and it is absolutely beautiful. You did a wonderful job at explaining specific things that you had seen. I really felt as if I had been sitting in your shoes imagining the environment around me. You included lots of thorough, descriptive analysis of your perspective, which assisted me in envisioning your sit-spot. I really appreciated the pictures as well, as your sit-spot seems very calming and peaceful.
I wonder if you could do some research of specific types of species/organisms your found and heard (which can be a great addition to your next sit-spot), to better imagine the birds and other organisms you may have heard.
I appreciated how you included lots of information about how you used your senses to develop a better understanding of your environment and to establish a closer relationship with nature (great connection to the Pinhook reading). I can’t wait to read more about your experiences at your sit-spot (as it seems quite different than my sit-spot, even though they are about 80 feet away).