My Rainy Day Sit-Spot

Emmaline’s Blog 4 – 10/25/2020, 10:01-11:03am

I arrived at my sit-spot at 10:01 am in daytime, a time in which I have been at my sit-spot before, yet in different circumstances, as the weather today was vastly different.  I decided to come at this time of day because it was when I had finished getting ready that rainy Sunday morning. 

The weather that Sunday morning was great fun to have when going to my sit-spot and made for a great mood. Shall I describe it? The weather, today, believe it or not was rain (I’d believe it if I were you, as I’ve already mentioned this like three times and we’re only on the second paragraph). The lovely raindrops would hit my umbrella rhythmically and calmly as I focused in on my surroundings. My poor jean clad knee though, which had not much covering, was slowly becoming increasingly soaked. The sky was a glowing white-grey that reminded me that there was a sun above all the grey. The fog was thick and hard to differentiate from the clouds above, but on a particular mountain peak North-West of me, I could see distinctly. The rain itself was a drizzle that made me feel I was on the rolling fields of Ireland (I’ve never been but I was feeling particularly romantic). The temperature was balmy and in the fifties, Fahrenheit wise, which was quite nice yet a bit saddening. It was slightly dark outside which was really quite nice, not doom or gloom at all, as this is a matter of perspective. 

 Now sadly, the canopy I so often talk about, did not do much saving for me in staying dry (thank goodness for the umbrella) as many a rain drops were hitting me even being in the understory. The reason for this? Well, as I was walking peacefully towards my sit-spot, I noticed the canopy of leaves first. They were so thinned out! As well as mostly yellow. Coming in to sit down I saw not much of the forest floor, for there was a carpet of brown leaves, and a sprinkle of yellow scattered throughout. For the plants I could spot under the canopy, it was quite boring as they were not the most lively. They were all pretty much dead, taken by the few cold days we have had. The little clover-like leaves, however, were still healthy and kicking. It changed not even in color, this species in-which I note in every blog. 

One change, which was not natural, was a bird feeder someone stuck quite near my sit-spot. This brought about a bird that flew away as it saw me approach. I could not tell what it was, and did not capture many details, but from a wild guess as to its species, a chickadee? I also heard a few calls and chirps but had no sightings of them to put a sound to a face. One call was the same sharp alarm-like call I hear every time I come. Another came every 20 seconds or so, and started low-to-high in pitch, in quick successions. Another was lower croaking kind of chirp that I wish I could place the bird to, as I’d not heard it before. Other than that, all I heard for the majority of the time was the sound of different pitches of raindrops hitting different objects. A low drop sound as the rain hits a leaf. A higher, loud sound, from a raindrop hitting my umbrella. It was cool to try and differentiate. 

As for the three things I have chosen to follow throughout my sit-spot ecology journey, I have some bad news for one of them. But first, the tree bark!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.) The tree bark looked different in color, due to the rain darkening it’s outer layer. This seemed to be the only change, until I peered closer and noticed a big gouge in it that had not been therefore. Peaking underneath the gouge, was the orange/red underlay I So often see. Other than that, nothing had changed, that my eyes could see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.) The sad news now. The leafy plant I had chosen that had, had a bunch of bite holes in one leaf, yet barely any in the other, died. It’s stem is now brown, and hanging over, unable to support the weight of brown and green shriveled up leaves.  One part of the stem is turning black as well.

Thinning Canopy

3.) Last, the leaves of the canopy as I said previously, are much thinned out, as well as the majority is now yellow with few brown as those have fallen to the ground. The leaves up-close, look the same beside the slow death. 

All-in-all, this was my favorite sit-spot, and doing it in the rain was very pleasant as well as exiting, as the pages that should’ve been soaked allowed me to write in them, every detail I sensed.