Hana’s Blog Post #2

Date of journal entry: 09/30/19                                  Humidity: 71%                                 Temperature: 26 degree Celsius (Sunny clear sky)

Time of journal entry: 6:03 p.m.

I arrived at my sit spot after the slight drizzle of rain has stopped. After I made sure the sun was shining, I went to my sit spot and went through the steps, hoping I do better this time. I concentrated on my surrounding for about 15-20 minutes, observing as much as I could and paying attention to everything. My sit-spot used to be at the edge of a pond surrounded by rocks. I say “used to” now because all the water that was around the last time I was there has completely dried, leaving behind it a rocky ground-amazing!  There are four trees to my west and another one way back behind them, according to the campus I used on my tab at the end as I started writing. I used a tab because I couldn’t find an actual compass and I put my tab away after getting my bearings of course.  I realized the direction I was facing is west, to my right is north, to my left is south and behind me is south. There’s a cut tree trunk, still to the west (in front of me) but in front of that one tree (way back) I mentioned above. It must have been a big tree from the size of the trunk. There are many plants in front of me ranging from grasses to flowers. To the north are more plants and a bit further is a small bridge. To the south is also another bridge with a tree behind it which after getting up to go, I realized was dedicated to someone called Ann.

Most of the leaves around me are green but a plant to the north (to my right) has already started changing colors to reddish brown. It had most of it leaves intact, but I could see some have fallen. The fallen ones have turned brown and dried up. Again, a tree in the north west direction, which also happens to be my tree of focus, has started to lose its leaves but hasn’t changed color. The plants to its left have changed color to red, looking fiery against the green background and the leaves here too are  intact. Leaves all around have begun to fall as seen from the ones on the ground but its not significant enough to have the trees and plants devoid of their leaves yet. We’ll see how that will progress midway through Autumn and during the winter. I expect dramatic change.

The new things I’ve noticed are the new plants that have grown since my last visit. In the west, slightly to the right, there’s a white flower growing out from the ground that was once covered with water. I tried to google what it was but a there are a lot of white flowers that look alike, and I couldn’t figure out which one it was. But after asking Renee, she was able to narrow it saying it was from the daisy family. I’m guessing it could most probably be the English daisy. The other plant I noticed grew from between rocks and was pink. I’m still unable to identify it ut it was one of its kind there.

I honestly did not expect the water to dry up as I wanted to observe the water striders again. There’s a pink flower to the north which is to my right, growing from between rocks, that I haven’t seen before. Or maybe I missed it last time. My sit-spot has really changed since the last time because the more I spent time, the more I realized that even the hummingbird and the bees are gone. There were lots of bees last time. I wondered why they disappeared at first, but then I remembered the climate change and food limitation that’s causing them to move away. The orange flower that seemed to attract them last time seems to have lost its petals and only a few remain. This could also be the cause. They could have also moved to a different area within the same garden. I didn’t really look around beyond my sit spot. The ground looks rocky, completely dry from the water it encompassed, which was really surprising to me. I hadn’t noticed the rocky ground then because it was covered by water. I wondered what type of organisms I would find if I flipped the rocks. Could it still be moist underneath? If so, what would I find? I realized how dependent the plants near the pond were since they have now dried up.  I wonder where the microinvertebrates might have gone. The rock to the north (on my right side) has been covered in moss like several other rocks around me.

The ground is also covered in dead dry leaves and dry sticks, indicating the autumn that has started. The ground behind me, just like the last time I was there, is covered with dried up, brown, hay-looking grass patches. In front of it, are moss covering the soil in the small area.

When I was going to sit in my sit-spot, I saw a small spider moving away from the noise I was making as I tried to sit. It was one the rock next to the one I was using as my sitting place. Every time I made a noise, it would go in the opposite direction. To test my theory that it was in the opposite direction that it was moving, I tapped the rock from a different direction and still it scurried opposite to that and stopped. But when I waved near it, it remained still. Why does it move to sound alone? I later found out that it was one of the species from the Pardosa wolf spiders. After sitting down, I found another one on the ground to the left of me. When I started writing, I found a third one on a rock to my right. I soon realized the place had a lot of spiders like these, definitely a lot more than last time.  The other thing I saw was a mosquito that landed on my leg as I was writing in my journal. I took notice of this mosquito because it was different-black with white stripes/spots. What is this species? I initially asked myself and googled it after getting back. I found out it was the Asian tiger mosquito which is a newcomer to US and capable of carrying diseases.

Next, I saw a tiny flying insect land on my iPad which I brought with me to use a compass. It was off at the moment, so I was able to see the insect clearly on the black surface. It moved from one spot to another with its wings spread out then when it stood, it pulled its wings inwards. I haven’t seen this kind of insect before, so I was curious. I was able to capture a picture before it flew away; it could have been a moth. The ants were roaming the ground as always but not in a clear path to get a picture and know their species. I was curious because they were brown and not like the usual black ants I used to see back home. I also saw a squirrel approach a tree in my line of vision. It circled it a few times, looking for food and ran away in the opposite direction.

When I started to focus on the voices around me, I noticed the absence of the grating noise of the bird I heard last time. Instead, this time, all I heard were insects and some other few birds calling. I assumed the birds making the grating sound are long gone by now.  At the beginning of my observation I heard a raven crowing in the far distance behind me to the east. It soon receded and disappeared altogether, suggesting that the raven was moving away. I tried to identify the insects through their calls but couldn’t in the end.

The air has a slight decaying earthy smell to it, but at the same time it’s clean. It was humid as I breathed it in, though it was drizzling about 30 minutes ago before I went to my sit-spot. The rain couldn’t have been a lot because the grounds are still dry. As for the sky, it is still as blue as it was during my first sit-spot, a cloudless sky in my line of sight.

Three things that I want to focus on throughout my sit-spots are the tree in the west, slightly north west, which has now (as previously mentioned) has started loosing its lower leaves, the cut tree trunk, also in the west and the acorn in front of me which lies  on the ground that was covered by water. I left my sit spot at around 7 p.m. Throughout my observation this time, I was able to focus and notice things better than last time. I also went earlier than last time so i was able to take my time and observe deeply. The things I saw showed me how nature is ever changing.