9/25/19 11:03am-12:16pm 82° partly cloudy with a slight breeze

Because I did not post a first blog, I decided to talk a little in this blog about how I came to find my sit-spot. Choosing a sit spot was more stressful than I thought it would be. I wanted to choose somewhere unique, but also somewhere that I would get some wildlife action still. I had no idea where I wanted my spot to be. There are so many good spots on campus, but this one spoke to me. I stumbled across my sit spot when I was looking for sycamore leaves for class. The spot I chose is located downhill from the road beside The Rock, along the bank of Carvin’s Creek near the foot bridge that goes off campus. It sounds cheesy but walking into this spot was like walking into a fairy tale. At the time of day that I discovered it, around midday, the sun was shining through the leaves of the trees casting beams of soft sunlight onto this patch of grass along the creek bank making it look incredibly inviting. I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed sitting in this space. It was nice to have a moment to turn everything off and to just be.

From my spot, facing west, I have a clear view of the creek and the trees and shrubbery/brush on the other side of the bank. To my left, heading south and the direction that the creek is flowing, is the footbridge and where the creek branches off and goes under the road leading back to Siberia. To my right is more of the creek bank, a few more trees, and the upper part of the creek. Finally, behind me, are a few trees (focal points), a slight hill, and the road that runs beside The Rock and Dana, heading back towards Siberia.

The sky looked about the same as it did the last time I was here. Maybe a few more clouds than last time, but the sky was still nice and blue. Everything around me was still relatively green, I think because it has not really gotten cold enough for the leaves to change yet. Although, there is more leaf litter on the ground than the last time I was here, it is not as extensive as it usually is in the fall. The trees and shrubbery/brush across the bank in front of me still have quite a few leaves, though I’m thinking that will be changing (hopefully) soon as it grows colder. There are a few brown/dry spots within the shrubbery/brush. I’m curious as to whether rain would help with those or if it’s just too late in the season. Not a lot has really changed since the last time I had been in my spot. The only major difference would be the leaves on the ground, and the creek appears to be higher and flowing more steadily.

As shown in the pictures, the grass is still very green. It was also slightly damp; I think from morning dew that had not dried up yet due to it being shady. The grass had grown a bit since I had been there before as well. As said before there were also some very brown leaves scattered about my sit spot. I believe most of them are sycamore considering those are the trees that mainly surround my spot.

Crickets, crickets, crickets! They were practically all I could hear, it was almost deafening. In the mix of chirping there was also the sound of cicadas, but crickets were by far the most prominent. Occasionally I would hear different birds calling, though I don’t know what bird makes what sound, so I was not able to identify them. My favorite sound that I heard, and one that I was able to identify, was a rather noisy blue jay that briefly came and visited me! He landed on a branch diagonal across the creek from me, made himself known, and then took off before I was able to get a picture. I wonder if he was just singing or if he was yelling at me for being in his spot. Other noises I heard unrelated to animals my spot included traffic from the road. I chose my spot knowing it was near a road and surprisingly it was not as noisy as I thought it would be. I did keep a tally of how many airplanes I heard within my time period of sitting in my spot though. I heard a total of 4 airplanes which made sense considering Hollins is located near an airport. I could also hear the flowing water of the riffle in the creek and the sound of the breeze rustling the leaves in the trees around me.

The smell of my spot seemed to be the same. The best way to describe the smell of my spot would be ‘wet earth.’ It smelled like what it would smell like after it rained. It also smelled kind of salty which I was unsure about. I’m assuming that smell came from the creek.

I feel like my first experience in my spot was definitely different than my second. My first time in my spot I found it kind of difficult to ‘tune in’ and clear my mind. This time was very different. I was actually looking forward to being able to go and sit in my spot and, like I said before, just be. It was easier to tune out things not related to my spot and tune in to things that were. I felt like this time I also had a better understanding of what was expected for the journal and the blog.

Lastly, the focal objects I chose were the two trees behind me, an ivy vine growing up a tree behind me, and the riffle in the creek. I know the trees will give me a good understanding of the changing seasons. I’m curious about the vine growing on the tree. I wonder if it will make it through the colder months or if it’ll end up shriveling up and dying. I also chose the riffle in the stream because I want to know if changes in temperature will change the riffle. For example, will colder temps cause it to slow or even freeze? I’m excited to find out.