11/20/2019 3:20pm 52° partly cloudy and windy

During my 15 minutes of focus I tuned into the feeling of the sun and the wind on me. I think that because I was cold that I was clinging onto any warmth I could find (i.e. the sunlight). I felt like an ectotherm sitting there basking in the sunlight. When the wind was still, I felt like I was back in bed under like 10 blankets all cozy and warm. But when the wind blew it snapped me out of that little fantasy real fast. It felt like when you first open a freezer and that sharp cold breeze slaps you in the face. It was quite windy, so I was getting slapped quite a bit.

My riffle is still flowing strong! Though there are lots of leaves in the stream and it looks as if there is some build up in and around my riffle. It looks like it could slightly be altering the directional flow of my riffle as well. The ivy doesn’t look like it has grown, but the leaves on it are still very green. The leaves that are still on the two trees behind me are all entirely brown now. I don’t know what they’re waiting for or why they’re still holding on. Most every other tree has dropped its leaves already. (Pictured are the leaves overtime)

 

With my eyes open I heard the cars passing on Williamson Road and the road that runs by my sit spot. I also heard more natural sounds like the leaves rustling in the breeze, the sound of the creek flowing, and a single bird chirping (I couldn’t identify it sadly). With my eyes closed I heard more, but I also perceived more. As I kind of touched on in my last post, when you take out one of the senses it heightens the others. For example, because I was not able to see them, the leaves rustling around me turned into the sound of someone walking around me. It sounded as if someone was circling me and stepping on the leaves. While I still heard the creek, I heard it more to the right of me, which is where another riffle is located (not the one I chose to follow). I was also able to hear a squirrel moving around across the bank from me. Squirrels have that very distinct hop/scamper sort of thing they do.

The plot I chose to observe was a patch of ground behind me (pictured). The grass was still green for the most part and was dancing with the breeze. It contained lots of dead, brown leaves, and some dead sticks. The sticks had quite a bit of light green lichen on them. I saw quite a few gnats and other little flying insects which was surprising given how cold it was and the wind.

Left spot at 4:16pm