I guess this is goodbye -Blog post 6-Layla

A few things have changed since my last sit spot. There’s much more leaves on the ground and very few trees have their leaves left. I can’t even see any grass because there’s that many leaves as well as pine needles covering my yard. But it’s gone through so many changes throughout the season. I’ve seen how the trees around had green bright leaves the same color as the grass to their slow progression of the grass becoming yellow and the leaves becoming red, yellow, and orange and falling down. The only constant thing was my pine tree in the changing seasons (even though it was loosing its needles it never looked different).

My last sit spot had some similarities with this sit spot when it came to seeing animals. It was hard to see a lot of animals in my last session but this session it was hard to see a different animal. I heard and saw a lot of different birds. A crow in the north, a mockingbird in the east, but in the north I heard really unique bird calls. One call sounded like a broken squeaky toy and another sounded like an actual frog. This bird had yellow and brown markings and I tried to photograph it but my super mature cousin tried to scare me by barking like a dog and it scared the bird away (he’s 30 years old by the way). I did see a yellow spider craw by and heard a squirrel chattering in the east but that was it. I saw a squirrel in my last post maybe it was the same one. The weather wasn’t as cold but it was much more wet and not any sunlight. The sky looked white with how many clouds there were. No wind but there was some fog that was clearing up.

My pokeberry plant had gone through the changes of being eaten gradually than changing to a color yellow and dying. I chose it since it was purple and it was hilarious/sad to watch your plant to slowly begin to lose its part by an animal. My branch had on of its smaller branches broken off and the gradually growing of algae on it. I chose it to see what occurs to branches after falling off trees. My thorn plant has less leaves to it and almost like someone was maintaining it. I chose it to see what will occur to a plant that has a type of self defense to it.

I realized I neglect the present moment and happen to worry about things due in the future a lot than just enjoying the present moment. Observing nature allowed me to focus just on what was going around me and it was a type of mediation for me. Also, I always was kind of oblivious to how much or little change can occur and this project allowed me to observe those changes in my sit spot. I do feel like I want to spend more time in nature, despite my hatred for bugs on me, because of the fun interactions with these animals I encounter.

I think if I look back a year on this project I would totally remember being attacked by a caterpillar to be honest and just laugh at that. Though, just encountering different type of animals like feeding the groundhog or seeing racoons and deer made me feel like I was in the movie Snow White. It was unique to be able to spend so much time with them and to interact with them as well which is something remarkable.

My pokeweed plant

My sit spot

My branch

The mockingbird I saw