Jenee Lanier 

9/18/20 

Start: 8:20 am End: 9:03 am

Partly cloudy but sun was poking through, around 68 degrees

 

When deciding where I wanted my sit-spot to be, I knew it needed to be somewhere where I could easily access but also somewhere where I would be comfortable enough to go and sit there for up to an hour so I decided to just use my backyard. I knew that I would be able to mentally connect in the backyard and I wouldn’t feel like I needed to rush so it just was the best place for me all around. As soon as you walk out the back door there is a porch with 3 steps, on the very first step I sat an old cardboard box there for my seat so that I wouldn’t have to pull a chair in and out the house every time I wanted to visit my spot. After sitting down and looking up the first thing anyone would notice would be how heavily forested it looked, which I never realized until then. There was nothing but trees and bushes, and leaves everywhere. Directly in front of me there was the part of the alley, but also to the northwest direction there is a well sized hole that is now being covered by many plants and it was hardly noticeable anymore. The sun was poking through the heavy clouds that were still around from the rainy day before but it was still a good first visit to my spot!

 

The first ten to fifteen minutes there was really nothing going on so I was just sitting there trying to figure out how I never realized that this has been my backyard all along. The still very green trees were standing tall and the fact that they are all together is why I think it looked like a mini forest! There was one tree that had many branches that were empty because the leaves were starting to fall to the wet, soft ground! Seeing some yellowish, brown leaves made me happy because I am ready for the fall! I am NOT a nature person so I didn’t appreciate the actual ground as much as I did the trees but my backyard is very patchy so it was pretty muddy in many areas so I stayed on my steps for the most part, maybe I can appreciate the grass and ground another day but I did find this pretty group of heart shaped plants or leaves or maybe even a bush type thing that I will end up using as one of my focusing objects!

 

I don’t think that I will see many animals because I am in a backyard, especially when it gets closer to the winter. I was shocked to even see the “three” animals I did! After my first class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I usually let my dog outside so when I did my first sit spot it was around the time I let her out so she was sitting there with me so I had to include her as one of the animals (I didn’t think to take a picture of her until just now so I will add one from before, her name is Prada). Another animal that I saw were the two squirrels that were chasing each other from tree to tree. The other animals that were present in my sit spot were the birds that were on the other side of my house that I did not have the pleasure of seeing as well as the very annoying calling from crickets. I CANNOT stand  crickets! 

For me to not be a nature person I honestly cannot complain about how my first sit-spot experience went! I was able to escape from my busy life and forever running mind for enough time to find comfort in something that was always around! I was able to realize something new about somewhere I have been living for awhile now! It wasn’t nosy, and I wasn’t being pestered by nets and mosquitoes, I was just sitting there appreciating what helps keep me going every day! I am very excited to see how well I connect with my spot and my state of mind during my sit-spot time! 

 

The first object that I decided to follow was the heart shaped bush I found in the middle of the northwestern side of my yard because I don’t really know what they are and when I searched Google it wasn’t giving me a straight answer. The second object was the tree whose branches were already empty because what about this tree is different from the others and why is it changing so fast? My last object is called a “black walnut” and I picked this because they are always around in the summer/fall time but then they randomly disappear and I never catch it so I wanted to know!