Overcast. Underwhelmed: Both described both the sky and the girl that sat under it Sunday afternoon. It wasn’t that my sit spot was unappealing in the slightest. In fact, I’d say that the half-dressed trees looked quite picturesque with its remaining leaves clinging to their body as the wind picked up here and there. It wasn’t all due to aesthetics when I felt that familiar ache in the pit of my stomach. It was more due to the obvious reason behind why things looked the way they did. Things were beginning to die.

During my focused time I stared off at nothing and and everything all at once. I began to think about the mini ecosystem, and how other things would be influenced if another element of the environment was missing. For instance, I noticed that between two fallen tree branches, a spider had woven a web. If it hadn’t been there would there be more bugs buzzing about? It was both easy and difficult to sit in such a quiet place. My thoughts had room to think since it was so silent, but at the same time I was forced to think about why it was so quiet in the first place.

Because of this, when I did happen to hear something, my brain focused on this sound and the source of it.  Whether this was the consistency of the creek or the leaves breaking off the trees and crunching to the ground. When I had my eyes closed, I noticed observations became easier. I wasn’t constantly looking for things to focus on. Because I wasn’t utilizing my sense of sight, I started to imagine these animated, wacky scenarios for the things I felt and heard around me, like a giant yeti blowing cool air down my back to compensate for the wind.( A stretch I know)

Speaking of the temperature that I couldn’t help but to notice was how cold it was. It was only about 54 degrees, which was like 20 degrees colder than my previous experience, which was fun when the wind started to pick up. When it pertains to my three objects I chose to follow, the changes were also very profound. Unlike last time, the creek doesn’t have a dead deer in it, and was also filled with brown soggy leaves.  Two weeks ago, my little purple leaf at least had a stem, but it was completely gone now, and finally, the hole with the branch sticking out was now filled with water and leaves.

In conclusion, this experience was very eye opening. Before, the changes in my spot were happening very gradually, but now, I’m really starting to piece things together and notice how profound they are becoming. All in all, I’m very excited to be able to witness this first hand and document these occurrences as time goes on.