I arrived at my sit-spot for the last time at 11:45am, and I stayed and observed until 12:45pm. The weather was a solid 45 degrees Fahrenheit with a slight breeze that made the air super chilly, potentially making it feel a couple degrees cooler. The sun was luckily shinning bright with little to no cloud coverage. Some of the morning dew seemed to have stuck around just a little longer, maybe because the sun hasn’t been shinning on my sit-spot very long.
My sit-spot hasn’t changed as much as I thought it would from the last time, except for the weather changing about ten degrees. Along with the weather being cooler, the air seems to be more dry feeling more of the winterlike air, rather than the early fall humid air feel. The animal/insect activity and noise were only slightly less than my last session. I feel that the noise and activity is less because of the cooler weather. Now comparing from my first session, my sit-spot has changed drastically. To start, the weather is much cooler and dry, the seasons have changed, and the sun appears different than the summer sun. The sun appears different because is the axis tilt points away from the sun during the fall and winter months. This also makes the sun less warm than it is during the spring and summer. Everything is beginning to die, if it hasn’t already died making things look brown and dull. During my first session, everything was lively, green, and colorful. There also use to be a lot animal/insect activity and noise surrounding me. I used to be eaten up my insects while I was observing my sit-spot, and the noise of the insects would drown out any thoughts that I tried to have because they were so loud. During my sit-spot now, there is not a huge variety of plants and vibrant colors, there are just brown, dead leaves everywhere. The beautiful green grass that shows during the summer months is still green but covered by dead, brown leaves.
The plants look pretty sad and dead, as they do during this time of the year, but I thought some leaves have been hanging on to the trees for a little longer than usual to me. I did notice that there was bark peeling on certain trees, but if I recall these trees have always peeled. Maybe now that the leaves are gone, I am better able to see. I definitely had more luck with seeing animals than noticing a big difference in the plants. During this session, I saw about 5-6 squirrels roaming around everywhere I could see/hear. I saw a lot of tweedy birds flying into the trees back and forth and I was curious to take a closer look, but I decided I should let them do their thing. As I was leaving, I saw this pretty brown bird with a little orange spot on its chest that has feathers pointing up on its head. I saw a few buzzards flying above my head, but no enough for me to think something died. The birds were chirping at a decent pace, not too much nor not enough. The insects were flying around a little and also made very little to not noise this time.
The sky was beautiful, crystal clear, and a soothing blue that looked endless. There was not a cloud in sight, maybe I would l see a bird fly over here and there. I only have one of my three things left at my sit-spot. The leaves are almost completely gone, but where the leaves were, there seems to be some sort of fruit growing or something. The bark appeared to have white spots all over which looked odd to me. From the first time I was at my sit-spot the leaves on the bush have changed from green mixed with pink, to a dark pink to red color. The leaves have also become more brittle. My other two things were either cut down or the plant died from the cold weather. I was not entirely surprised as to what happened to my three things because most things change in the colder months, beauty doesn’t last forever. I found it fascinating at how much my sit spot changed over these six sessions.
This experience has been one to remember for sure. When I go out into nature now, I have a different perspective of the things around me. I pay attention to more detail with plants and the sounds/activity that animals make. I love spending time in nature, but now when I go out, I listen and pay more attention to my surroundings. I would not have changed anything about this experience, I thought it was very knowledge filling and humbling. I am able to appreciate the things around me better.
Sad to see a few of your plants were taken out or not there anymore. Too bad you aren’t able to hear as many animals as you did when you first started out doing your sit spot, but at least you were able to witness the changing of the seasons.
I never realized how close our sit-spot was to one another! I also noticed all the same changes as you, and it was quite interesting to see all the changes throughout the semester.