I arrived at my sit spot during the day at 12:42pm on Monday, October 26th. I had never come to my sit spot at that time, as I normally come during the evening since it is quieter and not as hot. I chose this particular time of day because I wanted to see if the absence of animals and the general atmosphere was due to its location or simply the time of day I was spending at my sit spot.

It was a lot noisier in terms of foot traffic during this session. When I got there, I wanted to put up my hammock as I normally do when I come to my sit spot. However, Hollins maintenance was blowing the leaves and I didn’t want to get in their way. So, instead, I opted for the bench right behind the cluster of trees I normally sit in between, so I could get the same general view of my sit spot that I normally do. It was super sunny, the sky was a bright shade of blue, and it was approximately 60°F when I was there. It was nice to experience the garden when it was so much warmer. Since a lot of the trees have lost a lot of their leaves as well, there wasn’t as much shade coverage which definitely contributed to the surrounding temperature.

I normally do not see many animals when I go to my sit spot. However, this time I did have quite a few little brown bugs that were crawling around on my papers and backpack. I tried to get a quick photo of him, but I still had a hard time identifying it. There was also a bee or wasp that was buzzing around my head while I was sitting and even ended up landing on the bench right next to me. I tried to snap a photo of him as well, however, he was too quick. He was smaller than normal, I think, with a skinny body, thin yellow stripes, and no stinger. He didn’t look like a regular bumblebee, but I wasn’t too convinced he was a wasp either.

I probably would come back to Beale garden at this time again, however, it would greatly depend on any maintenance or groundskeeping that is going on, because unfortunately, the sounds of the leaf blower drowned out nearly everything else.

The leaves on the tree that I have been following have finally turned red and brown. It has lost approximately 50% of its leaves, and none of the leaves remaining are the same green they were at the beginning of the semester. The creek was quite full, I’m guessing due to all of the rain on Sunday. There were green plants and grass growing out of the water, which I think might be remnants from when the ground was moist, but there was little to no water in the creek. As for the grass, as you may recall, it had been cut the last time I observed it. However, it has grown back almost completely, and has very similar attributes as it did before. It still has some very tall stalks in the center of the cluster, flourishing with a bright green color, as well as some stalks wilting to the left and right that have turned brown.