I arrived at Beale Garden at 4:50pm on November 17th. It was much darker than it has been previously when I went to my sit spot at this time, but of course, that is due to the days progressively getting shorter and shorter. The clouds towards the beginning of my session were a cotton candy pink. There weren’t too many of them, but they were sprinkled throughout the soft pale blue sky. Everything was darkening by the minute, creating a nice soft glow around everything in the garden.

It was relatively cold and was getting gradually colder as the sun went down. My guess would be that the temperature was just over 50°F when I got there but was definitely dipping below 50°, to possibly even 45°. I didn’t mind the wind too much towards the beginning, because it wasn’t super cold yet, and it was nice listening to it rustle the branches and leaves on the trees.

I didn’t get to see any animals or insects, which was kind of disappointing. It was very eerily quiet, with the exception of a very faint and far off chirp from a bird. I could barely hear it, so I couldn’t identify where it was coming from or what species it was. It was really curious to me that there weren’t more wildlife sightings during my session.

One large gust of wind went through the tree I have been tracking this semester. I watched the branches sway like arms, but they seemed very stiff. The trees’ leaves have all crinkled and turned brown; most have fallen off and litter the garden floor. In comparison to my first sit spot, when the tree was very green and leafy; you could see almost none of the branches except for those peeking out from behind the leaves. Now, the tree seems to be mostly comprised of branches.

The grass that once stood tall and green on the creek bed is now almost entirely brown and has fallen to one side or the other. Even from last time, the grass has changed color significantly and has started to die out for the winter rapidly.

For the third object I followed for the semester, I monitored the levels of the water in the creek. Today, it was higher than it was been due to the rain last week. But I could hear the water flowing along against the rocks and plants in the water. The creek’s water levels weren’t as predictable as the changes in the tree and grass, and the levels varied quite significantly throughout the semester. It was probably at its lowest during my first sit spot but was constantly changing over the weeks, always in regard to the rain.

Over the course of the semester, I watched all the leaves brown and crinkle to the ground, which left a lot of the plants and trees in the garden look like empty and skinny skeletons. Similar to my tree, there are few plants that have green leaves—if they even have leaves at all. Obviously, the garden changed as a whole, but being able to focus on three objects, in particular, helped me see the different aspects of the garden that changed.

Sometimes I felt like going to my sit spot was more of an obligation, but once I actually got there and set up my hammock, I always felt at peace. I really enjoyed being able to seclude myself from the rest of campus for short periods of time, and only think about my surroundings rather than other assignments and stressors. I do really like hanging out in nature, I started to hammock a lot over the summer, so I am glad that I got to continue doing so this semester.

The coolest thing I experienced at my sit spot would probably be a few weeks ago when I was watching some bees inside some of the wildflowers next to the creek bed. As I was watching the bees, one bumbled into a flower, before the bud of the flower fell to the ground—with the bee still in it! I just remember thinking it was a really funny moment, and kind of humanizing, in a way. That is, that insects and animals make silly mistakes and have accidents, just like we all do.