Since my last session, more leaves have died and fallen to the ground, there’s even less canopy cover, and less bird calls/songs. The leaves and canopy cover changes are likely due to the season changing to winter. Also, I must’ve been mistaken last time when I said that I noticed a larger amount of honeysuckle berries, because now there are almost none. 

 

From session #1, + rug

Since my first session, a lot has changed, as expected considering the season change. My first time at my sit spot, there was a lot more canopy. There were much less leaves on the ground, the weather was warmer, and I saw a lot more spiders (although, this may be more related to time of day, as this session I saw more cobwebs between the trees than before).

 

Besides the things I’ve already mentioned, there were a few characteristics I noticed. The weather was humid, cloudy, and warm. It had patchy clouds, with sunlight coming in through the gaps. There were dead leaves, new shrubs, and new grasses on the ground. There was a constant bird noise, coming from the east, from what I believe was a single bird species. I could also hear some construction nearby, NE of me. I wonder if that played a role in why I could hear less bird calls than expected. East, I noticed some tall trees with thin, smooth, green bark. They must’ve been there before, but maybe I hadn’t noticed them before because they didn’t have their thin, green, droopy leaves. Although, the green bark is very distinct, so maybe I just wasn’t paying enough attention to that area. I didn’t see any insects, which I expect is due to most of them going through diapause to prepare for winter. 

I didn’t see any animals throughout the session. However, as it went on, I began hearing more bird calls. For one, I heard a single bird make quick, unpatterned staccato sounds, with no response from others. I wondered if it was even trying to get a response. But then what would the point be? Maybe it was getting a non-vocal response.

 

So…. The 3 things I was following! (I guess technically 2, and an extra thing)

 

Yellow flower from session 1

 

Yellow flower now

 

 

The yellow flower plant is even more dead now. There are less stems, barely any sign of previous flowers. The few flowers that are left are dead, brown and dry, ready to fall off. Since my first session, this plant has gradually died, as expected.

 

 

 

Under the old rug now

 

 

The old rug ended up having an unexpected outcome (but don’t get excited). I thought the amount of insects that would be under it would remain fairly consistent throughout the semester; however, there was only one living insect down there, and it was a fire ant. There were no more earthworms. I did see a few shriveled-up corpses of insects, black, segmented, rectangular. I thought maybe they were the earthworms that used to be here. However, I looked up pictures of dead earthworms, and they definitely don’t look alike.

 

 

Wineberry leaves now

Wineberry leaves before

 

The leaves of the wineberry plant I started following recently (because my original thing died) are unexpectedly turning more red and yellow. They’re also beginning to wilt. I previously thought that the color of their leaves was supposed to be red and that they were newly growing, but clearly, I was wrong.

 

 

Since this is my last blog post, I’ll sum up and reflect on all my sit spot experiences. While I should probably have gotten some kind of poetic or special meaning out of this, my mind doesn’t really go there. It’s very straightforward to me: I sat outside every couple weeks and wrote my observations down in a journal. However, I do appreciate the experience. It solidified my past knowledge on practicing mindfulness by taking some time to feel all of my surroundings and tap into the more subtle feelings. I’ve also begun to react a little more favorably toward insects (AKA I don’t always jump when I notice one, and I’m more comfortable being the insect-killer in my relationship). Part of me is glad that it pushed me to try something I normally wouldn’t. Also, even though I was very upset that this was required at the beginning of the semester, I slowly changed my mind about it and began scheduling my sessions as time to unwind. Thinking back, the coolest thing I experienced was seeing the flock of leaf-looking birds do “drills” last session. It made me feel giddy.