Ruthie Beeland Sit Spot #4

Ruth Beeland – Sit Spot Journal #4

10/28/20 Enter: 9:50 AM Exit: 10:55 AM

The dew on the grass this morning as I entered my sit spot made me feel as if I might have been wading through a puddle, within two steps in, my shoes and socks were completely soaked. I entered my sit spot rather uneventfully, I was particularly surprised to find that it was much quieter in the area than it had ever been in the past. The slight chirping of birds were the only sounds I heard upon entering my sit spot and starting my fifteen minutes. It doesn’t surprise me that it’s quieter as winter is nearly upon us, but the fact that it was as quiet as it was pleasantly surprised me. 

This time around I didn’t have very much activity at all within my sit spot, and I suspect as the winter goes on I’ll have less and less activity to report as birds migrate and bugs and plants die. I sat in a silent and cold field for fifteen minutes and I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy it. I zoned out to the monotonous noises of my sit spot and while writing my responses I can scarcely say that I missed much of anything. I saw a few red ants walking in a line, and if I looked close enough I could see the little crumbs of dirt and leaf that they carried. 

While glancing at a flower, I saw a dragonfly go by and no others came after it. The plants I kept track of seemed to be feeling the effects of the winter weather as I viewed them at my sit spot. Flowers withered, fruits dropped and leaves browned and fell. It was interesting seeing how the invasive species vs. native species fared with the colder weather, in short, it honestly seemed like the invasives were much hardier than the natives in response to the colder weather, and though it’s hard to know whether or not that was by design according to the people who brought the plant over, it was still sad to see. 

I sat thinking about invasive species for a long time after making that observation, and couldn’t help but project onto the plants a bit. What must it feel like to be an invader in your own environment, and if these plants had real consciousness what they might think about that. It definitely sounds silly writing down now, but they were the thoughts I was thinking so I can’t help but write them down if only to have something to fill the space and time. 

The patch of plants and trees that I chose to look at was very uneventful during my time outside today. The biggest anomaly I could find and note in that time was a few little white patches of fuzz that I observed while looking at the thorny plants. I have a couple of ideas as to what that might have been but I can’t say for sure. I think that the fuzz either could have been a weird form of seeding by a plant, a type of spiderweb I’ve never seen before or -and this is the most interesting- animal fur. My guesses for the type of animal were either some type of dog fur, maybe a dog that sheds a lot like a husky, or a white-tailed deer, which is more exciting.