Sit Spot #1- Molly

I have always felt a peculiar sense of relaxation when I am around water. Because of this, I knew I wanted my sit spot to be around a body of water. My first consideration was the pond guarded by a beautiful weeping willow because it conjured tales of romance and remorse in my mind, but I decided that this area may become distracting when the thundering of a vehicle masked the indistinct chattering of nearby pedestrians. Funny how when one sets out to find a peaceful slice of nature, they are instead met with a hyperawareness of the loud world around them.

After some time, and a trek through the soccer field, I settled on an area that was devoid of human interference. The sit-spot I found was on a plateau overlooking a stream to the west. The day I found my spot was extremely hot and dry, and these conditions were reflected in the stream-bed. The earth was cracked from a lack of moisture, and the stream was running at a steady trickle. Although it sounds like quite the pitiful sight, it invoked a sense of curiosity in me. I wondered how high the stream could potentially get and, if it managed to rise higher, whether it would lap at the edges of the bank in an excited dance or whether it would languidly flow by, taking its careful time going around each and every bend. Additionally, I wondered about the potential forms of life that this stream could sustain. Would there be any fish playing in and out of the rocks, or would there only be slight patches of algal growth crowning the surface of the water? These are all questions that, upon my initial visit, I wanted to keep my eye on.

While the stream was certainly the centerpiece in my mind when I chose my spot, I also wanted to be aware of the surrounding area’s nature. On either side of the plateau are areas of vegetation. To the north is a denser, woodier forest full of trees and shrubs. I assumed that this would provide a slew of squirrels or birds that I could observe. Additionally, I set an intention to track the steady march of fall into the area by observing the changing leaves. To my south is an area of dense shrubbery and low-growing vegetation. In this area, I wanted to see whether the smaller plants would die off or simply enter a stage of dormancy as the weather cools.

The serene and quiet nature of my sit-spot was entirely different the day I went to make my observations. Rain was pouring down that day and in my first few moments of quiet observation, it was hard to tune in to any noise other than the pattering of droplets on the umbrella above my head. In an attempt to gradually tune myself in by focusing on my other senses, I looked toward the most blatant difference in my sit-spot. The stream had filled its bed and lapped at the edges of my plateau. Its murky, brown coloring let me know that it was flowing rather quickly. To my northwest, small whitecaps leapt into the air and then swiftly nestled into a gentle, yet coursing, eddy. I was amazed to see such a drastic change in such a short amount of time.

After honing my senses, my overall awareness became heightened. In the distant south, I heard the ever so faint chirping of a few of birds calling to each other, and at one point I heard a lonesome cricket singing in the grass to the southeast (although he quickly quieted when a crow’s cawing graced our ears from the east). I saw no animals or insects; except for a nosy, small, green bug who sat atop my notebook (I can only assume he was ensuring that my drawing properly captured his likeness, see below); but this gave me the opportunity to properly acknowledge the diverse vegetation around me. For instance, I noticed a lovely little heart-shaped leaf poking itself through the wild grasses to my south, and, through a little research, I discovered that they were wild violets! I can only imagine how beautiful they must be in bloom.

As I sat in my spot compiling my notes, I noticed it was extremely hard to detach myself from my own thoughts. What initially ran through my head were not thoughts about how the musky smell of the wet earth melded with the crispness of the air to create such a unique smell, but rather about how the rain had seeped into my boots, making my socks wet and cold. However, as time went by, I was able to ignore these thoughts and truly hone in on my surroundings. The only way I can describe this experience is akin to the one you feel upon leaving the optometrist for the first time with a new prescription. As you step out of the office, you will notice how the earth beneath you is composed of so many differing particles of all shapes and sizes. And as you go home, you will notice how the light plays through the canopy of trees above your head, catching and defining each and every leaf.  It is then that the small details that are generally discarded as insignificant take on a whole new level of importance. It is then that you are seeing for the first time through a completely different set of eyes.

The objects that I chose to follow throughout my sit-spot experience are as follows: a spider’s web, a vine like plant that stretches across the ground, and a nearby tree. While this sounds like a hodge-podge mess of a list, I thought that these objects would help me see the effects of the changing weather on different aspects of this environment. I chose the spider’s web, which was cradled by small tree branches directly north of my location, because I wanted to track how the changing seasons would affect an organism in the area. Will the falling  debris cause the delicate spindles of the web to be destroyed? This and many other concerns racked my mind when I chose this as one of my trackable objects, but I would like to see how certain organisms interact with the abiotic aspects of their environment. I chose the vine that was to my north because I tend to think of them as rather hardy, robust plants. I wanted to see how tolerant of the colder weather they would be. The final object that I chose was a tree to my north. I chose this tree in particular because its canopy stretched far across the stream, practically to its other side. I thought it would be a nice way to track the arrival of fall into the area by watching for the changing leaves.