Sit Spot day 12

That's the mossy lilac, a few days ago.

Thurs Mar 26 (Day 12). 6:45 PM, almost sunset. There's 1/4 of a hickory nut outer shell right in front of my spot. How can I go 12 days before I notice something that big? Today it clouded up and started sprinkling. What a relief to find the local dead leaves nicely plastered down and lying still. Just the stalks of grass and the tips of the hemlock branches were moving in a light breeze from the south. I can hear the water in the local streams when the wind calms down, I think mostly the far side of the neighbours' swamp where it narrows and runs through a break in the old beaver dam there. I noticed a wisteria gone traveling. Most of them come up 6 or 8 inches, with 2 - 4 joints where the buds are and there they are, sturdy. But now and again one takes off, this one had a thinner stem running six feet off in search of? East, towards the dominant sun source. I saw one next to the beech tree that was classic: straight as an arrow, close to the ground, no beginning or end in sight. I see some virginia creeper vines along the ground too. Anyway this evening I see more birds, a sparrow actually revealed itself for a few minutes, hopping on the maple tree, and a big hawk or owl flew by. Usually these turn out to be the red-tailed, but this one seemed more white/tan/light brown than I ever think of those. Round body, seen from behind, steady wing beat. Ducks came and went: why do they make that deet deet deet high pitched sound they make when they fly? A big bird flew across the pond and landed in a tree, I wondered if it was the ring-necked duck which I read likes to roost in trees. The blackbirds were mostly quiet for a change. A goose was standing on top of the beaver lodge with its partner nearby. Later another group arrived and landed further up the pond, with much conversation, and then the first two took off and flew half way up towards the other group and landed again. They might be claiming territory. In other years the top of the lodge has been a nesting place. My mind wandered away, then came back and settled for a bit into the deep peacefulness of the rainy present. I remembered being out in heavy, warm rain with my last dog in Prospect Park, in Brooklyn, NY -- is it really that long since I purposefully stayed out in the rain? No bugs. Pond almost smooth again, back to its black self. No rings made by fish or insects. The diving ducks must be eating some fish though. I worry I'll get bored coming to the same place, even facing the same direction, over and over, but this time I want to stay for a long time.