Sit Spot Day 24

Tues Apr 7 (Day 24). 5:45 PM. Cold day, never really got over 40, and I was resistant to go out. Clouds medium heavy but thinner at the zenith, and after 20 min the sun actually came out, just touching my head before disappearing behind the house. Pond mildly ripply. 2 blackbirds in the maple, making their usual longer call but sounding a little dispirited, sort of flat. Beaver nosing slowly through the water near the island, brief glimpse of his torso before he dives. I look at my purple flower, having checked Newcomb's Wildflower Guide and seen that if the petals have bristles on the tips then it's a "blue-eyed grass", although that says "late spring, early summer". But it's the only 6 petalled, blue, basal leaves only flower in the book. All the same, no bristle. Deep purple, 3 to 5 flowers in a raceme, flower stalk reddish, the yellow in the middle seems to be the stamens, the leaves are shorter than the flower stalk, 2-3 inches long, 1/4 inch wide if flattened but the two edges of the long, narrow, entire leaf curl toward each other,meeting at the tip, looks like a good system to catch water. There're a lot coming up now. There's also another new plant, probably a plantain, already over 2 inches long little clump of leaves all growing from the same spot, a "basal rosette" slightly hairy, distinct vein down the middle. So much growing here! Would that I had that many edibles coming up in a garden! Meanwhile, I glance back at the pond and receive my Surprise of the Day: a flock of 20 or 30 swallows. Swooping and gliding over the pond in the sun, flashing white on one side, dark on the other, back and forth, occasionally shifting over the field, together and apart. Brings back hot August summers, my mother sharing my delight at the swooping birds, late afternoon, while she goes about making dinner. So much for staying present...

Sit Spot Days 22 and 23

Sun Apr 5 (Day 22). 10:30 PM. Chilly night, stars out. Big Dipper has moved up to the top branches of the maple, and the orange/white star that was on the horizon is caught in the beech. The tail of the Big Dipper points to that star. The moon is fuller, over my right shoulder and my left knee casts a sharp shadow. Just after I sit I hear a slap on the water near the beaver dam. Beaver tail slap. Did it notice me all the way up the hill? A minute or two later it is repeated. On the other hand, if it's not me triggering the alarm, what is? I wonder if a coyote would take an interest in me. Woodcock peeping off and on. Peepers constant. A bit later, from the other end of the pond, more slapping. Maybe they do it for fun. Must feel good. This night is mistier, and not as darkly magical as the other night. A bird is twittering in the dark.

Mon Apr 6 (Day 23). 5:30 PM. Downpour. Steady, heavy rain. lower 40s. I take a large umbrella and it feels awkward. I stare at the red trees across the pond through the rain, which is marching in great columns down the pond. But first I lean down and greet my purple flower, which has opened: 6 petals and a yellow center, which sticks out a bit. So it's not a 'bluet', which has four petals. I think I liked that word, I've been using it for these little flowers for a few years. It looks familiar, like I've looked it up before. The rain is noisy on my umbrella and everywhere else. No peepers, no birds, no insects, no water fowl. Just heavy rain. I ponder the grass. There really is a lot of it, this was field and not long ago. All the other plants are more recent invaders. It all looks similar, soon I'll learn a bit about grasses and give it a name. I ponder the shades of green around me, dominated by the grass. Notice another shoot at maybe 6 feet, because it's a different shade of green. Notice my 3 leaved strawberry like plant, the leaves coming from the base look like what I think of as eglantier, the wild rose that is pretty aggressive around here, taking up residence in many places and being unpleasantly prickly. These are just a few little leaflets, an inch or two long, but I bet that's what it is. The water is ponding in the track in front of me, the 'lower driveway' as we call it. I wonder where the water goes, and tune in, and look at the beech, where the leaves are thicker underneath, and all the seedling maples are growing, and it's as though they say to me: we capture water. We are the water storers. Reminds me that the neighbour across the way complained this morning how their lower lawn is soggier since the new houses were built across the road, up the hill from their land. We capture rain. The rain is still marching down the pond, looking purposeful.

Sit Spot Day 21

Sat Apr 4 (Day 21). 9:00 AM. Upper 40s, overcast with the bottoms of thick cumulus clouds showing, not raining, winds N/NE/NW, gusty, sometimes loud in the trees. At one point no wind where I sat but loud across the pond, pine trees swaying over there. Pond rippled, no water fowl in sight. New sound: human footsteps, walker on the road. Probably sneakers. Rythmic, 2-footed, fairly fast. My purple flower plant now has 3 or 4 buds and a companion next to it. Try my drawing, quick sketch of each of the plants close by. Then draw a circle representing about an arms reach around me, maybe 2 feet, letter each plant and put letters in the circle to represent their location. The "C" are for the wisteria shoots and they seem innumerable, all around. There's a nother patch of my flower coming up to the right, maybe 8 shoots; 2 samples of what might be a mint; maybe 15 spots where bedstraw is showing; 1 example of the 3 leaved long stalked thing; maybe 10 of Plant X on two sides but not on the other, 1 of my little plant with the slits on the leaves, and, what's that: a new plant! At first it looks boring, maybe 4 or 5 little toothed leaves, dusty green, could be anything, but then I investigate and find it runs along on a hairy little round stem, with opposite leaves, either another vine or a trailing plant, this one about 8 inches, then reappears for another 6 or 8 inches. reddish on the bottom of the leaves and they're a little hairy too. Complete with a 2" long worm crawling around on it. It occurs to me I'm ignoring the grass. And that it's time to go eat breakfast. Walking up I see the first open daffodil.

Sit Spot Day 20

Fri Apr 3 (Day 20). 5:45 PM. Been raining all day, and before I go out it's a downpour so I put on rain pants and top. 50s. Rain stops when I get out, although I dont realize it immediately. Sky an even white. I stare at the pond, which is in its dark, reflective mood -- every tree perfectly reflected. The red maples have trunks covered in lichen, whitish green in the rain, and the tops are a glowing red -- soon they'll flower if they haven't yet. The peepers are steady. Everything is growing now. The purple blue flower has two buds now and they should open soon. A small fly lands on me, back section striped and about 4 mm long, front hunched with two little attenae, feet like a mosquito's. It walks on my hand a bit and doesn't bite. Mostly it keeps tumbling to its side maybe trying to dry itself a bit. I pick up a broken stick to look at the pattern on it and find 3 worms, about 1 mm wide and an inch long. One raises its tip up 1/4 inch and weaves around in a circle looking for something to touch I presume. The stick is about 1/2 of an inch across, the bark fibrous where it broke and in the middle a slim rod of pith. I wonder where it came from; I know elder and sumac have pith, I wonder what else. This is quite slim. Something is moving on the pond again, like a small insect or snake. More round ripples but it could be stray raindrops. Several birds around, one call might be a robin. The field is showing green under the yellow; also one spot along the far edge of the pond.

Sit Spot Day 19

Thurs April 2 (Day 19). 3:30 PM. Warm today, in the 60s, with just the lightest breeze from the south, a bit hazy. Lots of plant growth. Besides Plant X, which I find everywhere these days, there were 5? 6? other herbs coming up, not including the grass. At this stage the grass all looks similar to me. My little purple blue flower is being joined by more. There's another patch of the dark green little plant with opposite, non-toothed, slightly hairy, lightly pointed leaves, very dark green. It has a square stem, so perhaps its a mint. There's the bedstraw, which has 7 to 9 little leaves in whorls around a square stem, and is also very common. There's the one sprouting from a fairly substantial (1/4 inch) base, it has one older leaf that is really 3 leaves, lobed and toothed, at the end of about a 4 inch stalk, and then more little ones coming. There's something over near the daffies that looks like a begonia leaf. There's the cute little leaf about an inch long, oval, medium green, that has teeth so small they look like 3 little slits on each side. I saw something in the pond, neither bird nor beaver, possible snake or turtle or insect -- I'm too far to tell really, it was just notable. Actually saw 2 or 3 swimming things like that. Noticed the ducks flapping up water again, possibly at each other. The field is still a lovely yellowish straw color, probably not for long. The lower field (wetter ground) is a lighter yellow and the grass there has thicker leaves. Contemplated a long dead stalk (about 2 ft long) which I might have called a grass except it has little leaf scars along it, alternate but not in one plane. Round about the stem, every 3 inches or so. A bit rough. At the bottom it shreds into fibers a bit, but not very strong ones. May have pith; not hollow at any rate. See a few bugs, but nothing too close. The folks putting a roof on the new house across the pond were pounding away and playing a radio -- a new sound in my sits. The peepers were active but not dominating at that time of day -- later at dusk they were a pure, jewelled chorus. My camera has gone to Hong Kong with Michele, so I may have to try my hand at drawing. I enjoy just sitting there, but I was tempted to play with my pastels today and capture the shades of yellow, brown and green. Today was about looking a lot at the new plants and colors, less about shifting from my usual "civilized human" state into that nature state with its own time.

Plant X

When crushed, smells like a tasty root, kind of crisp and earthy.

Sit spot day 18

Thats a shot of recent beaver activity. Glad they're back and fixed the dam up!


Wed April 1 (Day 18). 2:30 PM. Lightly overcast, with a steady light wind from the South very similar to last night's. Slightly mundane compared to the stars of night. A blackbird 'checking' at me, then later giving way to other sounds. Check ending with whistle, for example. Another bird, calling back and forth, then a robin's call. Splashing in the pond. Seemed to be a duck. A crow calls out, flying by, the first I see from this spot. Two more join it and they're gone. I catch myself squinting again. This isn't about glasses, this is habit. I think, stare and squint a bit. When I notice I relax and go 'round eyed' and open my awareness again. Then I notice I've closed my eyes and scrunched them up tight, and dont want to open them, so I let them scrunch for a while. Also I'm considering whether I can be aware of more than one sense at once. I listen hard. Then try to listen soft. Then realize it's cold out, although it's in the 40s its a damp chill. After a bit I examine Plant X, and decide it doesn't grow on a runner, each plant is individual, with roots followed by a stem followed by a node that looks like its wrapped around with string a bit, and then a whorl of leaves, quite a few. Divided leaves, or stems with lobed leaves, depending how you look at it. I pick up a whitened dead maple leaf to bring and examine for mildew and there, revealed, a purple flower bud. Beautiful. I know from previous years the beech tree has a blanket of blue flowers underneath it, this must be one of the first. It's smaller than a crocus bud. We'll see in a few days! No bugs today. Later the maple leaf, under a stereo microscope, shows nothing remarkable. Just whitened.