15-Day Sit Spot Challenge - Global Sit Spot on November 23, and Conclusion

15-Day Sit Spot Challenge

Global Sit Spot Day – November 23, 2018

and Conclusion

For an explanation of the Global Sit Spot Challenge, see my first entry in this series.

Global Sit Spot Challenge

November 23, 2018

5:00 pm Eastern Standard time

Wilderness Awareness School description of Global Sit Spot Challenge Day: “Taking inspiration from the Opt Outside movement [alternative to Black Friday], let's cause a global explosion of wilderness awareness together on a day that has become synonymous with buying things we don't need (at least in the U.S.). Come join us. All are welcome. Invite family, friends, and coworkers to join you.”

“If you end up not being able to join us from your spot, at the very least try to focus your attention on something wild near you.”

What a great idea – people from all around the world doing this at the same time! While it was early evening in my time zone (and dusk, as it was getting dark earlier), I thought of other parts of the world where it would be broad daylight, or the wee hours of the morning. While here we had dipped abruptly into winter, in the southern hemisphere they were heading into summer. At the very same time, how different everyone's experiences were around the globe.

It turned out that I needed to do, that day, what they mentioned in their last sentence, as I could not be on the other side of my woods at my chosen Sit Spot. On this evening, my chosen spot would be in the kitchen, next to the bay window, looking out at the bird feeding area between the window and our crop field. This is the spot where I spend a part of many winter mornings, usually with a cup of herbal tea and a journal.

During daylight, the feeders are full of bird activity.

Scenes from November 22:

Three Blue Jays (one rather large) attempting to share the tray feeder

Female Downy Woodpecker at the suet cake

A Mockingbird near the feeders, which seemed to be striking poses wherever it landed

Often, quite a variety of birds are darting around to all of the feeders: Goldfinches, House Finches, Cardinals, Carolina Wrens, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Juncos, Mourning Doves, Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, various species of Sparrows, and other visitors. I love to watch how they come and go, how they eat, and how they negotiate their personal spaces.

But, at 5:00 pm they are starting to find their roosting spots for the night, and I see very few come for a last jaunt at the feeders.

Female Cardinal alone at the feeders on the evening of November 23

It is calming to sit here, just watching, not knowing who will arrive, and what they will do – just enjoying it all. I can watch the vivid colors of sunset on the western horizon from here, and darkness descend across the landscape, eventually obliterating the view of trees in the distance. I can watch the moon move across the sky, if its path intercepts this view at the time. Sometimes I hear a Great-Horned Owl call.

I wonder what other people, around the globe, are experiencing, all under the same moon.

I was not long in this spot before I received a phone call telling me of the death of a sister-in-law in the northern part of the state. I would soon travel up there for the funeral. At the same time, my mother-in-law's health was steeply declining, in the city near us, and she passed away exactly two weeks after this time I had spent at the bay window for the Global Sit Spot.

Needless to say, I have not been to my regular spot in the woods in some time. Other things needed attention and energy.

But, while I was in this spot I was thinking of perspective, of what we all share around the world. Besides that hour or so, on that day, when we in the Challenge were sharing our connections with the natural world, and what we had learned through the Challenge, there existed, also, all of the other things we share as humans in this world. It's all natural, this cycle of life and death. Or, as we can come to realize by being in Nature, there is no life, no death – it is all one Whole, it's all the same thing.

Sometime, when the time is right, I'll get back to that spot in the woods and see how things are going. I'll stay connected, because through that I am reminded of how we and everything in our universe keep turning, and how perfectly natural and good a thing that is.

Conclusion

The 15-Day Sit-Spot Challenge had ended, as well as the Global Sit Spot Day.

What have I learned from this experience? Well, those ideas will take some time to form, to gel, especially as the Challenge was followed by a whirlwind of family events, in compressed time and, in some ways, that continues.

But, here are some observations:

• I very much enjoyed reading posts by other participants, on the 15-Day Sit Spot Challenge Group Facebook page. The variety of experiences and ways of expressing them was astounding. Often people would share one or more photos from the day. With some posts, I had an instant connection to something that was my own experience (such as finding, and being fascinated by, a small mushroom and trying to figure out what it is), but with some I had windows to completely new experiences. I also enjoyed the responses that sometimes happened to the things I posted.

• There were many changes in weather and environmental conditions at my spot throughout the 15 day period, providing a broader range of experience. We had mild days, rainy days, frosty, snowy, icy, sunny, overcast, and the days when the trees “rained”. This also changed the wildlife that I could see or hear on any day, and the signs I would find. It also changed the smells, feelings, and other sounds, such as how the forest floor sounded as I walked across it. It also changed the way things looked – the quality of light, clarity or haziness, sparkle or subtlety.

• Looking through the woods toward my Sit Spot, or from the spot outward, was a very different experience from Day #1 to Day #15. On November 7, the woodland was still pretty full of bright fall color, especially golden colors. It glowed. Though the canopy was starting to thin, it was still fairly thick. If one were to look into the woods from the outer edge, it would not be easy to see me, unless I was wearing bright red. I felt a little more secluded. By the end of the Challenge (November 21), one could see completely through the woods from one side to another. There was the blanket of brown all over the woods floor, with tree trunks rising in various shades of brown and gray. The canopy was almost completely gone – even from many of the Oaks. The woodland seemed much smaller and I, sitting at my spot, would be in full, open view.

November 7

November 21

• The creators of this challenge, from the Wilderness Awareness School in Washington state, hosted a webinar soon after the challenge ended. I watched it and took notes for future reference. During the webinar, they described various other wilderness awareness methods to use, such as Field Journal, Mapping, Species Journal, Animal Forms, Edible and Medicinal Plants focus, Curiosity, and others. Of course, I want to try every one of them. They said that this is just a small number of all the things one could do. I wish I could go there to experience their total immersion camps. But, what I'll do is use their various strategies wherever I am, and also explore the great resources on their web site (including, possibly, on-line classes).

• There will be another Sit Spot Challenge next spring, and I plan to participate. It will be so different then. Instead of the woodland thinning out over time, it will be starting to fill in. I should be seeing buds turn to tiny green leaves, then fuller leaves. I'll be seeing various wildflowers and other plants emerging from the forest floor, which will have been more smashed and rotted down than in the late autumn. Birds will sound different. The air will feel, smell, taste different.

• I will be more aware than ever, when I spend time in Nature. I will explore each being, and notice what other beings visit or depend on it. I will use all of my senses. I will draw. I will sketch maps, to get an even better sense of where I am. I will explore the value of plants to our health, that I find in my vicinity – a special interest of mine, anyway. I will listen, watch, like another member of the woodland.

• And, I will notice the moon, every night.