November. Gray skies, dropping temperatures, bare trees, winter winds, snow, and ice ahead. The worst part is the loss of daylight. After the shift from daylight savings, which always happens around November 1st, the days become noticeably and progressively shorter. I can sense the approach of dusk as early as 3:30 in the afternoon. Resignation. Knowing that the warmth and light and world of green leaves and growing plants are gone until next May. That is five long months or…
I discover the beauty and complexity of the riparian zone.
Listening to and reflecting upon the beautiful dawn chorus of birdsongs.
Threshold I stepped across a scattering of large gray rocks, remnants of an old stone wall, a threshold to mark my departure from home and yard and my entry to an hour long sit spot. Once across the threshold I would slow my pace, shift my awareness into noticing, and proceed slowly to my destination. Crossing the threshold was the easy second step in conducting a sit spot. The first step, forming the intention was much more difficult. Why, I…
Silent Walking, one of the latest hot topics to take the internet by storm, sure sounded good to me. I love walking and try to get out almost every day for a walk or better yet a long hike. And, with my inclination towards introversion, I find intervals of silence rejuvenating. I learned that the Silent Walking trend started with a June 2023 Tik Tok post by content creator Mady Maio. She was directed by her dietician to walk 30…
I planned to go to a different spot. Perhaps out past Horse Island to the remote tip of Bird Shoal where I might gain a new perspective on nature in the Rachel Carson Reserve near Beaufort, NC. My two previous sit spots at the Reserve had been conducted from the observation deck on Carrot Island. Both had been beautiful, instructive, and remained vividly etched in my memory. I had learned much about the salt marshes and tidal flats. Now, I…
The Aldo Leopold Bench At 3:30 a.m., with such dignity as I can muster of a July morning, I step from my cabin door, bearing in either hand my emblems of sovereignty, a coffee pot and a notebook. I seat myself on a bench facing the white wake of the morning star. I set the pot of coffee beside me. I extract a cup from my shirt front, hoping none will notice its informal mode of transport. I…
Down three flights of stairs, a quick sixty-eight steps across the yard, and I arrived at the edge of the vacant lot. Often while on vacation at my timeshare I had walked by this lot usually eager to get to the beach and had paid scant attention to what by all appearances was simply an overgrown and neglected patch of property. Then two days ago on my way to a beach walk I heard faint seet-seet-seet calls, turned and spotted…
September Sunrise The Wood Duck Trail JohnFirst light inched above the horizon while nighttime silence enveloped us as we walked slowly down the Wood Duck Trail on our way to a sit spot. In the dim light my feet touch-stepped over the roots and rocks and the up and down contours of the trail. I was glad to walk slowly. It was an opportunity to prepare for our sit spot, a chance to even out my breathing and open my…
The question in my mind as I walked up the side of the elevated sand mound was clear. Could I experience a deep nature connection conducting an hour long sit spot right in my back yard? I thought the answer was yes, given that nature was most likely just as rich and complex in my backyard as in some remote and wild park or forest. It was an important question for me. I hoped to demonstrate that the sit spot…