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…
Prologue John It’s a different story taking another person to an early morning sit spot. On my own, I get there when I get there. But with a guest there is a schedule, in this case a 6:15 a.m. meet up so I needed to get up at 5:15. Worried about being on time I woke up during a night of restless sleep to check the time. I noticed other concerns winding in and out of my dream. How much…
Beyond the end of the boardwalk bands of orange and yellow inched into the sky. I would make it to the beach in time for the sunrise. The issue had been in doubt. It had been a noisy night at the campground with devotees of the Southern rock jam band Widespread Panic holding a raucous after concert party. Finally at 4 in the morning, in despair, I crawled out of my sleeping bag, stumbled out of the tent, and staggered…
The first rays of morning sunshine pierced the dark green woods at the far end of Hankins Pond. Haunting rising and falling kek kek kek calls carried through the swirling strands of gray mist that floated over the pond. I stepped onto dew laden grass, slipped on my binocular harness, shouldered my camp stool, spotting scope and backpack, and began a slow, transition-into-nature walk down the old road that ran along the edge of the pond. I had come to…
My self-prescribed assignment was to pay attention to nature as I walked to the beaver pond where I planned to conduct an hour long sit spot. I needed this. I felt strangely depleted. Nothing life threatening bearing down, but just a lot of different, mostly good, things to get done; morning and afternoon webinars to deliver over the next two days, clinical case reports to proof and edit, road construction and tree removal bids for the borough to review, and…
Prologue Michael 5:00 am I woke at 5:00 a.m. to prepare for a shared sit spot with John. We planned to meet up at 6:30 and walk to the location we had scouted out a month before. I began my early morning routine by stoking the wood stove, dressing, feeding Jean-Luc (my cat), making coffee, and snacking on a little yogurt with granola. I gathered what I needed per John’s suggestions; notebook, pencils (a pen might freeze, John told me),…