This was such a lovely activity. I sat in my backyard and ended up noticing more than I expected I would. For example the bark of one of my maple trees is actually far lighter in color (and contains some pink!) then I ever realized. Almost on cue, bird, squirrels, and insects were far more noticeable right around 15 minutes in. A small fly landed on my finger and I attempted to draw it, but I'm kind of wishing I had taken a photo to try identifying with iNaturalist since I can't figure out what it is now that I'm back inside - there are benefits and drawbacks to both photographic and drawn observations. I'm hoping I get more comfortable drawing. I wanted to capture the texture of tree bark and didn't really know where to start.

I sat inside because the mosquitoes are really bad outside at the moment. But I sat just inside a sliding glass door with the glass door open but the screen door closed. I found it easiest to notice the sounds- wind in the trees, birds singing, frogs calling, fish jumping. I tried to draw the landscape but ended up concentrating on just a few elements of the landscape.

Have so enjoyed purposeful opportunities to slow down, observe, and record!

I work so my opportunity to get out into nature is the weekends so I decided to find my "sit spot" in the backyard by our New England Aster patch which is in full bloom and attracts lots of bees.

I went to a near by stream along a road.  It was very breezy.  There was a Nor'easter off the coast.  The trees are turning color and I want to start exploring color with the water colors.  I don't have any resources for identifying the wild plants in my area.  Anyone have any recommendations?

well i only had time to sit in my front yard, which was way quieter than usual. but i observed a hummingbird fight, young turkeys establishing a pecking order, and some goldenrod with some beautifully colored leaf fungus(?) usually the yard is alive with Towhees, white-crowned and gold-crowned sparrow, oak titmice, bewicks wrens, and goldfinches, but it was very very quiet.  

I am working on slowing down and not rushing to get things done.  This is one of my favorite views, our maple tree in the yard.  I was letting the dogs in and out for their afternoon turnout and was standing at the door outside looking at the tree.  I drew it in my sketchbook before I wrote my observations, this was my third drawing, since I did the first two really fast and badly.  Standing there for so long helped me to notice the absence of birds this afternoon and that there is quite a bit of lichen on this tree.  My view was from about 30 feet away from the tree.  

I noticed a lot of bees darting around some small daisy-like flowers. They were shiny and black, not honey bees. They didn’t seem to notice each other, although there were many of them all around the flowers. Later I looked them up and I think they were carpenter bees, solitary bees who nest in wood. Every female is fertile (no queens); they rarely sting.

No problem to sit quietly for 15 minutes and soak in the sounds and smells and tactile sensations of my sit spot... am practicing insight meditation, so am used to sitting still for a bit... Wish I had a good way to suggest wind in a drawing. Nice gusts from time to time, maybe will try this again tomorrow and draw my Fountain Grass with all the blades leaning one direction. The doves were fun to sketch but had to work fast and sort of lost the shapes of the birds facing me while sitting on the power line. The two with their backs to me were having a tough time staying upright in the wind!

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• Esquimault Lagoon, Vancouver Island, B. C.
• Oct. 9, 2019
• 1:30 pm
• Sunny with a brisk wind. Jacket and hat required
• There was a lot going on at my site so I had a lot of notes.   It was easy to identify bird species since most are common where I live. I was surprised to find that I had difficulty sitting quietly for 15 minutes. I'm not really sure about how to take measurements I suppose I have a lot to learn! Fun experience!

date: 10/9/19 time:   8:00 am    place: Backyard   weather: 73 deg, clear, slight breeze B eautiful morning. Mourning dove calling, noise from construction behind us. Grey Squirrel on side yard fencing scolding the dogs.  The shrubs look a bit wilted from the drought conditions. What the heck is that huge flying insect? It looks like a dragon fly, double-set of wings and built like a B-52. Dark color. Please don’t fly over here!