Okay, so I have two different locations this time. I had taken pictures one night in my alleyway when it was the first rain of the season and really wanted to share these interesting experiences and pictures with you all. This is all pretty much stream of consciousness, so sorry if it's a little loose.
So I got home around 2 am and it was raining steadily. It was pretty cold so I could still see my breath in the air.
I could smell the dirt and decayed leaves as the rain fell. I love that smell when it rains and it brings the moisture in the dirt to smell heavenly, almost like summer. Almost every time I smell that, I imagine that taste and feeling in my mouth, gritty against my teeth. Almost like the smell and thought texture of garden mulch. Sweet and earthy.
The rain was very cold against my skin. I wasn't wearing a jacket because it was nice that day temperature wise. The streetlamp near my garage glowed and it was surreal to stand in this very private, quiet place in which I have never really lingered before.
Whatever snow that was left over was wet and crunchy, speckled with dirt and grime. The snow smelt too. It smelt like winter air, only damp.
By the time I got inside, I was a little drenched, but exhilerated. The skin on my hands felt tight, cold. My camera is a real trooper, it got pretty wet too!
So today I was able to go back to my spot on campus and sit at a table and just take everything in. People, sounds, smells, interactions, reactions, senses, almost everything.
I really wanted to pay attention to the landscape around me. It being the first considerably warm day, nearly EVERYONE was out doing something. There were skateboarders, lolligaggers, people dancing, talking, tossing a football. But what I love about these things are the way in which the things that stay in place remain static and still amidst this constant exchange of interaction.
It was about 53 degrees out today in the sun. In the shade, about 45 degrees which was where I was sitting for my stakeout.
The air smelt clean, not too dry, but not wet. Occasionally there would be a waft of a wood fire that would pass by in a pleasant gust of cool air. Aside from the smell of a rainstorm, wood fire are my favorite smell in the whole wide world. I think it's because it makes me think of my cabin up north.
The trees are still bare and skeletal, but there is hope in the fact that there are perennial buds coming up in the school gardens.
The sky was blue an the clouds were lovely dimensionally. There is a small sketch of one in my field journal. The bottoms are darker than the tops which makes them look extra voluminous.
I took a while to compare the latticed pattern of the tree-tops to the similar patterns in the bare bushes around school. I the looked down at my wrist and remembering what was said in the lecture, traced the lines in the veins of my wrist. Isn't it strange that we are some of the few organisms that strive for order in such an organic world? I think yes.
With me, I brought my green tea that I had been sipping on all day. I was having a conversation with a fellow tea enthusiast earlier this week about the fact that all we're drinking is a packet of leaves and twigs. I responded with the fact that they are the most DELICIOUS and good for you leaves and twigs you could hope for. I loved that while was observing outside, I was basically drinking what I was observing, only in a different form. Not that I'm going to scoop up a handful of mulch and pour hot water over it.
I'm one of those people who if they're not biting their fingernails, they're biting the insides of their cheeks or the dry skin off their lips. Disgusting, I know, but it's my only vice aside from compulsive tea consumption. However, I was interested to compare how the skin on our bodies very much flaked off much like the bark on a tree or the needles on a pine tree branch. In the lack of water, they shed.
Okay, and the last interesting thing that I encountered today. So I was sitting in my studio very early this morning and it was glorious outside. Recently I bought this cheap necklace that had a fake cut crystal as the charm. So I'm walking through the studio spaces (I'm right by the windows on the East side of the building, so the sunlight was pretty intense.) and everytime I would pass through a sunbeam, it looked like a mini disco. The light was refracting off of my necklace and throwing absolutely beautiful colors onto the walls and onto me.
I had to take a photo and a video of it. I know it doesn't necessarily pertain to the naturalist blog post as far a nature outside goes, but I wanted to share this!
Thank you,
Mary N.
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