Sit Spot Journal - Day 8

Sit Time: 7:30-7:50 p.m.

What a difference an hour makes. My early evening sits are typically around 6:30 or 7 p.m. Tonight's sit was a bit later, but felt quite a bit cooler in a chilly and damp way that intruded into my core. When I came inside I looked at the temperature: it was 28 degrees, not any colder and as much as 8-10 degrees warmer than one or two of my sits, but I felt a lot colder with this one.

It was a quiet sit, with only the slightest breeze. The breeze was too slight to hear or even for me to feel, but the small branches and needles on the pine tree next to my Sit Spot waved or perhaps just trembled slightly. The pine moves under the very tiniest wind. I have already learned to look to it to tell me if the wind is truly calm or simply lighter than I can feel.

Sounds: The only ones I heard tonight were human-created--planes overhead, a train in the distance, a car or truck out on the road. The evening moisture seemed to amplify the sounds. The jet was loud, though it was thousands of feet above me. The nearest train tracks are at least 5 miles away. The road where I heard the car is over a mile. Even living where I do isn't far enough away to eliminate the sounds of noisy humans.

Sights: I don't see much, or perhaps a better way to say it is that I don't focus on my sight during night sits. I see silhouettes of trees and notice if they stand straight or bend. Tonight, high clouds (and the still-bright moon) obscure all but a few of the brightest stars. A night sit with snow affords more to see than a night sit without snow, but certainly the woods are devoid of the activity of daylight. It is quiet and peaceful.