See Sit Spot Challenge at Kamana.org for more about the challenge.
Time of sit: 10:15-10:37pm
I started my sit with a barefoot walk around the house. The ground was cool and moist – a bit of rain must have fallen earlier in the evening, though I noticed none while I walked. There were periodic light gusts of wind from the northwest, a direction not usually associated with overcast skies and rain. Gusts were strong enough to lift the flag off the pole and move branches of the neighborhood conifers, so I think they may have been in the neighborhood of 10mph.
It was quiet in the neighborhood, I could hear the tinkling of chimes above my head when the wind blew, but other than that there was little to generate noise in the immediate vicinity. I reflected on the fact that I’m not looking forward to leaving this quiet – the new house is right next to what passes for a busy street in Sitka, so there will be fairly constant nearby traffic noise. I could make out traffic noise in the distance coming from downtown, and I think a couple of cars may have passed on Lincoln Street. A couple of times I could also just make out the calling of gulls from the Channel, probably close to a mile away. (I didn’t hear any gulls closer, I think they’re more apt to be active in the Channel with the activity and lights of downtown, the fish processors and the harbors).
One thing I noticed this evening was how the sound of the water filter and/or UV treatment system down at the hatchery varied in loudness. It seemed as though sometimes the sound was carried up on a gust of wind, and I could hear it much more clearly. I’ve noticed this effect before (and a quick google search revealed that I’m not the only one, though in my brief look, I did not see any strong consensus on an explanation).
The streetlight across from my house lit a relatively small area of the drive way and dark shadows elsewhere. Above and to the west-northwest the low clouds appeared pink/orange color as they reflected light from the downtown area. I did not see much else of particular interest, though it won’t be too many more weeks and the sky will still be light at this time.
I tried to take note of any particular smells, but the wind seemed to be blowing most of the close smells away, and my olfactory system is not currently attuned enough to pick out whatever other scents may have been coming in on the wind. I did pick up the cedar bark briefly a couple of times as well as the faint smell of herring from the fish Connor and Rowan had cleaned in the yard earlier in the evening. Once, when the Northwest wind was down and a bit of a back current brought air from the southwest, I was able to smell the smoke from a wood stove. Although I couldn’t see the smoke coming from the stack, I suspect it was the neighbor’s.