Clear and frosty this morning. Increasing clouds this afternoon and becoming overcast this evening. Calm winds.
Although today’s highs were similar to yesterdays, I did not notice the same chill in the air. I attribute this in part to brighter sun and less wind.
I spent the morning on calls.
Temperatures were cool enough overnight for ice to form
I headed out for a shift of observation shortly after noon. Despite the midday time, there was still bit of ice on the water in a bucket in my yard.
A sailboat traveling under power out western channel towards the sound
A thin high layer of clouds did not do too much to dim the sun, but it did mask the blue a bit.
Drilling activity created a sediment plume in the water around the vessel
Not long after I arrived, a sea lion came over to check us out. I didn’t have my camera out yet, or I would have tried to get pictures of it swimming below the water not far off the boat. Its approach caused a pause in the work, but it did not stick around, so the pause was short.
Graywacke samples pulled up as part of the geotechnical work
Cores were coming out in much more solid sections today. I did not get a chance to talk to the geologist, or I might have asked him about it.
My brother and I had agreed to have a go at a week of daily thirty minute ‘story of the day’ calls starting today. My intention had been to do a sit spot with sensory awareness/expansion practice in my yard. I originally thought I would have time to do this between my calls and my observing time. However, the last call ran late and my observing time got pushed earlier, so that didn’t work out.
When the drilling ended earlier than expected, I ended up with more time than I expected and decided to drive out to Pioneer Park and do at least a short sit there.
I found a place to sit facing the water on rocks at the upper part of the shoreline. I set a timer for 6 minutes and started by trying to pay attention to my full field of vision (wide-angle/peripheral vision) as well as the sounds all around me. I also tried to be aware of the feeling on my skin and in my body plus any smells that I might notice.
I’ve not done a lot of practice integrating senses into simultaneous awareness, so it was a bit of a mixed bag.
One thing I noticed was the sound of waves as they hit the beach. Their angle of approach meant a given wave would come to shore off to my left, and move up the shoreline to my right. I could see in my visual field as the waves splashed on the rocks, and hear it simultaneously. At one point, a particularly loud vehicle was headed in to town. Its low rumble moved in opposition to the sounds of the waves.
Before the end, I directed more attention to trying to smell something. There was a very light breeze coming more or less from the direction of Sea Mart. I wondered if I might be able to smell fried chicken (as I often do at the parking lot there). That didn’t happen, but I did ultimately smell something that reminded me of wet organic matter. I’m not sure if it might have been a wet, mossy log, or perhaps the swampy area at a seep that was not far upwind of me on the beach.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
