Night and morning

Well, I've now visited my secret spot in the dark, which was very exciting, and in the morning, which was a lot more active with bird song than any other time. This morning I almost fell back asleep but couldn't because I was so curious about how and what my sit area was doing in the sunny morning. I gathered materials for a fire along the way in, and tucked into a hollow with my little fire keeping me company.

New birdsong today included cardinal and brown creeper, with more robin voices and red winged blackbirds joining in every day. A broad winged hawk circled overhead as I walked home.

Three nights in a row I went out after dark, under the glittering stars, one of those times without contacts - I found myself raccoon-walking through and over the snow, touching lightly ahead with my hands, discovering topography and obstacles. On the still night of the three, owls talked in the distance.

Sense meditation

Well, it took me at least 20 minutes to get past just reminding myself to get back to owl eyes, and finally I just jumped in with the other senses, not letting myself have time to think any words about each of them before sinking into the next one, and absorbing the power of their totality: which lasted maybe 15 seconds before the sound tracks in my head started up again.

So, how was anyone else's Tuesday secret spot? I got to mine almost at dark, with fleeting worries about upsetting birds out of their comfy warm roosts, but I went in with the wind and didn't notice any disturbances. There's a pretty strong south wind blowing tonight; it felt constant in the field, but once I got into the hemlock grove, the wind blew more above me and it was much warmer. There's no recent deer sign that I've noticed in my area, and so far I've seen two animal trails: one snow-shoe hare and one fisher. Earlier in the winter, there were deer lays where I now call my secret spot. I wonder why they went elsewhere? I've seen deer trails and tracks up the hill and down the hill from our house... maybe it's got something to do with the wind whistling around the eves! Why do us humans like cultivating field-space so much? Lots of reasons I can think of...

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30 days

To watch the spring fire come forth and melt the snow; do some final snow tracking and trailing around your secret spot; listen to the returning and migrating birds as they pass through and share what you learn out there!