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Meli

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JhoiraArtificer
@JhoiraArtificer
JhoiraArtificer
@JhoiraArtificer

birthday activity

it's my birthday today, I'm the birthday monarch! if you want to celebrate with me, pick a spot (ideally outside, but you do you) to sit for ten minutes and just Observe

some things to think about, if you want guidance:

  • are there any bugs? what are they up to? (sidewalks often have ants!)
  • any plants? trees are great, but what's the smallest plant you can find? if there aren't any small plants, why do you think that is?
  • what's the weather like? is there a breeze? what does it smell like? why might it smell that way?
  • what can you hear? probably human sounds like cars or planes or voices, but what else? is anything scratching under a nearby bush? any bird or mammal sounds?

feel free to share your observations if you like, but either way it's very cool to learn a little bit more about the places you spend time!

JhoiraArtificer
@JhoiraArtificer

it's my birthday again

and I think you should maybe do this activity (again?)

if you've done it before, and want to do it in the same place: is it significantly different this time? do you have any thoughts about why?

mismatched
@mismatched

Happy Liz day! Time to Observe

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in reply to @JhoiraArtificer's post:

Zappy
@Zappy

I'm not sure if it's cheating the assignment, but I checked on my garden today. Not much breeze, very hot, couldn't stay outside long. Peppers love the sun but even this gets to be too much for them. They looked on the cusp of being wilty / complaining.

But they're also doing well, and I'm particularly excited for the fish pepper. Its white streaks along its leaves are lovely.

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bcj
@bcj

Happy birthday! Hope you've had a lovely one

I decided to poke around the back yard a bit after taking out some trash and here are some things I observed:

  • it's nice out. there's a slight breeze and it's warmed up a bunch since this morning. there aren't many clouds and the sun is going down
  • the construction at my neighbours place is done for the day. their deck is gone and so is the siding on the back of their house
  • the feeders are running a little low (but they can wait until tomorrow). there is one kernel of corn in the sunflower feed
  • the grass is long. it's clear I've been putting off mowing it
  • it looks like there's a mark on one of the slides in the play structure behind me. I couldn't tell if it is damage or graffiti
  • nobody is on the play structure. I guess it's both too late and too early. Nobody is outside next door either. I can vaguely hear some people a few streets down and a few passing cars
  • the sunflowers aren't blooming but they're so tall now. maybe 7 feet
  • I watched an ant climb around the top leaf of the tallest sunflower. they stayed at the base of the leaf but went around it a few times. I can't say i worked out their plan.
  • some flies landed on the leaf while the an was exploring. the ant seemed unconcerned
  • a sparrow landed on the fence with a bush between me and them. they chirped a bit and then eventually flew off.
  • the ant didn't move while the sparrow was chirping but the ant often stopped so those may be unrelated
  • there's a cricket somewhere (maybe in the front long)
  • a squirrel ran along the fence and suddenly stopped when they realized I was just a few feet away (I was quiet, watching the ant). The squirrel, which had a seed dangling from their neck, chirped a few times and then ran away to chirp more
  • the ant started heading over to the second highest leaf. I had been wondering about their ascent—did the long bristly hairs on the stalk make it difficult for the ant to traverse? The move to the second leaf suggests yes.
  • several planes flew overhead (I'm on a flight path)
  • there were some birds in the big bush by the sunflowers. I hadn't seen them but when I moved closer to the bush, they moved a bit

Also, I would like to take this opportunity to recommend my favourite book about observing things: An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris by Georges Perec

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censa
@censa

Happy birthday!

I'll report some noticing from my apartment window yesterday because I'm late:

A couple moths made their way inside the open window, looking for the light as the sun went down

The feather that a friend spotted hanging from one of the roof spikes a few days ago is still there! Probably a down feather from a pigeon

Lots of yellow-orange and grey-green moss or lichen growing on the rooftops, as well as a few plants in people's windows or balconies below

Lovely weather. Breezy, as it usually is in the evenings. A few clouds but mostly clear. Fresh smell, but the water-minerally rain smell from the day prior was gone

It's generally quiet except for the bells, but last night we heard the starlings! Watched the murmuration last night and they are loud, especially when close. You can hear their cries from further away, but you can also hear the sound of all their wings when they're right overhead

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in reply to @JhoiraArtificer's post:

namelessWrench
@namelessWrench

Happy birthday! While I still can't go outside in my current situation, I will look outside and I saw a friendly fly in the gym today. This morning outside was raucous with lightning and thunder and torrents. There were tornadoes in the area and the power was out so all the human noises were silent and all I could hear was nature's raw power at work.

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Yerfriendmolly
@Yerfriendmolly

I was doing some cooking late last night and looking out the window we have in our kitchen that overlooks the little garden patio area of our apartment building, and there were like 4 little mice runnin around with a bigger parent mouse. Squeakin up a storm tbh. They were running around the plants for like 5 minutes before they snuck off under a fence and got outta there, but it was nice!

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sirboxalot
@sirboxalot

Location: my back yard

  • bugs: if you walk around barefoot on my back lawn you might get blapped by these tiny little black ants, like smaller than “pantry ants” somehow and also vicious. I think they’re ants anyways. I can see a few of these ants walking along the brick edge that separates the patio from the lawn. Oh shit now there’s a fly and a bigger ant! The flys are checkin me out.

  • smallest plant: little tiny baby clovers growing in the lawn. The big rain recently has popped up all sorts of fun life around the yard.

  • there’s a nice cool breeze in the shade, but the setting sun is warm on my skin. It smells kind of… dry now, I think probably all of the moisture from the storm is gone from the air.

  • I can hear my neighbors sprinklers and their central air unit. I can hear my dog rolling around in the grass and the wind is blowing some trees and plants occasionally enough to rustle their leaves. There is a cycle to the sprinklers, regularly hitting a section of fence.

  • bug addendum: there’s a tiny motherfucker on my phone screen! Like a 1mm milipede or something

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