Day 1

I'm thrilled to be starting up on WAS's Sit Spot Challenge again.  I've done it every year since they began offering the Challenge, and each year it revitalizes my commitment to sitting outside regularly.  The daily sits, in turn, are wonderful inspiration to write on this blog, which is such sweet reflection time for me, so deeply needed while raising my two little ones.

Took some photos today to share with you:

This is the area where I sit.  The slope is west-facing, and I sit towards the top, on the left of the picture.  The height allows me a nice view of the woods above me, the woods below me, and the river, which is in the far right of the picture. 

A view of the same slope, from the flat area at the bottom.  Deer (and people) use this lower path, while the foxes in the area seem to prefer walking along the side of the slope.

When the river is low due to little rainfall, the muddy banks make for great tracking.  There's a nice deer print in the bottom right of this picture, and there were the usual raccoon prints further upstream.
The river's official name is Little River, which my kids and I agree is too generic for a river we love so much, and my young son suggested we rename it "Lots-of-Trees River."  When he suggested it, it seemed to me that the innocent blessing of a child naming it was more of a gift than if it had ended up with a more dignified, unique name after all.  So, Lots-of-Trees River it is.

During my sit, the sun was playing on the hemlock branches at the top of this shot.  I love the ethereal lightness of the sun on the needles, with the drab banality of the twigs beneath.