This week, I spent 15 minutes sitting quietly at my spot in the woods, taking in all of the things surrounding me. I noticed a very crisp, woody, fall smell to the air, with a touch of wet leaves. The trees still held on to a lot of their leaves, although a good amount had also begun to cover the ground. The trees were beautiful shades of yellows and orange with a few touches of red left. As always, the White Pine looked pretty barren at the bottom with only a few needle-bearing branches toward the top. My time in this spot was peaceful, but not silent. Chirping birds filled the air with their song, and even saw a few of them fly past. I was also lucky enough to see a little Chipmunk scurry by on an old fallen branch. The ferns and grasses remained as the groundcover, and the composition of the over and understory did as well. I did notice that the grasses had become less green and more yellow. The leaves littering the forest floor were also more yellow compared to the vibrant reds and greens observed last time.

My hand-drawn birds eye view map of my very special spot in Centennial Woods! Note the topographical map style, which I chose to include because my spot is on the top of a small hill. For this map, the sit-spot is between the Eastern White Pine and Norway Maple at the top of the hill.