Friday, June 30, 7:18 AM – Charles River, Waltham, Massachusetts
Weather- This morning it is in the high 60s and incredibly sunny out. There is little to no wind and it is very humid. The sky is blue primarily this morning with some long and narrow bluish-white clouds that blend into the blue sky.
Wonder-Something new that I’m noticing today are the bees around me pollinating. I am sitting on the same bench I was last time surrounded by the same flowers, yet this time the flowers are covered in bees pollinating the flowers. The sound of their buzzing is the dominant sound today with the rush of the highway taking a backseat in the soundscape. I had also not noticed the amount and depth of the flowers here last time. There are two distinct species of flower, one predominantly white with a purple hue and one bright yellow. The yellow flowers, the Common St. Johns-Wort, open into five ovular but pointed petals from a deep yellow center. There are many straight yellow “hairs” with small spheres on the end also coming from the center. The white flower, Daisy Fleabanes, have I would say between 20 and 40 petals each that come from the center in an elongated ovals shape. The petals themselves start white at the base and ombre into a purplish hue. The center of this flower is circular as well and has a light yellow color. The bees seem to pay the most attention to the yellow flower, I wonder what makes this the preferred flower? Is it the color, the shape, the abundance? I am especially enthralled by the flowers today because I recently moved from a rural to an urban environment and have been wondering about the health and abundance of pollinator species in urban areas, clearly, they have a presence here.
New Species- A species I found and identifies was the Common St Johns-Wort, scientifically the hypericum perforatum. I have seen this flower many times before but had never taken the time to identify it. To identify I took a photo while I was there and then was able to use the app Seek to identify it and match it when I returned home. Through some research, I found out that this flower has historically been used in many medicinal practices for various conditions, including depression, kidney disease, insomnia, and numerous others.
Sketches:
Conclusion: Sketching was new and exciting for me. It really helped me dial into intricate details of the space I was in that I wouldn’t have noticed before. I feel like for me the practice of finding something to sketch was even more beneficial than sketching itself because it made me think about the spot in a new way. For me, the challenging part of sketching was obviously the artistic talent required but also trying to capture everything I wanted to through drawing. During my next visit, I want to follow up on the bees at different times of day and see when they are most present.