Mad Macedonian

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 24

The 30-Day Sit Spot Challenge is a way for you to connect with the depth of the natural world through one spot in the nature.

You can learn more about this 20 min. a Day Exercise, and why I think the experience can provide interesting opportunities for Writing Prompts, in the Introductory Post, and then follow the link, at the end of each post, to the next chapter.

Question #24: Go to your sit spot, find something you are curious about, explore it, and then do some research.

Quote to Ponder:

Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

I decided to research nearby William Ord Hart Memorial Park, which the bike trail, and Santiago Creek, go through.

W.O. Hart (1885-1942), was the editor of the Orange Daily News and president of the Orange Community Chamber of Commerce.

I did some Googling, and came across some great pictures, and a bit of history, about the man, and the creation of the park, and I took  several pictures, on my way to my Sit Spot, yesterday, including this plaque on the main building in the park.

From the wonderful blog O.C.History Round-Up, there was this:

If you don't count the Plaza, Hart Park was the City of Orange's first park. Originally called Orange City Park, it was created in the 1930s by the City, working in conjunction with the State Emergency Relief Agency (SERA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It was renamed in 1964 for longtime Orange Daily News editor William O. Hart.

You  can read more, and see a photo, from 1950, that will have any Classic Car Buffs who see it swooning in ecstacy. ;-D

 

The Plaque, from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) , is stuck on the side of this building, one of the original structures on the grounds, and still used today, as part of a complex with 2 outdoor pools. 

 

Near the building is the Hart Park Bandshell, dedicated on June, 6, 1989, donated by the Soroptimist International of Orange. 

This spot is popular for patriotic events, and protest gatherings, as well as concerts.
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30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 25

  

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 23

The 30-Day Sit Spot Challenge is a way for you to connect with the depth of the natural world through one spot in the nature.

You can learn more about this 20 min. a Day Exercise, and why I think the experience can provide interesting opportunities for Writing Prompts, in the Introductory Post, and then follow the link, at the end of each post, to the next chapter.

Question #23: Read, buy, or check out this book:  "The Stars, A New Way to See Them" by H.A. Rey.

Quote to Ponder:

Of course one can enjoy the stars without knowing them.  But if you know them at least a little the pleasure is infinitely greater. It is fun to watch them announce the seasons, to see them arise at the expected times and places and follow their paths year in, year out, more reliable than anything else.

H.A. Rey

 

A visit to Amazon found this interesting tidbit about the Scientist who wrote the above book, & quote: "Written by the author of Curious George, this hefty guide to stars, constellations, and planets in the night sky was first published in 1952."

I recently joined the OC Hiking Club, with plans to get out more, something I've long wished to do, and something this Sit Spot Adventure has encouraged, so maybe I'll have a chance to be someplace, at night, where I can REALLY see the stars (The last time I had the opportunity was when I visited an Uncle in Virginia, in 2007, and before that it was years since the last time. ;-D

In the meantime I spent my time at my Sit Spot, yesterday, thinking about the quote as if he was commenting on the "Stars" of Hollywood.

My Laugh of the Day over, I headed off to work. ;-D

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 24

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 22

The 30-Day Sit Spot Challenge is a way for you to connect with the depth of the natural world through one spot in the nature.

You can learn more about this 20 min. a Day Exercise, and why I think the experience can provide interesting opportunities for Writing Prompts, in the Introductory Post, and then follow the link, at the end of each post, to the next chapter.

Question #22: Sing a song to the moon from your Sit Spot.

Quote to Ponder:

I've never felt like I was born with a silver spoon at all, although I've felt like howling at the moon a lot of times.

Van Morrison

You don't want ME howling at, um, I mean, singing to, the Moon, from anywhere, even in the wild where no-one but the sorely put upon animals would hear me....

So, since going to my Sit Spot at night is not wise, I spent my 20 minutes there this afternoon, with my mouth firmly shut. ;-D

Like ol' Van I wasn't BORN with a silver spoon in my mouth.

My parents had to buy a pair, though, once I was old enought to do more than breast feed.

Oh, and I didn't wear Glass Slippers, either. ;-D

Van, with HIS talent, may have been able to make money howling at the moon, but not me.

I think folks would pay me NOT to, though. ;-D

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 23

 

 

 

 

 

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 21

The 30-Day Sit Spot Challenge is a way for you to connect with the depth of the natural world through one spot in the nature.

You can learn more about this 20 min. a Day Exercise, and why I think the experience can provide interesting opportunities for Writing Prompts, in the Introductory Post, and then follow the link, at the end of each post, to the next chapter.

Question #21: Map out the path that the sun takes over your sit spot.

Quote to Ponder:

The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us.  Only that day dawns to which we are awake.  There is more day to dawn.  The sun is but a morning star.

Henry David Thoreau

Yesterday was a clear, and breezy, day, and the only thing I can say about the sun is that it continued on its merry, daily, way, traveling east to west across the sky. ;-D

It was above my position, and not to the side, as it traveled on its journey.

As for Thoreau...I'm not sure what to make of his words. ;-D

He's the guy who wrote about life at Walden Pond, Cape Cod, the Maine Woods, and the Concord, and Merrimack Rivers, so it's well known that he spent much more than 20 minutes a day at his versions of Sit Spots.

All that gettin' close to nature is bound to make one think convoluted thoughts that only the thinker can fathom. ;-D

I have the Library of America Single Volume collection of the above works, and will get around to reading it some day.

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 20

The 30-Day Sit Spot Challenge is a way for you to connect with the depth of the natural world through one spot in the nature.

You can learn more about this 20 min. a Day Exercise, and why I think the experience can provide interesting opportunities for Writing Prompts, in the Introductory Post, and then follow the link, at the end of each post, to the next chapter.

Question #20: Make a weather prediction today by observing conditions for a few minutes in the AM.  Do not use instruments or the internet!

Quote to Ponder:

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron
feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water,
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry

So there I was, yesterday, standing at my Sit Spot, holding on to my bike so the blustery wind would not carry it away, and I was supposed to make a Weather Forecast?

Once out of the wind, and on the bus to work, I wrote the following:

It's cool, and very, very windy, with a strong east flow, encouraging every cloud within miles, that had been haging out in SoCal yesterday, to haul ass out of the area. ;-D

I know that my bike commute later, 5 miles west into Long Beach, would be directly into this wind, but believe that the wind be be over, and done, by the time i get off work at 11pm.

The weekend will be clear, and warm, as a result.

Sure enough the wind had stopped by the time I was ready to go home. ;-D

Lovely sentiments, by Berry, to ponder, with the wind blowing in your face.

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 21
 

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 19

The 30-Day Sit Spot Challenge is a way for you to connect with the depth of the natural world through one spot in the nature.

You can learn more about this 20 min. a Day Exercise, and why I think the experience can provide interesting opportunities for Writing Prompts, in the Introductory Post, and then follow the link, at the end of each post, to the next chapter.

Question #19: Touch a Robin.

Quote to Ponder:

If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small, aquatic bird of the family Anatidae on our hands.

Douglas Adams

 

Well, since there were no Robins chirping around my Sit Spot, to touch, I had hopes that a fellow user of the nearby trail might be wearing a name tag with the name "Robin", so I could greet them, and shake their hand but, alas, no such luck. ;-D

After sitting at my Spot for 20 minutes I returned to check on the Quacker Families I'd discovered a while back, and confirmed that Douglas Adams was right. ;-D

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 20

 

 

 

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 18

The 30-Day Sit Spot Challenge is a way for you to connect with the depth of the natural world through one spot in the nature.

You can learn more about this 20 min. a Day Exercise, and why I think the experience can provide interesting opportunities for Writing Prompts, in the Introductory Post, and then follow the link, at the end of each post, to the next chapter.

Question #18: Carve while at your Sit Spot.  Use materials you find there and create something.

Quote to Ponder:

Touching that old tree was truly moving to me because when you touch these trees, you have such a sense of the passage of time, of history.  It's like you're touching the essence, the substance of life.

Kim Novak

With nothing laying around for me to create anything with I just sat at my Sit Spot enjoying the view, yesterday. ;-D

Growing up in Claremont, Ca., a century old college town known for its trees, and nearby Pomona, and Ontario, also know for their old trees, I fully agree with Kim on this.

Walking the streets of these towns, especially in the older sections, one is struck by the beauty of your surroundings.

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 19

 

 

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 17

The 30-Day Sit Spot Challenge is a way for you to connect with the depth of the natural world through one spot in the nature.

You can learn more about this 20 min. a Day Exercise, and why I think the experience can provide interesting opportunities for Writing Prompts, in the Introductory Post, and then follow the link, at the end of each post, to the next chapter.

Question #17: Pretend you are an animal at your sit spot.  Depending on what you choose, how will you behave?

Quote to Ponder:

Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars, and so on -- whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time.  But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man -- precisely for the same reasons.

Douglas Adams

As I hang out at my Sit Spot every day I see, birds, bees, lizards, squirrels, and insects so it's hard to choose one to pretend being, but if I was an Ant I'd lobby for crosswalks. ;-D

An Ant Crossing or crosswalk would be a designated point in any open space at which some means are employed to assist Ants wishing to cross.

They would be designed to keep Ants together where they can be seen by Humans, and where they can cross most safely with the flow of other users of the area.

Ant Crossings would most often be placed in Parks, and any other natural areas frequented by Humans trying to "get close to nature", but may also be placed in busy Urban Areas that would otherwise be perilous for Ants to attempt to cross, such as schools, malls, theatres, concert, sports, and other entertainment venues.

So what do you think? Is this a workable idea, or not? ;-D

Wonder what the Dolphins would think about such a scheme? ;-D

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 18

 

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 16

The 30-Day Sit Spot Challenge is a way for you to connect with the depth of the natural world through one spot in the nature.

You can learn more about this 20 min. a Day Exercise, and why I think the experience can provide interesting opportunities for Writing Prompts, in the Introductory Post, and then follow the link, at the end of each post, to the next chapter.

Question #16: Eat 3 different Dandelion leaves, and compare their tastes.

Quote to Ponder:

A Weed is no more than a flower in disguise.

James Russell Lowell

As I pedaled thru Hart Park, on my way to my Sit Spot, this evening, around 530pm, it is just as packed with people as yesterday.

Not spotting any Dandelions around, to munch on, I settled down to  rest a bit before heading home from taking my bike to get a new tire, and tube, at REI.

I no sooner sit than i spot a Lizard coming out of a bush, and on to a rock, to sun itself.

No, I didn't eat it...I took a photo that came out a blur because the Lizard darted back into the bush to avoid the representative of the Nature Paparazzi invading its turf. ;-D

I don't know squat about weeds, except that I pulled up a hell of a lot of them, in the 70's, and 80's, from my Mom's flower beds while I grew up, but some of the weeds in the area surrounding my Sit Spot DO seem to have flowers. 

At least I THINK all of them are weeds. ;-D

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 17

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 15

The 30-Day Sit Spot Challenge is a way for you to connect with the depth of the natural world through one spot in the nature.

You can learn more about this 20 min. a Day Exercise, and why I think the experience can provide interesting opportunities for Writing Prompts, in the Introductory Post, and then follow the link, at the end of each post, to the next chapter.

Question #15: Drink dew off a safe plant, or tree, near your Sit Spot.

Quote to Ponder:

Always do your best, what you plant now, you will harvest later.

Og Mandino

Saturday, Sunday, and holidays, are the busiest days for Hart Park, and the Santiago Trail.

The parking lot on the north side of the park, seen almost empty during the week days, is full.

Not knowing what was safe, or not safe, as far as the plant life in the area of my Sit Spot didn't matter, yesterday, because at noon on a Saturday there was just nothing, um, dewing on anything, anyway. ;-D

Thinking about the words of Og Mandino got me to thinking about my journey as a writer, and blogger, since 2002.

Since the beginning I've alwasy done the best I knew how, and tried to learn new things along the way, in putting the best into the look of my blogs.

I've alwasy put my best effort in all my writing as well.

My blogs have never attracted huge amounts of traffic, and attention, much less advertising, and many probably wonder why I still write them.Og Mandino may be on to something, though, even if it may not appear that way.

I've been at it for 8 years, now, including Bike Blogging, and Cat Blogging, among other interests.

The contrast in the fates of the 2 interests is striking.

My Bike blog, one of the first to appear in America, has pedaled along, occasionally getting attention, and praise for its efforts, but little encouragement aside from people I've called friends for longer than I've been blogging, and a handful of cycling people that I am honored to also call friends.

It has never had any huge number of regular readers, or connections, and 98% of its  tiny amount of traffic are drive-bys via Google Searches.

My personal blogs, meanwhile, kept up in traffic by attracting regular, real, readers, and commentors, especially because of the blogging related to my Cat.

Expanding that side of my creative blogging efforts, in January, by setting up my Cat in a place of his own, something that in hindsight I should have done years ago, saw the stirring of Og's "harvest".

In 3 1/2 months the blog of my Cat has not only kept up the traffic, but gotten a tiny fanbase of regular readers who have left over 350 comments on his writing, and the attention of journalists, and even activist organizations, as well.

Where this new direction for my creativity will eventually lead...I haven't a clue. ;-D

30-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Day 16