Observation ~ Week 1 Walk 1 Assignment

WALK 1 - OBSERVATION ONLY

Your first weekly walk will be focused only on observation. Try to slow down and really take time to observe the sights, sounds, and smells all around you. Also pay attention to any physical sensations - for example, was it hot or cold, humid or dry, did you feel the wind on your skin or any other sensations? If you’re following a familiar route take note of a new thing - new pathway, new object, new occurrence. Take closer note of a familiar thing - something you see all the time, maybe it’s something you think of as mundane, maybe it’s something you always notice. Take some extra time with it this week. 

Take note while you walk. At the end of your walk write a journal entry about some of the things you noticed by answering the following questions:

What did I see?
What did I hear? 
What did I smell?
What physical sensations did I experience?
What did I notice that I hadn’t noticed before (if familiar path)?
What are some things I always seem to notice (if familiar path)?
What else did I notice?

 

Your journal entry should be approximately 100-250 words in length and posted to your blog.

[My response]

My favorite seen item this time around was a set of vertical shadows cast by a tall and stately pair of trees onto a beige high concrete wall. I lingered a bit more on a variety of fonts and graphic elements that city and corporates chose for their signs and indications along the street. I enjoyed seeing brush marks on the ground from edges of painted items like fire hydrants. When I reached the end, I saw the familiar bushes at the small farm demarcated "private property". On the way back, I enjoyed seeing from afar the ambling slow pace of workers gathering under awnings propped up near the entrance.

 

I am doubtful I ever agreed as much as I did today that birdsong sounds sweet. The different birds had very short and lively chirps far up above somewhere. The quiet street was graced by a slow thunder with an approaching car, and some moments after it had gone, an intensification of the rustle of the trees felt something like a cross between a deep breath and an impatient one.

 

I didn't enjoy very much the sudden pain that showed up through my left leg, nor the heaviness of my body unaccustomed to the best way of holding itself. I had better luck with the smells, pleasant burning fragrance of peppers as I approached the farm, and even the lingering tar smell from the freshly remade roadway. Though, it's safe to say even the residue of the mayonnaise on my corn was more pleasant than that.