Part I
What a lovely spring it has been. It's as if though the will of the weather decided to give us some respite from an extremely moist March and April and allow the sun to shine down on us throughout much of May. It's clear though that since the beginning of the quarter that Ravenna park has gone through great changes. At the beginning of the quarter, much of the plant life was in a rather meager stage of development, just starting to sprout up from the ground, reawakening from its winter slumber. Throughout my time in observing this park I've observed flowers bloom and fall to reveal ripened salmon berries, some of which I've been able to eat myself! Many flowers and other beautiful plants have made their debut and given way to other foliage. Many kinds of mushrooms which weren't present at the start of the quarter have also begin to sprout out of the forest floor as well. Above all, the dominating change which I've observed has been an intense peak in the size and scale of plant life, skunk cabbage which were once easily viewed have been taken over by giant horsetails which now dominate view as seen below.
The horsetail growth was an especially impressive feature of this season.
Ferns and other plants seen here have also grown to exceptional sizes, at the start of the quarter the lady ferns had just begun to pop out of the ground.
The aroma of the skunk cabbage now seems less potent than it was before.
Unripened thimble berries, I'll be sure to return in the summertime to try these out!
I managed to find a good deal of ripened salmon berries and treated myself to a few, but was certain to leave plenty for the birds to enjoy.
Here we see an amanita muscaria mushroom, these kinds of mushrooms grow all over the west coast and are rather iconic with their red caps and white dots. You dare not eat these, they are quite toxic to humans and have also been known to send people into terrifying and delirious states, hence why they aren't nearly as sought after as their psychedelic counterparts.
Part II
The day is Nepto Centuri 835612, my ship was forced to crash land on the planet earth en route to the sun for a routine energy extraction. Although I have passed this planet many times and wondered what was contained within its deep blue, green and brown surface the Zaptoonian government of Europa has issued a severe travel advisory against earth for fear that its inhabitants will learn of our existence and attempt to colonize our moon. My micro-ship managed to land unnoticed in a small patch of green space which seems to be surrounded by a number of man-made structures that indicate heavy human colonization. Upon departing my vessel I learned that I had entered a landscape which contained a large flowing body of clear liquids alongside a surface which is dominated by complex green entities. These were unlike anything I had previously encountered in my aquatic home world on Europa. Although they varied greatly in form, the ones which caught my eyes were growing in large colonies on damp surfaces. Large and tall they were with with a number of protruding lines which ran all the way around the stalk, these colonies of lines occurred multiple times all the way up the stalk until the top, where they would slowly decrease in length. The stalk of this entity was a lighter green than its protruding lines, and the colonies of lines which wrapped around the stalk were partially brown in color as well. While this was certainly of interest to me nothing could have prepared me for what I encountered next.
At first it seemed as if though the only moving thing in this area was the flowing liquids on the surface, but a few minutes after landing I heard a flapping noise and was then faced with a large moving organism which seemed to fly aimlessly through the air much as my own ship would. It then swooped down onto a nearby perch where I was able to observe it with ease. This creature was all black in color, a rather shiny black at that which gave it a rather sleek and ominous appearance. Its outer coating seemed to be made up of a number of flat appendages which collectively made a rather soft looking coat of sorts. It had two limbs with sharp claws that used to grasp the surface which it was holding onto. The head on this creature contained two eyes black as its coat, it seemed intent on looking around its surroundings, it was my hope that I would remain unnoticed as to not fall prey to its hunger. After more time had passed it made a high pitched noise which seemed to signal its comrades to come to its side, it was then that I decided my safety was potentially at risk and that I better move on to somewhere safer.
I managed to successfully make contact with my home world and the support line for ship repairs was able to walk me through what needed to be done to get on the move again. Although my comrades in Europa urged me to leave as soon as possible to avoid being noticed or eaten by the creatures there, I felt as if though I had just scratched the surface on a world full of unknown wonders and surprises. Before my departure I noticed another much smaller moving creature which was making its way across the ground and recorded these words so that I may remember my crash landing fondly.
Bright yellow and slimy, it moved across the land leaving trails of itself behind. Leaving remnants of its existence behind as it pressed on towards a new horizon, the yellow and slimy creature did crawl.
Part III
1) Ravenna Park means a lot more to me now than it did before, and even then I was grateful to live so close to the park. Now I realize the the dynamic nature of this green space and am much more aware of the vast variety of species contained within. Seeing how everything sprung up so heavily from the start of the quarter up until now was truly impressive and getting to try out the wild edibles that the park possessed and knowing where to find future ones has also been a treat in of itself! My particular observation site became a hub for all kinds of neat bird activity and insect finding, it was here that i witnessed a number of crow fights and other birds flying around. Coming here so often also helped me to reflect on the way that many people tend to treat city parks. Finding trash in the form of beer cans was a frequent reminder that there are some who simply see parks as a way to escape from prying eyes and would rather treat the grounds as their own personal trash bin than actually reflect on the beauty and nature that is contained within. It fueled my desire to help clean these parks up and only strengthened my passion for all the creatures and plants contained within our word.
2) Learning about the natural history of the Puget Sound has been incredibly enlightening, for a number of reasons. Some of the facts that I learned about the way in which this land was formed through glaciation during the ice age has been very illuminating about our general geography, even if that can be something as simple as considering a walking path to avoid excessive drumlins. It also gave me a new found respect for the nature in which the land can change in ways that devastate humans at times, as seen in the Oso disaster. Many of these things are avoidable if we only take the right precautions as to where we as people decide to settle, and knowing this will definitely play a role in deciding where I purchase property for myself someday. Above all though, I'm much more aware of the life around me in every single way after taking this class. I cannot help but walk down the street and identifying all the various plants and animals around me, I've begun paying a lot more attention to birds and appreciating them on levels which I didn't really do so beforehand. Going places such as the Nisqually River Delta and seeing the vast array of wildlife which is easily observed nearby my home in Seattle has been wonderful and only encouraged me in my pursuit of outdoor recreation and learning.
3) Knowing a natural place is being familiar with its plants, animals and geological phenomena. It is to really understand not only what happens somewhere but why it happens as well, and to never be satisfied with the level of knowledge you possess, thus lighting fires which bolster your drive to press on. But truly knowing a place goes beyond just being able to identify the species there and describe what you see using your basic senses. To know a place in this world intimately is to form a relationship with it in where you are actively concerned about the well being of its ecology and the plants and animals within it. Now more than ever I feel empowered and obligated to take the measures that I can to help maintain the integrity of the Puget Sound region, and this passion certainly extends out into the nature of the wider world. I also realize that the well being of my own species is in many ways directly tied to how many of the species in the natural world are faring, and that many can act as a sort of "canary in the coal mine" to give us clues to issues that could one day be detrimental to our own well being.
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