sundial

23 October 2008
Jackson Plaza, Willamette University, Salem, OR
3:45
Today while I was sitting on the steps of Jackson Plaza I let the sun tell time for me. I sat alongside one of my friends talking and enjoying being outside instead of cooped up in my dorm room. As I sat there working on a bracelet I tuned into the sounds around me. As I listened closely to the sound of the Mill Stream, all other sounds seemed to fade out and I began to hear a pattern within the random gurgling of water. I watched the water glide effortlessly past the rocks maintaining the bottom of the stream. A little way down the stream, where the current seems to tail off, a few ducks floated, dipping their heads under the water to catch food. One dunked its head under and came up flapping its wings sending water cascading off of its back in little beads. The ducks began to leave and followed after one another in a single file line. The longer I sat at Jackson Plaza the further the sun cast its shadow over me. Soon I was under a veil of shadow and I packed up my things to leave.