There are several nature writers whose work I enjoy. At the top of my list is the poet, Mary Oliver. Shortly after her passing (January 2019), I started a journal incorporating some of her poems with my watercolors. I’ve also enjoyed Lyanda Lynn Hauptmann’s “Crow Planet” and others. Reading Bernd Heinrich books I’m always amazed by his beautiful sketches. This class has inspired me to get several of my favorite books from the shelves to reread parts.

I enjoy reading Thoreau and Muir and sometimes their books accompany me into the woods. I find much inspiration reading Teilhard de Chardin, such as "The Phenomenon of Man." Their works remind me that we are all interconnected, no one is an island, and we -- including all nonhuman life forms -- are all inter-related in some fashion. In a cosmic sense, we are stardust.   A favorite poet is Gerard Manley Hopkins. A striking line for me is from his poem "God's Grandeur" (1877): "The world is charged with the grandeur of God. Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod." (Today's journal entry:) My personal challenge is to slow down, waste time; know the difference between looking and seeing. This morning, a friend and I took a long stroll through the Untemeyer Park in Yonkers, NY. The sun was intensely bright against the cerulean blue sky. The air was cold and crisp, making one wanting to inhale deeply the breeze off the Hudson River. Birds were particularly quiet on this November morning. An occasional crow made its presence known in the tall oaks. I did hear the song of a bird I never heard before. It was beautiful and odd at the same time. It came from the high weeds at the edge of the woods. Then the song was not heard again. It was as though it fled because I had stopped to focus on its presence. One thing I noticed in the surroundings of this beautiful park made me deeply sad. Leaves of maples and others still hung to their branches. The trees should be bare at this time of year. Is this a consequence of climate change? The warmer days are extending more into the months of winter. Will fall eventually morph into spring and winter will only be a memory? What will the future climate be like if I do not learn to feel? This is the picture I took today from the park. Across the Hudson River are the Palisades Cliffs in New Jersey.These basalt cliffs are over 200 million years old.

I enjoyed writing about the bird alarms I had heard this morning. It was very much not their usual baseline chorus. I spent time trying to figure out what all the hubbub was about. Writing down the different birds that were all in on it, helped me feel more connected to them. I also spent time writing about the sheep on our farm, noting their subtle behaviors and different characteristics. a very nice calming exercise!

I liked the way Charles Darwin describes the sea luminous experience, I found interesting the details he gives about his experience, and how he deduced many things from the observation. Last weekend I went for a walk and also aiming to have a great birding day for my birthday, I could not draw, but i started thinking about how nature writers express their observations and I preferred to start writing the feelings of that moment.

This course is inspiring me to seek out writings of naturalists! My experience has been limited to quotes in calendars and such. John Muir's "When we try to pick out anything by itself we find it is hitched to everything in the universe" is a favorite. Another is "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best it today", a Chinese proverb. The act of nature journaling is requiring setting time aside for quiet, introspection, and observation. It is becoming an outlet for thoughts that have been rolling around in my head for awhile, concerning how did we get to now, and what is true?