Intro to Nature Journaling April 13

at Oliver’s Woods with the Garden Community Church

Greetings, journalers! Sunday April 13 I had the privilege of presenting an Introduction to Nature Journaling workshop to a group of wonderful people at the Garden Community Church, and after a short break ten people and I went to Oliver’s Woods for a follow up session. It was a lovely day, with some super nice folks, what could be better than that?

Here is a photo of the group:

The people in the group, not in order, are Shannon Wade, Betty Brandt, Arlene Whitfield, Patrice Bradley, Tricia Frye, Dave Bradley, Joleen House, Sally (?), Kelly Trimbell, Christine Bhe, and Susan Neal)

And here is the page I did (which I had to go back today to finish. More on that below)

So, as I wrote above, I had to return to Oliver’s Woods today to finish what I started, and then I took a walk down to the river and along the little creek, when a Great Horned Owl flew across the creek right in front of me! So big, and so cool! He (I think it was a male) perched in a tree on the other side of the creek, sat there minding his own business, when a few minutes later a red-tailed hawk showed up and started screaming at the owl, obviously unhappy with his presence. Mr Owl was not bothered in the least, just kept sitting there like a Buddha, calm and collected and completely unthreatened. Red-tail kept screeching and once in a while would dive bomb him without getting too close, and once the owl spread his wings (so big!) and hopped up to a higher branch, which startled that hawk a bit, but it kept up its harassment and screeching. It seemed to be pretty exciting to the other birds in the woods too, the titmouse and chickadees, robins etc were very animated during that little argument. I stayed for about 10 minutes and then finally left, and the conversation was still going strong. Quite a day! Oh yeah, I also saw an eagle flying over the river from the nest!

One last thing; yesterday I mentioned to the group about my idea to have regular Nature Journaling meetings as a group. I am aware that many folks do not have time off during the week, so I am thinking about one Sunday every month, and one day of the week per month, to meet somewhere for a couple of hours with our journals. Nothing too formal, but I do have a large curriculum available to draw lessons from in case people want to do that. I would like to meet at Holiday Park, but we can consider other destinations too. So, give me your thoughts on the matter, and share your ideas here with the group.

Many thanks,

James