Winter Nature Journal Observations

The snow falls; the temperatures drop, and I turn to my wild relations and my nature journal, brew up a pot of tea, and sit by the window to sketch birds.  

Song Sparrows & Juncos hop just the other side of my window, and feed on the tiny Basil seeds in my planters.  Is that a spicy meal?  Is it warming? I count the songbirds another reason to leave my Basil plants to go to seed rather than nip the flower buds as the gardening books instruct.  

Bumblebees love the flowers in the summer, and now I know the seeds feed my wild bird friends, too.

I trod through the snow down the hill to where a cottonwood sapling grows among spruces and pines.  Drawing with colored pencils allows me to really see the colors and branching patterns in the trees that catch my eye.  Twenty minutes of sketching passes in a moment, and I find myself calmer, more grounded.

Now I have captured a piece of winter between the pages of my journal, a moment in my life that I can come back to next August when I am dripping with sweat.  The more I draw in my nature journal, the more I realize how important sketching nature is to my self care.