Keep journaling

I can begin a nature journal entry while standing next to a flower or gazing out over a landscape. That is often — usually — the first step.

Often I return to my journals, and continue to make observations. Compare today’s work with yesterday’s and you can see the value of the journal for me: it is a place for continued wonder.

Some have called this the practice of “perpetual journaling,” akin to what Thoreau did: a page is not a permanent and stable artifact, but a bookmark for a scene, a species, a place of wonder.

A detailed nature journal page features watercolor illustrations of a bee on a purple aster flower, a close-up of the bee's head and striped abdomen, accompanied by handwritten observations and color swatches.