Walking at Pelican Point, Nature Journaling, Mushroom Course Giveaway, and a Free Memoir Coaching Call

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This last week we went out to Pelican Point and walked around with LadyBug. The trees are flowering out and Slocum Creek was calm and clear-blue. I love how “blue” the water is here. It’s deep and rich, unlike the reddish muddy waters of the lake back home. 

On the other side of the creek, which was as wide as a river, I saw a white bird. He would glide over the creek, swoop up to the trees, perch for a few seconds, then dive down into the water. A moment later, he surfaced, swallowed his catch, and then flew back up to repeat the process again. The bird was too far away for me to see any details about him, so I wasn’t sure what kind he was. 

LadyBug was happy to be out of the house and we were in an area where we could let her run around and burn off some energy. I dropped the leash to let her run and when I looked up, I saw the bird from earlier flying over to our side of the creek, dive into the water, bob back up to the surface. That was when I saw the yellow bill and pouch and knew he was a pelican! And I thought, of course, we are on Pelican Point! 

The American White Pelican flew off down the creek, circled around and came back. He dove down again. When he came up, he flapped his wings and took off around the point and was gone. (Unfortunately, I was not able to take a picture of the pelican, but I found one that looked like him below)

I think pelicans are fascinating and look like living dinosaurs. They remind me of the last scene in Jurassic Park when Grant and the remaining characters are leaving the island in the helicopter and see the flock of pelicans flying beside them. I read the book when it first came out and the whole concept of making a dinosaur scared me so much, I had nightmares about them. I cannot believe it has been 30 years since I picked the book up at that small-town grocery store where we lived at that time. 

That night, I looked up pelican facts and jotted a few things down and drew a sketch in my nature journal. I’ve only started learning how to nature journal in the last year and love it, even though my drawings are not much more than stick figures. 

I first started learning about nature journaling with Keeping a Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie.  I have several of her books now, and aside from learning something new each time I open them, they are just relaxing to thumb through when I’m tired and need a break from a busy day.

Back home, I practiced drawing in my nature journal at the nearby lake, and then I found John Muir Laws’ website and his book The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling. I am still going through his book and his videos on YouTube, but they are around an hour long and filled with so much information, that I have to make time for them on rainy weekends.  

Keeping a Nature Journal 

Spring has decided to stay this week and I had sightings at the backyard feeder of a downy woodpecker, a cardinal, and numerous small birds I’ve yet to find the names to. A brown grasshopper was on the doorframe basking in the sun, and carpenter bees are bumbling their way around the yard. Pine pollen is gathering at the edges of curbs and the creek bank in slim yellow lines and my son says the pollen will soon be everywhere. Already, I’m seeing a thin layer of pollen on the car, the grill and other surfaces that I at first thought was dust. 

The gray squirrel in the backyard sits in the branches and chews on tree buds while taunting LadyBug below. His tail flickers back and forth as if he’s agitated. I’ve not learned squirrel body language yet, so I’m not sure if it’s agitation or communication with other squirrels. I get as sidetracked as a squirrel in traffic with everything I want to learn. 

I have finished the sensory journal and I’ve changed the title to 5 Senses Journal. The covers are finished and the files are uploaded to KDP and awaiting format approval. Once it’s published, I’ll post the link here. It was a fun journal to work on with my friend and we learned a lot together. 

Next up on my agenda is finishing a new recipe book and for my daughter’s birthday, she wants us to work on a new journal together that will be fun. As we get it ready, I’ll write more on it.

I’ve mentioned resources in this blog post that you may be interested in and I’ll be adding them to the Resources Page, in case you need to come back to find them. There are so many good resources out there now to learn about nature and nature journaling. I’ll also be adding more herbal sources and learning programs as well. 

Stay connected to nature!

Shanna

Happenings:

Mushroom Course Giveaway! Are you interested in learning about foraging and using mushrooms? Which are poisonous and which are medicinal? How do you make medicine from them? How do you harvest and store them?

Join in on the fungi fun! Register to WIN your seat in The Mushroom Course from the Herbal Academy now through March 15th!  Click here

Free Memoir Group Coaching Session! Denis at The Memoir Network has re-opened his Free Memoir Writing Live Group Coaching Session for Monday, March 16 at 7PM/ET. If you are interested in writing a memoir, you need to be on this call. Click here

Resources Page:

I plan to write about different topics on this blog and have started a Resources Page for some off-site courses, products, and websites I recommend for further information you may be interested in.

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