June 1st – 7th marks the annual International Nature Journaling Week (INJW) hosted by the amazing podcast @journalingwithnature! This year’s theme is “Back to Basics” — slowing down, noticing your nearby nature, and getting your thoughts, words, sketches and numbers onto the pages of your sketchbook. Each day has a theme that focuses on an important value of nature journaling. The schedule, themes along with inspiring videos and nature resources can all be found at https://www.naturejournalingweek.com/
INJW Day 6: Care
🌲 One thing I make sure to do every morning for self-care is take a nature walk, rain or shine. We have beautiful forest trails and retention ponds in our neighborhood that are full of life — birds chirping, bullfrogs croaking deeply, blue & red dragonflies and butterflies fluttering through grasses and wildflowers. It helps to set my mind in relaxation mode to start the day.
🌾 I went back to one of the ponds in the evening to sketch the wildflowers and grasses. As I sketched, I noticed a deer lying in the grasses to the side of the pond — it had been watching me the whole time!
🌙 I looked up in the sky to add the weather data to my page, and noticed the waxing crescent moon!
🌟 Magical moments!
There is a lot to discover right in our own back yard! Hope you find some treasures in your nearby nature!
Warmly,
Karen
Nature discoveries on Instagram: @iamchasingbutterflies
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i am chasing butterflies 
A beautiful page, Karen! I love how you always take daily care of yourself, and what a magical place to do that! Hope you brought rain gear too; that sky looms ominous (and beautifully dramatic). Did the deer eventually move on while you were there? Such a lovely scene, and so very different from my world.
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Luckily, we didn’t get rained on! I walked a bit along the upper edge of the bank and the deer was content. Moving closer or walking with the dog surely would have disturbed it, but I had a nice moment to myself with the deer! I feel blessed to be able to walk to all these places within 5-10 minutes!
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