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I can't imagine growing up on a farm without a couple of ponds with geese to fill them.

I loved watching and hearing them. They were good entertainment.

As a farm family we viewed everything as a resource... I would hunt for feathers (the larger primary ones that shed from the wings) and made quill pens from them to give to friends. Some of my older sketches in my sketchbooks were done with those pens dipped in different colors of ink.

Then there were those great big beautiful eggs. The geese made nests in the hay barn and although we enjoyed having cute little goslings running around in the spring, if we had let all the eggs hatch, there would have been way too many geese for our small farm. So I would gather a lot of the eggs to sell at Easter time. People would call weeks in advance to reserve them!

We also kept a lot for our family for Easter and to make crafts. We dyed them just like chicken eggs, although everything had to be super-sized -- like the pan to boil them in, the bowl of color to dunk them in and a place to let them dry.

Sometimes we would blow them out, cut an oval in one side and create a beautiful diorama inside the egg. Then we would embellish the outside with ribbon. I wish I had pictures of those, they were beautiful. Here's some in the Google Images that will give you some idea of what I'm talking about.

My Nature Journal is fast becoming memories from my past. I really enjoy deciding on a subject, researching it, then connecting it to my past memories or to my current life. It makes the journal very personal without a lot of in-depth writing.

I've started painting a lot more in gouache combined with watercolor and I'm really loving the versatility. Watercolor is great if you're working on good watercolor paper, but gouache can adapt to most any paper surface and still perform well.

Have you ever thought about journaling?

Or maybe you journal already?

Expanding your journaling can be very exciting. If you only write, try adding a few sketches. They don't have to be masterpieces, just doodles that mean something to you. If you already sketch in your journal, try expanding your writing, or the types of subjects you journal about or even the medium you use.

Changing what you do and how you do it can keep journaling fresh and exciting!

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