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ESCANABA -- There are a lot of very valuable books in the world.
Special ones like the family Bible, the dictionary and Grandma's old cookbook are irreplaceable treasures.
At our family camp we have another important book that could never be replaced. We called it the "camp log." My dad started the Rose's Roost camp log way back in the 1950s shortly after he built the camp.
The date, the weather, the wild life that was seen, the level of the river, the fishing report, hunting report and family reports were all entered into the "camp log."
Mom wrote in many of the entries, which include nice things like one of the kids took their first steps and what wonderful food was prepared on the camp stove for supper.
Over the years, writings in the camp journal included what wild flowers were in bloom, what birds were at the bird feeder, how deep the snow was and how much autumn color there was.
Unfortunately, our camp was vandalized and burned in 1981 and we lost the oldest of the "camp logs." But from 1982 on, all the journals are preserved and fun to take down and look at from time to time.
We even have the tradition of having all of the out of town camp guests sign the book. We have had visitors from as far as Syria and New York City.
Along with the little write ups in the camp log, my sister and I would often put in a little drawing of what we saw in the woods that day. Little bunnies, turtles or ducks accent the margins on some of the pages in the camp book. Little did we know it, but we were nature journaling.
Nature journaling has become a popular pastime. So we were "cool" even before it was an in thing to do.
Our drawings are not fancy or professional looking, but the visual sure adds something special to the story of the day.
Nature journaling is described as regular recordings of observations, perceptions and feelings about the natural world around you.
A nature journal can be elaborate with many paragraphs about a scene or poetry to tell about how a bird flew or even paintings of sunsets.
Or the journal can be simple with a few words and a few drawings of the chipmunk in your back yard or the butterfly in your garden.
Henry David Thoreau is one of the most famous people to write about his experience with Mother Nature. John James Audubon used his encounters with birds to inspire his great paintings. Beatrix Potter added personification to her rabbit, mouse and toad characters.
Our camp log was very fortunate to have a special guest from Minnesota a few weeks ago. My niece Amanda Rose is a graduate of the St. Olaf College's school of art and design.
She quickly sketched a rabbit on to the page in our camp log. Finally a professional artist!
Nature journaling is a fun thing to start. You can do it just looking out your back window.
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Karen (Rose) Wils is a lifelong north Escanaba resident. Her folksy columns appear weekly in Lifestyles.