My Heart is Full

After attending the Trails and Trilliums Naturalist Rally

Trillium, drawn by Ray Zimmerman

	Monteagle Mountain
 Blue sky
White clouds
Ever swirling.
The space between branches

Sunday, I returned from the Trails and Trilliums Naturalist Rally sponsored by The Friends of the Parks, formerly Friends of South Cumberland State Park. The name change resulted from the Savage Gulf Natural Area, one of several discrete units of South Cumberland State Park, being split off to form Savage Gulf State Park. Savage Gulf made up half of the park’s land mass before the change.

On Friday afternoon I attended a Nature Journaling workshop. First, we wrote brief passages inspired by visual prompts which were watercolors created by the instructor. Everyone shared their responses. For the following two hours, another instructor led us in nature drawing.

My almost instinctive fears of drawing surfaced, and I nearly fled in panic. I have been told time and again that I cannot draw. When I tried to draw in the past, I was disappointed and sometimes ridiculed.

I stayed and experienced drawing in a judgment-free zone.

Our instructor patiently led us through several exercises beginning with geometric forms. She finished by demonstrating a gesture drawing and a contour drawing of a trillium. She encouraged us to photograph the model with our phones and use filters to convert it to a monochrome image. We all drew trilliums from the model or our photos, and mine appears in the photo above. I am proud of having drawn it and realize that perfectionism is the enemy.

Over the rest of the weekend, that same instructor worked at one end of the registration area. With plentiful materials, she led conference participants in making one-of-a-kind journals. This was a drop-in station and anyone with time could join.

That evening, I attended a “Mmoth-ers night out” with an audio-visual presentation about the lives of moths and the diversity found in our area. Instructors led us to an area where they had set up UV lights shining on white sheets. I had previously tried blacklighting on my deck, with limited success.

During this session, moths and a few other flying insects abounded. I photographed a few with my phone and submitted the photos through the iNaturalist app for identification. I did not need to identify the Luna Moth but photographed it anyhow.

After Saturday morning breakfast, I visited the overlook where vultures and Red-tailed Hawks soar on thermals. Then I attended an author talk by Mary Priestley, who just released a book about Mack Prichard, the now-deceased State Naturalist Emeritus in the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. Mack was a moving force for land protection for years. Priestly is a noted author with several books to her credit.

One story Priestley told was about Mack giving a talk to motivate the preservation of a prehistoric mound that was slated to be demolished so the dirt could be used for fill. Mack’s sister had to drive him to the talk since he was 15 years old at the time and not permitted to drive. The listeners at his talk decided to preserve the mound.

The naturalist rally included long-distance hikes at Savage Gulf and Stone Door, but I focused on the talks, including a presentation on bat conservation in Tennessee.

That afternoon I attended a perimeter walk of the facility and saw some lovely wildflowers. That evening I attended an Earth Day Campfire program with poetry readings.

Sunday morning I attended an audiovisual session about the Cedar Galdes and their plants. I have heard of these glades but never visited them. I plan to visit them this year.

That afternoon I gave a presentation about Chattanooga’s iconic conservationist Robert Sparks Walker. I included a brief film of my living history reenactment of Walker which I presented on the porch of the historic log cabin at Audubon Acres for the 70th Anniversary Celebration of the Chattanooga Audubon Society.

The drive there and home was lovely, with Dogwoods and Azaleas in bloom and the red maples in fruit. Children often call maple fruits helicopters because they twirl when thrown in the air. Red Maple fruits are red and visible from a distance.

I saw a wild turkey beside the road on my way there, but not while returning. Going both directions, I noted the Osprey sitting on nests above Route 41 near the shoreline of Nickjack Lake.