Author and artist Teresa Jordan’s books include Riding the White Horse Home, The Year of Living Virtuously (Weekends Off), and two illustrated journals–Raging River, Quiet Mind: Field Notes from the Grand Canyon and Apprentice to Place: Field Notes from Yosemite. During the pandemic, she embarked on “My Year of Birds,” drawing or painting a bird every day while also training as a Buddhist chaplain. For Teresa, meditation, art, conservation, and contemplative care are intimately intertwined. She used her time at the Mesa Refuge to create a book proposal for Birds of Praise including images and poems from her pandemic project focused on birds.