I was sitting on the patio one night enjoying a crisp, starry night, when my thoughts drifted back to the days when we would run barefoot in the yard catching fireflies and putting them in a Ball jar. We punched holes in the lid with an ice pick, and placed handfuls of fresh grass in the bottom. In my reverie, I recalled how this experience would play out as a letdown. No, we couldn't read our books with the light of fireflies, and they didn't illuminate a whole tent.

As my mind continued down memory lane, I thought about how television wasn't as invasive as it is today - and of course, who had heard of a computer or video games? Books were our friends. Some of the books I used in my childhood are still on my reference shelf today. Every shelf had a Bible and a dictionary, whether read or not. If you were lucky, your parents scraped together enough money to buy a set of encyclopedias. My family did: the World Book.

Another series of books I used quite often in school and in scouting were my Field Guides. To this day I am a proponent of every home having a Field Guide to Eastern Birds, a Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs, and a Field Guide to Wildflowers. This was my trio. When my family started traveling to Florida in the trusty Oldsmobile, we got the Field Guides to Shells to study ─ a diversion on those long rides in the back seat with my brother and sister. I still have these guides.

Peterson, Stokes, and National Audubon are just some of the bird guides that are good references for your home library. There is also a new guide to trees of Indiana, the first such addition to Indiana guides since a pamphlet about trees was written in 1953. Check out the new 101 Trees of Indiana by Marion T. Jackson and printed by Indiana University Press. It's never too late to start a wonderful nature library. Field Guides don't go out of style. Their content is accurate and fairly constant. They are great companions to carry with you, ever ready to help you identify your world.