Learning to Draw From Nature

I read in A Child's Garden of Drawings I think it was of something called "responding" to nature or, in my case, to my stability ball (a light purple-blue) and hardwood floor (that's Vermont oak, not Quebec oak my landlord assured me a year ago). I'd do them both in shadow, mine and theirs, and morning light, blinds drawn.
First response: hardwood, a series of vertical lines, many of which got lost on the way to the bottom. (Texture I call it.) And here comes my most profound discovery so far: I held the 3H still and moved the page! Whatever rule the lines followed I couldn't figure out, but it was good for the hardwood, I was sure.
I turned the book sideways and drew the lines left to right, moving toward the top of the tipped page. The lines felt swimmy.
Next, nine or ten minutes--it might have been 50--on the many features of the oak, its gestures, seams, talk.
At this point I'd planned on introducing the ball but realized I could get serious and address every foot of every board and that would be the drawing.
To be continued.