I Love the Colors of Mardi Gras! Who doesn't love a little purple, green and gold? Beth didn't let me out of the camera bag, when we went to the parades. Those flying beads are dangerous! But I had fun with them later. Baby Rescue After playing in the beads, I met a friend. I spotted the little baby in the King Cake! I had to help my friend climb out of the sugary treat and then we played.
I love celebrations!
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Celebrating! It's always more fun to watch the Red Carpet and the Awards, with some champagne and a friend. It's extra fun, when your friend's name is Oscar! Good luck to everyone tonight!
Take Down the Tree? I was angry when Beth said it was time to take down the tree. I like climbing in the branches and smelling the pine. Beth said it was time. Real trees are a lot of work, she said. They fall over... and they lose their needles. The ornaments slide off the droopy branches and break. Cozy But it won't be cozy anymore, I reminded her. It will be boring and it will smell like couches and tables. Pine Play! Beth got all excited when she saw how many pine needles had fallen from the tree. She said she could stuff a large pillow. She's really good with that positive distraction stuff. Next thing you know, I was playing in a mountain of pine needles and having a pretty good time.
But I still don't like it, when holidays end. Welcome 2020! Today is the start of a new year! I'm ready for some new adventures! I'm also ready to enjoy my new musician friends. 2019? I guess I'm supposed to reflect on the past year, as I move into this new one. But, that would take so long... Let me just say, the year was good and December was nice. I had a good Christmas. We spent it in New Orleans and Beth decorated the hotel room with a tiny Cajun Nativity Set. She read Cajun Night Before Christmas. "Petit Ours" I got to join in. I didn't have a French name-tag like the others, but Beth called me Petit Ours. I think that's French for Little Bear. I felt rather LARGE for a change. 2019 ended nicely. Now I'm ready for 2020!
Happy New Year! Make A Wish Time My favorite part of Thanksgiving comes after the feasting! Today after the meal was done, I got the wishbone. Ms. Donkey and I made wishes and had some fun pulling. Guess what? We couldn't break it. I think that means, both our wishes will come true!
Toys at Big Cedar Lodge Who would have guessed our hotel lobby would have a table, filled with Lincoln Logs? I got to rest right up against a nice Lincoln Log cabin. So Fun! This is how the table looked when we checked in. No one was playing at the table. The little stools were empty. But there were all sorts of building creations, left behind! Friends! It wasn't until we were checking out that Beth noticed 2 parents and their kids, gathered around the table. Beth was pretty cautious when she approached the table. She says you have to be careful or people will think you're crazy, when you pull out a tiny bear and start taking photos. I guess she did okay, because suddenly the family was oohing and aahing over me. That was kind of fun. Next thing you know, the kids were posing me all over the place. One little boy put me right in the river he'd made. I was lost very briefly, but then found. The kids decided the best place for me was high on the green roof. Oh, I hated to leave. The family was having such a good time, including me in their fun.
We only stayed a few minutes. Beth says she knows just how long to intrude. What does that even mean? Autumn in the Wine Country In October, Beth and the Fam were in Napa. I got to spend some time climbing in the vines. The leaves were changing! But these vines were not growing out in the vineyards. These vines were growing up a wall. See me? Inglenook Winery has more than wine. It has the most fabulous old building. I just sat on the red leaves and imagined living there.
Now that it's November and I'm back in Texas, I'm just sitting around imagining those fall colors. I miss them! Treasures at the Beach I've posed on beaches with all kinds of sand and coral and seaweed and shells. This is the first time I've posed on a beach with pieces of sea glass. Sea glass is a really nice name for stuff that started out as trash. This beach area near Fort Bragg, was a dump for about 60 years. The yucky stuff is gone and the smooth little treasures remain. Beth hunted for glass pieces and then she let me pick out my favorite. The round green piece was tiny and smooth, like a little jewel.
I love it. Near Fort Bragg, California Beth doesn't always pull me out of the camera bag when we visit a beach. I've been in too many beach photos already. But the beach at Fort Bragg had funny succulent grass stuff. I don't know what you call it, but it was sturdy and I climbed all over it. I had a wonderful time and then Beth gasped. She looked behind me and I figured a seagull was about to swoop down and grab me. That almost happened a few years ago. But it wasn't a flying friend, it was a furry one. He was just enjoying the moist grassy stuff like me. I begged Beth to wait it out. Maybe the odd little squirrel would come closer and we could pose together in a photo. I've posed with a few animals in my time. But Beth snatched me up and tucked me away. "That squirrel is hungry!" She insisted. "I'm not taking any chances."
Oh well. Moss and Ferns Last month, Beth took me on a hike to Multnomah Falls. It was cool and moist and Beth posed me on some moss covered rocks, next to some cool plants. On a Stump I wanted to pose with the waterfall, but Beth put me on a stump. The grain and bark was so smooth. It felt like the fake wood of a log flume ride, at an amusement park. Columbia River But I actually really liked my spot on the stump. The Columbia River was rolling on, right behind me! I like Oregon.
Northern California Earlier in October I was in California. We went to a huge pumpkin patch on "Apple Hill" with Beth's family. But there were too many kids and puppies posing with the pumpkins. I waited until the next day, when we found a quieter setting with pumpkins. There were no puppies or kids at this winery in Napa. If there had been, they would have had a tricky time posing with the pumpkins in the pond. Inglenook Winery What a peaceful and crazy scene! Pumpkins, sitting on cinderblocks, with a view of the vineyards beyond! I was happy to be the only one who was able to climb on a pumpkin! Luckily Beth's arm was long enough to reach!
Yay for pumpkins! Near Saugatuck, Michigan Here I am on a summer day in Michigan. I was snuggled up against some sun-warmed bark. The tree was dead, but the view was lovely. Except Beth posed me, facing away from Lake Michigan! But I smiled for the camera. Can you see me?
Douglas, Michigan I love flowers, but I get tired of Beth posing me in them. I'm glad she found me a special place to sit, where I could look down on the garden flowers. This was a very strange sculpture. The artist's palette was my favorite part. I sat where the artist's thumb would be. It was nice.
Frankenmuth, MI I love Hydrangeas! I never see them in Texas. On a hot summer day, the cool flower petals can make a very refreshing bed! Sitting in the flowers, beneath that awesome sign, I started getting hungry. There were lots of people heading into Zehnders for fried chicken! In fact one family stopped while Beth was snapping away with her camera. They asked if she would take their photo, with the colorful sign. They didn't invite me to be in their photo.
They were just jealous probably. They didn't get to sit in the Hydrangeas for their photo. Lucky me. Country Dairy On our road trip in July, Don and Beth stopped at the Country Dairy. Beth drank some chocolate milk in the store and then we went out to look for cows. At first, all we saw was green grass and white fences. Then the barn doors opened and black and white Holsteins began wandering down the hill! I've posed on fences before, but never on a cow. I asked Beth and she said, "No. Those Holsteins are busy grazing." A Different Cow Me and My Holstein Breckenridge, Colorado I love snow, but not so much on Memorial Day. In Breckenridge, I met some friends who were covered in snow. It was almost June. Time for flowers. Not snow. I sat on the snowy ear of a deer statue and I apologized. "Sorry for complaining." I whispered in her ear. "I heard you had a really, really long winter. I'll bet you're a lot more ready to feel the sun on your fur, than me."
I think she agreed. Silly Beth Beth is sorting stuff, again. She dug up all these dolls and displayed them. That is what she does. She plays with stuff, while she tries to figure out what to get rid of. She found dolls that belonged to her mom and her grandmother, her sister and even her sister in law. Some of the dolls belong to Beth's grown daughter and a few were Beth's when she was a child. I'm hiding somewhere in this crowd of dolls. Find Me Beth balanced 69 dolls on the old pump organ. Later, she found some dolls that belonged to her son, but there wasn't really room for more. In this picture I'm tucked in a pocket. "I feel lost with all the big dolls!" I told Beth. Smaller Than Me Beth assured me I wasn't the smallest. She posed me with the tiny dolls. But... I'm not a doll. I have fur. I always feel out of place.
Near the Grand Basin On Mother's Day, I was in St. Louis with Beth. We visited Forest Park. I've visited the city before and posed near the giant Arch. This was my first time in the park, where the 1904 World's Fair once took place! The Art Museum and Lagoon This is the lovely lagoon and art museum. They were created for the spectacular celebration, 115 years ago. Beth's grandmother attended the fair as a little girl. Beth and her mom went the the art museum together, 75 years later. Thinking on a Drizzly Day The park should have been more crowded, but Beth and I had the whole area to ourselves because of the cold, damp weather. The quiet made it easier to sit and imagine the busy fair, so many years ago. Flowers? But it was Mother's Day and Beth wanted to pose me in some flowers. Beth couldn't find any, so she posed me with the ugly plants. At least I could gaze across the water, where Beth's mother ice-skated as a child.. I looked up at Art Hill, where Beth cross country skied as a teenager... and saved a little boy, whose sled had crashed through the ice of the lagoon. I loved imagining the stories... on that drizzly Mother's Day in St. Louis. But we needed some color. Luckily, Beth knew she'd be traveling on Mother's Day. She planned ahead and brought some colorful artwork, made by her kids about 25 years ago. Who does that? That sounds kind of silly, but I was glad to pose with something springlike, on a colorless day.
Happy Mother's Day... Happy May! No More Bluebonnets I've posed with enough bluebonnets over the years. Beth found the perfect thistle, instead. A Friend Then she got excited when she saw the bee. I've posed on turtles and cats, with hummingbirds and bugs. She was excited about this new friend. Just Me But the bee flew off and the wind blew, just after Beth balanced me on top. I took a sudden tumble, but the prickly stem stuck to my legs like Velcro.
I love a wild flower adventure! Part Way Up Enchanted April is the name of a movie. Beth wants to go to Italy when she watches the movie. This April, she stayed in Texas and took me to Enchanted Rock instead. I am only sitting about half way up the Rock, in this photo. Pink Granite Mountain in Texas The big "pink rock" covers about 640 acres. It rises up 425 feet. It's the largest pink granite monadnock in the U.S. A monadnock is an isolated mountain, by the way. Enchanted Rock actually looks pretty boring, in every picture I've ever seen. At the Top At the top you can hunt for this little marker. It was attached to the rock in 1956. I sat for a moment and caught my breath. We were at 1,825 elevation. That's high in Texas.
Actually I rode up in the camera bag. I was not panting. But I was sighing at the view. |
Little BearMy mom gave me this tiny bear over 25 years ago... because I like small things. Archives
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