Sunday, May 24, 2015

Two Nights – Forty Hot Air Balloons

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This weekend the Triangle area, where Sebastian, Topher, Jay and I live, hosted the inaugural WRAL Freedom Balloon Fest.

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We went with Sebastian while Topher stayed at home due to festival rules of no dogs allowed.

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I imagine he doesn’t think of himself as a only dog anymore than Sebastian thinks of himself as only a bear.

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Nevertheless, rules are rules. So we set off and were able to view the Balloon Glow two nights in two different locations.

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Every balloon was different – there was even a Snoopy one.

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It was such an amazing sight.

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And it was really cool when the sun went down and the balloonists coordinated with each other for an all glow.

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Sebastian had a great time.

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We did too.

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My favorite balloon was the one with two bears on it.  Who’d have guessed bears would be on a hot air balloon?  Here are the balloons before the sun went down . . .

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and after, when the balloons twinkled off and on.

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You could get quite close to them and chat with the pilots.

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I hope we can do this again next year, too.

signature   &   sebastiansigns

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

A Day Trip

Hi ho. Sebastian here. Topher and I went on an adventure a few days ago and thought I’d share a few photos from our road trip. This is not Topher, by the way.  He wouldn’t get near this big, black dog (even though he wasn’t real).

This was our destination:  Black Dog Salvage

Neither of us had ever been to a salvage shop.  It was so interesting.

 

They had all kinds of things there inside and

outside.  Like this propeller.

 

Stuff you might never think about turning into yard art.

Need a bathtub?

 

Or a rusty radiator?

 

Here I am again sitting on some chain link from a ship.

 

On the way home, we passed this stately bear and I thought I should have my photo made with him.

 

What a great perch for my first picture,

 

but the view was better from up here.

At the end of the day, I wasn’t the only one who was ready for a nap.

 

My buddy and I had a great time seeing all there was to see and we hope to go back again one day soon.

love & hugs,

sebastiansigns  &    toph_signs

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Special Cats?

I came across these photos of some very special cats that I thought I would share here. Most people have heard about the Hemingway cats. If not, here are a few tidbits.

Earnest Hemingway, a famous American author, lived for a time on the island of Key West.  This was his house.

He was given a six-toed cat by a ship’s captain. Cats do not usually have six toes but when they do they are called polydactyl cats.

Hemingway had a great affection for these cats.  Their little paws look like they are wearing mittens.

Now the descendants of that original cat live happily at the Hemingway home museum.

Many of them have the six toes anomaly.

While we were visiting back in April, we had a chance to see quite a few of these cats. I found it fascinating. They are pretty laidback cats and had plenty of places to lounge in the house, under the trees and even in Hemingway’s writing studio.

As many as 50 cats live and are cared for on the grounds. They don’t wander off. Why would they? They have everything they could possibly want there. They are all named for famous people and there is a cat cemetery where the ones who pass away are buried.

Just one of many interesting things I saw during our visit to Key West.

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Saturday, May 9, 2015

My Adventures in and around Philadelphia

Hi ho. Sebastian here. I thought it was about time I shared my adventures in and around Philadelphia. I had a great time meeting a lot of people at the teddy bear show. My business cards really came in handy.

See this photo. Can you guess where I am?

Before the show we were out and about and upon seeing this huge doctor’s bag, I made a request to take advantage of this great photo op. I’m tellin’ you, it was huge! By the way, if you can’t find me, I was sitting on the stethoscope.

Then while I really enjoyed meeting all the lovely people at the bear show, I must say it was extremely exciting to meet Ashton, a fellow traveling bear.  Ain’t he cute?

He’s been loads of places and has photo books that document his adventures. I must speak with my staff straightaway since I’ve only got the one book so far. Hmmm.

I really thought I had a photo of him wearing one of my pins but I guess in my excitement I forgot to get one.  Maybe next time – because I fully expect to see Ashton again.  We’re buds now.

Another exciting thing that happened after the show was that we all went to visit Lucy! I love Lucy!

Have you ever met Lucy? I’ve wanted to for ages and ages and finally, it happened.

Lucy is the world’s largest elephant who was born 1881 and is now an historical landmark. She lives in Margate, NJ on the beachfront.

We were able to take a tour of her and we learned how she nearly didn’t survive until some kind folks (the Save Lucy Committee) got together and saved her from destruction.  This is a photo inside her tummy.  I don’t think the inside of mine looks like this.

One of the best parts of the tour was going all the way to the top where the howdah is and seeing a 360 view of the area. Here’s a photo from there of the water tower. Guess who is on it? No, not Lucy. They call this elephant Ethel. Get it? Lucy and Ethel!

I had a great time on the road and am looking forward to my next adventure already.

I’m off to get some chocolate chip cookies and milk and a map. I always say the key to a good adventure is snacks!

love & hugs,

sebastiansigns

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