Friday, April 30, 2010

Fresh Air Outside Day

The BBC (Blogging Bears Committee) continues to blog while Ginger works. I would say sews, but I haven’t seen much sewing going on. I see a project in progress which might be the subject of 007 Day but don’t tell anyone.

Now for Fresh Air Outside Day, we have arranged for an interview with the oldest bear in the house that belonged to you-know-who. We are hoping that with some hard hitting questions, we’ll be given some insight into how that crazy mind of hers works.

Since none of us on the committee are very experienced at interviewing, we’ve brought in a ringer in the form of Olivia. Olivia will interview the older and wiser Brownie.

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O: Welcome to Fresh Air Outside Mr. Brownie.

B: Please just call me Brownie. Mister makes it sound like you wouldn’t cuddle me if you were so inclined and everyone needs a cuddle now and then.

O: Right. So Brownie, how have you managed to stay in the same family all these years?

B: It’s been pretty easy for the most part, but there have been a few close calls. Not so much now but in the early days. Once I was left outside. Then there was the time I was carried off by a pack of wild dogs.

O: Really!? Wild dogs?!

B: Well, perhaps it was only one and perhaps he wasn’t wild, just mischievous. He was kind of cute but very slobbery and I finally convinced him that while I smelled quite lovely, I would taste horrible. After that I lay in the wet grass for ages and ages. I pretty much smelled awful after that.

O: It sounds quite frightening. What else can you tell us about your early life?

B: It doesn’t sound good but I was dragged everywhere. Actually, it was quite nice. You get to be privy to all the happenings. I’ve been loads of places. In fact, there was a rumor that the car would not start if I wasn’t in it. I liked that.

O: Is there anything that you recall from your youth that makes you laugh every time you remember it?

B: Oh, that’s easy. There are a lot of things. Did you know that the girl I kept company with often slept in curlers? Silliest things I ever saw. They were always falling out. Another time, I watched from the bed when she tried to put clothes on the dog. I kept thinking to myself “Poor, poor dog”, but he was a bit like me. He tolerated a lot of indignities just to hang out where the action was.

O: And what is life like now that you are in your reclining years?

B: These are the best yet. You see with age comes appreciation and I have come to appreciate not being dragged off by dogs and being left outside. I spend my days in the company of some of the best bears around and I even get to go to a tea party now and then.

O: Thank you for sharing your history with us. This is Olivia signing off from Fresh Air Outside for the BBC.

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Thanks Olivia. 

The BBC standing in for

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Fairy Tale Day

Today is Fairy Tale Day here at bearbits. The BBC decided it so that makes it real. And all the things we want to show you are real as well. Just like us. That makes them very, very magical!

We dare say that most of us have seen a rainbow. Even the CEO has. She took this photo we found snooping through her files. That’s not the part we want to show you.

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But have you even seen a Moonbow? Yep, they do exist. They are really rare and there are only a few places in the world where you have a chance of seeing one. This Moonbow is in Kentucky.

ftd_2Photo by Bryce Fields

You can see more photos here or read more about it here. We want to go see it for ourselves.

Next we discovered some real fairy tale houses, a few designed and created by Hugh Comstock in the 1920’s. They can be found in Carmel, California. Here’s a pretty cool looking one called the Hansel House.

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You can take a virtual tour at this link or see more photos here or read more about it with photos here. We want to go see it for ourselves.

Of course seeing those photos made us think perhaps we could have our very own fairy tale cottage. I’m sure it wouldn’t cost very much at all. We saw some pretty cool ones at this location. Our favorite is called the Gwendolyn.

ftd_4 Don’t ya just love it? Don’t tell anyone, but when I grow up I am going to build this house, marry a fairy name Gwendolyn and live happily ever after in my storybook house called Gwendolyn. I think that would be neat-o-o-o.

Speaking of getting married, if I married a fairy, wouldn’t I have to have a fairy wedding? I found this photo of a real pretend fairy wedding. You should go visit this blog to see more cool pictures or even better, visit this website to see even more, especially the bride’s slippers.

ftd_5 Design by Tricia Fountaine ~ Photo by Elizabeth Messina

Can’t you just imagine this whole thing with teddy bears?  That would be so cool.  It could happen, but then who would ever believe it?

The BBC standing in for

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

On the BBC Agenda

Now that we know how things work around here, we can get up to speed pretty quick. No more messing around with meetings where we take ages to make up our minds and end up eating a whole box of cookies. Yes that really happened, but not recently as far as you know.

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As the BBC (Blogging Bears Committee), we are organized. I know it’s hard to believe but bears can be organized. It’s just that we are all organized differently. We came up with a plan. Well, several plans. One plan per day, I think. Unless someone tells me I’ve got it wrong.

This is our plan:

A Theme for Each Day

until we run out of ideas.

Exciting isn’t it? I’ll bet that you are curious what our themes will be. Well, I’m not going to keep you in suspense. After all, I’m fairly certain you would like to know what to expect from us Blogging Bears.

The spectacular themes that we have created include the following:

007 Day – This is the day we use our powers of stealth (just like Bond, James Bond) to see what’s cooking in the studio or in the kitchen. Personally, I’m voting for the kitchen but we’ll see.

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Fairy Tale Day – This is the day we investigate something magical and share it with you. I’m not exactly sure how it will turn out. I think one of the girls thought this one up and used some jelly beans to bribe a few of the guys to vote for it.

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From the Bookshelf Day – If we can decide on a favorite book between the seven of us, and that’s a big if, we will offer our collective review. At least that’s what they told me would happen. I imagine they will tell me which book I am voting for as well.

Fresh Air Day – They told me to tell you that this is the day we interview someone famous. It sounds more like a day we would go outside. Hey, maybe we will go outside and interview someone famous.

Walls Will Talk Day – It seems I was scrambling on the bottom of the box of cookies we didn’t eat and I missed what this is, but if someone explains it to me, I’ll explain it to you.

Worth a Piece of Paper Day – Okay, now this is getting ridiculous. I have no idea what this is. I think they’ve gone and started making things up.

I’m wiped out from all this typing and they’ve all gone to play on the swings. If there’s anything I missed, I’m sure you’ll let me know. In fact, if you have an idea for a theme, just let us know. I’ll run it by the BBC and we can vote on it. I’m not saying your ideas are better than ours, but you might have one or two that are worthy of consideration.

That’s it from here. Time to go swing.

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Sincerely yours,

The BBC standing in for

Monday, April 26, 2010

The bears are back in town, the bears are back in town.

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I know those are not the exact lyrics but you get the idea. The BBC is back! Yep, that’s right. The bears are back in town. Not that they actually ever left, it’s just that they didn’t have unfettered access to writing the blog posts here. Now that we’ve sorted out the contract, their stint will begin tomorrow.

I do try to be helpful every once in a while and I thought this was just as good a time as any to go over contracts. If you do not have proper representation, you can come out on the short end. That is why it is a good idea to have a qualified individual look over all the paperwork to make certain it is fair to all those involved.

In my case, I had my dog, Socks check everything over. I assumed when he said he was going to sleep on it that it meant he was not going to rush through it. How was I supposed to know that he actually meant he was going to sleep, as in snooze, on top of it??!!

Anyway, I am sharing the BBC’s contract with you so that you can see precisely how it looked after all the changes were made and agreed to among all those involved.

Herewith and following, the parties listed below enter into, and forever more, agree to the enclosed agreement that is listed below herewith and following.

The party of the first part, forever after known as Ginger, and the party of the second part, Frankie, Clarence, Sam, Emily, Madison, Harry, and Fritz, also known forever after for the time being as the BBC with apologies to the great news agency over the pond, enter into the following agreement as agreed to by both parties of the first and second parts also known as Ginger and the BBC.

Ginger sews and does bear stuff or sits on the porch in fine weather.

The BBC writes the blog posts without undue influence from the party of the first part.

At the close of each day, there will be chocolate chip cookies all around for both the parties of the first part and the parties that make up the party of the second part.

Heretofore agreed to and approved by the undersigned –

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See you tomorrow. I’ll be very curious to see what shows up here.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Will you join me for a cupcake . . .

at The Cupcake Café?

At last, this project is complete. While it was underway, I wondered if I would ever see it happily finished. Now that it is, I wonder where the time went. Isn’t that always the way?

When I was working on it, I would think to myself, “It will be a while before I undertake another one of these!” I don’t listen very well. I’ve already got another idea simmering.

Here are a few photos. Hopefully, you can see how the bits and pieces fit into the big picture.

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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

While waiting for paint to dry: Q. & A. & Misc.

I thought I would answer a few questions posed to me and pose a couple of my own.

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First up – I have been asked a few times: Do I plan on having another Christmas Tea party? Some people are much better at planning way, way ahead than I am but I have given it some thought.

Then I wondered if you would be interested in participating. You can leave a comment or email me. This is not a commitment, just an informal survey way, way ahead of time.

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Next, what are the beads in this photo? They are called microbeads. (I just learned that by the way.) They are teensy tiny little glass beads that come in a vial and are used to embellish things. What things? Well, I guess that’s up to your imagination. I used them to decorate edges. But beware, they roll everywhere and could easily be compared with the pea from the princess’ bed in the fairy tale.

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What’s the status of the bird in the birdhouse? We’ve determined that it is most definitely NOT a bluebird unless she is going incognito. My less than expert opinion is that this is a family of nuthatches.

ptd_3This is how the nest looked last time I peeked. I haven’t ventured out for a visit lately. This is photo of a nuthatch that looks like the resident in our birdhouse.

ptd_4 Photo by Erik Breden

Here’s a question for you bloggers and/or blog readers. What is the advantage in posting a short feed? I’ve always posted a full feed, especially for those who like to receive updates via email or like to keep up in reader, which I often do myself. So, for those of you who post partial feeds, what is the advantage to you?

And for the miscellany – I dug into the photos of our trip to Asheville to unearth this fun one I took just for you all.

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This sculpture was created by Stefan "Steebo" Bonitz. It is called Guns and Roses. It’s wonderfully whimsical. You can read more about it here. I am partial to the doggie but it’s a mite too large for my back yard.

ptd_6Now it’s time to put another coat of paint on a few things for the box in progress.  Photos to come . . .

Monday, April 19, 2010

Debating on Design

Here are a few more photos of the box I have underway. Sometimes it seems like the design of these things doesn’t move quite as fast as I would like. It could be that the delay emanates from my brain. Quite a debate occurs when I am deciding what to do next.

Should it be this color? No, I don’t like that color. How about this pattern? No, it doesn’t go with this thing here. You should paint. No, you should cover it with paper. Raise it up. Keep it flat. More words. Less words. Do this first. No, do that first. (I told you that you should have done that first.) How do I make this object? Are you sure you want to do that?

And so it goes – slow.

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Here’s the ‘more paint’ in progress.

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Hm-m-m.  Still painting . . .

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Adding some iridescent paint.

dod_4Adding some paper to the inside.

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Crepe paper – time for a test run.

dod_6 Here’s the test run.  Needs a little polishing.

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Found these – I think I know just how to use at least one.

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Working on adding some text transfers.

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Glitter wasn’t part of the original plan but I’m flexible.  It works here.

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Had these beads for a few years and now I have a use for them.

dod_11     These wood shapes are now the newest part of my ever changing idea.  Hopefully, each incarnation is an improvement.

I do hope to pull it all together by the end of the week, but sometimes fate thinks it’s funny to throw a monkey wrench into things.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Candle in the Grass

A couple of mornings ago when I was looking out the window of my kitchen a little glow caught my eye. It appeared as if a candle was burning right in the middle of the grass.

Of course I knew it couldn’t be. I went out to see exactly what it was and found that because the sun was low in the sky it caught this at just the right angle.

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To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,

                                                                                 ~Walt Whitman

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Suggestions from the Blogging Bears Committee

Hi there!

It might look like we are back, ‘we’ being the BBC, but we’re not. Not yet. At this time we are just popping in for a sec due to unusual circumstances. You-know-who has put her needle and thread back in the pin cushion, turned off all the lights and gone to bed. It’s very weird.

We saw the glow from the computer monitor and thought to ourselves, “Why not give it a go?” And here we are! So-o-o-o . . . what shall we talk about?

Rosie thinks we should probably show you some of our favorite places to visit when we have unlimited access to Blogland. It seems like a really good idea but we only have a very few minutes so we’ll have to be quick.

We get so excited when we see what Catherine of Bumpkin Bears is creating. We think her bears are lovely and we are particularly impressed with her incredibly cute cards. Her blog is here and her etsy shop is here. Bring us back something, okay?

Then there’s Paula of Bearing All. We want to go and visit Paula because she seems to have an amazing ability to do an incredible number of varied things in addition to making bears. We don’t think you-know-who is nearly as organized as Paula. Perhaps we should take up a collection, buy a ticket and send her for lessons.

Oh! Oh! Oh! You need to go and visit Wendy here and Megan Chamberlain here. They make bears in little sizes and they wear the bestest clothes. It makes us think we should seriously talk to you-know-who about our wardrobes. She always talks about making clothes for us little bears but then somehow or other they haven’t yet materialized.

Finally, we heard that Joanne, who makes wonderful teds over at Desert Mountain Bear, has a bear that wants to travel – free! And we have been to visit and she is quite the looker. We think she could be quite happy here with us on the East coast but you might be able to talk her into going to live with you. Sign up here.

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I think after a good night’s rest you-know-who will be back at work on her box project. She’ll probably have some more photos to show you. In the meantime, our tummies are rumbling and you know what that means. It’s snack time!

We’ll be back later after the details in our contract are sorted. Personally, we think chocolate chip cookies should be a given as part of the compensation package.  See ya soon!

The Blogging Bears Committee (aka BBC)

Thursday, April 15, 2010

So this is what a plan looks like –

before it has its legs. It doesn’t look like much right now, but the idea is to finish this

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and put it together with this (needs more paint among other things)

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and this (how very curious the way the mind works)

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and a maybe few other things (I hope I can dig up somewhere). Will it come together as I’ve envisioned it? Fingers crossed.

Then I will get back to this.

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Thanks for stopping by - it’s always good to see you!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The Goat in the Front Yard

Yesterday – after I had sent this little lady on her way

gfy1 and had begun my next project using one of these

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something strange happened here. That doesn’t come as a shock, does it?

The BBC had gathered and presented me with a selection of items that confused me. Frankie, their spokesbear, said it was “a recipe for success”. It included a goat, a hot steak, a trout and a plate of peas.

As you can imagine, I immediately had to figure out what was going on. After a lengthy discussion, it seems that they had eavesdropped on my telephone call to Dr. T. Bear. (I had contacted him for advice on how to work out the best deal between the BBC and myself.)

They had heard only my end as I made notes on, and repeated, the advice I was getting from Dr. B. This is how it went:

Dr. B: Now here is how you can remedy this mess.
They heard: Recipe for Success
Dr. B: You must negotiate gently.
They heard: the goat she ate
Dr. B: You need to mediate the differences.
They heard: the meat he ate
Dr. B: There is a lot at stake.
They heard: a hot steak
Dr. B: It is important to sort it out.
They heard: a poor little trout
Dr. B: Then you can come to a place of peace.
They heard: a plate of peas

Naturally, they presumed that the recipe for success included food – even if it seemed like a strange combination. It appears the negotiations with the BBC will be taking a little longer. This is due to the fact that, at present, I have a goat tied to a tree in my front yard munching on some peas and I have to find out where he belongs before he begins to munch on my azaleas.

The BBC will return; we just have to work out the terms.

“Terms!” I said, “Terms! Terms, not worms!”

Oh well, I’ll let you know how it goes.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Barefooted

Over the weekend, we went to Asheville for a visit. This part of our adventure involved bare feet and really cold water.

barefooted Dad’s feet and daughter’s feet.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Shall We Walk?

It’s Saturday and I thought perhaps we could take a walk through my neighborhood. As you may know, our flowers are kind of happenstance. To be fair, not everyone here lacks gardening skills.  There are some charming and neatly planted flowers on my daily walk.

I thought since we’re all such good friends now, you might like to come along for some glimpses of them from here and there, or is it better to say, hither and yon?

While I was composing this, I realized that I had been rather partial to a certain color that is abundant at the moment. It occurred to me that it was an ideal time to dip my toe into the Pink Saturday parade – at least once and see how it goes.

So put on your walking shoes and let’s see what we can find.

Let’s make our first stop underneath this beautiful canopy of cherry tree blossoms. Lovely.

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As we proceed a little further along we see these trees that fascinate me – Redbuds. My husband and I tell ourselves every year we should plant one in our yard. Perhaps we will.

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Here we are at our next stop where we can enjoy these azalea blooms. We do have one or two of these in our yard, but they haven’t fully bloomed yet.

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Oh, let’s walk around this cul-de-sac. Look at these pansies. Of all the things we’ve seen so far, these are my favorite. I love the pink and yellow combination. It reminds me of the Peace roses we have growing beside of our house.

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Here we are, right back where we started. That was quick! This pink dogwood grows in our yard.

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Now that we’ve had our walk, would you like to join us on the porch for a cup of tea?

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Thanks for visiting! There are loads of other people participating in Pink Saturday, too. You can find their links at Beverly’s place – How Sweet the Sound. Just click on the badge below.

Have a great weekend!!!!

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