Saturday, March 21, 2015

First Day of Spring & the Spring Photo Contest

Hullo bears and not-a-bears (of which there are a fair few!).

Today is the official first day of Spring, although I know the East Coast of Canada may disagree... (they've had a tonne of snow in the last few days). And those of us on the West Coast may disagree since spring seems to have started about a month ago!

But anyhow... in honour of this fetching season, I thought I would host the

Spring Photo Contest


Soo... what does Spring mean to you? Is it Spring Flowers? Or Spring Insects? Or planting your Spring Garden? Or perhaps Spring Fashion? Or is it a Spring Holiday - like Spring Break or Easter or Spring Travel?

Please send your entries to me at littlecanadianbear  (at)  gmail (dot) com. Deadline is April 21. And this is a stuffie-only contest... although you may enlist the help of non-stuffies...

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Mail!

There was mail today!! And from the fleur d'lis in the corner... it must be from Jerry & Ben! But... the envelope was addressed to Mama... So, I'm not sure what's up with that.

I did sneak a peak at the customs label and it said souvenir for doll...

Doll?? Who's a doll? Is there a doll in the house that I don't know about?

Oh... maybe it's for me!! I mean, I am a doll of a bear of course... and maybe Jerry & Ben figured a souvenir for a doll would sneak through better than a souvenir for a bear!

Ah-hah!!! I knew it... the card is addressed to me!

Awwww.... look at the cute drawing the guys did on the front... Jerry is such a good artist.

Now to open the present! But wait... Mama says it's an Easter card so I should wait til Easter. What?

Let me count... 2... 9... 12...

16 days til Easter!!! I can't wait that long!

I think we should put it to a vote... Why don't you go and get Spooky and Rascal while I wait here...

(short while later)...

Oh... well.. you know... I figured the cats would both me on my side seeing as how impatient they are as well!

Ohhhh.... ahhhh!!!!

It's one of their Aunty's sweaters!!! And a matching hat... in Canadian colours no less! Thanks guys!!! It fits perfectly! How did she know my size??


Sunday, March 15, 2015

An Update on Spring

Hullo! I thought I would give a quick tour of our garden so you can see how things are progressing...

Ah-hem... here we have the Bleeding Heart. It has been growing like a weed. Just a few weeks ago it was only an inch tall and now it has flowers!

Next to it we have... Bergenia... Mama likes to call it Beringia, but that was the land bridge between Alaska and Russia during the last Ice Age. This plant belongs to the Saxifrage family. It doesn't do much the rest of the year, but in the spring it has gorgeous columns of pink flowers.

These are our winter onions... they have perked up a bit with the sun.

In front of them, we have our winter leeks. I hope they do more than this, otherwise, I think Mama got sold a bunch of green onions!

Last year we bought some raspberry shoots (another back alley deal). So they didn't do much last year other than grow. This year you can see new babies coming up.

These are the old stalks and they have flowers!! That means berries...

Here we have some primroses or primulas... these were rescue plants from the old homestead up the road that is now a bunch new infills. Sigh... At least we could give these plants a good home!

Oh yes... and some daffodils... they are from the burnt-out-farm... rumour has it that the property is going to be built on this summer so we may need to rescue some more bulbs before that happens.

And a hyacinth... a beary delicate and beautiful one. Behind that we have some Alium from our pals in Calgary.

The tulips are coming up... Mama put some twigs amongst them to deter the deer.

Oh... and the garlic has come up nicely. This is just some of them... The flopping white things in front of them (there are three clumps) are accidental garlic from the compost. Mama was rearranging the bins and saw these garlic desperately trying to survive so... she planted them.

Last fall we planted lettuce... hmph.... it didn't do much over the winter other than survive...

And spinach... I hope they start growing. We have some new seeds planted in between...

What else... oh yes... some parsley that survived the winter. I won't even show you the rosemary, tarragon, thyme and sage that survived the winter cause a couple of little bears in the American Midwest might faint at the thought of that!

Last year a friend of ours gave us some wandering onions. Right now they are just producing greens but later they should put out some really cute flower/bulbettes that will take root when they touch the ground. We'll see...

And... this was a bit of an experiment. Last year we bought a beautiful fuschia plant. In the fall, Mama cut it back and put the pot in the shed. This spring... it started putting out green leaves!! Isn't that cool??

Oh... and lots of flowers on the plum tree. Hopefully that means lots and lots of plums - the yummiest ones ever!

We have guests coming today (Sunday) - young Rose and her mom... Mama was madly weeding the fairy garden so it would look good for little Rose... who ain't so little anymore. Updates as they happen!

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Fox Mail!

I got mail!! This is from Little Fox - my prize for the First Annual Stuffie Film Festival that he hosted back in January. I got some cool drinks including... hot chocolate!!! Mmmmm... Thanks Little Fox!

Monday, March 9, 2015

Flower Hunting

Hullo! I got out on another outing today - things are definitely looking up! Today we are checking out the burnt-out farm.

There are still a few snowdrops hanging around. They are so cute!

The daffodils aren't quite there yet - but soon!

Heh-heh... not sure this counts as a flower-find but...

Oh!! There are a few bunnies out as well!

Hello bunnies!

Wow... this is quite the patch of daffodils!!

And here is one that is almost open.

I checked out the old workboot - there are some plants that are starting to climb up the sides of it... cool.

A few white crocuses... I think they need to be rescued... we marked the spot with a stick so we can find it in a few weeks when they are ready to move.

There are all sorts of cool things here... even an old laundry line wheel.

Ahhh... it's nice to just sit by the creek and watch the water go by. I have to say... it looks quite brown over there!

There were a couple of chewed sticks along the water's edge... there must be beavers in this creek.

They ate all the bark but left the leaves... cause it was holly!! Beary prickly!

He-heh... a few little blue flowers... they are called... ahem... Glory of the Snow. What a grand name!

The beavers have been pretty busy along here... but... do you see those little green plants?

Yup, those ones!

That's baby stinging nettle!! I'll have to come back in a week or two and check them out. They make a great spinach when they are steamed (and lose their stinginess).