Visiting A Beary Special Someone

 I'm on the plane!! Where do you think we're going??

I hope it's somewhere warm and sunny... 

Ooohhh... we went to visit Gramma!! The weather is not warm and sunny but her smile is!

We brought her the mushrooms we had picked in our last post.

She decided to fry some up for her lunch...

Some are pretty teeny tiny!

What else is Gramma making for lunch? Let's check!

Errr...  what the heck is this??

This is NOT salmon!

Gramma says it's celery soup...

I didn't even know you could make celery soup...

But... where is the salmon???

Gramma says she got something else that we might like...

Ummm... what the heck is this???

Gramma says it's a delicacy... uh-huh...

It looks like... oxtail but... smaller... Gramma says it's not calve or lamb so what could it... uh-oh!!!!

Stop! Don't look!

Sullivan and Gilbert... if you're reading this... run!!!

No... seriously... don't look...

Ugh... these papparazzi!

OK... yes... no... we are NOT going to look at that... nor eat that!!!

Maybe celery soup isn't so bad after all...

But surely we have something else?

As it turns out... we do... still no salmon though.

We have cabbage rolls with mashed potatoes.

Yum. Gramma says what did we expect? It's not salmon season!

But it is ALWAYS salmon season for a little bear!!! sigh.

Fall Mushroom Hunt!

 Hullo! In early November (I know... so far behind on posting!)... we went for a fall hike...

The snowberries are out...

But we aren't looking for snowberries...

Oooh... a patch of sunshine...

And pretty maple leaves...

A funny more mushroom... we are getting closer! We are looking for...

Late season chanterelles!!! We found this one!!

And even better... Hedgehog Mushrooms!! (aka Hydnum repandum). They are choice little edibles that are cousins to chanterelles... but come out later...

They are super easy peasy to identify because the underside of the cap is not gills or pores it is...

Little spines! (Like a hedgehog...)

We found lots!!! They are smaller than chanterelles and tend to grow in concentric rings around a mother tree...

In our case, it was a big old huge douglas fir that we find them around every year.

Seeeeee!!!

On the way back we found this little clump of chanterelles lying next to the trail...

Someone had knocked them over so we stopped and looked around... cause where you find one, you might find more!

Let's seee.....

There's a cutie pie!!!

And another one!!!

Not a bad haul. We are not going to eat these though but bring them to someone beary special (and No, it's not Rose...)

Stay tuned!!!

Merry Christmas!

 It's Christmas!! And you know what that means... treats!!! Like shortbread cookies!

"Is there enough for me, Sandy?"

Ummm... Sure Baxter (he's new... and a Beaver!).

Good thing this box is big enough for the 2 of us...

"What about me??"

Ummm... sure, come-on over!

Somebody was smart when they got the bigger shortbread box...

"Et moi??"

Mais oui! Maybe this is an incredible stretching box of shortbread cookies?

"Can I join in?"

Come on over Piper (the Penguin!).

"What about us little guys!!!??"

Oh heck, why not!!

Yep... that's it. It's like a 3 foot long box of shortbread cookies, enough for every stuffie here and then some!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!