Spirits of the Forest

Hullo again! A few more adventures while I was on holidays... We went for a walk to a forest that has Spirits in it... that sounds interesting...

There was a sign at the start of the trail telling us to look for the Spirits in the Forest... I will have to keep my eyes peeled. Should I be calling Ghostbusters?

"...Being watched closely by wise, mocking, shifty and mysterious faces..." Hmmm... I will look hard!

Ooohhh... that was beary quick...

Cool... this one looks like a cloud face.

And this one has leaves for hair.

Side-tracked by some puff-ball mushrooms...

We picked them but they were not super great for eating.

And this ultra-cute mushroom with polka dots (they can be orange or red) is ultra-poisonous...

Heh-heh... a yawning face!

Howling wolf...

A tree cottage.

This one might be trying to whistle...

 And another head with a head-dress... hard to see.

Mustachioed....

Cute little windows!

Hmmm... a drunk face?

More cottages!

A whole tree of cottages....

 

And more higher up.

Merlin!!!

Poker face?

An eagle-eyed owl... I hope he doesn't like little bears for lunch.

Beary long moustache...

A frontiersman hunter! This one is new!

Having a bad hair day I think.

Heh-heh... little bears could play hide-n-seek in these woods!

I think he's about to say something... like maybe where the honey is!

Hard to see that one

Another frontiersman...

Eh???

 How'd they know I was in town??!!

Post Script to Mushrooms and Bear Surgery

I had commented on one of the last few blogs about a bleeding mushroom...

Here's a pic of one Mama found 10 years ago (in the Middle Ages). It's called Hydnellum peckii - also called Bleeding Tooth Fungus and Devil's Tooth. Not poisonous but... not sure I would eat it either! Isn't it cool???

That's so long ago.... she was still using a film camera sometimes!!

Oh... and a pic of Gramma when she was a young seamstress in training... just to prove I don't go under the needle without requesting some serious credentials!

Hmmm... not too shabby. Now if I only wore dresses, she could make all my clothes!

Live Broadcast: Rain!!!!

We interrupt this pre-recorded vacation programming to bring you a live broadcast on breaking news... Hello?? Where are the lights?? Anyone?

Errr... hmmm... try that again! There we go! It is beary dark now at 6 a.m. Ah-hem...
Sandy Bear here, reporting from the window. Last night it started to rain just a little bit... but this morning, it really started to come down. This is excellent news since we really need the rain!

Can you hear it?? (P.S. If you get notifications via email, the video doesn't show up - you need to actually visit my blog page to see it).

Cooking with Gramma

Oh, hullo again! We got a nice haul of mushrooms... and now it's time to process them.

Gramma cut off most of the yucky bits out in the woods, but there's always a bit more that has to come off.

 Mmm... don't they look good? Gramma's going to fry them up in a bit of butter with some spices.

She asked me if I would like some salmon with dinner! Would I??? Of course!!

First you have to clean the salmon...

Oh look... Gramma has a picture of Rusty on her fridge. Rusty passed away before Christmas. She was such a good dog!

Alright... salmon is nice and clean... now we need to fillet it.

Whoa... Gramma sure moves that knife quick! It's just a blur. I think I'll step back a pace or two...

First the little fin thing behind the head comes off...

And then you slice it down the back...

Voila... fillet of salmon. Oh... and in case anyone wants to know... these were sort of back alley salmon. A friend of a friend heard Gramma was looking for salmon... heh-heh...

We are going to eat these pieces for dinner. Yum!!! And the rest...

We are going to smoke them! First, we make up the brine... and then the salmon get to sluice around in that for 12 hours.

Then we pop them in the smoker...

And change the hickory wood chips every once in a while.

While that's going on... Mama roped Gramma into helping us with my Halloween costume. I'm sure Jerry & Ben will be hosting their annual contest this year and... I want to be prepared.

What's it going to be??? Well... you'll just have to wait and see!

And... while my back was turned... I was snatched up and tossed over Gramma's knee so she could sew my pants back on. They've been flopping loose on one side and I was campaigning for suspenders but... sigh... the indignities that a little bear has to suffer sometimes!