A Bear's Ancestral Roots

Hello bears and not-a-bears. There's been a bit of discussion recently in the stuffie blogosphere about ancestral roots. I asked Mama if she knew where she came from and she showed me her family tree chart...

Wow!! It goes back nine generations to the 1700s. That's a bear long time ago.

But what about me? Do I have a family history?

I decided to look through some old papers that Mama said she had found, which might relate to me.

This is a beary old looking postcard from the Athabasca Hotel in Edmonton, Alberta. It's from a bear named Daniel Alexander Mackenzie Bear. It's sent to Jean Maggie McDiarmid Bear in Scotland. Hmmm... I wonder if we're related? I always thought I might have a wee bit of Scottish blood in me!

 But that's not really going to help me. I need to dig a bit more... Hmmm... nothing here... what's this... nope... not important.... OOOH!!!

I think I found something!!!

This is a photo of Simon Schwartz Bear. There's a note on the back of the photograph that says he was a Quaker Bear! Ooohh... exciting.

This is a photo of Hermine Braun Bear. She married Simon apparently. They lived a simple life and were great farmers. I knew I got my green paw from somewhere!

What else... ahh... this is Jean Maggie McDiarmid Bear. She looks like a tough bear... wouldn't want to mess with her. Apparently she worked at Starbucks...

And this is Daniel Alexander Mackenzie Bear!! According to the back of the photo, he was a pilot in the Royal Canadian Bear Force. He trained in the Edmonton area and then served overseas. Wow... cool!

I think these four bears must be my grandparents but I haven't found any info on my parents. Other than Mama of course... but she adopted me... so that doesn't count. I'll have to do some more digging. Have you done any family tree research? I know Beanie Mouse has...

Apple Sauce!

Hullo! Sandy Bear here. A few weeks back we made apple sauce out of all the apples that we had received from friends. It was a LOT of apples.

There was a lot of peeling and coring... and then we ended up making 4 big stock pots full of apples. Each pot cooked down to mm-mmm-good apple sauce. Just some cinnamon added.

In the past, we've put the apple/pear sauce in ziploc bags and frozen it but... that takes up a lot of freezer space.

So this time... we are going to can them using the water-bath canner.

And a lot of one litre (quart?) and 1/2 litre (pint?) jars.

Yum!!! We are going to have apple sauce for the whole winter!

It tastes really good in plain Greek yogurt. Mind you... making apple sauce can be dangerous. Which is why I supervise from the distant sidelines.

When the apple sauce is burping away, sometime it's spits out bits of sauce. If that lands on your inner forearm (like it did with Mama), it burns quite quickly. This is the day after. It made a nice blister. (Mama says it's healing fine...) Can you imagine if some hot apple sauce landed on my fur??? I might be scarred for life!

Anyhow... be careful out there fellow stuffies!

Mail!!

Hullo! I got some mail in the last week. A card from two little bears... Jerry & Ben!

It's a Happy Bearthday card... or as the Canadians would say...

Happy Bearthd-eh! or... Happy Bearthday, eh!

And... a package came in the mail from them too. Wow!!

Let's see... it looks like a Santa hat.

And a sweater! Cool!

But... I'm not sure the hat fits right... although maybe it's all the rage this year... to wear your santa hat at a rakish angle off one ear?

Hmmm... this is a wine bottle sweater...

I hope it... ugh... fits... over... my fat head. Hey! Who put "fat" in there??...

It fits!!! And it looks beary stunning. Every bear needs a holiday sweater... the more garish the better apparently. I think this looks quite fetching actually. Although, it does make me look fat, but that's cause I'm wearing other clothes underneath... right? It's not cause I've been dipping into the honey? Or the eggnog? Thanks guys!!

A hike by the ocean

I do think Mama knows that I've been reviewing the mid-year review criteria. I'm getting all sorts of interesting expeditions lately. Ah well, little bears are easily bribed! Today, it was down to the ocean for a little hike.

 The Garry Oaks are looking pretty leafless at the moment - they were hard hit by the drought this summer. They grow mostly on rock with beary thin soil but...

You can see that they are putting out new leaves! They are evergreen oak so I guess they do this when they get water...

 I found a few hollow stumps along the trail and thought...

Maybe there are some bee hives in here... bees mean honey you know... but no such luck.

But... I did find something else... Do you see it? Way on top of that tree in the distance?  A little white speck...

See it?

How about now?

It's a bald eagle!! Cool! They hang out here a lot and that tree is one of their favourite trees. So I made note of it and headed off into the bush to see if I could find a stray tail feather or wing feather....

This is the tree right behind me but there were no feathers. Sigh... Although, my fleece jacket did pick up a ridiculous amount of burrs along the way.

It's a nice view from in here.

Don't you love the ocean? It always looks soooo beautiful in the sunshine.

Ah-hah... another hollow stump... still no bee hives though.

But that's OK... it's just nice to be out and about in the fall sunshine.

 Ahhh... too bad I didn't bring my ziploc-snorkel-bag... I could have gone swimming!

Hammie Mail!

I got Hammie mail!! This is a postcard from Turner. It looks beary cool. Thanks Hammie!

Remembrance Day

Hello. Today is Remembrance Day, when we remember all those who fought and died in the wars. I decided to go to the cemetery and remember one of the soldiers buried there.

It looks like a lot of Canadian visitors came with the same idea!

Except... they are pooping everywhere!

Today, I chose a soldier named Cornelius Hayhurst. Cornelius was born on February 19, 1923 in Oak River, Manitoba. He was the son of John T. Hayhurst and Violet Hayhurst. Cornelius joined the Royal Canadian Artillery and was a Gunner. On August 29, 1942, Cornelius was in an motor vehicle accident at the military camp in Nanaimo. He died of a fractured skull. He was buried on September 1, 1942.

I paused for a moment of silence at Cornelius' grave.

And then I left Mama's poppy there.

I think I will do this every year from now on. It's a great way to remember the lives of those who died during the war, even if they weren't overseas.