An Award from my friend Hammie!

My friend Hammie the Hamster received this award from his friend Eldritch the Dragon... and, since Hammie is very generous, he passed it on to his own friends (of which I am one...) so... now I just have to answer some questions...

1.My favourite number:
is... 10 because it's easy to remember.

2.My favourite non-alcoholic drink:
is... hot chocolate because it's comforting.

3.Do I prefer Facebook or Twitter:
ugh... not Twitter... so only Facebook because my Tumblr or Flickr posts go there too...

4.My passion:
Adventures, hiking, photography, bike riding, genealogy, picking flowers.

5.My favourite pattern:
Mmmm... plaid... because it's very Canadian!

6.My favourite day of the week:
Saturday... because I can go for a nice long hike and have many adventures.

 7.My favourite flowers:
Lily of the Valley, Lilacs, Freesias, Tulips (very beautiful), Queen's Cup (a wild flower).


If any of my friends want to receive the award, I bequeath it unto them!

Splish Splash... not quite taking a bath...

Today is a windy, cool, wet day and Sandy isn't going to be getting out for a walk anytime soon. Thunderstorms appear out of nowhere and he has yet to find a rain coat that fits him. So... he's relegated to exploring his back garden... which isn't very big! But... it does have one very interesting feature... a fountain!

It's perfectly set up for a little bear to explore as well... The fountain has four levels... and the water starts off in the bottom level... where there is a mysterious pump...

 The pump forces the water up and up and up... all the way to the top... where the water comes out of a pipe (underneath the rocks... otherwise it would be a geyser!)...

So the top level fills so that it spills out the slot and then it fills up the next level until that one spills out... and so on...

Sandy was hoping that some birds would come and have a bath or a drink there... but maybe the metal bird is scaring them away? Or maybe it's just so wet out there that the birds don't need to look for water in a little bear's back garden? Sandy loves the fountain... it sounds so soothing... although he does have to go to the bathroom more frequently than normal!

The Apiarist sends Pics

Sandy has a friend who lives in Winnipeg (the real "flat land"), and this friend is an apiarist... a bee-keeper! Jacques (that's his name) keeps a few dozen hives which produce hundreds of pounds of honey every year. Yesterday, Jacques sent Sandy some pictures of his hives...

The bees are very busy at this time of year... all of those spring flowers need to have their pollen collected!

Look at all of that honeycomb... look at all of that honey! It's enough to make a little bear drool...

Sandy of course loves these pictures... and wants this one to be his desktop for the computer... But then he learned that Mama actually had some honey pots from Jacques!! Oh boy!!

At first Sandy is a bit confused... (1) this is a Dairyland peach yogurt pot (Jacques recycles)... and (2) it doesn't look at all like honey (that's because it's creamed honey - and it keeps longer). A spoon in Sandy's hands and a bit of digging and there it is... oh yum!!

Are there any other bears out there who LOVE honey?? Too bad Sandy can't pack some up and mail it!

And Sandy thought Lily of the Valley smelled good...

Well, it's official... Sandy has found his most, utterly most, favourite flower... ever!! Admittedly, he hasn't see every flower in the world but... these new ones are his Favoruites. He was sauntering on a new route for his walk and saw them from afar... Purple flowers! Not white. Not yellow. Not pale purple. No, these were purple...

In fact, they are actually lilac-coloured... and they are called... ta-daa... Lilacs! Sandy could smell them from a long ways off... and up close... well... let's just say, they are very, very aromatic (more so than Lily of the Valley)....

In fact, Sandy really couldn't get enough of them... one would almost start to think he was getting addicted to them...

He hopped from one fragrant clump to another fragrant clump, sniffing deeply (hopefully he's not going to inhale any bees)...

Can bears get "high" on lilac aroma? This little bear sure is trying!! And of course, Sandy wanted to bring a huge bouquet home... but after so many deep inhalations, Sandy was a bit hyper-ventilated and needed to lie down and take a breather... cradling a cut lilac branch as Mama went to work.

Back at home, the lilacs form a beautiful bouquet... beary beautiful!! And the house smells wonderfully of lilacs... Do you have lilacs where you live? Are they lilac-coloured?

Apple Blossoms

On his walk today, Sandy saw a most amazing sight. A whole tree just covered in white blossoms... with flower petals scattered across the ground. So beautiful! Mama says it's an apple tree (she thinks)... With a bit of a lift, Sandy was happily tucked into the branches of the tree. The blossoms don't smell like anything, at least not to his bear nose...

And if that was exciting... well, just a few blocks away, Sandy almost fell over backwards. Another massive tree covered in blossoms... but these ones were pink!

Mama thinks they are a crab-apple... and Sandy is having trouble picturing what an crab-apple would look like... Are they crabby apples? Do they look like crabs? Do they bite like crabs? Sometimes things have the strangest names! But the pink is beautiful... and is a nice complement to Sandy's green coat. But just around the corner is... another pink tree...

These ones are a deeper pink and Sandy hopes that they will smell beautiful too... but they don't. Still... he is ecstatic to know that even here in the frozen north, flowers do come in colours other than white or yellow or palest purple! And... he has the apple harvest to look forward to! Yummy... except for the crabby apples...

Sweet Smelling Flowers

Finally! Sandy Bear has come across some flowers that smell beautiful. They don't look like much from a distance, tucked away shyly in amongst their leaves. But Sandy spotted them and went over for an investigation...

A few sniffs and Sandy was in heaven... ooohh... they smell very good! And up close, they look very pretty, little tiny white bells hanging off of a stem.

These would make a great bouquet to bring home and put in a vase. Do you have Lily of the Valley where you live?

Foraging for Fruit

Sandy loves to go exploring and bike riding down the back alleys of his neighbourhood. He never knows what is around the next corner... and today he came across a massive plant with big shoots of white flowers. The leaves were huge as well.

With a bit of help, Sandy managed to scramble up into the middle of the plant. He's heard that flowers can actually smell very beautiful and... but so far he can report that dandelions have no smell... nor do buttercups or s'skatoon berry flowers. But maybe this one will be different!

The short answer is no... these flowers don't smell like anything, at least not to his little bear nose. Although they do shed little white bits everywhere! (He's going to need to brush his fur later.) What is the point of these plants if they don't smell nice? Well... Sandy learns that this plant is called Rhubarb... and that it has many, many, many uses. Jams and jellies and pies and goodness knows what else. But one shouldn't do anything with the leaves as they can poison humans, and presumably little bears as well. it's the stalks that are useful. It's a good thing that Sandy is so small, because he can easily scoot into the middle of the rhubarb plant and harvest some of the stalks. Being little has its benefits!

Do you grow rhubarb and what do you do with it all? Because there is a LOT of rhubarb here... and no one seems to do anything with it (sort of like zucchini).