Beanie's Traveling Art Book

I am busy working on Beanie's Traveling Art Book. It has to go down to Australia next and I need to get it done... I have been busy writing and colouring and gluing.

And no, Mama, you can't look! This is my book!! Sheesh... some humans...

I hope everybody likes this. There are so many blank pages here. I counted how many people are still to come and how many pages are left and figured out how many I could use up safely...

Whew!! I am done! Now...

I put it into a big zipper bag to keep it safe...

And then into a padded envelope... now I just need the address from Down Under and it is good to go!!

UPDATE

And it is Australia bound!!

An Addition to the Garden

Hullo bears and not-a-bears! Today I got an addition for our garden. My favourite hot chocolate shop also sells a bit of coffee and give away the used coffee grounds for free! So I got a big bag of it...

It has some coffee filters in there... but that is OK because they can just go in the compost.

Doesn't that look good? It also smells beary good - Mama says her truck is going to smell like coffee for days. Which is not a bad thing...

First we put some in the compost bin - because it is good in there. We put in the coffee filters and then some coffee beans that ended up in the bag as well. Coffee grounds are high in nitrogen - so good for compost but don't add too too much.

Then we added some to the garden, spread it on top and then mix it in gently. It has the added benefit that cats don't like the smell of it, which is beary good.

If you look close, you can still see a few coffee beans in there. 

I was wondering... does anyone out there have tips for keeping cats and slugs out of your garden? We put some chicken wire over parts of the garden for the cats... and it is good to know they don't like the smell of coffee (or citrus peels apparently). And we have eggshells around sensitive things to keep slugs away... any other ideas?

Mail Call!

Hullo! I got mail today!! It's from Beanie Mouse!

I wonder what this is??

Oh, it's my key chain!

It's of Big Ben! Thanks Beanie!!

Hodge-Podge

I am beginning to learn that whatever flowers Little Fox has blooming down where he is... we get them about 2 weeks later... Voila - California poppies!

They sure are pretty - we tried to transplant some into the garden last fall but... the soil is too rich for them - so we are going to move them into some scrappy gravel off the front driveway... that's what they seem to like.

And there was a real poppy too... a wild one - it is Hammie-red!

Lupines are out now... finally! But so far I've only seen purple ones.

And a bit of a mystery... saw this t-shirt in a shop and... we have our very own Loch Ness monster??? That's exciting!! I want to go there now and see if we can find it!

And an update on the tent caterpillars... there they are in their tent in MY plum tree... sigh... So far it seems to be a mild year for them, they aren't eating everything in sight... so as long as they stay on that branch, it's OK. The starlings and robins stop by every once in a while to snack on the caterpillars....

Mail and.... Surprise Mail!

I got mail today!! A postcard from Beanie... who was just in France, visiting Paris... in the springtime no less!

Sounds like he had a good time even if the weather was a bit damp...

Hello? What's this?? More mail??? What the heck??

Oh!!! Oh my goodness... It's the traveling book from Beanie!!

Wow... it's beautiful! And with a long list of instructions...

Thanks Dawn (who sent it onwards to me)... and to Beanie for starting this... Now I just need to get beary creative!

Waiting patiently...

Happy 600th Posting!

Hullo bears and not-a-bears... I have been waiting beary patiently for our rhododendron bush to bloom... and thought I would follow one flower for a while...

Day 1 - not much happening...

Day 2  - Oh!!! I see a bit of pink!

Day 3 - and more...

Day 4 - a full flower has come out!

Day 5 - and more are coming!

Day 9 - hmph... missed a few days and look... the whole thing is in full bloom.

Tah-dah! They sure are pretty shrubs!

Post-script

I came across this picture of a 125+ year old rhododendron "bush" in Ladysmith... oooh...

Island Getaway - Part 2

Now... just to check out where we are on the map... we are almost half way around the island.

This end has smaller trees but...

the moss is super cushy and comfy!

Now that... that is a real ferry!

Wait a minute... what the heck are these things?? Are they real? Yes they are... I am beary perplexed. Of course Mama didn't bring her plant book... but hmmm... maybe something like an Indian Pipe - those plants that are not mushrooms and not real plants but symbiotic?

They look like coloured pine-cones... beary cute... but beary strange.

And more strange plants! These are also plants that are symbiotic (so like Indian Pipe) - and Mama thinks they are Spotted Coral-Root...

They look like tiny orchids.

Heh-heh... this spot looks like a giant has been throwing rocks around... rocks the size of houses.

They sure are big. I wonder if any elves live in there? Or little bears?

Apparently there was a coal mine on the island back in the olden days (Jerry and Ben, that's even before the Middle Ages!).

This looks like the foundation of a building.

And this might be an old boiler???

So far, no mine though... but that's OK because there are all sorts of other things to look at... like a Hammie-coloured butterfly!

And a raccoon!! He is beary cute but not super-photogenic.

Although I am... especially when it is time for lunch!

OK... more weird plants.... same as the earlier ones except purple...

It got to the point where Mama pulled out her phone and did some searching online and... came up with a name. They are called... (drum-roll please)... Ground-cones. Uh-huh... that figures. And they belong to the symbiotic group of plants without chlorophyll... cool.

Too many weird plants... now I think I've found something Little Fox will like... I think this is Bear Grass!!

 More giant-thrown rocks... except these look different. They look... roundish?

Hmmm... I think I will call this place The Mysterious Island! Mama says I can't use that name because some guy named Jules Verne already used it... fine... I will call it Mystery Island!

And round holes too... Maybe the giants were playing games here - fitting round rocks into round holes?

Ah... no... these rocks were used at pulp mills as grind stones - think of a mill stone except bigger.

 And that's the thing that made them... Beary neat. I like this island and I will have to get Mama to take me back here.