IN WHICH BEAR RECEIVES A GIFT . . .

and tries to figure out what to do with it. (This happened back in March; I've finally figured out what to do with it.)

In this case, this is the Versatile Blogger Award which comes to Bear from Rubye Jack. She is a fascinating individual living in "Indian Territory," USA. (For those not familiar with the designation, the state is now called Oklahoma.) Please drop by and check her out. She has quite a story to tell. Right now, she's using a community computer. That may change.

Next step. Name 15 other bloggers who deserve the Versatile Blogger Award. Not so easy. There are so many good blogs out there. Bear will have to think about that.

So far, 3 of the key tasks accomplished.
1. I've named the award.
2. I've told you who gave it to me.
3. I've told you that I have to pass this on to 15 folks, naming them, and letting them know they have been thus awarded.

Now, the hard part. The 15 blogs.

1. The big guy himself, The Blog Fodder
2. The half Welsh woman, Tattie Weasle
3. Maggie, Life in the Preseli Hills
4. M Lydia M, Writerquake
5. Domestic Laura, Cleaning House and Baking Cookies
6. Shannon's Faith~Hope~&~Love
7. West-coast Carol, Better Is Possible
8. Shauna, Two Chicks and Their Peeps
9. Long-suffering Dana, Life Is Good (aka Don't Let the Bastards Get You Down)
10. Rachel, the poet, The Waxing Moon
11. A chemist turned writer, Cheshire Wife
12. The Gentleman's Lady, A Funny Old Life
13. Amanda, the Archiologist, Travels with Persephone
14. Paul, Costo
15. The Crow, phantsy that

Peace and joy, friends.

RACHEL'S BEAR POETRY CONTEST

In response to questions about finding the various poems in the Bear poetry contest, you need to go to Rachel Westfall's blog, The Waxing Moon. The contributions are spread over several postings; check the attached comments to the posts. I've put in the links for all four of the key posts on Rachel's blog

 
Happy reading! There's great stuff for those who like poetry.
 
http://thewaxingmoon.blogspot.com/2010/06/bear-haiku-challenge-prizes.html

http://thewaxingmoon.blogspot.com/2010/06/one-more-week-bear-haiku-challenge.html 
 
http://thewaxingmoon.blogspot.com/2010/07/bear-poetry.html
  
http://thewaxingmoon.blogspot.com/2010/07/beautiful-bear-poetry-and-announcing.html

SOME KIND GIFTS

As I mentioned earlier, I won a poetry contest. (Still can't really believe it — has something to do with my self-image about not being a poet.)

  
My prizes arrived today. Wow! Excitement!
  
First, a beautiful Bear picture — a fitting award for a contest related to Bears. This, from Rachel Westfall, of Whitehorse, in Canada's Yukon Territory, who sponsored the contest. (My picture of her picture doesn't do justice to her work —you'll see much better on her blog.)

 

The other two items are also part of the "prize package." 
  

The pinkish bear is carved from Jade (technically "Rhodonite") at the Cassiar Mountain Jade Store in Jade City, British Columbia.  It's also from Rachel. The "Bear Paw" is from another contestant, S. L. Corusa, an amazing poet (like Rachel) who lives in Manilla, in the Philippines. (There are no boundaries to the world wide web!) 

So to Rachel and S. L., thank you, and many thanks again. These are cherished items.

PECULIAR HAPPENINGS

Subtitle: “In which Bear Survives a Storm, Celebrates Canada Day, and Does Well in a Poetry Contest.”  

As famed Canadian poet Robert Service put it, "There are strange things done in the midnight sun." (That's the opening line from "The Cremation of Sam McGee.") 

There are, of course, strange things done at other times, too.

1. As many of you have already noted, there is a lot of "peculiar" weather this year. Normal patters appear to be skewed, for some reason. Global warming; a disruption in the "collective unconscious" —  who knows. 

We had a fairly brutal storm a couple of nights ago. We received about four inches of rain over three hours in our city. The hail at the Bears' house ranged in size between marbles and golf balls. Residents' basements, whole neighbourhoods, and even civic buildings, were flooded — and not just in our community. 

At one point, a few blocks from our home, the water flow and pressure in the storm sewer was so strong, the water blew the man hole cover off the service access. That sent water charging into the street, and cascading though a park directly to our river. The result was a huge washout, as you can see, on the path beside the roadway.

That cut is about 30 feet wide, and about 20 feet deep,

and runs all the way down the hill, through the park, to the river, which you can see in the distance.

We had another storm tonight, but it wasn't nearly as bad.

The washout, btw, is about two blocks from our son's house. He and his family were fine, as were we, and our daughter (who lives a bit further away, and on higher ground).


2. Canada Day is our national holiday. On July 1, 1867, the British North America Act came into force, and Canada became a Dominion within the British Empire (on which the sun never sets, I'm told). 

Yesterday, all kinds of things happening around us, from pancake breakfast first think in the morning, to fireworks at night. Our grandchildren came for a sleepover, and stayed up until the fireworks started (which we didn't think they would). But after a few, they had seen enough, so off to bed and sleep. 

In the process, they cut a few Canadian flags out of papers, and put them on a door and a windows. My flag continues to fly atop my flagpole; I think I'm the only one around here who actually flies a flag. (The bad news is that my flag is getting a bit tatty, and needs to be repaired or replaced.)


3. As at least some of you know, Bear has been a writer and broadcaster for quite a few years. And Bear loves telling stories. 

But Bear is NOT a poet. I thoroughly enjoy poetry, but I'm not a poetic writer.

Well, at least not until now.

Rachel Westfall, a good poet, writes poetry on her blog. To encourage others to write or try poetry, she decided to hold a competition on her blog. 

But not just ordinary poetry. It had to be about Bears, and it had to be Haiku (that particular form of Japanese poetry, consisting of 17 moras, in three phrases of 5, 7, and 5 moras respectively). 

Since it was about Bears, this Bear thought, "Oh well, I'll give it a try,  just for fun, and see what happens."

So what happened? Rachel explained it this way:

"When I read the poems over and over, one author moved me in the way of the bear-spirit more than any other: Rob-Bear! Congratulations, dear Rob-Bear! Your bear in shining fur poem truly gave me goose-bumps (bear-bumps)?"

This is a bit strange, because I thought there were much better contributions than mine. But, hey; it's her blog, so we'll abide by her decision.

What did I write?

Bear in shining fur,
glowing with bright moonlight,
sniffs distant food, wonders.

I'm to get a prize, and it will be a Bear sort of thing, which I'll add to my collection of Bears. Quite Bearable, all in all. Thank you, Rachel!

But Bear still sits and shakes his head. Me? A poet? 

"And that," said Bear, "is that."

§   §   §

One other matter. This is my 200th post since I started blogging (in 2006). Bear figures if he works at it long enough, he may actually catch on to what blogging is. (There are so many really talented bloggers out there; some are included in my sidebar! And, yes;  there's one very prosaic, pedestrian Bear.)

STRANGE THINGS HAPPENNG

OK -- let's get this straight right from square one. The header of this blog specifically indicates that we're "Exploring the anomalies and curiosities of Life. And things that are just plain Weird. Or Funny." Everybody clear on that? Good; we'll move on.

I received this award, from Joanne at "Reasons to be Cheerful, 1, 2, 3." Which was very kind of her. (Thank you, Joanne.)



The note with this says; "This award is an acknowledgement of womanhood and sisterhood." Kind of a "solidarity" and "compassion" kind of think, I guess.

Uhhhh . . . Now this is exceedingly peculiar, because the Bear is not a she, but a he.

How to get around the problem? Joanne has declared the Bear an "honourary sister."

Hmmmm . . . Did somebody say, "anomalies," "curiosities," or "weird"? Granted, Bear may be a creative thinker, but not even I could make this one up! "Honourary Sister!?" Ahhhh, . . . well, . . . "interesting."

This started (I think) with Rosaia at "sixtyfivewhatnow" -- though she would be an obvious candidate for the award, so I should send one back anyhow. So pay attention: Natalie; Renee; Camilla: Frances; Sonia; Wendy; Dana; Julie; Janine -- and a whole bunch of others with whom I correspond semi-regularly and have forgotten to mention -- this is for you! (Bear's mind is getting mushy at this hour; I'm forgetting details.) So help yourself. There's a copy on my sidebar -- it's for YOU, all of you -- loving, caring, thoughtful sisters [l.e., human beings]. There's even one for the Blog Fodder, who we'll also classify as an "honourary sister." (No offense, big guy.)

Now, back to our regularly-scheduled programming.