Grandma's Bears

Grandma's Bears

My grandmother was pretty amazing.

She was a teacher. She was an artists. She was a mother.

Although I have only a vague memory of her, she seemed strong in my eyes.

Here is one of her sculptures that I have in my collection.

I call it "Three Bears."

Waving Bear

Bear of the Day

Waving Bear

Here's my little black bear figurine that has been on my shelf for as long as I can remember.

No markings on this guy.

He's always happy to say hi.

Bears with a Job

Bears with a Job

Yes these bears work for their place in my home.

They can be filled with spices.

You probably know similar bears that contain salt and pepper.

Well my bears love cinnamon and powdered sugar.

Cloves and ginger are wonderful too.

These twins are from Yellowstone National Park.

What a great place to be from.

Mom and baby bear are old residents in my house.

They have been in my collection before my recollection.

They were made at the Ceramic Arts Studio in Madison, Wisconsin.

They are my happy bears and they make me smile.

Pack of Bears

Pack of Bears

Plastic and metal. Black, brown and cinnamon.They walk with the same rhythm.
Some are collared. Of course, they're Yellowstone Bears.

They stalk my display case and keep the other animals in line.

 

My favorite thing about my pack of bears is how ferocious they look.
No Teddy Bear face here.

Two Bears

Two Bears

Yellowstone is a special place for me.

I know it is for thousands and thousands of others too.

Somehow many Yellowstone items end up in my possession.

I'm not fanatical about it, however when I look about me it appears so.

These twin bears (my name for them)

are ones that ended up finding their way into my collection.

They live together in a charmed life, surrounded by all things Yellowstone.

Here's a closeup of the hanger on.

Chocolate Bear

Chocolate Bear Mold

Another bear day.

Okay, so technically it is a mold, not a chocolate bear, but chocolate does belong in it.

This is one of the many molds that my great grandparents

used in their candy store in Milwaukee.

Check out this cool shot of the store interior.

Candy on one side, bakery on the other.

Have you every read "Betsy, In Spite of Herself" by Maud Hart Lovelace?
There is a wonderful description of Webers as Betsy explores the treats.

Peacocks like benches too

Peacocks

It is like a spring morning.

Boo is insistent on breakfast--I am late.

Magpies and Mourning Doves compete for my ear.

Across the street, on my neighbors bench, color radiates.

Bear of Yellowstone Past

Bear of Yellowstone Past

Staying in the bear theme for another day.
The link below shows folks feeding deer and bear from their cars in Yellowstone National Park.

Bear in the 1940s

We have changed our wildlife outlook in the National Parks.

There still seems to be many zoos just outside of them.

Bears Wake Up

Bears Wake Up

Here's my bear for today.

Footage from a Spring trip to Yellowstone National Park.

Some very tasty tidbits for hungry bears as they look for food in the Spring.

I collect vintage video footage of  bears in Yellowstone National Park.

So tomorrow I'll post some clips of what we used to do with bears in the Park.

Peanuts in Cracker Jack

Peanuts are great

Away to the southward they flew

Where many acres of peanuts grew

From there went many a heavy sack

Of peanuts grown for "Cracker Jack."

Here is another postcard that was sent to my aunt Isabella when she was a girl.

This is No. 9 in the Cracker Jack Bear series.

First of all the peanuts in Cracker Jack are my personal favorite.

Second of all I would love to take a ride in the Bears flying machine.

Okay, so I'm on a bear kick now.

I will be searching my collections to see what kind of bear

I can share for the rest of the week.

Cracker Jack Bear

Cracker Jack Bear

To Coney Island, home of fun,
The Faithful airship quickly spun.

Once there the people flocked to buy

And "Cracker Jack" became the cry.

The airship ride at Coney Island cost twice as much to ride as the other amusements.
I still want to take an airship to the moon.
Not much has changed in 100 years.

I always loved to find my prize in the Cracker Jack box.

The cards were the prize in the box.

The Coney Island card was sent to my aunt as a young girl.

The Bear Postcards are copyrighted 1907 by B. E. Moreland.

It is number 5 in a series of 16.

I bought a box of Cracker Jack recently. I was very disappointed in my prize.

Here is a web site that discussed the airship to the moon ride:
Airship to the Moon

Friday House Cleaning

House Cleaning Bear

This really must be done today, but I'm going to put it off until tomorrow.

I have a vivid memory of my sister Carol and I, putting towels on the kitchen floor, a bit of dish detergent and water. We stepped onto those towels and danced away.

That floor did sparkle when we were finished.

Thursday Bear

Thursday Bear
Pie Day

I love pie. I could use Thursdays to bake pies. Thanks Little Bear!

Huckleberry, apple, chocolate, lemon, banana, coconut, cherry, pecan.

What's your favorite?

Hump Day

Wednesday Bear

Hump Day

Wednesday tells me there is plenty of work week left.
Lots of time to get things completed.

I do like to sew, but I rarely mend.
Whenever I loose a button I go to my button box and then get thoroughly distracted by all the wonderful colors and shapes and textures. 

Ironing Day

Tuesday Bear

Woweew, ironing has sure changed over the years.

Although I am impressed the the improv ironing board that Bear has,
I'm glad I grew up with electricity to power my iron.

I remember when the steam function was not on our iron.
My family members would help to sprinkle the clothes with water and then roll them to wait for the iron.
By the time I was sprinkling the clothes we were using a large plastic salt shaker for the water container.

The artist who created these great images was Bernhardt C. Wall.

He has created so many different postcards I bet you've seen some of them.

Here's a short bio on him and his postcard art.
Bernanhard C. Wall

Monday Bear

Monday Bear

Thanks goodness I do not have to start this work week by washing clothes.

I do have visions of generations past sharing this arduous task.

Who invented the roller thing to wring out clothes?

What a genius.

Sunday Bear

Sunday Bear

Growing up, Sunday meant early church service and Sunday school.

After service there was the trip to the deli and a lunch of ham and rolls.

Dad would make malted milks for us. Packer Games were common.

Grandpa often would visit in the afternoon.

Current times, Sundays are laid back. I don't leave my spiritual side for this day alone.

Boy what I would give to have one of my Dad's malts.

Women's Work

Women's Work

I love to see how our mothers and grandmother and their mothers before them were taught home skills.
Here in the United States our present world has quite different work regimes.

I believe the home tasks of the past often united women.

I've seen many variation on the theme of what chore to do on which day.

I'm sharing a series of postcards that my aunt received in 1907 helping her to know the home tasks.

Interestingly, her life's work was in the home. 

After her brothers and sisters found their work in life and left the family home,

my aunt stayed on and took in boarders and her work in the home essentially continued on.

First Snowfall

First Snowfall

Here are some things that I saw and felt today as we had our first real snowfall of the season.
I've included the Innuit words in the first couple of instances because we always think of the Innuit as having many words for snow.

apingaut - first snowfall

aniuk - snow for melting into water

miulik - sleet

popcorn snow - snow that has partly melted and refrozen and acts like ball-bearings

flake ice - ice that is fractured parallel to the c-axis to create flakes

big flakes, small flakes, fat flakes, swirling flakes.

Oh what fun in the wet, wet snow. I slucked around in it. I chased my rabbit in it.

I pushed it around with a shovel. I pushed water around with a shovel.

My feet are wet and cold.
I love hot chocolate.

Leaf in the Wind

Leaf in the Wind

I watched a leaf swirl and twirl and dance with the wind.

Up and around and up again.

Not wanting to reach the ground it explored the sides of my green shed.

On to the roof around the branches of a tree, my leaf danced and flew.

Then it was ready. It floated to join the splash of color already on the green grass.

Autumn Tomato Plants

My tomatoes were planted on the first day of Autumn.

Today I staked my tomato plants with tomato trees.

The plants smell so good already.

I can't wait until they flower.

Here's another chance to see Mundane Margery.

Come to Brewvies tonight in Salt Lake City.