Babysitting the Bear

Remember back in the spring when we had bear "evidence" but no bear? And how we've lived here for 2 1/2 years and have yet to see one of the 4,000-5,000 black bears that live in the Adirondack park?

Well ... now we've seen one! Sort of!

Through Wayne's work, he was asked to deliver a ... hmmm... how shall I say this?.... preserved baby bear to one of the job sites. Unfortunately, a torrential downpour made this impossible and necessitated our hosting an unexpected B&B guest overnight!



Because baby bear was mounted on a lovely tree branch complete with a very delicate hornet's nest, we couldn't just throw him in a corner somewhere. He spent the night "hanging out" in the corner of our TV room/library ... much to the amusement of most of our guests and the horror of one dear vegan guest!


The next night, the rain stopped and Mr. Bear Jr. was on his way home. Trust me ... this picture does not even come close to showing how happy Wayne was to have his young charge exit the premises! We have no idea what something like this costs, but we didn't want any disaster happening on our watch!

If you like this sort of thing, you would enjoy a visit to the amazing taxidermist here in Keene, NY. They preserve animals from all over the world. Check out their website at: http://www.northcountrytaxidermy.com/. (Ok... I just checked out their mounted black bear section and I'm really glad the little guy made it through the night $afely!)

When it Rains...

As I write, I am surrounded by the soothing sounds of a beautiful summer rain on one of those perfect rainy Sunday afternoons that gives you an unspoken permission to take cuddle with a kitten, to curl up with a good book, to nap in a hammock (under the porch roof!), to call a friend, to bake cookies ... or perhaps, to blog!

This rainy afternoon reminds me of a very special guest who stayed at our B&B a few weeks ago. Peter and his wife arrived with plans to hike .... but down came the rains! So Peter proposed a very creative Plan B.

Peter is an artist, specializing in landscape and portraiture. Earlier, he had spotted our two daughters and his artist's eye admired their "beautiful bone structures." (I just knew those girls were beautiful!) He asked if the girls would mind sitting for portraits!

If you know my girls ... and many of you do ... you won't be surprised to hear that we had one very excited young lady and one who said, "NO WAY!" (I'll let you figure out who was who!)

Peter set up his easel on the front porch and while the rain dripped melodiously from the eaves (you can actually SEE the rain dripping from the eaves just above Sodie's head!), he began....

First, a sketch of Sodie's outline

I loved Peter's palette ... such a rich rainbow of colors that he mixed to create just the right hue.

Peter works very quickly ... usually finished with the first "draft" in about one hour.

Finishing touches

"Sodie.... meet Sodie!"

Now it was time for CorrieAnne to take her turn posing.

It was appropriate that Peter captured her wearing her very favorite red sweatshirt!

Getting there....

CorrieAnne checking out her likeness

The finished product!

You can see more of Peter's artwork on his blog