Wednesday, December 23, 2009

 

Hiding and Hoping

Last night we took Mum out to dinner for her birthday. Lucky Mum gets presents on two days at Christmas time, I only get them on one. Anyway, we went to Axis, the ressertorornt in the National Museum of Australia (and I STILL can't spell restaurant). To leave the Museum you can go through the foyer, past the shop, and Mum and I always stop to window shop. Well, there in front of the shop was this huge big Christmas tree, with gazillions of baubles and dangly things on it, but no presents. I thought that it might be just ready for Santa and if I hid there pretending to be another ornament I might be able to answer one of the great questions that has puzzled small bears and children for ages. I might actually see Santa materialize, or sneak in through a window or something, and see if he is real or a fake. Not this time; Mum noticed I was missing and after a search they found the fake-ornament-camouflaged bear and we went home. Still, it was kind of fun watching the others trying to find me, I am getting pretty good at this camouflage thing. Tomorrow morning we head off for the coast, so I will have more pictures and stories for you next week.

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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

 

Christmas Greeting

Nearly here, only 3 sleeps to go. No matter what you are doing this holiday season, be it partying with friends and family, travelling, lazing by a pool somewhere, playing with presents (and maybe some things you shouldn't, like Unka Paddy's model village), sending email around the world, or just waiting in the dark up a tree to see if reindeer can really land on a rooftop, have a relaxed, happy and safe Christmas and New Year. I hope Santa remembers to bring you the present that you really want. We are spending a few days on the coast, watching waves and scaring fish. I don't think I have any chance of learning to surf.

If you want to, you can always add a comment to my blog. I am always excited to hear from friends around the world, but lately the only comments have been from spammers and Dad removes them straight away.

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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

 

Bear Craft

Mum and I have been really busy lately. With Christmas nearly here there are lots of things to do. There are cards to make and post, bead thingies to make for presents for friends, and of course there is always housework to make the place look good for Santa. Here I am, helping sort out the bits and pieces of a shopping trip. There are card, ribbon, stamps, ink and punches to make special cards with, and strings of beads to be sorted out and divided up into project piles. Honest, I don't know how Mum would manage without the help of a small bear.

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Hung With Care

Scruffy and I just found out that one of the things to do when Santa is expected is to hang up a stocking for him to fill with goodies. Problem no.1; small bears don't have stockings. Fortunately Mum knows where she can get just about anything and she found a couple of Christmas-type ones. Now, you might think that I would be a bit stroppy because Scruff has the bigger one, but I am not. After all, Scruff is older than me, and I know that there is no way that Santa can get a quad bike into a small container like these stockings. I think he will fill them with small nibbly things and leave my bike in a pretty wrapped box. The tradition with stockings is that you hang them near a chimney. That's problem no.2; our house has no chimney. Dad says that's not a problem. Evidently in the old days chimneys were the only way Santa could get into a house. The modern Santa has copied Dr Who? and has the technology to dematerialize through solid walls and reach present-drop zones no matter where they are. That only leaves problem no.3; we are going to be away on Christmas night, so will Santa know where to find us??

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Saturday, December 12, 2009

 

A Grouch?? Not Likely

Mum has this little pink bin that she uses to keep some of our craft materials in. I sometimes use it to play at being a grouch. I guess everybody knows what a grouch is. I learned about them from watching "Sesame Street" on TV. The grouch there, Oscar, is a fun character and reminds me of Dad. Except that Dad would find it hard to find a bin big enough to fit into. The big difference between Oscar and me is that Oscar's bin (being American, he calls it a trash can) is full of rubbish and grunge, and mine (OK, Mum's) has to stay clean. If I ever let it get like Oscar's, Mum would go ballistic and stop me from playing in it.

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Bear Signpost

Signposts are really important things, especially if you are depending on Dad to do the navigation. This one is at the top of One Tree Hill on Hamilton Island. From this signpost all the roads go downhill and they are also very steep, so you really do need to make sure that your golf buggy goes the right way. I thought it might be fun to climb up and switch the signs around, but they were bolted on too tight for a small bear to move. The view from the post was great. I could see all along the passage in from the outer islands right across to the Queensland coast. There were lots of boats of all sorts coming and going from the islands and reefs. When I looked up again there were stacks of tourists taking my photo. They thought I looked cute up there, so I guess it was just as well that they didn't catch me messing things around.

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12 Days to Santa

All of a sudden that time of year is here again. Suspicious-looking wrapped boxes are starting to stack up on the shelves where Mum puts presents for friends. So far I haven't found anything with my name on it. Odd critters, like the Christmas cows, are starting to appear around the place. Christmas cards are coming in every mail delivery. And I have just found out that it's only 12 days to go, or more importantly, only 12 sleeps until Santa comes again. I hope the whiskery old fellow has been doing his spy work as well as he usually does, and knows that I am really hanging out for a quad bike this year. The only drawback with Christmas is that I am usually forced to wear something sooky for a while. At least this year it's only a collar thingy that actually looks kind of cool, a lot better than the Santa Paws hat that I had to wear last year. Actually, Trent's doglet, Slinky, has a Christmas collar too, but it is not a classy as my one and I don't try to eat mine like he does.

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Saturday, December 05, 2009

 

My Sundial

In our courtyard there is a funny-looking thing on a concrete pillar. It looks like a couple of almost-rings and an arrow all welded together. Actually, it is an armillary sphere, a type of sundial. The arrow is called the gnomon and it's job is to make a thin shadow that moves along one of the rings as the Sun travels across the sky. The ring has numbers marked on it to tell you what time it is when the shadow is on a mark. Sundials are not really accurate except for four times a year, near equinoxes and solstices. At other times they can be up to 20 minutes fast or slow here in Canberra. Dad has this one set up to read best when we are on Daylight Saving Time, so I have a bit of trouble telling the time from it. First I have to remember what the date is, then how much the shadow is fast or slow, then if it is Daylight Saving or not. I often get it very wrong, small bears are not good at mental arithmetic. It is fun trying though because the only way I can read the thing is to climb up the concrete and into the middle of the sphere where I can see the marks. Any excuse to climb is fine by me.

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Lazy Lizard

Sometimes you just can't find a secluded spot to sunbake all on your own. This was one of those times. We were down near Eden in southern NSW and I had found this nice warm rock with a flat top just the right size for a small bear's backside and settled down to soak up some sun. Just as I was dozing off this little water dragon came zipping along and settled down on MY rock. He wanted to sunbake too, because lizards move better and run faster when they are warm. The cheeky little critter even sniffed me and settled down with his head on my leg. Talk about cheek! I guess he didn't really see me, after all I was staying very still and, as you can see, I am just about the same solour as the rock. A perfect camouflage job actually, so I guess you can't blame the lizard. He was so happy on the rock that he didn't even run far when Mum grabbed me to take me back to the car.

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