A little ursine story:

Last night around 8 pm, Don was outside. We had been expecting storms but ended up only having a little rain, so I went out on the porch to rehang my hanging plants since the expected big thunderstorms and winds didn’t happen. I then joined Don and we looked toward the mountains at the sunset. We were chatting about this and that, including how beautiful our property was; lots of green grass, flowers and bushes in bloom, a charming porch. I said that this little former farmhouse was exactly what I had dreamed of for so many years. Don took my chin in his hand and said “You did all this. You.” It was lovely.

Keep in mind that we were still facing the mountains/street. A few minutes later, we went back inside the house to watch our evening dose of Northern Exposure. Don was in the kitchen, I gravitated toward the den and checked my cell phone, which I had left inside. There was a message from my next door neighbor.

“Claudia, this is Valeria. I just wanted you to know that there was a bear walking through your property just now. I hope you’re safely in the house.”

What????

I called her right back. Their house is situated further back from the road than ours is, in the same area as our back forty. She said that she had been standing in her backyard with her two cats. One of them started growling. Since an ambulance had just gone by, Valeria assumed the growl was a response to the alarm emanating from the ambulance. But the cat kept growling. She looked up to see what he was growling at and saw a bear walking from the direction of our house, through the back forty, and out into the neighboring field. She, of course, froze in place, just as we do when we see a bear. Once he was gone, she called me on her cell phone.

We had been outside the entire time the bear was walking across the property and had no idea. It was all happening 40 or 50 feet  behind us. And, since we were talking, the bear was aware of us.

Don and I had just been talking about that time last year when we saw a bear by our kitchen door. And I remember calling Valeria to warn her when the bear took the same route up through the back forty and out toward the field.

I’m glad we have black bears, who are wary of humans, and keep to themselves. They aren’t aggressive.

I sure wish we had seen him last night.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Wouldn’t you know it? After writing about the lack of groundhogs around here, I saw one by the shed in the early evening and he spent a long time eating the grass. He also spent some time resting on the ramp to the shed. Perhaps he’s staying in the den under the shed? One thing we’ve learned about them, they go back and forth from one den to another. It’s almost like a small town for groundhogs.

We had a lot of wind late in the afternoon, so much that I had to take down the hanging plants and stash them on the porch floor. More storms were coming through the Hudson Valley, but we had just a sprinkling of rain. We have more coming tomorrow morning and then we should be dry for several days. Fingers crossed!

Don had an event last night – an outdoor concert – that he emcees. He did this last year, too. It’s a summer concert series in a town north of us. It occurs once a month during the summer season and Don books the talent. (He doesn’t perform.) They were supposed to get rain, but miraculously, it didn’t happen. Tomorrow, he has a gig and on Monday he has to go into the city for a fitting as he has one more day of filming for this limited series he’s been working on. I think he has to have an additional fitting because he is putting on a Mummer’s costume in the scene.

I have to pack up an Etsy order this morning and get it out in the mail either today or Monday. And I have to get some gas for the lawnmower. That’s it. (Don is much busier than I am at the moment.)

Nina and I had some quality time on the porch yesterday. I braided her hair. But, as I look at those braids as she sits in the cubby across the room, I’m thinking her hair will soon be unbraided. Her hair is too beautiful and shouldn’t be tamed.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Another Mucha puzzle in progress. It’s rather difficult but I love the challenge.

Don got sunburned on his arms while playing at the Farmer’s Market yesterday. It’s rather painful and we’re using aloe and he has been ordered by yours truly to take it easy today. I am also taking it easy because I did a little too much mowing. But everything is mowed and it looks lovely out there. I need to weed whack but I’ll hold off on that for a couple of days.

We’ve been rewatching Northern Exposure  which – after years of petitions, etc. – is finally available for streaming on Amazon Prime. Oh my goodness, what a deep and mystical series it was, as well as funny, quirky, and heartwarming. I’m enjoying it even more this time around. It’s special to us because it figures in our story. Almost 30 years ago, on our second date, we went out to dinner for Chinese food and came back to my apartment with plans to watch Northern Exposure. It was a Monday, the theater day off. We sat together on the loveseat and, well, we got a little affectionate and didn’t end up seeing the entire episode. So, whatever episode that was, we promise that we’ll  see it this time around.

Yesterday, I had an intense desire to talk to my parents.  I miss them so much. My mom always had the radio on and she tended to listen to what would be called Easy Listening music – that, and standards from the 40s and 50s. Because of that, I know a lot of those pieces very well. Some of the stuff was what we would call ‘elevator music’ but much of it was lush and beautiful and I have a special fondness for it to this day. In fact, even more so as I get older. I miss the days when an instrumental piece could get play on the top 40 pop radio stations, along with The Beatles and The Beach Boys. That just doesn’t happen anymore. Over the years, I have heard certain pieces that take me right back to my mom and her radio and I’ve added them to my play list. Often, when I take a brief nap in the afternoon, I put in my ear buds and play one favorite on repeat. Lately, it’s been Stranger on the Shore  by Acker Bilk. He solos on the clarinet and is accompanied by an orchestra and it’s just beautiful. Oh, how I wished my parents were here, that we were playing a board game in the early evening (like we used to at their home in Northern Michigan) and the radio was on and I could ask my dad what the name of a certain piece was and he would answer Lisbon Antigua by Nelson Riddle and I would think “They know everything  about that era.”

It’s never easy, is it?

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.