Everywhere you go, there you are...

Happy Autumn, Mr. Bear...

There you are, surrounded now by perky yellow mums, and as if that weren't bad enough, they've exchanged the stars and stripes for a flag with a basket of peaches on it. Apparently you are the central piece in the neighbor's "Homage to the harvest."

When you were a mere sapling, did you ever imagine you'd end up as a painted lawn ornament?

It's an interesting topic. I had this conversation with my nephew recently. How we end up as adults doing something completely different than we originally intended to do when we started out as youngsters. And yet, it fits.

Myself, I went to college, but I studied what was expected of me. It seems I spent a great many years doing what was expected. I held jobs for years and did them well, but without any great passion. And now, I find myself in a job that was dropped into my lap - and I find that it is just... right. I am passionate about my work, it requires all of the creative skills and talents I possess and it is fulfilling. I make a difference.

That matters. It's important to know that what you do makes a difference. That your presence here on this planet will not go unnoticed.

Some people know from the start exactly what they want to be and go about single-mindedly accomplishing it. I tip my hat to them. But some of us take a more circuitous path. We "evolve" into who we are meant to be only after taking several wrong turns.

But then, I think that's why we're put on this earth. It's not where you get that matters... it's how you get there and the lessons you learn along the way.

The journey is more important than the destination.

Wear and tear on the Bear...

All the rain we've had this summer has really taken its toll on the Bear.

His paint is fading... and those marigolds are enormous - growing bigger by the day like some creepy kind of Bear-consuming vegetation...

And yet - that freakish red lipstick they slapped on him is still bright.

There are wild rabbits here - even they don't know what to make of this Bear. I've seen them staring as if they're completely perplexed.

Probably wondering if they too will be captured and transformed into some dorky lawn ornament.

The neighbors had a dog years ago - a yippy little beagle named Radar - wonder what ever happened to him? Bet he's stuffed and mounted somewhere in their house... with a fake houseplant balanced on his nose...

Be careful bunnies - you could be next!

You are not alone

Apparently, there are many more of you out there. All over the country, bears held captive in humiliating poses - captured for infinitum in wood...

Here's one fishing... and it's not very clear in the pic but ....

He's smiling...

Oh yeah, Bears smile all the time. Just ask that Grizzly guy...

Still flying the stars and stripes...

Here it is, a week after Memorial Day and he's still holding the stars and stripes. I'm guessing simple geometry wasn't the neighbor's strong suit. The angle of the flag is about 12 degrees above 0....

So the Bear looks like he's been skewered by Uncle Sam.

Poor guy...

Of Bears and things...

I've always been an admirer of Bears, but my taste generally ran to Polar Bears and Pandas.

As a child, on a trip to Beardsley Zoo I became fascinated by the Polar Bear. I watched endlessly as he dove into the water, pulled himself up on the rock, turned, dove, pulled, and so on... Years later, I learned that Polar Bears in captivity are prone to OCD. The boredom of not having to forage for food causes them to develop Obsessive Compulsive Disorder so they repeat the same pacing/swimming/circling movements over and over. But at the time, all I knew was that this huge white bear moved with a remarkable rhythm that was mesmerizing.

I asked my Dad if we could bring him home and he, being the coolest Dad on the planet, said "Sure! He can sleep in your room." My mother was not so cool.

Needless to say, I didn't get my fuzzy roomate.

As for Pandas they're really the superstars of the Bear world when it comes to publicity. They've been endangered for years. And yet, they're in every zoo around the world. We've seen videos of them playing, eating, sleeping and even mating. I remember seeing that Panda Porn on the animal channel. Too freaky for words. Pandas have no shame.

Now, there is a brown Bear in my life.

No great drama in his life. He isn't a victim of global warming, nor is he in danger of extinction.

The only thing that threatens him is public humiliation.



"Save the Bear... save the world."

Memorial Day Weekend

And the Bear flies the stars and stripes...

Oh say can you see...

And so it begins...

The Bear is our next door neighbor.

At one time, in his place stood a majestic pine tree, but someone decided to remove the tree, leaving an eight foot high stump.

Now, we wondered why anyone would leave a stump that tall. Then they stripped the bark off the stump and left it - nekkid. It had an unusual shape,rather lumpy with a flat top. I thought it bore a bizarre resemblance to Bart Simpson, but my husband insisted it looked more like an 8 foot erection protruding out of the grass. Bart or Penis, for more than a year it was an eyesore.

Then one weekend in March, we went out of town. We returned home to find that the stump was no longer a stump. It had been carved into the Bear.

A raw pine nekkid Bear. Eeewww.

A week later, they painted him. Brown. Just ...brown. He stands on a rock (painted gray of course), one paw across his chest as if he's saying the pledge of allegiance.

Not a scary, ferocious Bear (as bears should be), but a goofy, non-threatening, patriotic Bear.

I hated him. Despised that stupid Bear. Each day, I'd plot his demise. I'd fantasize about borrowing a rifle and blowing that stupid brown woodie out of the yard.

Then came Easter.

What I didn't know was that when they carved this monstrosity, they also drilled a hole under his paw.

So there he was, Easter weekend, surrounded by bright yellow daffodils, sporting a huge pink "HAPPY EASTER!!!!" flag clutched in his paw. However, because the paw is permanently poised across his chest, he looked like he'd been speared through the heart by some demented Easter Bunny.

I swear I could see a definite wince in his painted eyes as he stood there on display for the world to witness his ultimate indignity.

I began to see the Bear in a completely different light.