Forgotten???

It was lovely having members of the Midlands and Suffolk branches to stay at the weekend. We all had a really lovely time and we were very sad to see everyone go. The bear cave seemed very empty after the last departures. We looked across the room at the empty space where members of the Midlands branch had been sitting ...

... but as you can see, it wasn't empty. Someone was still there, and we were delighted to find that it was the always charming Polar, of the Midlands branch. We immediately assured him that he was very welcome to stay as long as he likes, and we very much hope he will take up our offer to stay until Christmas when his friends and minders are due to join us again.

But one question remains, and only his minders can answer it? Was he forgotten or did he do a deal with them to be allowed to stay? One thing our readers need to know, is that Polar is a microwavable beanie, just like his Norfolk branch friend, Benji Beddy Bear, yet he doesn't get to go in his sun bed very often at home, only when he comes to Norfolk. Coming to Norfolk therefore makes him very happy, although we do believe he loves, and is much loved by, his Midlands branch minders.

While we wait to hear from his minders, we'd like to assure everyone that while Polar does miss his minders, and hopes they miss him too, he is having a great extended holiday in Norfolk and spending a lot of quality time with fellow hotties Randolph and Benji ....

... and of course Blue Bear is always happy with his latest form of head gear.

We just hope that having a Polar creature such a Polar with us, doesn't bring us some snow.

Lots of love all at the Norfolk branch and special guest Polar xxx

Tally Ho!

Sorry George & Yorkie, but you've got another bear trying to slip a quick one in before your next adventure gets under way.

Some of us had such a good time this weekend on a Bears Unlimited outing to our local racecourse, that I wanted to tell you about it.

I, is of course, me, Patrick. Being Irish I have horseracing in my blood and, as well as my Guinness, I do like a small (and controlled of course) flutter on the horses.

It was our smallest racecourse that we attended, that at Fakenham. Small racecourse it might be, but what a big day out it was. The chaps and I haven't enjoyed ourselves so much since we were in Ireland.

I spent a lot of time studying all the notes and form in my racecard, trying not to get distracted by the legs of the racecourses walking past. There was lots of useful and very interesting information to digest.

But for me, having a bear's instinct for a winning horse, the best way to pick the right horse to back, was to get up close and personal and engage them in a bit of eye contact as they came past (when I wasn't posing for the camera, that was).

I found I had a special fondnesss for the Irish horses, and there were plenty of them. But at the end of the day, I couldn't help but be influenced by the jockey's colours. What great combinations some of them had come up with!

So did I go home richer or poorer. Well I made just enough to pay for my pint of Norfolk's finest ale, Woodforde's Wherry, and that was good enough for me.

We'll hope to make a visit to the races a regular feature in the B.U. diary, but, until next time, I'm contenting myself with pulling a Dick Francis novel off the B.U. bookshelves.

Lots of love, Patrick and all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Autumn Garden News

Tommy here readers, to leap ahead of bears eagerly waiting to tell you about their latest adventure, and bring you news from our garden. I'm told I can only have one post, so I'll be brief.

We've had some highlights and some lowlights in the vegetable patch this year. My potatoes have been a bit small and we had no! strawberries, but the broad and french bean crops were good.

This year, however, has seen a bit of a pumpkin fest.

I took Chef bear Oakley out the other day, to show him the pumpkins and start harvesting.

They are beautiful specimens and especially pleasing, as they were grown from plants given to me for free. The cultivator had grown them from seeds from her previous year's pumpkin harvest.

I love the traditional bright orange colour - it fits autumn so well. However, I'm also very fond of this much paler specimen that had grown to a good size. It was too much for a bear of my size to carry when cut, so I had to call in Blue Bear to provide some much needed muscle.

Oakley has some great plans for pumpkin curries and soups. We had a great pumpkin and chick pea curry at the weekend and will be cooking it again for visitors from our various branches, who will be with us at the weekend.

The courgettes also did very well and quite a few grew into marrows as we failed to keep up with supply. That's o.k. though as we all love stuffed marrow, and that legendary marrow chutney kindly introduced to me by Aunt Jessie from Devon.  

Somehow I think we'll be very well fed this winter. I hope it isn't as cold as last year though.

Lots of love

Gardening Bear Tommy xxx

The End is Nigh

So, here is our last post from Ireland. I hope you aren't relieved by this news, and have enjoyed reading. 

Before we left, we managed to complete the 1000 piece jigsaw we were doing in the evenings. It was an orchard scene with cider making in progress. The shapes weren't conventional jigsaw ones, and there were all sorts of curves and nearly, but not quite straight lines, so that just building the edge was quite challenging - and that's usually the easy bit.  

We'd spent many a happy hour constructing it, and then of course it takes only a minute or two to dismantle. That's why we always like to take a picture of the finished item, for our B.U. records.

We had an early morning sailing from Rosslare back to Fishguard so we had to say our fond farewells to Sli Na Mara a day early.

There were more fond farewells, particularly from me, to my beloved Ireland, as our ship pulled out of harbour the next day.

My B.U. travelling companions told me that I'd given them a marvellous insight into my country and that cheered me up a bit, as did the fact that I was already a day closer to my next visit - whenever that may be (soon I hope).

It's timely that I should finish now, as there is a new Bears Unlimited adventure coming very soon. The next lot of travellers are back from their travels with tales and pictures aplenty.

Lots of love, Patrick, George, Yorkie, Ungi, Rosa and Gilbert xxx

Wind, Rain and a Shark

The day after our meal at Josie's, the weather forecast was not good, so we had a lie in. However, we got up to find it was quite a reasonable day, and we enjoyed our breakfast outside, making the most of our sea views.

We decided we would visit the south westerley tip of the Beara Pensinsula, and perhaps even take a trip over to Dursey Island, which, unless you have a boat, can only be reached by cable car.

We did not time our arrival at the cable car very well. Like a lot of places in Ireland, there is no service from mid morning to around 2.00 p.m. - we couldn't work out if the Irish have a long elevenses break or an early lunch. As we arrived about 12.30, there was, therefore, no cable car running and, on top of that it started to rain, and it was a very wet and windy rain.

Gilbert showed himself to be more adventurous and less urbane that we thought, and he opened the bear mobile door, and stuck his head out in the rain, so as to get a good look at the cable car supports and winding mechanism. He was quite fascinated by it.

He turned round to view the island from the other direction and was a liitle surprised to see a black fin cutting through the water between us and the island. Although you can't see the fin, you have to believe that Gilbert was looking at it, as we did witness it ourselves.

When we talked to our host back at Sli Na Mara about it, we found out that it would have been a basking shark. Not dangerous, but quite an exciting sighting.

When the cable car started up again at 2.00 p.m. we spent some time, watching it making quite sedate (in the circumstances) progress between island and mainland, but we didn't go on it, as it wasn't the weather for exploring the island on paw.

The rain did ease though, and we had a lovely walk round the headland, once again following the Beara Way, so the day was by no means a washout.

Lots of love, Patrick and B.U. friends xxx