We're in Atlanta--

"Well, here we are in Antalanta--"
"You mean Atlanta."
"Isn't that a lost civilization?"
"I guess it got found, right here in Georgia."
"Isn't that in Russia?"
"You sure know your geography, Honey Bunny."
"I get around. As I was saying. 'Dad' is SUCH a tekkie--he took our photo and photoshopped it cause 'Mom' couldn't remember how to turn on the fill-flash function..."
"Yes, here we are. Waiting for the next leg from Atlanta to Madrid."
"You sure we're not on a lost continent?"
"I'm pretty sure...."
"I don't know where we are--all I know is I've never been so squished in all my life. Sharing a daypack with Brown Bear is no picnic."
"At least I don't snore."
"WHAT!"
"Now kids, this is no way to start a long walkabout."
"A what?"
"We're on a walkabout. All we know is where we start. Where we end up is anyone's guess."
"You mean we're lost already?"
"Not all who wander are lost."
"Who said that?"
"Bilbo Baggins, I think. Or maybe Frodo. It's from The Lord of the Rings."
"Oh Brown Bear, you're so--so--so airuudite."
"Thanks, I think."
"Ahem. Don't you want to say something to the folks who've taken time to comment on your blog?"
"Oh yes--thanks so much, Ginn----hope you've reached Los Angeles safely! Happy Holidays to all our admirers!"
"And thanks for the hug, woodcha. Hugs are always good. My favorite sweater says, 'I Love Hugs.' Do you have any sweaters?"
"Or angora shrugs?"
"Not to change the topic, but I will. 'Mom' says it's time to go get something to eat, so goodbye for now."
"Adew!"

Hasta la vista!

"Well, here we are, ready to go!"
"'Mom' wouldn't let us take our bed and the blanket Kaatja knit for us. Bummer."
"Now Princess, there just isn't enough room. They're trying to travel light, you know."
"Light, shmite. We don't get our bed! How will we sleep?"
"It'll be okay, Princess. You always get nervous before we travel."
"You're right. I worry that we'll get left behind somewhere, or that we'll get arrested for traveling without valid passports, or...."
"Think positive. We're going to have an adventure! And remember, you'll get to buy new clothes."
"Oh that's right! 'Mom" promised me a flamenco dress!"
"Feeling better?"
"You bet. Arevaderchee, friends!"
"Is that supposed to be Italian? I thought you were French."
"I am French--and I'm multi-lingual. I just can't spell very well."
"Hasta la vista, friends---wish us a safe trip. We'll keep in touch."

Xmas Day

Our folks are too busy to even talk with us these days, so we will wish our adoring public "Happy Holidays." There! You thought we couldn't do this without your help. So there!

Oh, HB, you are sure over the top today!

New Friends

Here are two new friends for HB and BB. Anna West tells us all about them:

     "I have two animate equivalents of HB and BB - they are my cats, Ed (short for Oedipuss) and Josie. They keep us entertained all the time. They sleep a lot but this is so that they can entertain us royally when they aren't sleeping. They are watch cats too. So if someone came in who shouldn't we would know because they would both run like hell and hide. If they stick around with tails waving in the air, all is well. I forgot, my fuzzy kids have to use a box. So there's a smelly aspect to living with them. They like to play fisticups too -- they stand up like the keystone cops and duke it out, albeit it briefly. When the term "the fur is flying" is used, this is definitely often the case with them. Mostly it is Ed's fur because his fur is longer."

On the Road Again!

"Oh my oh my, it's hard to keep up with our 'folks.' They just informed us that we're going to Spain on Saturday."
"Oh my--what will I wear?"
"It is a bit disconcerting how they just change plans--'turn on a dime,' so to speak. And I was just getting settled in for a long winter, looking forward to sitting in front of a crackling fire, eating lebchuken..."
"WHAT WILL I WEAR? Should I take my poncho? My sweaters? My scarves? How cold will it be? MOM!"
"I know this is kind of sudden. We were planning to finalize our Spanish retirement visas sometime in February, but yesterday I called the consulate in Houston and Elisabeth told me we needed to go NOW. I emailed two of our friends in Spain about when was the best time, given the holidays, and when I got up at 3 am (I couldn't sleep), I had replies from both of them that sooner was better than later. So Gary and I went online to Delta.com and, miracle of miracles, found frequent-flier-mile tickets for this Saturday. We're scheduled to return in mid February, but hopefully we'll be back sooner--it all depends on the Spanish bureaucracy and how soon we get our Spanish ID cards."
"Who cares about all that--I want to know what to WEAR!"
"We're going to be traveling light, so you'll have to make some hard choices. One outfit. Each of you."
"That's cruel! I'm gonna report you to the SPCFK--"
"The what?"
"The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Fuzzy Kids."
"Perhaps you'd prefer to stay home?"
"Home Alone?"
"That's a movie, you know...."
"Exactly! A terrifying tale. No, I'll go, but under protest."
"You might have fun. Who knows. We plan to spend time in Spain taking care of business, and then go to Malta. It's off-season and 1/2 price, and I've always wanted to go there. And we'll spend time in the Barcelona area as well, going to Girona, where I spent a few days last September. Wonderful city."
"Sounds like an adventure. I like adventures."
"Exactly. You've got a great attitude, Brown Bear."
"What about our adoring public?"
"We'll have the computer with us so I can keep posting your adventures online."
"Well, in that case...."
"I knew you'd see reason."
"Au revoir, my public! I guess you'll just have to wait for the next installment."
"Life is never dull here."
"Gary tells me, 'It's a great life if you don't weaken.' He's right. All this excitement keeps you young."
"Hi--This is Gary--or maybe it makes you old prematurely! I'll let you know later which it is."

A post from a new friend!

dear brown bear and honey bunny,

allow me to introduce myself. i am woodcha woodcha, a flying, flop eared, yiddish wolfhound. my name stands for would you hug me, would you kiss me, would you love me, would you, would you. perhaps more about my breed another time. i am, as you can tell, very loving. we can never love or be loved by too many people, i say.

i have been told that my "person" had the delightful experience of becoming acquainted with one brown bear on the camino. i understand that they spent considerable time together. even doing some snuggling. i want to make it clear that i am not jealous of their time together, i love sharing my amazing person with others. she and i have been together for 30 years, give or take, so that we have established a deep bond and fine trust. what i was sad about was that she left me, again. she does it often to travel on her own. (not a complaint you understand...just stating a fact). to take this amazing pilgrimage without me, so i am happy there was another fuzzy being to keep her company. and i was left very nicely among pillows for comfort in the sunshine of a window which helped me count the days until her magical return. and i had the occasional visitor, two legged indoors and some four legged or winged on the other side of the window, all of which i thoroughly enjoyed.

i also enjoyed reading (and i am not necessarily easily satisfied.. i require a certain degree of integrity, humor and curiosity) your blog, my new friends, and i hope we continue to get to know each other and share experiences both new and past, because i can tell you are both tres (heard you were french) interesting. and i know my person enjoyed her time with you, brown bear, and your person and my person is very discerning,

she has even read me some excerpts from some of your person's books which i found to be enlightening and stimulating, as well as, entertaining. I hope to hear some more. do you have any favorites?

i wish you happy holidaze and pretty lights (i do enjoy my lights) for whatever you choose to celebrate this time of year. we celebrate just about everything here one way or another with is educational and life enhancing. and since i don't get out as much as you two do (maybe i can use you as an example and find a way to participate more in life on the other side of the window.....hmmmmm). i can learn from you. never enuf learning, i say. role models are good things, no?
.

December 21, 2008 4:54 PM

Our First Email!

"We've got such exciting news! We just received our first email--"
"Quit hogging the show!"
"Hogging the show? I'm not a pig, I'm a bear!"
"Precisely. Now, as I was saying--"
"WAIT A MINUTE!"
"Okay kids, that's enough. Take turns. Brown Bear, you first."
"We just got our first email. From Lynn and Lambiekins! Our friends from our Irish pilgrimage journey last year, led by Mara Freeman (Celticspiritjourneys.com)."
"And Lambiekins has a new pink angora sweater. 'Mom,' I want a pink angora sweater for Christmas!"
"And I want calling cards. That will make it easier for people to get in touch with us. Like our friends from dinner last night. You had to write down our email on a piece of paper. They might lose it."
"Don't interrupt. I want a pink angora sweater. It'll look so nice with my earclips, don't you think?"
"Is that all you think about? How pretty you look?"
"What else is there to think about?"
"Now Honey Bunny, I thought you'd gotten over that stage."
"Vanity, vanity..."
"Give me a break. After all, it's Christmas!"
"Enough! I think it would be very nice to invite Lynn and Lambiekins to post a photo of themselves on our blog. What do you think?"
"Grrrrrrreat idea!"
"You kids also had a note from Camino Lynn and woodcha woodcha. Apparently they posted something on the blog, but it hasn't shown up yet. Maybe we need to give better instructions. People need to click on "comment" at the bottom of the posting, and then a screen will come up that they can write on, and they then click to post their comment. If they don't click, the comment returns to the void. To make a post (as opposed to a comment), The blogmaster/mistress (Gary or I) has to send you an invitation email that you respond to. So it depends on what you want to do--make a comment or actually add a blogpost."
"It's too complicated for my bear brain."
"Me too.I think I'm getting a headache."
"Now Honey Bunny, you can't have a headache--"
"I can too! How do you know? are you a fuzzy kid? I'm real, remember, even if I'm not alive!"
"She's right, you know. She's a real headache."
"I think you kids have had too much excitement and too much sugar. Time for a 'time out.'"

On that note....

We have email!

Dad has set up an email account for us so we can stay in touch with our adoring public.

And my relatives and friends. (Don't pay much attention to Honey Bunny's excesses.)

Yes, I did get the kids an email address. It is: 

honeybunny_brownbear@me.com

The kids will look forward to hearing from you.

We're waiting . . .

Oh, my!

Happy Holidays

"We've been DYING to communicate with you again, but 'Mom' was too busy--or so she said!"
"You're always so dramatic, Honey Bunny. You know 'Mom' was busy connecting with some long-lost relatives."
"Just WHAT are her priorities, that's what I want to know? I mean, really--what can be more important than satisfying the needs of our demanding public?"
"You're the only one who's demanding, Honey Bunny."
"Watch it, Brown Bear--"
"If you don't stop complaining, I'll stop doing this automatic writing and then you'll be silenced for good."
"Oh. Sorry. I just got carried away..."
"That's better.I know you wanted to wish all your new friends a happy holiday season."
"Yes indeed. As Winter Solstice nears, I know it's long past the proper time for me to hibernate. But with global warming, it's getting harder and harder to get in the proper metabolic mood."
"I HATE it when you get all political on me, Brown Bear! Let's talk about happier things, like Christmas cookies. You love them, don't you?"
"Especially the lebkuchen. How I love honey!"
"I'm looking forward to the carrot cake. Hey, I've got an idea! Maybe 'Mom' could post our favorite recipes? Whadayathink?"
"I'm sorry to tell you that all the favorite family recipes, including the pistachio-cardamom-honey nut brittle, are in storage in preparation for our move to Spain."
"Oh 'Mom'--but can't you find something to post?"
"Well, if there's a request on the blog, I might find one or two recipes...."
"Meantime, let's tell everyone about what we're wearing in the photo."
"Okay. You're wearing your beautiful fairy dress--you're pretending to be one of the sugarplum fairies in the Nutcracker Suite."
"Nutcracker Sweet, you mean?"
"Whatever. And Brown Bear is wearing his favorite 'I Love Hugs' sweater and a Santa cap."
"Does this mean Brown Bear will bring me gifts? Lots of gifts?"
"Gifts?"
"Oh Honey Bunny, you're such a material girl!"
"Of course I am--and proud of it."
"Don't you know you can't take it with you?"
"Of course I know--that's why I want it all now!

(Brown Bear and 'Mom' exchange looks and sighs. HB is oblivious.)

"Well, I think that's enough for now. the biggest gift I can imagine is for everyone to get along in peace--starting with the two of you! Blessings in this season of soon-to-be-returning light."

Introduction

"Hi! I'm Honey Bunny--"
"And I'm Brown Bear."
"We're SO excited to have our own blog. Finally 'Mom' got around to it."
"You mean 'Dad.' He's the techie in the family."
"Oh, you're such a stickler!"
"Harrumph."
"Anyway, as I was saying."
"Maybe we should let 'Mom' tell some of the story."
"You think?"
"I do."
"Okay..... Mom?"
"Okay, guys. So here's the story. We 'adopted' Honey Bunny in May 2002. We were in Brittany, in a little town, and I went into a toy store with our friend, Ali, who was traveling with us. Ali wanted to buy some stuffed animals--"
"STUFFED ANIMALS?"
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"
"Oops. I mean 'fuzzy kids.' Is that better?"
"Maybe."
"We'll think about it."
"So anyway, in this toy store, Honey Bunny practically jumped off the wall at me. She had on a light beige sweater. I was surprised, since I hadn't had a 'fuzzy kid' since I was a little girl. The puzzle was soon solved: Honey Bunny was part of an 'early warning' message that I had uterine cancer (long story short, I'd named my uterus 'Bunny" the year before when I had started to have abnormal cell growth, but I thought it had gone back to normal and forgot all about 'Bunny.' But the abnormal cell growth wasn't normal. In fact, it had turned cancerous. I had successful cancer surgery a month later.) Three months later, Honey Bunny went with us on our pilgrimage of gratitude on the French Way of Saint James, a 500-mile walking trail from Le Puy en Velay to the Pyrenees. We walked 120 miles from Le Puy to Conques in October 2002, and Honey Bunny met lots of pilgrims. She became quite the mascot."
"Oh I did indeed--everybody loved me!"
"More on that later. This is getting too long."
"And what about me?"
"We went back in May 2003 to continue walking the route. Honey Bunny came along, without her sweater this time, since it was summertime. We met a delightful German couple and walked with them for a week. Dori fell in love with HB and carried her in her fanny pack. When we stopped walking, Dori didn't want to let HB go. We promised we'd try to find her another Honey Bunny, but there wasn't another bunny fuzzy kid."
"Of course not. I'm unique."
"Indeed. We did, however, find two brown bear fuzzy kids. We kept one--Brown Bear--and sent the other one to Dori. When we got Brown Bear and Honey Bunny home, we realized they had matching sweaters--so they really were a matching pair! Not quite brother and sister, since they are different species--so maybe kissing cousins. ... What do you think--is that enough for now?"
"Oh no! You have to tell our public about the traumatic experience of finding out we're not alive."
"That was a most sobering event indeed."
"Well, it was during a conversation with Honey Bunny, when I inadvertantly let slip that she wasn't alive."
"It was TERRIBLE! I thought I would DIE!"
"At first, but then you realized that being 'real' but not 'alive' has a number of advantages. For one, you never go hungry. And for another, you don't ever die."
"Oh yes--now I realize that it is much better to be real but not alive, isn't it? I mean, we never get old, right, Brown Bear?"
"Right. We might get a little threadbear (get it? Threadbear?) but we won't ever die."
"I think that's enough for now. More later."
"Oh 'Mom'!"
"Enough! You don't want to bore your public. Keep them wanting more."
"Okay. Au revoir! (After all, remember--I'm French!)"
"A bientot! After all, I'm French too."