Writing Again!

 

It's a very long time since I have written a post for my blog which is very silly of me, as I have been having so many lovely adventures and there is lots to tell you about.  But sometimes, that is the problem - so many things happen that it's hard for a Small Bear to know where to begin!

Polar says I should start with something short and simple, so here is a little post about what we did to celebrate human guardian Grizzly's birthday, back n March.

 

Grizzly loves steam railways so, when Polar saw that the Churnet Valley Railway were doing special trains going to their new station at Leek, she booked tickets for them.  Of course, we all love trains too, so we went with them - it was quite busy in the Bear Bag!  Before the train left the station, Grizzly had the chance for a look in the cab of the loco - and Hanley Bear went up with him.

Then we set off on our journey along the Churnet Valley.  We looked out for the Caldon Canal, as we have been along there on Uppie (our narrowboat, Uplander II) several times and know it well.

 

Soon after we left Kingsley and Froghall station, breakfast was served!

We went right up the line through the Staffordshire Moorlands to Ipstones, then the diesel loco on the back hauled us back down to Leekbrook Junction and then - the first time Polar and Grizzly had been that way - the steam locomotive hauled us into the little station near Leek.

 

The Chrurnet Valley Railway are hoping to build a proper station a little closer to the town one day - this one is on the outskirts, not far from the canal basin and country park.

After that, we had another surprise, as the train travelled a very short distance down the line that used to go all the way to Stoke-on-Trent. 

When we got back to Cheddleton Station, we had a guided tour of the locomotive sheds and the yard, then it was time for the last leg of our journey.  Hanley Bear and Grizzly enjoyed a pint of beer on the way back from there to Kingsley and Froghall!

We had hoped for afternoon tea at Hetty's Tearooms at Froghall Canal Basin when we got back, but they were just closing.  At least Hanley Bear was able to get a photograph with one of those Transport Trust signs that he looks out for.

We are hoping for another Churnet Valley Railway journey soon, but sadly won't be able to get to that part of the canal because there isn't enough water for the locks.  But we have been enjoying some little local canal journeys, and I will tell you about some of those soon.  Or maybe Hanley Bear will, because there have been celebrations for his home city's hundredth birthday and he want to share some of his photos and stories.

Christmas Adventures

After a quiet Christmas at home with Polar and Grizzly, watching Paddington films and reading books, we went to visit Grizzly's grandcubs and their family in Sussex.  As well as watching the younger cub beat Polar at foosball (several times!) and building space Lego, we joined the humans on a couple of very interesting visits.

Endon and I were chosen to visit Leonardslee Gardens to see the winter lights around the grounds.  We had hoped to visit something similar at Trentham Gardens, but had missed our chance, so it was a lovely treat when Grizzly's daughter booked this for everyone.

There were some wonderful illuminated creatures, like this dragonfly and owl, as well as flowers, stars and lights in the trees.

There were even illuminated Bears!

There was a huge illuminated Planet Earth, which looked as if was floating above the lake, and a huge Moon as well.  Both were quite magical and made us think about our special planet and how small and fragile it is compared to the huge Universe it's part of.

My favourite parts of the whole amazing show were the fountains, which changed shape and colour to music, and a huge field of giant flowers that changed colour too, which were Endon Bear's favourites.

   

The following day, Hanley and Huddlesford had a day out.  They went to Nymans, where there was a "Narnia" exhibition.  It was a misty day and the old ruined part of the house looked very spooky! 

The Bears didn't know all of the story, but they thought the moles' home looked very cosy - rather as we imagined Moley's home would look in The Wind in the Willows.

Huddlesford Bear found the gas light in the woods - only it was in one of the rooms.  And Hanley Bear saw the children tumbling out of the wardrobe into Narnia.

Then they sat on some thrones and pretended to be Kings of Narnia!

There was no snow, but it was damp and cold.  Despite that, they told Endon that the grounds had looked very nice as there were dogwood bushes with very bright stems.

When Hanley and Huddlesford got back to Grizzly's Grandcub's house, they sneaked upstairs and checked the backs of all of the wardrobes to see if there was any way out of any of them to another, magical world - but they didn't find anything.

"Never mind," said Hanley.  "I don't think I would like it much in Narnia, as they don't seem to have any oatcakes!"

Snow Day!

 

This is only a short post as I try to get my blog up-to-date and get back into the habit of writing things regularly.

We have had several very cold days with snow here and although we Bears have been hoping to go out to play in it, it's really been too nasty for us or our human guardians.  

At last, we had some sunshine today and, as our humans needed to go out to buy some things for the house, Hanley Bear and I jumped into our bag and went with them.  They walked down to the big shopping mall near our house, which is all along streets and places where Small Bears can't really get out and play, but came back through the allotments.

  

Because we had been good Small Bears during the shopping trip, and hadn't pestered for sweets or cake, when we got to our plot Polar asked if we would like a few minutes out of our bag to play in the snow.

"Yes please!" we chorused.

It was great fun having fresh snow to run about in, although it was a lot deeper than we expected it to be.

     

"Let's play snowballs!" cried Hanley, quickly rolling up a little ball of snow.  I did the same, then we counted to ten and threw them at each other!

I had made a fairly big snowball, but it was quite losely packed and, when it hit Hanley Bear, it just disintegrated into lots of little powdery flakes.  But Hanley had packed his smaller snowball quite tightly, and it knocked me off of my feet!

We carried on throwing snowballs at each other until Grizzly decided we were probably getting too wet and cold, and picked us both up.

"Boooo!" said Hanley.  "I was enjoying that!"

But Grizzly was right - it was starting to get very chilly and our feet fur was particularly damp and cold.  

Polar put us back in our bag and carried us home, where we have been sitting on the radiator getting warm and dry again.  We won't burn our fur, because Polar and Grizzly's radiators never get too hot, but they are a nice temperature for warming up Small Bears!

A New Year Walk at Trentham

 After lots of dull weather, we finally had a bright, sunny day today and so, although it was very cold outdoors, Polar and Grizzly decided they would go out for a walk.  Polar wanted to take her big camera so said only two Small Bears could go with her and picked Huddlesford and me.

Some of the Christmas decorations were still in place around the formal gardens, but there were teams of people and big "cherry picker" machines starting to take them down.  Polar took our picture with the big Christmas tree near the cafe before we started a long walk around the lake.

We usually take the path beside the lake but this time went up towards the fields where the sheep live and into the woodland path that leads to the Witch-Hazel grove.  On the way there, we saw several of the pretty fairy sculptures, including one of fairy cubs playing on a dandelion clock.

We were sad to see some big oak trees had fallen over during the recent storms but happy to see how much the small magnolia trees had grown, as hopefully there will be lots of lovely flowers to see later in the spring.

The Witch-Hazel was already in flower and it looked lovely, with hundreds of spidery yellow blooms.  It also has a pleasant and gentle smell, and the little bushes were easy to climb, if you are a Small Bear - they are too small for grown-up humans or human cubs to climb.

  

There were more opportunities for climbing as we came back to the path around the lake, including a big tree stump with bracket fungi growing on it, and a very mossy log, although some logs and branches were still covered in frost, so we didn't try to climb those.

After our walk, Polar and Grizzly decided to get a hot lunch, and went to the "Pie Minister" pie shop in the shopping village.  We were hungry too, so were pleased to be allowed to share!

But it was starting to feel very cold on the way back to the car, so we are glad to be back indoors in the warm tonight.

And Polar says we can help her and Grizzly finish the last of the Christmas pudding for tea!