some folks never see a bear at all

I haven’t been around my usual haunts lately (flickr, here). Aside from my trip to Seattle, I’ve really just been hanging out with the family, leaving the camera behind and enjoying things at face value. I get way too caught up in taking pictures sometimes so I’m taking a little breather.

My solo trip to Seattle was very restful and mostly pleasant. I got to meet Lecia (finally! hi Lecia), went to the Seattle Art Museum, saw a great old friend and her new beautiful home, and did lots of eating, shopping and walking. The reason for my trip was a totally out-of-the-blue medical scare that could not be dealt with in our small town. Luckily, all has turned out fine, but was completely frightening in the throes of it all. I’m breathing a big sigh of relief and counting my blessings now.

I did manage to sneak in a few shots (though really terrible as the light was fading fast) of a young black bear we saw about 10 feet from us at the Mendenhall Glacier a few nights ago.  The sockeye salmon are in the creek there now so it’s bear heaven. We watched this guy (girl?) with about 40 other people so we didn’t feel too threatened that he’d turn on us and mistake us for food. It was the kids’ first real bear encounter and they were thrilled! I do worry now that they will think all bears are this chill and not use as much caution as they should. We’ve been talking a lot about this.

This bear really didn’t give a lick that there was a crowd of people surrounding him just a few feet away. We were more or less standing over him on a platform so that gave us a (completely false) sense of security. However, it was just a little unnerving when he’d look you straight in the eyes. Fun to see regardless. When he would finish his catch, he’d walk down to the creek, grab another fish, and bring it right back to his cushy spot in the grass for us all to watch.

So there’s my bird’s eye view of our new little friend. Brian managed to get these next two, which are not so sharp but much lighter than mine. Isn’t he a beauty?

Ever since our fairy tale encounter with the bear in the woods, I have had Lyle Lovett’s Bears song on repeat in my head. And each time I go for a walk at the harbor, I have to sing to myself, “If I had a boat, I’d go out on the ocean. And if I had a pony, I’d ride him on my boat.” It’s like Lyle wrote the soundtrack to my life. Some days that seems really awesome… and some days that makes me feel extremely boring! For the record, Lyle, Texas didn’t want me (or so the stars have shown). Maybe I should be looking for some new theme songs. Ideas? I’m thinking I need to liven things up a bit.