Bears! Bears! Bears!

Bears are everywhere!  From the markets to my cottage.  We are in Bear Season.  Be cautious.  Be optimistic.


We spent the past weekend at our cottage with some guests, all warm blooded. It was a perfect getaway with the streams warm enough to swim and the evenings warm too. In our family tradition, we made a bonfire and roasted marshmallows and hot-dogs while sitting around the campfire. The alluring smell of the hot-dogs and an early BBQ brought out the big wigs of nature. Although I am not 100% certain, I can say we attracted a bear to our campfire.

We didn't see the bear but we heard him grunt, a very deep and distinct grunt,that sent my sister and I scurrying into the cottage for the evening. That's the closest I ever came to a bear. In recent years, they made their way down the mountains to more populated areas for food. Last year, with the berry season wiped out from torrential rains, the bears came into the small villages and tormented the locals, crashing through doors and attacking garbage cans looking for food. I seen bear cubs for the first time at the local dump combing through the trash eating my spaghetti from the day before.

It would have pleased my dad to know this year's bumper crop of wild blueberries and stirred his curiosity that bears were coming in close range to his cottage.  Always a hunter, my dad would have reveled in this fact with the local men over coffee.  Should I run into any of his old cronies I am sure to mention this.  

We are safe and didn't hear any more bear noises that evening but I now know what a bear sounds like.