The in-person audience has grown significantly in this episode of The Joyful Bear. In the next two chapters, we learn more about Precious and how her unique talents helped a grieving friend and a stranger in the post office.
Looking for the previous chapters? Here they are!
Looking for the next chapters? Here they are!
You can find the whole series (in reverse order — chapter 1 is at the bottom) in the Reading The Joyful Bear category.
In this video, Frankie is excited to show off his amazing flying skills! This is installment number seven of The Joyful Bear, with chapters on “Trust” and “Flight.”
Looking for the previous chapters? Here they are!
Looking for the next chapters? Here they are!
You can find the whole series (in reverse order — chapter 1 is at the bottom) in the Reading The Joyful Bear category.
This morning, Frank Lloyd Bear and I decided to use our coronavirus quarantine time productively. We sat down to record the first couple of chapters of The Joyful Bear. The book has 31 chapters, some of them hilariously short, so we expect to be done in a couple of weeks.
Enjoy!
Looking for the next chapters? Here they are!
The scene at Gasworks Park in Seattle on Sunday
I was setting up my first Teddy Bear Picnic in Seattle when along came a tandem bicycle with a teddy bear sitting on the rear seat. That’s definitely not something you see every day, even in a crazy place like Gasworks Park.
It was my friend Bret, whom I worked with in a previous life at Expeditors. He’d ridden his brand-new tandem across Seattle with Pandy, a 68-year-old teddy bear, taking the spot where his wife usually rides. “She didn’t help much,” he said of the bear. “She’s pretty old.”
Given that Bret and his bear are probably close in age, I suspect that’s not the real reason. Nor was it laziness, because teddy bears are never lazy. The real reason Pandy wasn’t pedaling? The seat was not adjusted properly for her short legs!
Here are a few photos of the Teddy Bear Picnic, which featured homemade cookies and lots of sunshine. Frank Lloyd Bear and I can’t wait to do it again…how about in a park near you?
Frankie, the Joyful Bear, has been traveling and meeting new people all across the U.S. Here are some of his new friends and fans, beginning with old and new friends who came to our presentation at The Book Loft of German Village. If you’ve never been to The Book Loft, it has 32 rooms and is one of the most unusual (and non-ADA-compliant) bookstores in the world. The books are neat and tidy, but the architecture is downright higglety-pigglety!
After his visit to central Ohio, Frankie boarded an Amtrak train (watch the video!) in Cincinnati and rode for four days to Eugene, Oregon, enjoying the scenery and capturing hearts along the way. He was extremely impressed with fellow author Tamara Boyens, whom we met in the observation car of the Coast Starlight. A Ph.D. student in Tucson, she publishes dystopian novels in her spare time.
Ever since I met plein air painters in the boatyard, a couple of years ago, I’ve wanted to try my hand at it. (See “Beauty and Goodness Are In the Air,” which was published on mepsnbarry.com in Feb. 2014)
Three weeks ago, my father got me a French box easel for my birthday. Now I can go out and do plein air painting, which seems like a great way to get fresh air and mosquito bites, as well as talk to curious strangers. Today, I did a test painting on the back porch, and as you can see from the results, Frank Lloyd Bear joined in the fun!
Painting of Dad’s lake with Frank Lloyd Bear meditating
The French box easel on the back porch. Its design incorporates some seriously complicated 19th-century engineering.
Like most authors, Frank Lloyd Bear loves his coffee. Sometimes, as evidenced by this animation, he gets a little too much!
I think the world needs more pictures of cute teddy bears. Please comment if you agree!
Frankie’s arrival, 1993
The Joyful Bear has a hug for you!
I’ve rented an office and art studio in Vero Beach, Florida, and I’m making progress on the illustrations for The Joyful Bear. Surprisingly, I’m having to work from photographs.
“It’s not that I can’t sit still for my portrait,” Frankie says, “but I don’t want that messy charcoal stuff on my fur.”
Hugs! From the Joyful Bear.