Well... you can't call a trip to PA complete without a "close encounter" with the bear. I'm not talking just any bear... but I think it is the same one that I have been meeting on my nightly walks for the past couple of years. He must live fairly nearby... as I almost always hear him near the back end of the Consistory, and I am told that he is frequently seen (or at least evidence of him is seen) in the neighborhood.

Last night we got back from the hospital around 10:30pm; and realized that we had forgotten to get in the 2 finch feeders just off the patio. I casually walked out and started to take the feeders down off the post... when I realized that I was being watched. I glanced... and there was THE bear about 7 feet away from me. He started sniffing and snorting the air... and I ever so slowly, backed away to the patio door and came inside... leaving the feeders outside.

Well... my mother; insisted that she had to have her feeders... and that she would go get them then. Realizing that this was indeed a futile effort; I made her stay inside and I went to get her feeders. I am not sure if she didn't believe me when I told her that the bear was right there... or if my life is worth about $30 or less in plastic feeders to her... but I wasn't about to let her go.

Fortunately.... the bear and I; having been acquainted before.... were on the same wavelength. I talked gently to him...."I'm only after these blanketedly-blank feeders... don't mind me...."

He sniffed the air; snorting loudly enough so that this time my mom heard him from the patio doorway (it was very dark... so she couldn't actually see him in the shadows of the tree).

The bear... decided that this was too much excitement for the night... and started to climb the tree. This is the massive Norway Spruce I talked about in this post: here

This time my mom was able to see the branches swaying and hear the crackling of limbs from his weight....
I got inside... no harm, no foul... heart racing... and joyful from my eye to eye contact with him.

He stayed in the tree; after being startled by a neighbor coming home late and setting off her car alarm accidently right after I came in.

I fixed him an apple; cored and filled with peanut butter....and threw it out in under the massive tree around 2am, and told him to come down when he felt safe... but that I wanted him gone by the am so that people wouldn't freak out; and too-- so that he would not be scared any more by the people... and that he probably shouldn't come this close to the houses anymore...it just wasn't safe for anyone. He snorted at me again... sniffing the air heavily, and waving the bows in silent agreement.... came down; grabbed his apple.... and went on back to the woods.

According to one source:
"Bears in general teach us to slow down and reserve our energies. Bear medicine also has to do with awakening from within. Bear teaches us that life's answers are no further than your own subconscious. There is no need to look outside of yourself when bear is nearby. Bears are also climbers and can teach us to reach new heights. Bears love honey and teach us to appreciate the sweetness life offers."

Link to info on American Black Bears: here
Link to info on Bears as totem animals: here