Friday, November 20, 2009

The Spirit Bear

Yesterday was doom day, the day I went for my root canal. It went well and I'm in less discomfort than what I thought I'd be. I have another appointment to return in 30 days. Seems the dentist thinks he may of missed a concealed root and to find it, he did a bit of gum surgery. He pushed a apparatus through the abscessed pocket (something like a wire) and took another x-ray. Oay vey.
How do you cheer yourself up with things like that? Well, I came home and went to bed, Madame had dance and Babe had driver's ed, my only interruption was the phone which I promptly ignored. My weakness in moods like this is Teddy Bears, nothing is hugable and snugable or just plain squeezable than a sweet teddy with the innocent quality of a 5 year old. Soooo, knowing I just purchased a piece of short napped white wool fur I searched the Internet for a good polar bear pattern. I have a cute pattern with a short hump and long nose, I would have to enlarge it in order to make a grabable bear and I may do that.
In my search though.....I found a bear called "The Spirit Bear", what a wonderful name! The true identity of this marvelous creature is "Kermode", they are brown bears with a white coat, not albino though, a member of the regular bear club found on islands off upper Canada, 1 in 10 are white. The main diet is salmon which causes a yellowish overcoat.
The spirit bear is rarer than the panda bear and if the brown bears were to be introduced to the several islands that the Kermode bear occupies, the spirit bear would reach an ultimate demise. Two Kermode bear parents will produce offspring's as white, one to four in a litter, usual as the brown bear and they remain with the parents for the first two years of life just as the brown bears do. A mother brown bear could have a white bear providing she carries the recessive gene, the above photo is a mother with her cub. Aww. It is said that the legend of the spirit bear, or ghost bear is due to a reminder of the glaciers and coldness that once laid on our land. I only know they are very beautiful creatures and very different from the polar bear.
Click on the spirit bear to see a video.
I managed to find a wonderful site that is devoted to the teddy bear, it has everything and is a magazine/club called the Teddy Bear International. Click on free teddy bear for at least 60 free bear patterns. There are so many cute patterns it would be hard for me to decide which one to make first.
Off to la-la land. C&G Design

10 comments:

Kathleen said...

Oh, the dentist. You are making me think of my episode a couple of months back. Never any fun. Here's hoping you feel better real soon. I love the info on the Spirit Bear. The baby is just too cute. Funny how the Teddy Bear is such a comfort and so huggable, when real bears just are not. Am anxious to see which one will be the pick of the next project! Hugs, Kathleen

Country Wings in Phoenix said...

Oh Dawn...
Sweetie I have been there, and can feel your pain. Yep nothing better than to go home and curl up in bed, and try to rest for awhile. I sure do feel your pain.

Lovin the bear info. Something new I didn't know. A little white bear born to a black one. Love the baby though.

Get to feeling better and we will talk soon. Stop by when you can. I so love the company.

Country hugs sweetie...Sherry

tina said...

Oh geez, not a good experience at the dentist indeed. Great shots of the bears. Get well soon.

Skeeter said...

We went to dentist also yesterday but we only had them cleaned. I dont think I want your drilling as I have been there, done that and its no fun....

I have never heard of the Spirit bears before. The video was awesome and I could feel the photographers excitement getting to see one in the wild. They are amazing creatures and the plush ones do make for a wonderful snuggle in bed. I still have one that I slept with when the Saint was away on a 10 month business trip. Bearsy was such a comfort for me...

Get pain free soon!

Debbie said...

Oh Dawn you are so brave! I hate the dentist and I feel your pain! I hope you are back to yourself very quickly. You are doing the right thing to rest and I can't believe with all that pain you managed to pull off this wonderful post! Leave it to you! I absolutely LOVE the Spirit Bear! It has to be a Native American name....just makes sense. They call God the Great Spirit. What a fantastic video...the picture of the mama bear with baby spirit was so precious! Thanks for sharing all that especially while recouping! Can't wait to see what you come up with for a bear....exciting stuff. Feel better.:)

Roses and Lilacs said...

Very interesting about the spirit bear. The Indian legends are always fascinating. In this area we had a white buffalo born several years ago and there is an Indian legend about white buffalo too.
Marnie

Jean Merriman said...

Oh I just love the photo of the white cub with Mama Black Bear. Just a perfect picture.

I had never hear of the Spirit Bear but it is all very interesting.

Jean Merriman said...

Oh darn I meant to say I hope you feel better very soon. I was going to call you today but will wait a day or 2. Sandra and Heather just both had all their wisdom teeth out. Sawing into the bone and all that. Heather's whole lower face was swollen way up for a few days but she went back to school in just a couple of days. Sandra still is in bed (since Monday) so Terri-Lynn is thinking she might have a dry socket or something and is going to call the dentist.

Protector of Vintage said...

Never heard of the spirit bear! Hope you are feeling better!!

Nancy said...

Dawn, I have a Teddy Bear pattern book around here...somewhere. I think you should have it. Now where could it be? I am going to do the downstairs next week. I will let you know if I find it. Of course, I will make a huge mess first pulling everything out to reorganize to put back in storage area. I'll look for it first. It's on the TO DO list.