Pookie Visits Pymatuning Deer Park

(Topic: Zoo, weighted bear)   Dear Friends, Hubby and Pookie and I recently took an excursion to a local privately owned animal park. These tend to be smaller than zoos, sometimes allow more feeding animals, and occasionally are more focused on rescue or philanthropy, though that depends on the particular institution. Some are great, some

Pookie’s Helpful Day

(Topic: Photo story, Weighted Bear) Hi Friends! The other day I had a low-motivation morning, and I realized I needed a little help getting going. My family was coming for dinner, too, so there were some errands and housework that needed to happen, plus setting the table, making things look nice, and then, of course,

Charlie’s Garden and a Pookie Visit

(Topic: Gravesite) Dear Friends, One of the ways I “cultivate” Charlie’s memory (ha ha ha!) is by gardening around his grave stone. We are lucky to have him in an old and beautiful cemetery that is open to people gardening on the gravesites, as long as you stay roughly within their parameters and guidelines. As

Road Trip With Pookie

(Topic: Travel, history) Dear Friends, I recently had the fortune to go on a road trip with hubby, one of my sisters, and her dog. We made a few stops in either direction – the final destination being a family event. Here are a few of the neat things we discovered in either direction: Much

Pookie at Restaurants

(Topic: Explaining Weighted Bears, Infant Loss) Dear Friends, You may have noticed that Pookie (our weighted Molly Bear) comes with us to a lot of places. He’s our avatar for Charlie, but in a way, we have attributed a sort of imaginary personality to Pookie himself, and he’s a member of our family too, in

Charlie’s Birthday

(Topic: Grief, Birthday, Anniversaries. Picture-heavy post) Dear Friends, Tuesday was my son Charlie’s birthday, and if he hadn’t died, he would now be 2. Sometimes I tell people that it’s the “anniversary of his birthday”, or that it “would be his birthday”, so they don’t expect him to be alive, but for me, it IS

Gardening with Pookie

(topic: gardening at a grave) Dear Friends, Several weeks ago, Pookie and I had a fun little adventure! What a fine looking garden! Still though, could always use a little touch-up. Cute gardener to the rescue! Goodness, gardening in a waistcoat? How dapper! Look at him go! The drop-cloth in the foreground is under the

Pookie’s First Flight

[trigger warning: this post will discuss themes related to strong emotion, miscarriage, fear, and grief]  Dear Friends, Guess who just took his first airplane flight?!? [and probably his last… more on that later]. We recently took a trip to Boston, and this was the first time I’d flown with Pookie. Previously, all trips we’ve taken

Introductions: Bears and Others

Introductions Part II Bears and Others Hi Friends! I promised pictures of the non-tigers… so here we go! Oh, well actually, first is a new tiger to the bunch! He’s a Tigger, but since we already have a Tigger, this guy needs a name, or at least some sort of nickname to differentiate him. He’s