First, Fifth Forever: A Letter Writing Journey in 2011 - February

Here we are already in the Month of February. If you missed the first post on this journey, you can see it here and here. I am thrilled to have you join me and make a difference for someone each month.

As discussed, I sent out two letters in January. As of today, I have not heard from either one of the recipients. I did take your advice and include the return address. I am not too concerned about a reply, that is not what this was about. I just hope I warmed a few hearts when they read my words.

January also gave me the opportunity to send a Birthday card to a senior citizen and include a dollar for their Birthday. I have a facebook friend who heads this up, and it is really a neat feeling making a senior's day with such little effort. I am most grateful for the opportunity to do that.

January also brought a wonderful surprise in my mailbox from a wonderful and very thoughtful friend. The day it came, was not one of my better days, and their concern for me and how in-tune they have been to my well being that was shown with that letter, was very special to me. There really are no words that can convey how special this wonderful friend and their family is to me. I was blessed the day we happened upon each other and formed a friendship.

Now we are here for the second month of this project I have set up for myself. I intend to send two more letters to special people in my life from the past. These special folks may not really realize how special they are and what an impact they had on my life, and ultimately my children's lives. There are so many ways one of them impacted my adult life and it would be ashamed to not let them know what a difference they made in my life. I am really looking forward to sending this one out.

Valentines day is this month too, and in true dog lovers fashion, I found some Dachshund Valentines......and these will be going out as well. I am also thinking of something that would be easy to slip in the mail for special people in my life. It is a lot to do, but I am going to try and get it all done.

I'd love to hear from you if you are following along with me, if you don't have a blog, just leave your story in the comment section.

Together, we can make a difference....all it takes is a little time and a stamp! The impact it would make will last forever!

Vintage Thingie Thursday: Vintage Bear Books

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday. If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a "dog-gone" good time each and every week!!!
If you are new to this party, please take the time to read and follow the instructions for participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, click HERE. I try and keep things fairly simple, so  please make sure you follow the instructions. Please only ONE link per week. Lastly, if you link in, LINK back to my blog, so everyone can see all of the vintage goodies being showed that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

This week, I have some vintage books. Not just books...but Vintage BEAR books. To remind you, I have mentioned here on VTT about collecting black bears. I also have a fondness for bear books as well. Imagine That! Take a look at some of the great books I have found.


I found this book at a garage sale a few years ago, in fact, I almost passed it up. It was missing the dust jacket, but the word forest and the cute bear paws got my attention and I opened the book. My heart was skipping beats when I discovered it was a book about bears in Yellowstone National Park. The Author Essie Forrester O'Brien spent summer vacations in Yellowstone. It seems while O'Brien's husband and son were off fishing, she contacted officials, rangers, employees, cooks and old-timers in the area. She collected first-hand information on the lives and habits of the Park's wild animals. The stories in "Clowns of the Forest" are based on this material.





The stories, together with the pictures, portray the life of the bears in the park. This was published in 1948. This is a wonderful book, I loved it from cover to cover. It takes you back to a time when Yellowstone was a different park than it is today. Really good and entertaining reading.


This cute little book is titled Bear Stores Retold from St. Nicholas Magazine. Published by The Century Co. 1904. This charming little book has bear stories with black and white pictures of bears. The pictures are animated for the most part, but it adds a certain charm to the book.










This adorable little book is titled A Black Bear's Story by Emil E. Liers. I purchased this book on-line. It was a children's library book. The back of the book still has the library card sleeve. It is stamped:
North Saaplon School, 10475 McDonald Park Road, Sidney, B.C.
The book is in great condition and has wonderful stories of a black bear family.




This book is loaded with wonderful bear drawings to accompany the story lines. I really love this book, the outside is very colorful and it is a wonderful addition to my shelf of bear books.



Look at the mama bear sweet talking her cub out of the tree. Sweet I tell you.


This adorable little book is titled, Go West, Young Bear by Elizabeth Hamilton. Copyright 1948. This charming book is a tale of a friendly bear who lives in Eastern Canada and whose one ambition is to meet people and live a social life. However, the people are not too friendly. This bear happens upon a book about Yellowstone Park, and sets out on his quest for the Park who loves bears. This is a really cute book and loaded with cute pictures. The inside of the book has a sticker that says the owner was Miriam Babbitt Simpson.

 



Well, this is just a few of the bear books in my collection. I hope you enjoyed a peek into the charming illustrations of vintage books. I have about 15 vintage children's bear books in my collection. I am always on the watch for more to add to my bookshelf. I have read every one of these books. They provide great stories and cute pictures and hours of entertainment.
See you next week....