Local Fauna in Asheville

 F and I were sitting at work this morning in her dining room, a perfectly ordinary Tuesday morning, chilly breeze ruffling the many flowering trees, the grass as green as Ireland.  Suddenly I looked up and saw, a few feet outside of one of the large windows, an enormous bear strolling past.  S/he paused to scratch his/her back on a smallish tree, then slowly plopped back down.

 The bear walked through some of the gardens, patting the ground as though looking for something, and was soon joined by another much larger bear.  It was obvious that the first bear was an adolescent from last summer because the second bear was beefier and taller and not as naively walking right next to the window through which people were staring and snapping pictures.  The bigger bear kept a little distance, but the smaller one seemed completely at home in the yard.

After a good fifteen minutes or so the bigger bear clumped up to the berry garden and then disappeared in the neighbor's yard, and the smaller one wandered into a stretch of woods in back of the house.

After a couple of hours, the pair showed up again, walking right next to the window, hanging out in the yard, unconcerned and comfortable.  We went outside to get a better look at one point.  It was kind of like being on a safari and riding in one of those wide-windowed vans that let you get close enough to a wild animal to check its teeth. 

Later I drew F with her little cat Teenie, who looks like a miniature black bear for sure!