The Retreat, part 3, in which Freckles meets a bear

Freckles:

The last morning of the retreat I headed off into the woods in search of this bear all the animals had been talking about. I ran into a lively group of chipmunks who told me they'd seen bear tracks down by the stream. Off I went down the path to the stream, but all I found was a field for volleyball and horseshoes.

Scattered over the field were numerous mole holes. I dug one up and shouted into it, "Anybody down there heard a bear thumping up here lately?"

One of the moles stuck his head up and rubbed his eyes. "He went thataway," the mole said, pointing across the field and into the trees.

So, off I went again into the underbrush and through the dark scary forest. "Yoo hoo, Mr. Bear, are you here?"

No answer.

I hopped and I hopped and I was about to give up when I tried one last time. "Mr. Bear, where are you?"

"I'm over here," a voice said.

I turned and, sure enough, there he was, standing directly in front of me.

"Hello," the bear said, "I'm Baxter."

"Hello," I said, "I'm Freckles."

"You aren't from around here, are you?" he asked.

"Nope," I answered. "I'm visiting with a human friend. She's at the Conference Center."

"Yeah, I try to stay away from there. Can't stand all the screaming and those stupid little bells they wear that are supposed to scare me away."

I nodded. Those bells really hurt my sensitive ears.

We chatted for a bit and then I knew I had to be getting back. We said our goodbyes and I promised I'd come back to see Baxter next year. He wasn't so bad for a bear. And he wasn't scary at all.

bear image http://www.ILoveClipart.com

The Poetry Hop

Freckles:

It was up early the next morning and off to breakfast. Deb, once again, headed inside while I munched the scrumptious clover at the edges of the field.


After breakfast, I joined Deb inside the meeting hall and while she took notes and mapped picture book structure, I nibbled on the edges of the picture books. Who needs autographs when bunny-nibbled corners provide a longer lasting impression.


Then it was retreat time -- more writing for Deb and a restful nap for me.

After a delightful lunch back at the field, Deb returned to the meeting hall to learn more boring exciting stuff from an editor about how to reveal secrets in your novel. Meanwhile, I headed off in search of some forest secrets. I found some wild bunnies and we staged a poetry hop over the logs in the woods. I never knew there were so many words that rhymed with log -- hog, bog, polliwog...

From there it was just a hop, blink, and a thump until critique time. While Deb and some other retreaters critiqued one another's manuscripts, I curled up under a huge fern and took a little nap. Guess what I dreamed about? That big old brown bear. Hmmm, I wondered if I'd see him before we left.

Freckles and Deb Go Retreating

Deb: 
From October 8 - 12 Freckles and I attended the Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators - Oregon Fall Retreat at Silver Falls State Park Conference Center. While I spent my time mingling with the other writers, attending workshops, and writing, Freckles found other ways to entertain herself. But, here...I'll let Freckles tell her own story.

Freckles:
Yup, Deb finally took me along on a writer's weekend. Usually I get left at home while she goes gallavanting off without a thought about my welfare. But, on October 8th we headed off together for the land of woods and waterfalls.

Dee picked us up and drove us there. A nice woman, that Dee. she didn't even fuss about me leaving bunny furs on her car seats! Deb & Dee talked and talked. But not me. No siree, I took the opportunity to rest up for the adventure ahead.

When we arrived, we headed for the meeting hall to sign in. We got our badges and found our rooms. Then it was off to dinner. Deb went inside the dining hall to eat with the other human writers. I stayed out in the beautiful grassy field, nibbling on some lovely dandylions around the edges and getting the lay of the land from some friendly, high-energy chipmunks.

Deb stayed for the evening meeting -- lots of announcements and a meet & greet writing exercise. I didn't really need any exercise, so I followed a trail into the woods in search of other animals to chat with. I heard rumors of a bear in the neighborhood from a group of bunnies who showed me a lovely patch of ripe berries, but I had no luck spotting the bear.

I returned to the grassy field just in time to walk Deb back to the lodge where she nestled into her super comfy bed. I thought the cave beneath the bed was just the ticket for a restful sleep after my busy day. I fell right to sleep and dreamt of a big brown bear running around the field with the speedy little chipmunks, cheerful brown bunnies, and me.  Tomorrow I'd need to get down to business and go in search of that bear!

Writer's Retreats and Bears

Freckles:  Deb & I are resting up after attending a writer's retreat last weekend. While Deb was hanging out at the meetings with the writers doing writing kinds of stuff, I found my own adventures to keep myself occupied. Stay tuned 'cuz we're going to tell you all about the meetings and the chipmunks and the food and the bear! Yup, you heard right -- a BEAR!

While Big Guy's Away

Freckles:

Hmmmm. Big Guy likes to plop this thing in his lap and scribble on it with a stick. Haven't seen him around the past few days. He must have abandoned it. Finders Keepers.

Maybe I'll just take a teeny taste to see with all the fuss is about....

Freckles is (Sort of) in a Book!

Freckles:

I'm in a book! Well, sort of. I mean, there's a picture of a rabbit that looks just exactly like me in a picture book. And Deb sort of knows the author/illustrator. Well, she knows his son. Okay, this is kind of a roundabout story. Here goes...(Try to keep up)

Deb went to a conference this summer and met a children's book author named Benjamin James Watson.  Ben's dad is a famous children's book illustrator named Richard Jesse Watson. (In fact the two of them wrote and illustrated a funny and wonderful picture book called The Boy Who Went Ape. Blue Sky Press, Scholastic Inc., 2008)

Deb's friend Rachel recently attended the Insland Empire Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators conference in Spokane, Washington where Richard Jesse Watson was one of the guest speakers.

What does any of this have to do with ME? I'm getting there...just hang on.

Rachel knew that Deb had met Ben, Mr. Watson's son, so when she picked up the dad's book The Magic Rabbit (Blue Sky Press, Scholastic, Inc., 2005), which he wrote AND illustrated, and she discovered that the character inside looked a lot like me, she bought the book and got Mr. Watson to autograph it. He not only autographed it "To Freckles and Deb" (notice that MY name came first!), but he also drew a great picture of the main character with a magic wand and top hat with stars and a moon coming out of it.

Here's the book:

Here's the autograph inside the front cover:

And, if you go to this page of Mr. Watson's website, you'll see an illustration from the book that shows me, or rather the bun that looks like me. (I'm the one on the left!)

Of course, we hadn't even started our blog when this book was published, but somehow Richard Jesse Watson knew exactly where to place the spots and attractive black mouth marking. Maybe he had a dream about me. Maybe he's psychic. Maybe it was magic!

Anyway, it's a terrific book. You see, there's this white rabbit who is magic and can do all of these tricks, but he is lonely. So, he tries to pull a friend out of his hat. But, each animal that he pulls out jumps or scurries or flies away. Then, he discovers a secret and TA DA he pulls the friend who looks like me out of the hat. They go off to have all kinds of adventures together (maybe they should start a blog! They could call it The Adventures of the Magic Rabbit and the Rabbit That Looks Just Like Freckles!)

Deb says that Ben (Mr. Watson's son, remember him?) wrote in one of his comments a while back here on our blog that his dad had drawn a bun that looked like me in a book. But, Deb didn't pay close enough attention like she should have and didn't run right out and buy the book so I could see. This will teach her to be more vigilent in the future!

Anyway, THANK YOU, Richard Jesse Watson for drawing such stunning and beautiful rabbits in The Magic Rabbit!  And THANK YOU for the stunning and beautiful autograph/picture! Deb and I shall treasure it forever!

And, all you rabbit lovers out there, run out right now and buy this book. YOU WILL LOVE IT! If they don't have it at the bookstore, ask them to order it for you. You might want to get extra copies. Christmas is coming and all the children in your life will love getting it as a gift.

And be sure that you point out to them the rabbit that looks just like me!

The Freckles and Deb Guide to Eating Clichés

Freckles: In our last episode Deb said that I ate like a horse and I found out that I did!
Deb:  We decided to tackle some other clichés related to eating to see how true they might be. So here is

The Freckles and Deb Guide to Eating Clichés

(We don't actually EAT the clichés, they are clichés about eating.)

• Eat like a bird – Well, birds like seed and Deb likes sunflower and sesame seeds. Millet-- not so much. Birds also like worms. Deb won’t be finding out whether she likes worms. Freckles only likes the seeds that come in the treat packages with lots of sweet stuff holding them together. She will pass on the worms also. Therefore, this cliché is only sort of true.

• Eat Crow – Eat a crow? We don’t think so! NOT TRUE!

• Eat Dirt – Never in a million years. NOT TRUE!

• Eat My Hat – Freckles doesn’t have a hat, but would nibble on one if it were made out of straw. Deb has some hats. She will wear, but not eat them. This one is only ½ true.

• Eat Your Heart Out – YUCK! GROSS! NOT TRUE!

• Eat High Off the Hog – We’re not sure why you would want to eat on top of a hog. But, even if we had a hog, and we don’t, we probably would not be inclined to eat off of it. Not true.

• Eat Humble Pie – Are humbles berries or are they more like apples? Okay, if we’re talking fruit here, (and both Deb and Freckles like fruit) we’ll go out and pick the humbles and put them in a pie. If there’s enough sugar involved, we’re in! Probably True.

• Eat Out of the Palm of Your Hand – Have these people never heard of silverware? We think we would be reluctant to do this one with all the reports of the H1N1 (formerly “swine”) flu (which people probably got from eating high off the hog!) Not true until the CDC has reported that the danger of infection has passed.

• Eat Us Out of House and Home – Usually, your house and your home are the same thing, so this one’s a bit redundant. But, we’ve got a bunch of canned goods in the cupboard and a full freezer, so it would take quite a bit of eating to eat us out of both our house and our home. It hasn’t happened yet. Not True.

• Eat Her Words – Deb writes a lot of words, but hasn’t eaten many of them. They probably wouldn’t taste that good, being made out of ink and all. Not True.

• Eat, Drink, & Be Merry! This one we can live with. A definite two thumbs up for Deb and two ears up for Freckles. TRUE!! (And we hope it is true for you, too!)

Eating Like a Horse

Freckles:

   The other night I was delicately munching on my dandylions and Deb made a rude remark. She said that I ate like a horse! This statement was not only disrespectful to me, but also to horses everywhere.   

   I glared at her, but she commented that I looked “cute when I disapproved” and went on with reading her book. After I finished eating, I headed out to the stables to see for myself what it is about horses eating that resembles me. “Hey, Max,” I said to my horse friend, “whatcha eating?”

   "Hay,” Max said.

   “Yes, Hey to you too, but what are you eating?” (I would have looked myself, but the trough was a bit too high for me to reach.)

    Max chomped his big old teeth again and said, “No, you don’t understand. Hay. I’m eating hay.”

   “Hay? Hey, I like to eat hay!”

    I backed up and hopped the highest hop I could. By golly, I made it to the feeding trough and sure enough, there it was – hay.

    “Help yourself,” said Max.

    And I did.

   And the moral of this story is:

   Hey! Rabbits DO eat like horses – and horses DO eat like rabbits.

Another Blog!

Writer Sites

Freckles:

Deb won't shut up about her new blog! She just goes on and on and on about it when she should be feeding me and giving me nose rubs. 

She set it up to organize her writing websites and resources. The original plan was to keep it a private blog, one she could categorize the sites she visits and keep her informed of the blog updates. But, then she was so pleased with how it came out that she made it public and announced it to a few people. Now, she's spending far too much time on the computer adding to and organizing Writer Sites!

Here's some of the stuff she's put there:

• 
  
  Writing Websites (with information about writing)
• Writing Resources (like dictionaries, character generators, databases, lists, videos, etc.)
• Ezines, Magazines, & Stories
• Publisher Websites (mostly of publishers who are accepting submissions of children's materials)
• Writing Blogs (people who write about writing)
• Author Blogs
• Illustrator Blogs
• Publisher Blogs
• Agent Blogs
• Editor Blogs
• Book Blogs (book reviews and information about books)
• Author & Illustrator Websites
• And a For Fun section (usually related to words or writing, however the Squirrelizer and Kitten War are there also!)

So, please go visit the site and click that little "Follow" button she's got set up. Then, she'll think she'll have lots of friends. (Oh, and don't forget to click the "Follow" button on this blog  -- it's over there on the right -- so she doesn't forget that she has a responsibility to me and all of my friends right here!)

Bunny Cafe

This video was on Daily Bunny. We thought it was an interesting idea, and although we discussed it, Freckles was not interested in starting a cafe like this here.

It's Our 2nd Blogoversary!!!

We almost forgot! It's our 2nd Blogoversary today!

Happy Blogoversary to us!!

Beauty Doesn't Just Happen

Freckles:

After a delicious meal of dandylions and carrots, a gal's got to work on looking her best. It's a lot of effort, much twisting and turning involved. But, I do believe that the results are worth the effort.

Giant Leaves

Deb:

Guess I'll have to be the one to post this, because Freckles is a little busy chomping down these giant dandelions! Can you imagine the lawn that has weeds this big?

Begging and Bananas and Heat

Freckles:

Tonight I was really, really hungry because I've been left alone all day with nobody here to feed me and it's been over a hundred degrees here and I have a fur coat, you know, and Deb's had the flu (who gets the flu in August???!) and did I mention I was really, really hungry?

The begging worked.

I got banana!

The Oregon Coast

After we left the Oregon Caves, we drove up the Oregon Coast.

There are beautiful sandy beaches all along the coast, and we couldn't have asked for better weather. Gorgeous clear skies all the way. There are long stretches of blue ocean as far as you can see and sometimes huge rocks rising from the sea that look like a giant plopped them right down in the water.

I had to take a picture of the warning signs. Might be easier to have a sign showing what you CAN do at the beach!

The last two pictures were taken at Lincoln City. There are always kites flying there (could have something to do with the kite shop right across the highway from this public access!)

We stayed at a hotel right on the beach. Lovely!