lights in the forest...

little black bear has gone away to a new home, but in his place two ghostly creatures have stepped in to keep me company for a little bit. neither albino nor polar bear, these spirit bears are really brother and sister to the black bear, a pale incarnation that appears only in a small region of the central coast of british columbia known as the great bear rainforest. it is estimated that about 1/10 of the population of black bears there are born creamy white, white cubs with black mothers, white mothers with black cubs. they are very important to the mythology of the First Nations of the BC coast, although often they are not talked about in an effort to keep them safe from the outside world. someday i will visit that mystical place. in the meantime, there are great articles and photos in the august 2011 issue of national geographic on both the spirit bears and proposed oil pipeline threatening the region.



these little spirit bears are my own humble attempt to recreate some of the magic of the real thing, pieces stitched in repurposed and hand dyed fabrics with each one having a slightly different character. i have mentioned my concerns about the pipeline and tankers that the oil company enbridge wants to bring to our coast, but now i would like to make a little more of an effort than just bitching about it. and so, i will be donating 50% of the purchase price of these and any other spirit bears i make to pacific wild who are working hard against this cause. you can find the first little boy here and what A has deemed the girl here. (gender designations are totally random, although they do each have a sort of feel about them).



i had planned a bit more of a post about this but now it's late and my mind is falling asleep. evening paddleboarding and an unexpected dinner guest stepped in to distract me from my evening plans, but in the best way possible. but i apologize if i'm leaving you short. the links above have great information on the cause, or please ask in the comments and i will do my best to follow up.

my other evening plans had been to finish up something for the giveaway i am planning for this weekend. i hope though to still have a post about it later tomorrow - please check back. august 23 is the one year anniversary of my shop and i've got a giveaway planned for you lovely people. i am headed to the west coast this weekend but will give details before i leave. thanks for all your support! for now, sove godt, as my mother always says.