Long time readers of my blog (both of you!) will know that I am a big fan of the Katmai bears and Fat Bear Week. I am very pleased to say that the bear cams are up and running for 2026!
I hope it will be a good season. Sometimes bears can break your heart. I was devasted last year when Chunk injured his jaw, and of course, all the cub deaths are agonizing. But there is also triumph and joy. Chunk survived the winter. Grazer emancipated her cub and is now living her best single live. 901, 909, and Electra have two cubs each. Jolly has three cubs.
Last year, the waters ran red with an abundance of salmon. It was delightful to see all the bears happy and full with time to spare to play. I hope there will be a good amount of salmon again this year. And I hope the year will be devoid of tragedy. I get tired of the bear with the saddest sob story winning. It is Fat Bear, not Sad Bear, after all.
It’s been a busy month over here. And not in a good way. Too much everything. You’d think summer would be slower, and in some ways, it is, but in other ways, it isn’t. I probably need a good long vacation. Whenever I start to feel like Bilbo Baggins, like butter scraped over too much bread, then I know it’s about time for a rest.
I think this is the first week I’ve had in a long time with my calendar mostly empty, which is nice. An empty calendar always makes me happy. An empty calendar gives me time to write out these blog posts, without which my two readers would feel very lost and out of touch with the goings on in my life.
Sometimes I think, so what if I want to take a nap every single afternoon? After all, there are worse things I could do. Of all the various vices in the world, an afternoon nap is mostly innoculous. Would I have more time without napping? Yes. But would I enjoy that time? I don’t know. All dayers are never as fun as getting to have a nice nap in the afternoon.
Plus, napping is very good for morale. And the cats both think it’s a good idea. You can’t argue with cats. They won’t listen to you.
Well, I guess I will sign off here. This is not the best blog post I’ve written, but it is also probably not the worst. And you never know, if I can resist the siren song of the couch, perhaps I will even get a bit of work done on my third Bookland novel. I don’t even remember if I’ve announced the name of the book yet. Probably not or I would remember having done it. Well, I do know the name, so perhaps some time I will share it. I will drop a hint here—the first word is Somewhat.