To Give Is To Receive and Then — To Give Away

October 28, 2015October 28, 2015 / jrmilson / 2 Comments

The practice of giving and serving, focusing attention on helping and benefiting others without recognition or return, is not limited to needed donations of clothing, food and money to organizations, but also includes smiles, friendship, a supportive hand or thought, and kindness given freely each day. For in giving these away, we ourselves grow in love, kindness and compassion, the very things we are giving away, and experience our own spiritual fulfillment and healing. The more love and kindness we give away, the more we receive and grow back in return — to again give away.

In “The Prophet”, Kahlil Gibran wrote — “There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.”

The Blessings of being an Observer

August 31, 2015 / jrmilson / Leave a comment

Sharing a wonderful Blog post by Lisa Shambrook, Writer & Dreamer. “It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.” – Henry David Thoreau.

The Last Krystallos

‘It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.’
Henry David Thoreau.

I’m one of life’s observers. Details are my thing, right from when I was young and experimenting with art and writing. I had a penchant for precision, clarity and aestheticbeauty – and a deep need to put what I saw into a creative context.

My love of art and detail began from a young age…’Storm’ at age eleven, hands, Dali, cliffs and self-portrait during teens, and drawing my sister and her horse, fairy and a steampunk bumblebee as an adult… © Lisa Shambrook

I see things – all the time. I see everything. I’m an HSPHighly Sensitive Person – (and I’ll write a post on that another day) – but it accounts for my ability to see so much around me. Sometimes it’s a difficult thing: that fluff on the carpet…

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Little Red Bear Answers Reader Questions – “Hummingbird Spit! What Could Be Better?”

August 20, 2015August 8, 2016 / jrmilson / 2 Comments

Little Red Bear and I have received another reader question we thought it may be good to respond to for everyone. Well, a question and a comment really, and good information to pass along.

Reader Question from S. F. on holiday at an undisclosed beach resort in the U. K. –– “Dear Little Red Bear — Holiday reading, sunshine, and fresh sea air – what could be better?Thanks for translating Red, got plenty of buzzards’ breath but all out of catfish whiskers and the hummingbirds are being most uncooperative.”

Answer— For the benefit of those who have not read “The Adventures of Little Red Bear” yet, or may have unwisely skipped over the “Introduction”, what S. F. is referring to is that to save readers the difficulty and hassles of needing to translate all the different spoken animal languages and dialects back and forth as they read, Little Red Bear and I worked tirelessly to translate everything for you. Bears speaking to birds and rabbits, turtles speaking to bears, humans speaking to bears and foxes, weasels yammering on, etc. The pig is a different matter, and you will need to read for yourself to see what that is all about.

Information on the translation process was explained in the Introduction, along with many other things, and S. K. is referring to a few of the translation ingredients in her comment. And it points to why we decided to go ahead and take care of the translations issue for readers ahead of time. We didn’t charge extra for it. Little Red Bear just felt it a nice to thing to do for folks.

In response to S. K. then — “Holiday reading, sunshine, and fresh sea air – what could be better?” We can’t think right off of any better thing than being on holiday at the beach reading Little Red Bear stories, so you have us stumped with that one. And yes, we have found the hummingbirds to be problematic and difficult to work with at times, as it seems the later it gets into summer the more of a sugar high they are on, causing some predictably spiky attitudes. We are impressed with your having gathered sufficient quantities of the buzzard’s breath though, as that is where the translation process breaks down for many folks, unwilling to approach a turkey buzzard that closely. Little Red Bear sends a big paw pat on the back for that one!

As for the other, we could mail some dried catfish whiskers over for you, but find that fresh whiskers work much better and produce a clearer translation in the end. And since we have it all translated for you ahead of time anyway, we won’t bother to send any dried whiskers over to save you the mailing expense.

So, sorry we were stumped by that question, but want to thank you for writing in to let us know all that translation time and effort is helping readers out after all.

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So, a big thanks to S. F. for the comments! Remember folks, please keep those questions and letters coming. We’ll get to them as best we can here for you. Happy reading, and thanks as always for stopping by! And remember folks, the best sermons are lived, not preached. God bless, y’all. – Jim (and Red!)

Birds- Turkey Vulture close up via Google Images

“The Adventures of Little Red Bear” Short Stories on Amazon.

Old-fashioned, Family-friendly Stories and Fun for All Ages and Fitness Levels!

About an Uncommonly Special Bear and His Friends.

Happy Birthday to Davy Crockett!

August 17, 2015 / jrmilson / 1 Comment

Happy Birthday Davy Crockett — “The King of the Wild Frontier!” Born August 17, 1786 in eastern Tennessee.

I grew up with Davy Crockett and his adventures as an early influence. My mother repeatedly emphasized a saying attributed to him– “Be always sure you’re right, then go ahead.” We could use more good advice for youngsters today.

Beyond his legendary exploits, one of the most notable things in the real Davy Crockett’s career was his vehement and continued opposition to Andrew Jackson’s policies, most notably the Indian Removal Act which led to the removal of the Cherokee people and others and the infamous “Trail of Tears” death march. It cost him reelection the following term, but he remained firm to his principles.

Davy Crockett was a noted storyteller and spinner of tall tales. Hope he would have liked Little Red Bear’s adventures. I like to think he would. Happy Birthday, Davy! 🙂

Davy Crockett, Portrait by William Henry Huddle, 1889

Thanks as always for reading and stopping by! — Jim (and Red!)

“The Adventures of Little Red Bear” Short Stories on Amazon

David (Davy) Crockett, Portrait by Chester Harding

Little Red Bear Answers Reader Questions — “Angry Weasels! What To Do?”

August 13, 2015August 8, 2016 / jrmilson / Leave a comment

Little Red Bear and I are getting more and more questions from readers. So here’s another one, hoping to provide useful and life-saving information by sharing for all.

Reader Question from K. C. in Shriveled Branches, California – “Dear Little Red Bear — What should I do if confronted by an angry weasel?”

Answer— Another great question, because this seems to come up more often than most folks think. The problem is, weasels are just not big on negotiating, so trying to reason with them or attempting to discover the source of their anger is largely a waste of time, as most just wake up angry in the morning right off the start, and their mood seems to follow on downhill from there.

We recommend telling the weasel a really funny joke, and hope it dies laughing. It seemed to work very well for the Roger Rabbit folks. If you’re not particularly funny, then we recommend running away as fast as you can, because the longer you stand in front of the weasel the hungrier it’s going to get while the time passes. If you have wings, use them. Because we haven’t found the weasel yet that can fly more than two laps around the feedlot.

Weasels are never easy to deal with, because even when they tell you they’re going to behave and be your friend, they most likely ain’t. So take whatever a weasel says with a grain of salt. Or two. Good luck with ’em, and we’ll keep y’all in our thoughts. — Little Red Bear

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A big thanks to K.C. for the question! Remember folks, keep those questions and letters coming. We’ll get to them as best we can here for you. Happy reading, and thanks as always for stopping by! And remember folks, an angry weasel is considerably faster than a John Deere Tractor. Best to try and stay on their good side. If you can find one. – Jim (and Red!)