First you may wonder why exactly, why I moved to a 10×14′ cabin in the woods? Why would a sixty year old woman take her two dogs and cat and go live off the land in the the mountains of Virginia? It’s part of my journey. I’m living my bliss. I have a cabin on fourteen acres which will eventually develop into a forest farm and a creative arts location/destination for other folks who are looking for their bliss. Meanwhile, I am here, establishing new roots. Who says a mature tree can’t be replanted in a more desirable environment? I am doing well, great in fact, and my dogs and the cat are very helpful. The cat catches little creatures in and around the cabin, barn and garden. The dogs keep me informed of other wild life traveling along their way.

Here is the part about the bear. After just doing chores in town I arrived back to my property. I needed to slow to pull into the driveway, which is rather long, uphill and very close to the cabin. There, on my side of the road and about forty feet  below the cabin, which is upland of the road, is a bear. It is a big, black and I have to admit, a beautiful bear. I have startled him and of course, even though I have known all along, there are bears around here, this is my first eyeballing of one of the beasts and I too am startled, but I am fascinated also.

I am hoping the bear saw the fascination in my eyes rather than the fear. I gather he did, because in an instant he turned tail and vanished. This might have been a good thing. I  believe I interrupted the bear as he was about to cross the street. That would have taken him away from my property and down into a hollow on the other side. Instead, he ran up the hill directly towards my cabin!

I didn’t follow him up there. Instead, I sat in the car and called my husband. He said “Wow” that’s great!” “Was he big?”, and I proceeded to tell him the bear story I’m now telling you. It took both of us a minute to understand what the bear running up to the cabin might mean. When we did, a small silence followed. After I said goodbye, I backed out of the drive and went to the nearby local store that is owned by my neighbor.

She said: “Oh, I had a bear a couple of years ago. I thought he’d a been gone by now.”  Then I went up the road to visit another neighbor. Obviously, I thought it would be a good idea to give the bear a little space, and she gave me a loud horn to blow and reminded  me her father was a gunsmith.  A few days later I ran into her again and she said “Oh, my husband has seen a bear around there a couple of times, but not recently.”

So I have not seen the bear since then, but just today something noisy was coming up the rise that set the dogs to barking sincerely. I thought they might have been playing with the cat, but later I went off to the barn and there was the cat, just where I’d forgotten I’d left her, in the barn on mouse patrol. So, I am coming to turns with life in the wilderness. I’m beginning to think of it as “My Bear” and as long as my bear  sticks to roots and berries we’ll all be good.