I am Mark, Guardian of Mawson Bear. Mawson is a big hearted Writer-Bear. His little books are stuffed with moments of happiness for all ages. Relax with Mawson's friends in their cosy, whimsical world. Refresh the soul in the tranquility of innocent hours and simple joys.
Has everybody hit the road but us? Have all our peers contracted wanderlust? They scorn to pay A mortgage rate, From suburbs they Accelerate, And leave we Stay-At-Homers in their dust.
They ceased their dreary jobs, and left home.
Now down the endless open road they roam.
No plants to water,
Lawns to mow,
Caravans they'd rather tow.
The bonds of static life they've cut and thrown.
Seems many have converted bus or van.
Now they cruise like sailors on the land.
On highways, byways,
Road and track,
They rove - and they show
No regrets.
Oh, they go where they will
Just 'cause they can.
They've hurled away the ironing board and suit.
Of deadlines they no longer care a hoot.
They're tramping trails,
Pitching tents,
Fingers raised
To city rents,
Happy in their hiking packs and boots.
They've hit the road, Those Jacks and Jills. They range the plains And grind up hills, No longer merely cogs In the machine. Of their days They make the most, And they can claim the ringing boast, That everywhere we want to go - They've been!
Let's also go! Let's join the Nomads Grey. Why keep slogging on Each routine day, Why drive blood pressure Higher Until we fast Expire? Go! Rev up the RV And roar away.
P.S. Of course, we'd only take the bare necessities: Favourite pillow, laptops, Sixteen types of cheese, Communications, Medications, Satellite TVs, Wesuit, paddle board, Kayak, scooter, Coffee grinder, Tackle, rope, Outdoor cooker, Prescription lenses, Tyres (spare), Dryers and shampoos for hair .... Errr, hang on, hang on ..
P.P.S. But would we really take all this? Let's stay home in comfy bliss.
You are at Mark’s blog called Baffled Bear Books. Mark is a dark coffee tragic, bibliophile and Guardian of Mawson Bear, a Ponderer of Baffling Things and one of this bright world’s few published bears.
The Search So Far: Mawson’s Guardian, Mark, and the Guardian-ess set off to see the Whale Sharks that migrate up past the Ningaloo Reef in the North of Western Australia. But on our day out on the water, hours passed with no sighting of a whale shark. We feared we would miss out altogether. But then suddenly they were sighted.
The skipper steered into position. We tourists shuffled on bums down to the marlin board, tense for the word to drop in. If the skipper had judged right, the whale shark would cruise in front of us. Go! And there it was! Just below the surface, moving along with a smooth up and down motion of the whole body. I was so excited that if I had not needed the snorkel to breathe, I would have eaten it.
We were actually swimming with this great beast. We spread out into a semi circle and followed as long as possible. Some lucky people were alongside the shark, on either side, 3 or 4 metres away, with a good clear view. Some saw mostly its big tail and other snorkelers. The beast seemed unconcerned by us and never changed its pace. It easily pulled ahead within a few minutes.
The boat came round to pick us up. This required using upper body strength and a big kicking lunge to land your torso as high up the marlin board as possible before clambering up to the deck itself. No problem for me in the calm water within the reef. But the swell had gotten up as the cold front got closer. If the stern lifted up in the swell at the same time as you made your lunge, your big seal flop could be difficult, even bruising. I clobbered my chest. Several people struggled with it. The crew helped pull us up, of course.
A second beast was seen and then a third one. The vessel steered into a new position, and again we slid into the water. Several people this time got an excellent along-side swim. They got those classic “I swam with a Whale Shark’ instagramable photos. But I saw only a powerful tail ahead of me. That tail moved almost lazily but it made my effort to keep up with it seem like a flutter board chasing a silent jet ski. I swam as hard as I ever have; and the crew member, Ellie, who was helping me hauled me along too. I had never moved in the water so fast. But still not much of a view for me this time. And I was really drained. Been in the water 4 times now. But it was not over. The RV Thunder turned to try for a third swim.
We came around again ahead of the course of the whale sharks as they cruised seemingly without effort north along side Ningaloo Reef. Only 14 or so our group of 20 went in this time, the others exhausted. With help of crew member Ellie, I got into a good position. The spotted beast was huge, perhaps 4 metres, bigger than the others. I managed to keep up alongside it although it took the most powerful swimming of my life and Ellie towing me as well. Within 3 or 4 minutes perhaps, although it felt longer, the animal had glided ahead until there was only its tail to see. We boarded RV Thunder for the last time, collectively elated and exhausted. ( I needed help to get up out of the water this time.) All had seemed lost only an hour before. But now we had actually swum with the whale sharks!
Then our day got even better. The earliest hump back whales of the season were out there too! We hadn’t even expected whales.
To see a whale even from 150-200 metres or so, a huge pecoral fin surging out of the side of a swell and a big body curving up, blowing, and diving down (“Tharr she blows!”) is an uplifting sight. We saw one perhaps 50 m away surfing along the side of a big swell and turning its big pink belly to us. Another (or perhaps the same) turned to the vessel. Yes! It came on, swirled around until it was belly side up, all white and pink, dipped lower while still upside down, and went right under the boat. We think we saw 5 different migrating humpback whales. What a day! What a day!
(I couldn’t get vids of the whales, sorry, but here are more whale sharks we saw that day taken by Daniel Browne of Coral Bay Eco Tours.
Note: All under water pics shown here are by Daniel Browne of Coral Bay Eco Tours.
You are at Mark’s blog called Baffled Bear Books. Mark is a dark coffee tragic, bibliophile and Guardian of Mawson Bear, a Ponderer of Baffling Things and one of this bright world’s few published bears.
The Search So Far: Mawson’s Guardian, Mark, and the Guardian-ess had the good fortune last November to swim with 3 manta rays off the North West coast of Western Australia in the waters of the Ningaloo Reef. You can read about our snorkelling experience here and particularly about the big manta rays here. This year we set off to see Whale Sharks. But would we be successful?
No doubt, some of you are used to snorkelling and boating. Me, I love to look at the ocean but when I get waist deep in it my body involuntarily says, ‘Errruuuh Huh Huhh Huhhh Ooooogggh Arrrrrrrrrh’.
I speak as a non boating average swimmer who has rarely snorkelled. Everything about our Whale Shark Day at Ningaloo Reef held its own excitement for me, including my apprehension about sliding into the ocean kilometres off the coast.
I didnt see that particular turtle in these pics but I was gobsmaked by so much else. Streams of sunlight poured down thru the water catching shoals of coloured fishes like dancing lights. Magical. The coral was simply fantastic, a whole other world. Octopi, reef sharks, fish of all kinds.
After our first excellent swim of the day within the reef around the amazing coral bombs, we set course beyond the reef parallel to the shore heading to about where 5 whale sharks had been spotted by the same crew the day before.
Excitement was high. We steered north and chatted of all the creatures we had seen. We kept on northward. We all made umpteen adjustments to our gear. We kept steering north. The spotter plane appeared and quartered the area. Nothing. North and further north we coursed. At this rate we would soon be half way to Exmouth. There we were, all kitted in our wetsuits, keyed up, ready to plunge in; and no sighting. We started to realise that this just might not be our day. You can’t predict the wide ocean and wild animals. T
Whale Shark of Ningaloo Reef: Photo by Daniel Brown of Coral Bay Eco Tours
The crew conferred. They told us that it looked like perhaps they had nothing for us. Our emotions dipped from elation to deflation. We all knew that we were unlikely to go out next day for another try because the weather was going to turn overnight. So that seemed to be that. Oh, well. We could still do another swim or two.
For our 2nd snorkel they took us to a little seen spot on the outer side of the reef. The coral animal structures on the deep side look different, tougher you might say, and just as fascinating. We saw reef sharks and larger fish. The swell was stronger here for an average swimmer like me and there was some suction close to the reef. My arms tired but I kept happily swimming. I was going to make the most of seeing Ningaloo Reef with my own eyes.
Suddenly the crew signalled to get aboard. Had a whale shark at last been spotted? Yes! We scrambled back on the marlin board in a tangle of flippers and seal-flopping bodies. We sat on the deck with masks and snorkel on our heads, ready to slide in at the word to go. The vessel’s stern dipped and the bow surged.
Could we actually get our swim alongside the creature?
Don’t miss the next awesome episode. Spoiler- we saw three!
Note: All under water pics shown here are by Daniel Browne of Coral Bay Eco Tours.
You are at Mark’s blog called Baffled Bear Books. Mark is a dark coffee tragic, bibliophile and Guardian of Mawson Bear, a Ponderer of Baffling Things and one of this bright world’s few published bears.
Mawson’s Guardian, Mark, and the Guardian-ess had the good fortune last November to swim with 3 manta rays off the North West coast of Western Australia in the waters of the Ningaloo Reef. You can read about our snorkelling experience here and particularly about the big manta rays here.
This year the Guardian-ess had a Big Birthday. ‘What would you like for your birthday?” asked the Guardian. “To swim with whale sharks”, she replied promptly. Whale Sharks migrate up the coast of Western Australia on their way to Indonesian waters and come close to Ningaloo Reef. We were able to book for early June, quite late in the Whale Shark migrating season, and there was a risk we could miss them altogether. There was also a risk that the winter weather would not allow safe vessel operation beyond the outer reef, but we chanced it anyway.
Murchison River gorge and the skywalk near Kalbarri
We drove some 1400 kilometres north of Perth to the township of Coral Bay, turning off to Kalbarri on the way to see the amazing Murchison River gorge. I will talk of that in another post, but for now, here is a picture of the Skywalk jutting out over the lip of the gorge, or ‘canyon’ in American-English. You cannot capture the spectacle in photos. Millions and millions of years of layers of rock all eaten down by the flow of the waters in the bed of surrounding land.
Office Ratty and Terri Turtle admire the cloudsSunshine and prisms played on the sky
During our long drive up we fortunately missed the worst of the bad weather which struck the coast for days. No charter boats or tour vessels had gone out in that time. Would we also strike bad weather on the very day we had booked to go out with Coral Bay Eco Tours on the good ship RV Thunder?
The morning before The Big Day, we trooped to the booking office for fittings ie we squashed ourselves into wetsuits of suitable sizes, which Eco Tours requires snorkelers to wear when in the deep water beyond the outer reef. By the time I had finished not falling over as I hauled on the leggings and got my chest to function again after I was zipped into the suit, I believed I’d had all my aerobic exercise for that day.
That afternoon the weather began turning. The sunset was spectacular but the heavy clouds a concern. Those of our party who had wifi connections (something not always the case beyond the big Australian cities) peered at weather forecasts. Another front was definitely coming in on Our Day. When? ‘Late in the day’ observed the weather people. Would the operator therefore cancel for safety reasons? They didn’t. But as it turned out, the on the following 2 days they did; and every tour and charter vessel stayed at moorings as rain surged in. We only just managed just to squeak into the window of opportunity.
At 8 am we boarded RV Thunder and steered out over calm waters under a sky cloudy but bright to a spot in the Ningaloo Reef featuring ‘coral bombs’. These clusters of all shapes of coral rise from the sand floor nearly to the surface. In fact, you have to be careful to not get over the top of them in case of injuring both oneself and the coral.
Here we practised being comfortable in our wetsuits and goggles as well as enjoying the swim. More about that in the next post! Meantime, a sneak preview of a whale shark.
Whale Shark of Ningaloo Reef: Photo by Daniel Brown of Coral Bay Eco Tours
Note: All under water pics shown here are by Daniel Browne of Coral Bay Eco Tours.
You are at Mark’s blog called Baffled Bear Books. Mark is a dark coffee tragic, bibliophile and Guardian of Mawson Bear, a Ponderer of Baffling Things and one of this bright world’s few published bears.
The tale of how Major Frederick Browning met and courted Daphne du Maurier would seem to belong to one of the novelist’s less likely plots.
The Major had read Du Maurier’s first novel, The Loving Spirit. Inspired by her description of the coastline of Cornwall, and also dreaming of possibly being able to meet the novelist herself, he visited the county to go sailing.
He did indeed met her; and she liked what she saw. But as the months passed they both baulked for one reason or another at marrying. In the end it was she who proposed to him. The church they wed in was the very church where an important fictional marriage had taken place as part of the story told in The Loving Spirit. That fictional marriage in the book had been based on a real one. So a real marriage had inspired the fictional one in the novel, which in turn brought Major Browning to Cornwall, where he met and married the writer .. in that same church. It is like one of the loops of intertwined fates which occur in several of her stories.
The Bridge Too Far
As with all career soldiers, Browning’s army postings took him away from home often. As WWII advanced, he rose in rank to be a General. He believed in air power and he formed the First Airborne Division. This division served in Tunisia, Sicily, Italy and Normandy. By 1944, he commanded the First Allied Airborne Army at Arnhem. The battle turned into a ghastly British defeat.
Browning’s decisions during the Battle of Arnhem are still debated among enthusiasts of military history. Some claim much of the defeat was his fault. Yet, it was he who had given the famous warning to General Montgomery, to no avail, that Operation Market Garden was reaching for “a bridge too far”.
The General and his fuzzy travelling companions
The General ended his hastily scribbled letters home to his wife and son and daughters with “kisses from the Boys”. The “Boys” were his childhood bears who travelled everywhere with him, packed in a briefcase.
This material is from my reading of Daphne du Maurier, A Daughter’s Memoir by Flavia Leng. I stumbled on this memoir in my local library. Aren’t libraries wonderful!
You are at Baffled Bear Books, the blog of Mark, guardian,chocolate-fetcher and blundering typist for Mawson Bear, Ponderer of Baffling Things and one of this bright world’s few published bears. Mawson is writer bear of It’s A Bright World To Feel Lost In.
‘For some time, she’d had the feeling that life was passing her by, eluding her, thousands of grains of sand running through an almost invisible crack, taking with them thousands of images, smells, colours, scratches and caresses’. Ch.10
This is a book to read about books and about readers falling within the worlds of books.
The Girl Who Reads on the Metro is so lightened on every page by prose poetry that I marvelled it did not flutter away from me down the aisles as I read it … on the train.
‘Each book is a portrait and it has at least two faces.’ Ch 8.
This book I wanted to pass on to another reader as soon as I had recovered a little from the sorrow of finishing it – which meant, of course, I could never again relish it for the first time. But as this copy was a library book, I decided to speak of it instead, this being my own way of acting as Passeur.
‘So many words. So many stories, characters, landscapes, tears, decisions, hopes and fears. But for whom?Ch.7.
A book to make me forever intrigued by the possibilities of page two hundred and forty seven. Even if the book I happen to choose to read does not even go up to page 247.
A book for people who read books. Here, it’s for you.
Where to find The Girl Who Reads On the Metro (Translated by Ros Schwartz)
But really, for hold in your hands this book about the love of books, why not visit your friendly local bookstore to seek it out. And while you look for it – take your time – bathe in the presence of all the other books. (For more about the joys of Book Bathing, take a look at this little post.)
The books above pictured withThe Girl Who Reads On The Metro are a portion of my own Yellow Submarine. What Yellow Submarine are you talking about, you ask. The one mentioned in the book!
Mark, your reviewer here, is guardian and blundering typist for Mawson, one of this bright world’s few published bears.
‘She was a marvellous story teller because she fascinated her listeners; she believed in what she was telling and that is the secret.’‘ ( Page 9.)
These eight stories by Jean Lorrain were published in France 150 years ago. He loosely based them on tales he had heard forty years before that. Now they’re brought into the candle-light again by translator Patricia Worth, and Odyssey Books.
Just think, from out of the nineteenth century France it is now available to you anywhere in the world with the click of a button. Isn’t the modern world wonderful! And why would you click this button? Because doubtless you love stories; and this little book contains superbly told stories by a skilled storyteller.
Even the introduction has the feel of a ‘once-upon-a- time’ fairy tale about it.
‘One fine morning the lover grew tired of waiting, and Norine grew old alone in her little cottage with the memory of her old parents who had died .. and regret for the lover who had left. ‘ ( Page 3.)
Stories to Read by Candlelight with illustrations by Erin-Claire Barrow is published by Ensorcella, an imprint of Odyssey Books. It is available from Bookshop Org (supporting local bookshops), from Waterstones, and through Book Depository with free delivery). Of course you can get it on digital versions: Amazon on Kindle and Barnes and Noble on Nook. But I recommend the little soft cover version. It’s the size of your phone – or of your smallest bear- and perfect for carrying about in your pockets – along with a handy candle .
When you hear the word ‘Magic’, what fills your mind? Stardust. Moonlight. Fairy god witches?
When you read the word, ‘Love’, what then sweeps your memories? Home, Family, Children, one’s first romance? Come, read this book, and let these things fill you.
The first time I read Love and Homegrown Magic it looked straight forward .. for a while. Here is the tale of a girl, Maggie, who grows to womanhood, falls in love, marries, and in time becomes the matriarch of an extended family. And the children grow and find love and marry, hard things sometimes happen, and love sometimes fades, and people die. But always dreams are nurtured..
Maggie dreams of her own garden and nursery enterprise. But ten years pass in raising three daughters, and then her husband, Angelo, insists on their return to their home country. A bleak feature looms. But Maggie rallies. She is sure her dream has heavenly endorsement. Beginning with tubs on the kitchen window sill, she creates the Jardines LunaRosa where the first roses- and Maries’ daisies- blossom from special plantings by moonlight by her small children. Reading this, I immediately saw and accepted that it was an enchanted garden.
‘Darkness cloaked the hillside home, but light, as if from a dozen chandeliers, spilled out of the kitchen window as the auras of the green witch and her daughters flickered in bright flashes to the rhythm of their chatter. … The stars looked down on their charges and twinkled approvingly.‘Ch. 23.
I read the book again; and again finished it with reluctance, because now it was over. “How does she do that?” I asked myself about author Patricia Bossano’s story telling skill. “How did she make it seem that way?” But you can’t look too hard into these sorts of qualities for fear the spell of it all, like dreams, will slip away.
Love and Home Grown Magic is indeed a story of family, for perhaps magic is created by ourselves at what we feel is home, if only, like Maggie, we look upon it that way.
Patricia Bossano has also written Faery Sight, Nahia and Cradle Gift. I reviewed her Seven Ghostly Spins.
Where to unshroud Seven Ghostly Spins: From Amazon in Kindle and soft cover, Barnes and Noble in Kobo and soft cover, also Waterstones. Hardcover editions are also available. Or, ask your friendly local bookstore to order it in for you, and for your friends who appreciate a frission of the supernatural.
Here are excerpts from the thoughtful review by Joey Madia. (Please follow the links to read the whole of Joey’s article.)
“When a Brave Bear Fights Cancer is filled with photographs by Mark O’Dwyer, the author of the Mawson the Bear children’s series. Mawson—sort of a Winnie the Pooh, especially when considered through the lens of books like The Tao of Pooh—is a dreamer and seeker who is a big fan of naps and working with his equally inquisitive friends to explore just what it is that drives and fulfills us.”
“Written in simple, effective language, the book (Brave Bear) starts at initial diagnosis and goes through the various treatments one many encounter. The text and photographs work together to demystify complex ideas, soften the edge of what can be a scary idea through use of adorable bears, and to provide visuals of the doctor’s office and other venues.”
‘You are not alone! Hold a paw, hug one another, makes friends with others on the journey.’ (Joey Madia)
About Joey Madia: Please take a look at Newmystics.com to see more reviews by Joey Madia. He is a playwright, author, actor, and teacher. He is also artistic Director/Resident Playwright of Seven Stories Theatre Company. See more at www.newmystics.com. Joey also kindly reviewed Mawson Bear’s little book called Dreamy Days and Random Naps. See the link here.
Storytime Live on Facebook: Joey’s and Tonya Madia do Live Facebook readings. Here they are reading When A Brave Bear Fights Cancer. They do the different voices and show the pictures in the book. Take a look too at Joey and Tonya reading on Crayola Education for the Read Along- Draw Along which featured another book by Carola Schmidt, Bald is Beautiful, an inspiring and uplifting story about loving your bald, beautiful head. (In When a Brave Bear Fights Cancer, our little hero Scotty also has the fur fall out after treatment! But with help from Little Teddy he realises he is still a wonderful bear.)
And now a word from Me, Mawson’s Guardian (Mark O’Dwyer). I and all the bears in our house helped to make the pictures in this book In the pictures on this post you can see Brave Scotty, Little Teddy, Big Gus in the laboratory, and Stitches, a patient in the ward with Dr Caddy and Nurse Bree.
About the Book: And now a word about When A Brave Bear Fights Cancer. The author Carola Schmidt is an award-winning author of children’s cancer books, and uses her experience as a pediatric oncology pharmacist to write scientific books for Springer Nature. You can usually find her on Twitter @_CarolaSchmidt. And you can find Scotty and his friends and Me, Mark, all over the bright web world including right here on this WordPress Den and at Baffled Bear Books.
‘This little story made me well up. A lovely, poignant story with delightful illustrations.’ Jackie Law, Amazon Top 500 reviewer, about It’s A Bright World To Feel Lost in.
The book brings back such nostalgic memories that it made it comforting, like a old security blanket.’ FNM Book reviews about Bright World.
“When a Brave Bear Fight Cancer a heartwarming book by Carola Schmidt and Mark O’Dwyer. This book breaks down the complexities of cancer. The text and images are simple yet informative making them accessible to readers of all ages!’
‘The explanation of tricky terminology is handled brilliantly and supported with brilliant visuals and images to support understanding. This is a great book to use with children who have been diagnosed with cancer or young children close to a family member diagnosed with cancer.’
“The book is also positive and supportive and lets readers know they are special, unique and not alone. A fantastic resource everyone should invest in.”
What a lovely review. Thank you so much to Leanne. You can find her at @Lsignedstories on Twitter.
And now a word from Me, Mawson’s Guardian. I and all the bears in our house helped to make the pictures in this book You can see Brave Scotty, Little Teddy, Big Gus in the laboratory, and Stitches and Paddy who are patients too in the ward. Here is a picture of Scotty with Little Teddy.
‘This little story made me well up. A lovely, poignant story with delightful illustrations.’ Jackie Law, Amazon Top 500 reviewer, about It’s A Bright World To Feel Lost in.
The book brings back such nostalgic memories that it made it comforting, like a old security blanket.’ FNM Book reviews about Bright World.
Baffled Bear Books 