Solitary Cloud

Dear Diary,

Our mild weather is past but the sky was a beautiful blue and the sun was shinning.  I'll take it!  I stopped again at the pond, this time on the western shore just to look.  One solitary cloud hovered over the little mountain.  It was the only one in the sky.

The hills are still snow covered of course but all the recent warm weather has started the sap running and the bears that shelter and hibernate in the caves in these hills for the winter are most likely stretching and yawning and making their way  out to see what the world has to offer them.  Their little cubs, born over the winter, will get their first glimpse of the world.

The native black bears are solitary creatures and rarely come near my house although I have seen them from time to time.  When my friends come to hike in the spring I make them wear bear bells to alert the bears that they are approaching.  One doesn't want to inadvertently run into a mother and her cub!  Given a warning, they will avoid human contact.