Pancakes for Breakfast

 Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa James.  That's in Olde Sandwich Towne. Olde Sandwich Towne is in Windsor. Everybody knows that Windsor is in O Canada.

Grandpa James is really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know. He's so old he remembers the invention of Saran Wrap!

Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. He can't talk. he's so little he doesn't even have any teeth. He just drinks chocolate owls' milk. We get it at Mac's. I look after Chance. He's a handful!

Know what Chance does? He takes off his diaper and climbs way up high on things. Then he can't get down. He makes little squawky noises 'cuz he's afraid.  I always say, "My son! Come down from there this instant!" Then I have to help him.

Know what we do? We help Grandpa James cook. He says we're ministers in the Kitchen Cabinet.  He says I'm the Mini-stir of Cooking. Chance is the Deputy Mini-stir of Cooking. We get to make yummy food and then we get to eat it! I l-o-v-e to cook. Maybe I will be a chef when I grow up. A chef wouldn't ever be hungry like those starving children in Belgium, you know.















Before we cook, we look in the Canadian Living Vegetarian cookbook for the right recipe. I know what a recipe is. It's the rules for cooking food. A recipe tells us how to make our favourite foods. I have lots of favourite foods. I l-o-v-e to cook porridge. I l-o-v-e to cook peanut butter and licorice sandwiches, too.
















Know what else? I l-o-v-e Smarties. Oh, wait! We don't have to cook Smarties. They come in a box. It's the bestest chocolate ever! We buy Smarties at Mac's Milk around the corner from our house. I know the Smarties rule. We have to eat the red ones last, 'cuz that's what the Smarties song says to do!

Chance and me are looking for a very special recipe. We want to eat pancakes with peanut butter and maple syrup on top. Before we can eat them, we have to make them, you know. They don't make themselves!

Grandpa James calls them flapjacks. They have two names.  It doesn't matter which name you call them, they taste yummy just the same and yummy is one of the four food groups in Canada's Food Guide, you know.

This is how we make pancakes. First Grandpa James gets down the big bowl. It's way up high on the shelf. We're not supposed to climb up there 'cuz we might fall off the counter top and get hurt.  If we climb up there, we have to sit on the Time Out Chair and think about what we did.

We measure a cup of all-purpose flour and a cup of whole wheat flour and pour them in the bowl. I know how much a cup is. It's 250 millilitres. It says so on the side of the measuring cup. Miss Jackie taught me that. She's my teacher at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. Then we add a 15 mls of sugar. Then we measure out 7.5 mls of baking powder. After that we put in five mls of Cow Brand. That's baking soda. Baking soda comes from cows, you know.


We stir everything up really really good. I'm very good at stirring. Chance thinks he's helping but he's not. He's too newborn. He just gets flour all over himself but he's happy and having fun. He makes little squeaky noises when he's having a good time. Look at him! He's hiding in the crisper drawer in the fridge! Come out of there this instant! That's not a good place to hide, my son!

Next we put 500 mls of buttermilk in another bowl. Then we pour in 30 mls of canola oil and two eggs. We mix that up real good. Then we pour the liquid on the flour and stir that up, too. That's a lot of stirring, you know!

Then Grandpa James brings out the frying pan. It's black. That's because it's made out of cast iron. James says it belonged to his great grandmother and it's more than 100 years old. That must be really old! I bet Grandpa James is older than that.  When the frying pan is hot James pours oil into it. That's so the pancakes don't stick. Then he pours in the batter. I know what batter is. It's newborn baby pancakes.

When the pancakes have little bubbles on top and they're golden brown on the bottom, Grandpa James turns the flapjacks over with the pancake lifter so they can cook on the other side. He's really good at flipping them up in the air and catching them. He says flipping flapjacks should be an Olympic sport.




When the pancakes are ready, we put peanut butter on them. I make smiley faces. Then we pour maple syrup on them. I I l-o-v-e peanut butter, don't you? Sometimes Grandpa James put Smarties in our pancakes. Sometimes he puts pieces of apple. I like apple smiley pancakes.




Before we eat, we say grace. I say, "Thank you God for all the yummy food you make, especially pancakes and maple syrup and butter and peanut butter. I will eat them all up God, 'cuz I'm as hungry as a bear. PS God, please send lots and lots of pancakes to all the starving children in Belgium, okay? Thank you, God. Amen." Amen means the end. I say 'Amen' so God knows I'm done talking to Him. It's what polite bear cubs do.

Then Grandpa James says, 'bon apetit' and we eat the pancakes. I know what 'bon apetit' means. It means, 'Enjoy your food.' It's French. Oh! Sometimes we have French toast. That's another yummy breakfast.

Chance doesn't have any teeth. He just drinks chocolate owls' milk out of his bottle. He licks the syrup off my pancakes and then he is all sticky. Good thing we have a bathtub!

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario!

We gotta go find Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Do good deeds. Be kind to your friends and neighbours. Help make breakfast.  Then you can eat pancakes with great big gobs of peanut butter and lots and lots  of maple syrup on top.

Oh! Wait! Come over to our house! We can make pancakes together and we can put peanut butter and maple syrup all over them! Okay! Over and out!"

The Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. We adopted him. He's my little brother, now. I call him cubby. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? This is me with Miss Jackie. She's my teacher at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. Miss Jackie is beautiful. Wanna know a secret? Come really close and I'll whisper it in your ear. I think Miss Jackie is a princess. Miss Jackie is kind. She's very smart, too. She teaches us lots of things. She taught me to paint. I can paint and stay inside the lines. That's hard for bear cubs 'cuz we don't have thumbs, you know.

Chance and me like to paint pictures of ourselves. We paint pictures of the things we do everyday, like playing hockey and making bubbles in the bathtub at bathtub. We make pictures of us mailing letters to our friends and buddies. We're pretty busy bear cubs. We're busy all day long. On rainy days, James brings out the paints so we can have indoor fun. It's fun to paint pictures. The paint goes on the canvas. We don't paint each other. Sometimes Chance tries to eat the paint 'cuz it's pretty. We can't eat paint. Paint isn't in Canada's Food Guide. Paint is for pictures. We have an exhibition of our paintings at a store on Sandwich Street. You can see them. They're at the store called 1976. It's at 3214 Sandwich Street. Nick and Aveline own the store. They're very nice grownups. They are kind to bear cubs and sometimes give us Smarties to eat.

Chance and me are artists, you know. I could be an artist when I grow up. James says most artists are starving. I know there are lots of starving children in Belgium. I wonder if they're artists?  I wouldn't like to starve. I like to eat. Growing bear cubs need to eat. My favouritest foods are Smarties, porridge, peanut butter and licorice sandwiches. Oh, wait! I like to drink root beer. When it'd cold outside I like to drink hot cocoa with newborn baby marshmallows in it. Marshmallows float.

 Here's a painting we made. Know what we're doing? Chance and me are brushing and frosting our teeth before we go to bed. Chance is so tiny he sits on top of the sink. I'm pretty tall. I stand on my stool. Chance doesn't have any teeth yet, but he  brushes his gums.

We have Ninja toothbrushes and Spiderman toothpaste. Know what happens if we don't brush and frost? We get holes in our teeth. That's not good. Then we have to go visit Dr. Greg. he's a dentist. Dr. Greg is nice. He's a tooth doctor, you know. Dr. Greg says, "Be true to your teeth or they will be false to you!"

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Have fun every day. Learn to paint pictures of the things you do. Then you can remember all the fun. Oh! Wait! Take care of your teeth. Brush and frost every day. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre and play with us! You can meet Miss Jackie. We can have fun together! Okay! Over and out!"

Thanksgiving Day

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful! 

Know what? This is Chance and me and James. It's Thanksgiving Day. James says Thanksgiving comes every year. It's the second Monday in October. We counted down the days to Thanksgiving. We're spending the day with Lulu and Lily.  We came on the train.

We're sitting at the Thanksgiving table. We're hungry. We're as hungry as bears. We're hungry for mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top and vegetables and turkey and gravy.


Before we eat we all take turns  counting our blessings. We say what we're thankful for. I got a lot to be thankful for this year. I'm thankful for Smarties and root beer and licorice and porridge. I'm thankful that we got lots of good food to eat--not like all those poor starving children in Belgium. I'm thankful for all my buddies and friends. I'm thankful that James is our bestest buddy and looks after us. I say, "Thank you, God, for everything!" Know what? God is very nice.

Chance doesn't talk. That's 'cuz he's a newborn cubby. He doesn't have any teeth, yet. He will get teeth when he's older. He doesn't even have a tail! I have a tail. I'm waiting to grow pockets. When I have pockets I'll keep Smarties in there. Chance is thankful for condensed owls' milk. He holds up his bottle and makes little squeaky noises. When he does that, it means he's happy.

We're not supposed to eat too much, you know. It's bad for our tummies and can make us sick. I know when to stop eating. James says, "Don't feed the bears, they're stuffed!" That's funny. It's true, too. We're really stuffed. I want to nap.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. 

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Count your Thanksgiving blessings. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer with your turkey and pumpkin pie. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and eat with us! We can be thankful together! Okay! Over and out!"

One More Day Till My Birthday and Canada's Birthday Too!

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

 Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful! 

Know what? Tomorrow is Canada Day. It's my birthday, too! I can hardly wait. Canada is way older than me. Canada will be 143 years old. That's almost as old as James.

On birthdays we get gifts. Chance and me are looking for my presents. I'm pretty sure James hid them somewhere in the house. I don't know what I might get but we're going to find out. When everyone sings Happy Birthday, I'll act surprised, you know.  I'm a very good actor. I bet he hid the presents in the freezer. That's a good place to hid things.

I wonder if I'll get finger paints.  I l-o-v-e to paint. I'm an artist, you know. Maybe I'll get a Canada flag to put on my blue bike. No! Wait! Maybe I'll get a horn for my blue bike so I can make a lot of noise when I ride up and down the sidewalk. Maybe I'll get Snakes and Ladders. That's a fun game. I hope I get Smarties and gummy worms.

We get to wear hats and we have balloons when it's birthday time. We get to eat wallermelon and drink root beer, too. We play games. Birthdays are fun.

James says he's going to bake a sauerkraut and broccoli cake. I know he's just teasing me. Sauerkrauts and broccolis are nasty and I don't like them at all. I hold my nose and eat two bites so I can set a good example for Chance. He's too little to eat food. He just drinks condensed owls' milk out of his bottle but one day he'll have to eat what I eat. I want to send sauerkrauts and broccolis to all those starving children in Belgium.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. 

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. If you find your birthday presents before your birthday party remember to act surprised.  Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can look for presents together! Okay! Over and out!"

Chef Charles and Chef Chance

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.  Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? We're looking in the cookbook. We're helping James make yummy foods. We help him teach gourmet vegan cooking classes at Mackenzie Hall. That's on the next block from our house. We can ride to Mackenzie Hall on our bicycles but we have to look both ways before we cross Mill Street. A big car or truck could run over us if we don't watch carefully, you know. Mackenzie Hall is really big. It looks like a castle. Oh! What if my teacher Miss Jackie lived at Mackenzie Hall? If she did, she'd be a princess!

I know what vegan means. It means no meat, no eggs, no dairy and no snakes. Definitely no snakes. I don't think snakes are in the Canada Food Guide. I hope not. That's different from Cassidy, our bunny rabbit friend. Bunny rabbits only eat vegetables. They're vegetabletarians.

Know what? James writes cookbooks. Cookbooks have recipes in them. Recipes tell us how to make yummy things to eat. He says we're gonna make strawberry ice cream, buffalo wings, butter tofu, pate de faux gras, mushroom quiche, cashew loaf, chick peas Kashmiri, Miraculous Whip, mock Cheddar cheese,  cashew milk and cashew cream. That's a lot of yummy food. We get to make gluten kritters! I l-o-v-e gluten kritters. They're really yummy. We like to help James. He says that good helpers are good citizens.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

It's fun to help cook stuff! This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Help cook. Then you can eat really yummy vegan food. Don't eat snakes, okay? Oh! Wait! I'm gonna ask James if we can make a little bit extra and send some yummy vegan food to those poor starving children in Belgium!  I know! Come over to our house and cook with us! We can stir things together. I'll share the spoon with you! Okay! Over and out!"

Picnic on the Detroit River

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know. He says he remembers the invention of sunshine. He must be 20! That's really old! Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? I'm sitting here on the back step with my blue bike. It has a Canada flag on it. I'm waiting for James and Chance. Chance needed his diaper changed. I want them to hurry  'cuz when they come outside we're gonna ride our bikes on Russell Street down by the Detroit River.  James says Detroit is in the Knighted States. It's not part of O Canada. When we go to the Knighted States we take the Ambassador Bridge or the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.

When we're hungry we'll stop, spread out our blanket next to the river and have a picnic! I l-o-v-e picnics, don't you? I know what's in the picnic basket. There's peanut butter and Smarties sandwiches and root beer and for dessert we get to eat wallermelon. We got so much food we could feed all the starving children in Belgium. We can watch the ducks and geese. I brought Smarties for them. I sure hope they like Smarties! I like to watch the boats and ships. James says some of them are 'salties' and some of them are 'lakers.'

Oh, good! Here comes Chance. He's all changed. Now he isn't stinky.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Who's ready for a picnic? Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Do good deeds. Then you can go on picnics by the Detroit River and eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and you can come on the picnic with us! Okay! Over and out!"

Our Picnic

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know. He remembers the first tree. He must be really old! At least 20!  Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? We're going to have a picnic. I know what a picnic is. We put all our food into the green bag. We got peanut butter and licorice sandwiches. We got wallermelon. I l-o-v-e wallermelon. We got Smarties, too. Oh, wait! We got mango juice. They're all yummy and that's one of the four food groups in the Canada Food Guide. We're gonna ride our bikes to the park and eat next to the Detroit River. Maybe we'll feed the ducks. They're always hungry, like those starving children in Belgium. I'm sure they like Smarties. Oh. Look! Chance climbed in the green bag. We're not going to eat him! Come out of there this instant, my son! He really is a handful.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Obey the rules. Good citizens get to go on picnics. I know! Come over to our house and have a picnic with us!  Okay! Over and out!"

Sub-tropical Southernmost Ontario

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's forgetful and really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.  I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? Last week we had snow. Mr. Sunshine melted the snow and James says spring is in the air. I don't see any springs in the air. We see robins.  Canada geese are flying north.  The days are longer. It's hard to be sleepy when it's still light outside. I want to dig holes in the back yard. So does Chance. We don't really have palm trees on Sparkle Road but James says Windsor is in the Canadian banana belt. You can't fool me. I'm five. You can't make belts out of bananas, you know.

We got lots of fun things to do today but first we have to make our beds and eat breakfast. This morning we're eating pumpkin pancakes with peanut butter and maple syrup on top. I l-o-v-e pancakes. They're yummy and sticky. That's two of the four food groups in the Canada Food Guide. Chance is so little he doesn't have teeth. He drinks condensed owls' milk from his bottle.Good citizens eat all their food. Starving children in Belgium would love to eat pumpkin pancakes.

Did you hear that? James is hollering? "Who's hungry? Where's my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario?" That's me! I'm a handsome bear cub. I'm a Son of Windsor. I'm a Prince of Ontario! So is Chance!

We gotta go find James so he can tickle our ears, kiss our noses and make us laugh right out loud. This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens! Make your bed and eat pumpkin pancakes. Be on the look out for robins and Canada geese! Okay. Over and out!"

Gummy Worms

Hi. This is me, Charles the Bear Cub. I live with my buddy James, on Sparkle Road. I look after him 'cuz he's old and forgetful.

Look at this! See all the gummy worms? Wendy is the nice lady at Mac's Milk. She sells gummy worms and gummy fish and other yummy gummy things. I l-o-v-e gummy worms. James puts them in my porridge every morning. Gummy worms are one of my favouritest things to eat. They're in the Canada Food Guide.

After breakfast, know what? I brush my teeth with my Ninja toothbrush. When I was just a little cubby James brushed my teeth for me. Now I can brush them all by myself. After breakfast we go outside to play. Special Ed James puts his clothes on. I don't have to get dressed. Bear cubs don't need clothes. We get to run around bare naked. That's a pun.

Sometimes I wear my Cat-in-the-Hat sox just for fun. I can run really fast when I wear my sox. The sox were a present from Tanner and Cassidy. Tanner is a big 'ole yeller dog and Cassidy is a bunny rabbit.

Okay. I gotta go. James is hollering, "Who's a handsome bear cub Who's a Son of Windsor? Who's a Prince of Ontario?" That's me! Charles. I'm a handsome bear cub. I'm a Son of Windsor. I'm a Prince of Ontario. James will tickle my ears, kiss my nose and make me laugh right out loud. This is me, Charles the bear cub saying, "Be good citizens. Eat all your porridge and gummy worms. Starving children in Belgium would love to eat porridge and gummy worms. Don't forget to brush your teeth! Over and out!"

Marshmallows

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live with my buddy James, on Sparkle Road. That's right by Sandwich Street. I look after him 'cuz he's really old and forgetful. Today he forgot me!



Look what I found! I'm at the Mill Dollar Store. I found marshmallows. I l-o-v-e marshmallows. We ate them at the Happy Cub Camp this summer in Quebec. I know what marshmallows are in French. They are called guimauves.

Know what? Marshmallows taste just as good in French as they do in English. I know how to roast marshmallows over a fire--but make sure the fire is outside the house, okay? I will give $1 to Allen, the nice man who owns the store and I can take the whole bag home. I wonder if I used to like marshmallows when I was just a cubby. I'll ask  James.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Who's a handsome bear cub? Who's a Son of Windsor? Where's my Prince of Ontario?" That's me! Charles! I gotta go get my ears tickled so I can laugh right out loud. This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens and eat all your marshmallows. Starving children in Belgium would love to eat marshmallows. Bye for now!"