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 playing VIA Rail. We pretend this is the sleeping car and we're gonna take a nap. But first I holler "All Aboard!" Then we climb the steps and sit in our seats. I say to Chance, "Your ticket, please."  I l-o-v-e to play VIA Rail. It's a fun game. We make train sounds. I go, "Choo, choo, choo, choo." Chance makes the whistle sound. I say, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard Train 75 with stops in Chatham, London, Brantford, Oakville and Toronto." Then I say it in French. I could be a conductor you know. I know how to give people Smarties and root beer. 

 I know when we're almost in Toronto 'cuz we can see the CN Tower. It's really tall,  you know. It's so tall it tickles the clouds. That's what James says. I wonder if clouds laugh out loud  when they get tickled,  like I do when James tickles me.

When get to Toronto it is time for us to eat lunch. I say, "Attention passengers, we will be arriving at our final destination in ten minutes. Please remain seated until the train comes to a complete stop at Union Station. Thank you for choosing VIA rail. Have a pleasant day."Playing VIA Rail makes me hungry. I'm so hungry I could eat almost anything. Well, not broccolis our sauerkrauts. I hate them. They're nasty. I don't care if they're in the Canada Food Guide. I don't want to eat them.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Who's ready for lunch? 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 hungry as bears. 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. Play VIA Rail with your friends and buddies. Play nice so you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can ride VIA Rail together! Okay! Over and out!"

My Bad Dream About Austrian Measles

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? Last night I had a bad dream. I dreamt that Chance and me were sick. We were covered in red spots. We had fevers. We throwed up. James took us to see Dr. Matthew at the Sandwich Community Health Centre. Dr. Matthew said we had Austrian measles.

Then I woke up. It was dark. I looked at Chance. He didn't have any red spots. I looked in the mirror. I didn't have any red spots, either!  James woke up. I told him what was wrong. He said it was just a bad dream. He tickled my ears, kissed my nose and rubbed my tummy until I went back to sleep. I'm glad it was just a bad dream.  Austrian measles are not fun.

When I went back to sleep I dreamt that I was hungry. I dreamt I was eating Red River Cereal with gummy worms in it. I l-o-v-e Red River Cereal with gummy worms. They're yummy and that's one of the four food groups in the Canada Food Guide!

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Good morning my handsome bear cubs!  Good morning my Sons of Windsor! Good morning my Princes of Ontario? It's morning! It's time to wake up!  That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario!  James will tickle our ears and kiss our noses.

We gotta get ready for breakfast. I know what we're having for breakfast. I can smell it.We're having Red River Cereal with gummy worms--just like in my good dream! It smells yummy!

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "I hope you don't have bad dreams. Just have good dreams, okay? If you eat Red River Cereal you won't get red spots and be sick with Austrian measles. 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!"