Last night I had a dream (the first one in a long time): I was wearing two coats. A rather plain long woolen winter coat in a deep navy or black hiding a very thick luxuriant coat made of bear fur underneath it. I was wandering all over my old stomping grounds of NYC looking for something, I knew not what or whom, I just knew I had to find it. My life depended on it. The two coats hampered me a bit with their weight but I needed both of them for warmth against the bitter cold that the windy canyons of Manhattan blew at me from all directions. I met people I knew along the streets…old chums and career colleagues. Acknowledging them without stopping, I continued my search as the coats became sodden and even heavier than when I’d begun traipsing around the city.

Click here for the first appearance of the bear and how it changed my life forever. The graphite pencil illustration below is by Isabelle Bryer, the same artist friend who did The Bear & the Fishgirl.