It’s the most wonderful time of the year! That’s right! It’s 31 Days of Pandas! Everyone’s favorite month of Panda satire! Make some poppy corn, brew up some cocoa (maybe Sister Mary Fluffy’s secret recipe!) and get ready to enjoy some panda satire every day of the month!
Before we get into our Holiday Classics Encore Presentations, we have one more episode of Bears of the Baskervilles! There will be more later this month, but in the meantime, get ready to enjoy some of your favorite ‘toon stories!
Before we fully dive into 31 Days of Pandas, we have a couple more episodes of Bears of the Baskervilles! I’m going to run them today (Tuesday) and then tomorrow (Day 1 of 31 Days of Pandas) and then we will go into our 31 Days of Pandas programming, while I figure out…um…I mean FINISHBears of the Baskervilles. Then I will do a full recap of B of the B towards the end of the month, so it’s not too confusing as I cut in and out of other stories.
Because after 12 years of doing The Panda Chronicles, I have more than a couple holiday stories!
We have many new readers, and those who have been around for lots of this panda journey enjoy seeing them again!
So, here we go with episode 9 of …
Bears of the Baskervilles!!!!
I bet you knew that it was going to be Six and Sebben!
Be sure to ‘toon in tomorrow for ANOTHER episode, and day 1 of 31 Days of Pandas!
I know it’s kind of a cliche to suddenly remember, once a year, that I am grateful for a bunch of stuff, but this being my Birthday Season, and several other minor holidays (ha ha!) that hype thankfulness and gratitude, I must admit that there are things I am grateful for, despite all the traumas of the last 5 years.
Of course 2020 was the worst.
I think I am still suffering from the extreme trauma of TFG’s final (we hope) year in office, with a global pandemic that said former guy used to try to punish his enemies and do a little extra grifting at the same time.
Sigh.
First, I am grateful that most of my friends and panda community have stayed safe through all of this. There were some casualties but in the scheme of things, compared to much of the country, my personal world was not destroyed. It was rocked though, (and not in a good way) and I miss seeing my far flung circle of friends in person.
I am grateful for the daily text check-ins with the Traveling Panda Sisterhood, without which I might have lost my mind. I mean more than usual.
I am grateful that I found needle felting. It was a small miracle that I got to repeatedly stab things without getting arrested. (Note the the FBI: I am referring to making wool animals from wool fiber, so please do not show up on my porch to question me.)
I am grateful to all of you who have decided they couldn’t live without little felt pandas and subsidized my wool purchase.
I am grateful to my writer friends who encourage me on this path and that my agents haven’t fired me.
I am grateful to the galleries and other venues that continue to show and sell my paintings, and keep a roof over my head, and remind me that my 7 years of art school and decades of continuing to put paint on paper and canvas were not wasted effort.
I am grateful to all of you who continue to read my ‘toons, buy my books, and tell me that I am, in fact, funny.
I am grateful for pandas, who provide inspiration every day. I would be REALLY grateful if I could hold a tiny baby panda someday, but I may have to be content with watching videos of panda nannies dandling tiny pandas on their laps, and know that they love their little, fluffy, chubby charges.
I am grateful for so many things
Please say it isn’t so!!!!!
Hey! it’s almost time to get ready for 31 Days of Pandas!!!
One of the things I love about the panda community and the panda satire community is that they are a justice and equality minded bunch, for the most part. (maybe totally: anyone that supported Mittens is probably long gone by now.) In this season of gratitude, I am filled with thankfulness for your friendship and support.
Soon 31 Days of Pandas will be upon us!
I have so many holiday theme stories to fill the month we should have lots of panda entertainment every day(Culminating, of course, with the 12 days of Crispmoss!) I am continuing with episodes of Bears of the Baskervilles, with a new episode coming this week. But rather than have the confusion of interspersing the encore presentations of other holiday tales with new episodes of B.o.t.B (which sort of spells “Bob”) (sort of) I think I will keep writing and drawing new episodes and save them until they are all done, and then replay the entire series, along with the new episodes over several days, which will give you a chance to catch up in case you missed any!
But now, let’s have a bit of some Sunday Fun with some encore presentations!
We have reached the end of 31 Days of Pandas! I hope it was as much fun for you as it was for me! I may have to take a little nap to get over all the excitement! This is also the final episode of Beary Poppins! I hope you enjoyed this parody, loosely (VERYloosely) based of the beloved children’s classic Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers.
It seems that Frank and Mikey have come to live at the Panda House, not unlike the way Tigger eventually came to live with Kanga and Roo, in A. A. Milne’s House at Pooh Corner. Next year I may have to do a story for the pandas based on that. (The REAL Winnie the Pooh, not that bastardized Disney version of it.)
Anyway, after a brief weekend break, I’ll be back with new ‘toons in the new year. Pinky has been surprisingly quiet over her defeat in the Presidential race, although by her tiara, it seems she is already planning for 2024. I’m sure she is up to something.
But now, let’s sit back and enjoy the final episode of Beary Poppins! Huzzah!
Silly old bears!
See ya next year!!!
Panda on!
Bob T Panda
And for the traditionalists among you, here is my ‘toon about New Year’s Eve at the Panda Kindergarten! You’re welcome!
The panda kindergarten at their best…or is that worst?
I guess 2020 could also be the Year of the Un-indicted Co-Conspirator too!
You have survived another year of 31 Days of Pandas. I might add, that we have also survived this terrible, very bad, no good year. I am reminded of all the other terrible, very bad, no good years I have survived in my life, and there have been a few of them. Despite these bad times, by the accidental circumstances of being born white, generally healthy, and to what at the time was a rather middle class family, I have survived those very bad years.
Some of those bad years lead to good things, these panda cartoons and all that followed from them, being one of those good things.
As we head into the new year, I want to express my gratitude once again, for all of you who read my ‘toons, buy my books, and buy my felty creations to share your homes. While the next year may be still hard, at least we won’t go to bed with thoughts of what the mad man in the People’s House is getting up to, while we sleep.
My heart aches for the lives lost this year: from the pandemic, from violence, from all the other reasons that bring unexpected death.
But we rejoice in our miracle baby panda, Mei Xiang’s final gift to us. Here’s to many happy hours of panda cam watching. May we soon be able to gather at the fence of Bikkie’s panda yard and celebrate his miraculous existence together and in person.
And with no further ado, here is the penultimate chapter of Beary Poppins!
I was afraid there would be yelling…so much yelling!
‘Toon in tomorrow for the final chapter of Beary Poppins!
We have one more day of Beary Poppins round up, which will catch us up to all the episodes so far! THEN on Wednesday and Thursday, we will have 2 brand new episodes to close out our story, this no good, terrible, very bad year that we have lived through!
So pop up your poppy corn, and get ready for …
More Beary Poppins!!!!
Bike loves Beary Poppins! Also Rory the Dinosaur by Liz Climo
I think Biscuit and Beary Poppins are forming a real bond!
It wasn’t me!
A promise is a promise, even among grizzly bears!
Let’s go fly a kite…
uh oh. As with Chekov’s gun, if you introduce a kite in the first panel, by the third panel, a small panda must become tangled in the strings and go for a ride.
I…um…promise to get Bikkie down from his kite…just not today. Sorry.
Disaster has been (temporarily diverted! Not here, but in real life! I was sitting around musing obsessing about 45’s unwillingness to sign the COVID relief/budget package (as meager as it is) and worrying about the further devastation to people’s lives as even this little bit of money was withheld, and oh yeah, what a sh*tshow it would be if they shut the government down and then I realized IF THE GOVERNMENT SHUTS DOWN SO DOES BIKKIE’S PANDACAM!!!!!
Fortunately that did not happen.
24 Days, people!
And now, here are more episodes of Beary Poppins, to get you through the day!
Why DIDN’T I eat all the cookies?
Don’t you just LOVE six and Sebben?
Gosh I really hate to leave you on this cliffhanger for the weekend, but…
So…I have seen a few rumblings about the delay in finding out if Bikkie indeed ever comes back to earth. I *might* remind you I have never let any actual harm come to any of my pandas. I *might* also admit to creating just a wee bit of tension and danger into a story. It wouldn’t be nearly as compelling to come back and see what happens if it were not for that.
As a wonderful writer once said in a workshop, “…chase your protagonist up a tree. Now, set the tree on fire.” (Note: I am NOT going to set the kite string on fire, but hey! That would be pretty dramatic, huh?) (Writer is Heather Petty. Read her books, y’all!)
Meanwhile, it’s time for the next catch up episodes of Beary Poppins!
This hat doesn’t make me look…um…too fluffy does it?
Frank is off on a new adventure!
Beary Poppins has arrived! Is there any cake? It’s been a long flight!
I wonder why no one else applied for the job!
I just love Mei’s little chats with her sister Lun Lun.
Oh dear, this IS awkward! I seem to have left little Bikkie hanging from a kite, high above Beary Poppins and Unka Mikey, along with the rest of the small pandas. And now, I am going to just leave them there, while I spend the next 4 days re-capping our story from the beginning!
So let’s go! Here are the first 5 episodes of Beary Poppins!
Oh boy! Oh boy! A NEW story!!!!
I can hardly stand the suspense! Who will play Beary Poppins???
A spoonful of frosting makes the medicine go down, the medicine go down, medicine go down!
The ad is mailed, but Mittens is up to some dirty tricks….But wait! Look who found the mail box!!!
Bears are VERY curious!
‘Toon in tomorrow for the next installments!
Panda on!
Bob T less than a month left of Mittens Panda!
