I wanted to share this photo of a black bear that my Father in law John took while we were upstate apple picking. We were heading out of the town of Warrick back to NYC when Cam, who was driving, said “Look, there’s a bear in a tree”. Sure enough, there, by the side of the road sitting in the fork of a tree was a beautiful black bear. We parked the car and (some of us) got out for a look. being the brave one that I am, I walked over to have a closer look and while Grandma was saying “Don’t go over there Johnny!” I encouraged Grandpop to go even closer and take a photo “He’ll be fine”, I said as he and I strode on. It was so exhilarating to see this powerful animal in the wild. After living in Alaska for three years, and hearing the horrible stories of people being attacked and injured, dogs being killed and having a sense of fear while hiking (and having to carry a shot gun while on remote hikes) seeing this bear so close was amazing. There was a tremendous feeling of respect for the animal, and I was overcome by the wonder of nature and how life manifests in so many forms. The bear seemed so real because it was free, and to be honest the bear seemed more scared us, than we were of it.