Month: May 2016

The Doo Doo Bears

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By Miki de Goodaboom

 

Truffle Mcfurry and me  recently spent some days at my parents’ in Benidorm, on the Costa Blanca in Spain. And as we both love to see how Teddy Bears look like in the places we visit, we went on Teddy Bear photo safari. Also sometimes, we might find some who need to be rescued and adopted!

This is when I saw “The Doo Doo Bears”. To be completely honest they are called “Dou-Dou”, but I prefer the double “oo”, because it looks funnier and also to make sure that English people speak it the right way. It would be terrible if they called them Dou-Dou, like in “trout!!!

Truffle and me fell totally in love with the Doo Doo Bears, they are so immensely cute and cuddly! Truffle wanted one for himself, with his name embroidered on it. He said this would certainly help him falling asleep when he has got insomnia, and he would even share it with me when necessary. But he had been naughty with the Mime shortly before  and I did not get him one.

Well, I should have known better, I am upset now, I would love to have one in our bed!

PS: … and yes, you understood it correctly, Truffle sleeps with me…

Doo Doo Bears S

The Mime From Benidorm

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By Truffle McFurry

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

 

My Mom Miki and me, we recently spent some days by my grandparents, in Benidorm, on the Costa Blanca in Spain. Miki wanted to go on Teddy Bear photo Safari down-town, and of course I went with her.

There I suddenly saw a statue on the middle of the street, wearing a beautiful pink long dress and a pink hat. I asked Miki about the statue. She explained to me that it was not a statue, that it was a real person. That such a person is called “A Mime”, and the aim is to stand or sit there, without moving at all , like a statue, looking beautiful and getting money for it. I observed it a while, and indeed people were stopping and putting money in the box.

Well, I thought, I can do that too! Teddy Bears are great at not moving, and Miki tells me all the time how beautiful I am. And anyway I was wearing blue clothes, I thought it would look pretty with the pink from the mime. Blue for the boy, pink for the girl! So I went and sat in front of the Mime, didn’t move at all, looked beautiful, and waited. I thought this way we could sure earn more money, and we could split it.

But then, after a little while Miki, busy somewhere else, noticed me there and screamed. The Mime  was looking at me with very angry eyes in the middle of her white face. She had just opened her eyes, more was she not allowed to move, you know… Miki grabbed me by my nose and put me back in her bag. I  heard her apologising by the Mime, who did not answer at all . Such an impolite creature! Miki was quite upset with me and explained to me that one does not do such things with Mimes!

Well, I have no idea why, and Miki said I am too young to understand! But many people had gathered there to look at us, I am sure they would have eventually thrown money into the box. But we were already gone, it is so unfair!

And you know what: when I look carefully at the Mime’s face, I think she was not a girl at all! So, on top of it, I think she was cheating! Miki often says that honesty does not always pay… I understand now what she means!

 

The Mime From Benidorm S

William

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By Ann La Mar, from the UK

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

William came to live with us in 1996. I remember this because he came with our new car,  a Vauxhall Corsa, which was a special edition for the Euro 96 Football Tournament.

William’s  name is after my grandfather who in 1996 celebrated his 100th birthday. He had a lovely party and received a telegram from Her Majesty The Queen.

William has lived in Spain since 2009 along with his brothers Churro and Benjamin..

PS: Miki hopes she won’t be put in jail for forging Queen’s signature in the painting!!!

 

William S

I Want To Lay You Down In A Bed Of Roses

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By Miki de Goodaboom

I was recently watching a  dramatic German TV film, about a young girl surviving a car accident in which she lost her mother. As she never knew her father, she was first taken in by her grand-parents, but the girl was too much trouble and the grand-parents could not deal with it. So the best friend of the girl’s mother, a married man, decided to take her home. But the troubles went on, even worse as the girl was jealous of the man’s wife.  At some point, no more knowing what to do with her, he went to her old house and got her beloved Teddy Tear, which had been left behind in the whole chaos following the accident. He brought Teddy to the girl, hoping that he at least could help her.

But some hours later, as  he entered her room, he saw the bear lying there, abandoned as if dead, and she  totally disconnected, lost in her thoughts from another world where there was no place any more for her Teddy bear.

Well, this image hurt me immensely, so much more than any of the tough scenes I had seen in the film. It just broke my heart. To me it was the strongest symbol of the girl’s despair. When Teddy can’t help any more, then nothing else can help… I know exactly that if the day comes when I won’t be bothered any more about my dear Truffle McFurry , then my life will stop.

I know it is a heavy subject, but I had to paint it and to write about it. And as it often happens when I paint, Teddy was suddenly lying on a red surface and Bon Jovi’s song came instantaneously to my head. For the next few days I could not stop hearing it haunting my inner space:

“…
I want to lay you down in a bed of roses
For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails
I want to be just as close as the Holy Ghost is
And lay you down on a bed of roses …”

I Want To Lay You Down On A Bed Of Roses Bis S

Golliver’s Travel

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By Truffle McFurry

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

I am just a little Teddy Bear, and I don’t do politics and I don’t know much about PC. Well, I do already know a bit about Personal Computer, but not about Politic Correctness! And from what I have heard about it recently, it seems to be weird stuff.

Well, sometimes I have my strong opinions, but normally I don’t get public with them, because I am scared. They say, everybody is spying on you on the internet nowadays.

But now I feel  I have to speak out very loudly. The other day I met my wonderful Auntie Ann from the UK. She presented me my Teddy bear cousins, and then she presented me Golliver. Well, to tell the truth, this was not his real name. She said, his real name is not allowed, because of PC. And she said, Golliver was even banned from the world.  Because he is black!!!

Now I got worried. To start with, Golliver is so beautiful, and was loved by million of children and grown-ups around the world, so why did they ban him? Just because he is black? Is that PC? Why don’t they ban white dolls as well?

But what got me really worried, is that I am black too. All my Teddy bear brothers and sisters and cousins and mates have a light fur. I am the only dark one… does that mean that they will ban me too? That I won’t be able to have my own Facebook page and my website any more? Why not? Many people love me so much! My Mom Miki loves me so much, and my Dad, and my Auntie Ann, and my Auntie Pamaretto, and my Auntie Nelle… and my brothers and sisters and cousins…

Anyway, we all love Golliver and we are immensely happy that he travelled all the way down from the UK to  Mojacar, Andalucia. We love him so much, he is so beautiful and so funny, and he will never be banned from our lovely town!

Miki would be immensely to paint your own Golli! So please, if you have one, contact us, send us a photo and tell us his personal story and we will publish it here!

Please, protect us all!

Go Golliver, Go Teddy!!!

 

Gollivers Travel S

 

 

Matilda And The Lemon Curd Shortbread

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By Truffle McFurry

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

Hello…

Today I am very sad… It is my Dad’s birthday, and he cannot be with me. He did come home to spend a bit of time with me, but not much… I was happy to see him, of course, but it is not the same when I know he has to go away again…

I told you already, yesterday evening we met Auntie Ann, from the UK, and we had a fabulous time! I had put my green camouflage clothes on, you know, because I am famous now, and I wanted to go incognito to the lovely beach cafe in Mojacar. But when I arrived there, I noticed that there was hardly anything green around, apart from the palm trees and they are anyway in the sky! Clear that these clothes were made in the UK… here in Mojacar you need blue camouflage, because of the blue sea and the blue sky everywhere!

Auntie Ann brought us a wonderful porcellan mug from England, with a cute Teddy bear on it. She is called Matilda. I don’t know who is Matilda though, the bear or the mug. And she also brought us an amazing tin, on which is written:
“All butter lemon curd & almond shortbread rounds”

As Miki saw me so sad, she decided to make me a hot chocolate in the new mug, and to have some cookies with it… she even painted a heart with cream on the hot choc! Well, I tell you they are the most amazing cookies I have ever eaten!

And then I asked Miki to paint it all, and she kind of lost the plot… she is sad too, you know… she totally miscounted the hours on the wall clock, painted 14 instead of 12. As I told her she said:

“Sometimes one needs more time in life!”

And she even forgot the hands on the clock! I did not say anything about it… I guess time stood still in her heart…

But I asked her to write the make of the cookies very big on the tin, because it is a good advertising for them and we might get many freebies!!!

Thank you Auntie Ann, for the great time and the lovely gifts, you are the best Auntie in the whole world!

Matilda And The Lemon Curd Shortbread S

Georgia And Pedro

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By Ann La Mar, from the UK

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom, based on a photo provided by ClaireBear)

 

I was so excited to be Georgia’s god mother and that Claire thought I was up to this task! I bought Pedri for her in Spain. I told him all about Claire and what wonderful cakes she bakes. Chocolate cake, cup cakes and carrot cake really made Pedro want to go to the UK very quickly. It was the marzipan on the Battenburg cake that got him excited, he loved almonds.

So he came on the plane with me and was taken by car to Claire’s “House of Cakes” where he and Georgia have been friends ever since. Now Georgia has grown up, she helps with baking cakes so Pedro has a continuous supply of his favourite cakes… one very happy bear!

Georgia And Pedro S

Paddington Arrived To Spain

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By Miki de Goodaboom

I don’t really know how that happened, but Paddington has just arrived to my town in Turre, Andalucia, Spain. And to be honest, until he arrived, I had no idea who he was! I said it before, my Teddy bear culture is very poor, but it is something I am working hard to better. And in the meanwhile I have done some research and found out that Paddington has been incredibly famous for many many  years, all around the world!

Anyway… he told us that somebody put him in a direct train to Turre at Paddington station, in England, with that suitcase in his hand, and telling him to ask for Miki de Goodaboom when he arrives in Turre. That he was a birthday gift for her, and that he should live with her and Truffle McFurry and all his brothers and sisters and mates on Planet Goodaboom. And in his little suitcase, there were not his usual marmalade sandwiches, but 8 wonderful little books telling some of his life stories.

You can imagine my surprise as he stood there at the entrance of our town, waving the Spanish flag! I have no idea though which kind of train he took, as we don’t have a railways station here in Turre, despite that mega train track running through Andalucia… a building ruin in the meanwhile… It must be a magic train then, like the one Harry Potter is taking to go back to school…

So far our Paddington speaks only some sentences in English:

“I’m a very rare sort of bear”

Marmalade sandwiches are my favourite”

“It’s nice being a bear, especially a bear called Paddington”

Well, we are immensely thankful to welcome Paddington on Planet Goodaboom, and we hope he will live here happy until the end of times… which, I hope, will never happen! In the meanwhile we will send Paddington to Spanish classes…

Paddington Arrival In Spain S

 

Captain Abearica

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By Miki de Goodaboom

As we drove up to the South of France some weeks ago, we stopped at a highway store to buy some water and discovered very unusual, very cute 33cl bottles from the famous make Fontvella (Danone). They are shaped and brilliantly designed like some kids favourites Marvel Avengers Characters (Thor, Ironman, Captain America) and also the Frozen characters (Elsa, Anna and Olaf).

They are meant for kids aged between 4 and 11, but I can tell you, big kids -such as us- love them too and we bought all of them!

As I came back to Spain, I told a friend in the UK about these bottles. And last week, I had the immense surprise to receive a photo of a Captain America Teddy Bear: my friend has got friends who have a child who received that bear for his birthday recently!

I was over the moon, such a wonderful subject for my “Go Teddy” site, I thought. And of course,  I had to paint that new bear with the Captain America bottle in his hand.

I called the bear “Captain Abearica”.. I hope you get it! If you don’t, wait until you have got a big cold and speak out loud “Captain America”… then you will understand!

Captain Abearica S

 

Group Portrait With Auntie Nelle Teddy Bears

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By Miki de Goodaboom

(Illustration based on a photo by Auntie Nelle)

As Truffle’s Auntie Nelle, from the North of France, heard about “Go Teddy”, aour project to love and protect and paint all the teddy Bears from our world and beyond, she was so kind to send us a beautiful photograph of her 3 bear children.

We were so over the moon!

Then I asked her for the name of her bears, but she said they haven’t got any names! Now she must have her reasons for that, she is a very intelligent person, so she sure knows what she does!

But I could not help calling the little one in the middle, the one wearing the white hoodie, “Capuchino”.. simply because “capuche”, in French, means “hood”!

I had much pleasure painting these new cousins of Truffle, but it was tough. They have all three a very sophisticated fur, with colours difficult to render! And also, one is not so sure where one bear ends and the other begins, but it does not matter, Teddy bears are simply a big lovely family and are all united!

Auntie Nelle Bear Family S