books

The Urso Majors

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By Miki de Goodaboom

Well, I guess it is time to introduce “The Urso Majors”:

  • Ann La Mar, Yorkshire girl, reporter at Goteddy , cook, writer, and much more…
  • Truffle McFurry, Teddy from over the moon, traveller and writer and supporter of all Teddy bears around the world
  • me, Miki de Goodaboom, French artist, mathematician and writer

We three have visited together many places in North Yorkshire during September 2016. The result is a series of illustrated books written by us and illustrated by me..

The first volume is set to be published in ebook form very soon.

We will keep you updated!

01 Ann Truffle and Miki S

 

 

 

Upside Down Christmas With Paddingtons And Piccadilly

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By Ann La Mar

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

 

In my role as roving reporter for Miki I am given all sorts of interesting tasks. I was thrilled to be put on Paddington Patrol.

I was keen to get on with this so while on a shopping trip in Yarm I was over the moon to find Paddington in Waterstones book shop window. I had my phone out in a flash and began taking photos. Looking closely at the scene it was really quite amusing. A big Paddington was surrounded by Paddington books and behind him was a Christmas tree with gingerbread men, candy canes and little Paddington decorations. The thing that caught my eye was this cute little Paddington suspended upside down from the top of the tree clinging on to the branches he really looked as though he had made an early start on the Christmas sherry! I couldn’t wait to get home to send Miki the pictures.

Once home I was thinking of this poor little Paddington and asking myself why I didn’t buy him and rescue him from his precarious position. I mentioned this to Miki and of course she said ‘Why didn’t you’!

First thing the next morning, feeling rather guilty I went back to Waterstones and asked the girl in the shop if I could possibly rescue the poor little Paddington from their window display. She was very amused and proceeded to get him from the tree. He was suspended by his leg with fishing line poor little thing. This little bear had ‘spoken’ to me and we had a connection so he was the only one I wanted. I was delighted to set him free and bring him home.

Next came his name, as the real Paddington bear was named after Paddington station where he was found and Miki and Truffle have Euston bear from Paddington’s family living with them, I decided this family member must also be named after a station. I looked at the underground stations and came up with Piccadilly because he was in a Pickle when I first saw him and ‘dilly’ loosely means delighted and I was certainly delighted to have him. Miki loves his name and thinks it is very funny and so like an ‘upside down’ Paddington.

Upside Down Christmas With Paddingtons S

 

PS: If you are interested in prints of this painting, they are available in many different sizes on paper, metal, canvas, wood, etc. Also on pillows, covers, phone cases, Tote bags, shower curtains, T-shirts, notebooks, towels and many more.  Just click on the painting, it will bring you to Miki de Goodaboom’s  online shop.

I Am A Real Writer Now

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By Truffle McFurry

(Illustrations by Miki de Goodaboom)

Hi everybody!

I told you I am writing books, but my Mom told me that as long as they are not published, i am not a real writer yet.
But now I am really a real writer: my story of visiting the Bear House from my friend Gyles Brandreth in England has been published in an international Teddy Bear magazine. Part 1. Next month is part 2. I am so happy, and my Mom and my Dad are so proud of me!
And I hope, so are YOU!

Love you all xx

Truffle

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Teddy Alphonse At Fontvieille Windmill

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 1 Comment

By Ann La Mar

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

One day in early March while racing round making holiday preparations I went to Thornaby on Tees. The little shopping centre there doesn’t have all the fancy chain stores but enough shops to provide basic provisions to the community. It was an ideal place to go for my last minute bits and pieces and the parking is easy.
As I was wandering and as is habit nowadays…probably addiction…. any way one of my many guilty pleasures…I went towards the charity shops, there are three close together to look for teddy bears. I went in the first two and didn’t find any bear that I felt…all teddy bears are beautiful but I like to feel something personal from them. Outside the third shop was a tombola..now I’m not sure how Miki and Truffle would feel about this (maybe they will tell you) and I didn’t tell them at the time because they had so much sadness going on in their lives it didn’t seem right. The tombola was raffling very many orphaned bears all sitting patiently waiting to be loved in new families. I couldn’t pass by and not try to bring some home so I had ten goes on this tombola and not one bear was to come with me.
I went in the shop thinking should I try again then I saw a higgledy piggledy pile of bears and other creatures in a basket in the corner so I began looking in the basket and the back of a yellow patterned waistcoat stood out so I lifted out the bundle and to my joy it was a beautiful little cream coloured bear. He looked so cute in his waistcoat and he was also carrying a sign saying Provence… I had found my bear…Miki and I have had conversations about Provence so he was perfect. I went and paid for him then as I was leaving lots of children were at the tombola so I hope they had teddy bears to take home. I had to walk quickly otherwise I would have gone back and tried to get them all.
Once my bear was safely home I took a good look at him and discovered he was indeed a real French bear from Colmar in the Alsace region of France. Hopefully one day we will all go on a trip and take him home for a visit.

Next he had to have a name so I searched the internet for famous people from Provence while reading the list I read about Alphonse Daudet a writer…he wrote’ Lettres de mon Moulin’ about life at the windmill in Fontvieille well this was an amazing coincidence  as Miki had told me her family name was Fonvielle ( a modernised  version of Fontvieille meaning ‘old source’)….so he had to be called Alphonse.

I took his picture and sent it to Miki saying meet Alphonse, she adored him and asked me to bring him to Spain the following week. Alphonse was going on holiday to meet Miki and Truffle.

PS: Miki de Goodaboom here. Truffle and me did meet Alphonse, what a beautiful bear he is! And a perfect personage to invite you to visit the Provence, and the Fontvieille Moulin. My Dad loved teh Lettre De Mon Moulin, the famosu book written by Alphonse Daudet. For those who know the book and its characters, my Dad made a phenomenal impression of the “Curé de Cucugan”… it still cracks me up when i think of his face doing it!

 

Alphonse At Fontvieille Windmill S

 

 

Me And Me

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By Truffle McFurry

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

Hallo everybody!

My Mom and me are very busy writing and painting our two books, it is a huge work! I think it will take ages until we are finished.

One of the books is about our Tour de Yorkshire with our reporter Ann La Mar. I am not allowed to tell you many details, but I can show you the images of the book which have to do with the Teddy Bears or other furry creatures we met.

But today, it is just about me and me. Ann la Mar loves me very much, and has me on her screen on her new iPhone. Miki sent her the photo of me posing as a professional footballer for the Europa Championship, some months ago. She loved it so much that she is looking at it all the time on her phone.

On the painting, I am sitting in a lovely Cafe in Whitby, on the English coast, with Ann La Mar’s phone. More about it in the book.

Be patient!

Take care, love you all

Truffle McFurry

whitby-truffle-and-iphone-s

A Bibliophile Teddy Bear In Great Ayton

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 1 Comment

By Truffle McFurry

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

Hallo everybody!

My Mom Miki and me have just come back from an exploring and painting trip through North Yorkshire in England. We had been invited by our amazing “Go Teddy!”‘s reporter Ann La Mar. She was the best guide ever, she knew every little corner and road, and she showed us so many beautiful things!

It was so exciting that Miki, Ann and Me have decided to write a book together about our adventures there. I cannot tell you much now, because if I did, you would not want to buy the book, and you need to buy it, because I want it to become a best-seller” I need serious pocket money, but I cannot tell you why now!

I saw that funny bear with the golden glasses in a shop in Great Ayton, where Captain Cook went to school. That bear was a “bibliophile” (Miki told me!), somebody who loves books. I love that word, and I will use it very often, because it is the best way to learn it for ever! I am a bibliophile too, I love books, but I don’t really love reading, I prefer when my Mom reads out loud for me!

Love you all, take care! xx

great-ayton-teddy-bear-s

Truffle McFurry Reading The Teddy Bear Hall Of Fame

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 1 Comment

By Truffle McFurry

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

 

Hi Everybody!

Some days ago I had a big surprise: I received a book! Yes, me, Truffle, got that book addressed to me on Planet Goodaboom. It was a gift from my Mom, she had ordered it on the Internet and it came all way from England. I was over the moon! It is my first book ever, and I know it will be my favourite book for ever.

It is an amazing book. It is called “The Teddy Bear Hall Of Fame:”, and it is written by a wonderful lady called Michele Brown. She is the wife of Gyles Brandreth,  and they have the most beautiful collection of Teddy Bears in the world. We hope we will visit it soon in England, perhaps even this summer already.

The book is full of beautiful images of their bears, and Michele tells stories about them. They are all famous bears, you know. Not like me. Really famous bears, like Paddington bear, Winnie-The-Pooh, Rupert bear, François, etc.

And then there is that amazing one, called William Shakesbeare. Michele writes:

“… this is a bear of very great brain…”

and he has written fine plays like “Macbear”, “The Merry Bears of Windsor” and “Two Gentlebears of Verona”.

I am a writer too, you know. I am writing a book right now. And if I do meet William one day, I will speak to him, from writer to writer. Perhaps he can then give me some tips how to write a bearseller!

And do you know what? Gyles did William! Gyles is my big hero now, he has even sent us an email saying that he is looking forward to meet me! You don’t believe it? Well, it is true!

The Teddy Bear Hall Of Fame S

 

Teddy Bear Times

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 1 Comment

By Truffle McFurry

Hallo everybody!

We are back from Portugal, I have seen the Rams playing footie against Benfica (they lost a lot though…) and many beautiful places! I hope Miki will soon do some paintings of me there and I can show you.

But for now, I have fabulous news: I am getting famous… at least I hope so. Me and “Go Teddy!” and Miki, we are featured in that great international magazine called “Teddy Bear Times”, with a big article and many of the bear paintings.

It starts in the first page with one of the bears from the series “My Teddy And Me”… but the amazing thing is that within the painting they have put the famous English broadcaster Gyles Brandreth holding one of his bears! He is a big fan of Teddy bears, and has a huge collection. And do you know what? Ann La Mar, our wonderful reporter at “Go Teddy!” has invited us to visit Gyles’ collection at Newby Hall, when we will go over there in August.

I am SO excited, I can’t wait!

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Rupert And Rupert

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By Miki de Goodaboom

(Illustration based on photos sent by a Go Teddy’s Follower from the UK)

I recently had the immense surprise to receive 2 photos from somebody in the UK who has started following Go Teddy. Both photos were featuring “Rupert”, in very different forms.

Now, I said it before, I was introduced to Teddy Bears very late in my life, and consequently my Teddy bear culture is quite poor. But I am working at it, and I hope that Teddy Bear lovers around the world will help me knowing as much as possible about Teddy Bears. Some are already doing, and my  Truffle McFurry and Me  are very thankful to them…

I did not know Rupert, and I had to research him. Wikipedia told me many interesting things about him. Basically, Rupert Bear is a children’s comic strip character created by the English artist Mary Tourel and first appearing in the Daily Express newspaper on 8 November 1920. Interesting is that originally, Rupert is depicted as a brown bear, but his colour soon changed to white to save on printing costs!

Now this person from the UK sent me a photo of his Rupert Teddy Bear, a white Bear. And he sent me a photo of a very special brown Rupert, to be found in Linford Park Wood, Milton Keynes.

So I decided to paint them both together in that beautiful wood… and here they are!

Rupert And Rupert S

Paddington Arrived To Spain

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 3 Comments

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