Teddy bears

Matilda And The Lemon Curd Shortbread

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 1 Comment

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

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

 

A Birthday Clown For Miki De Goodaboom

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 2 Comments

By Truffle McFurry

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)
 
Today is my Mom’s birthday! She always loves a happy birthday, loaded with lovely presents and great food and kind birthday greetings, but today will be different. My Mom is so sad, it is breaking my heart…

So yesterday, all my sisters and brothers and mates, we have all broken our Piggy banks to buy a nice present for her. Even our house Minion gave an Euro to it… I do wonder though where it had the Euro from, had he perhaps stolen it and nobody noticed? Anyway, we all wanted to buy for Miki something which would made her laugh. Because as everybody else in this world, my Mom is never more beautiful than when she laughs!!!

And so we found that happy clown by the Chinese shop on the corner… You know, the Chinese are the cheapest, so luckily we could offer it. And then I put clothes on which I know Miki loves (me not that much, they are a bit too girly for a real boy like me…) and we all went to wake up her up today waving the clown at her face and singing “Happy Birthday”.

And it worked: she did laugh!

A Birthday Clown For Miki S

 

Bear With Hard Rock Cafe

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 1 Comment

By Miki de Goodaboom

For many years, Truffle’s Dad – Kev Moore, The English Rocker- and me have always visited the local Hard Rock Cafes, whenever there was one where we travelled. We enjoyed looking at all the Memorabilia exhibited in these places, enjoyed the food, and, last but not least, before leaving, the obligatory visit to the shop, in search of some nice commemorative T-Shirt for Kev who is collecting them.
 
And me, from the moment Truffle entered my life, my eyes were only attracted by the Hard Rock Cafe bears… unfortunately, at the beginning, Truffle was very jealous and scared that another Teddy could take his place in my heart, so I never dared getting one. Yes, these jealousy things are so tough to handle, and Teddy bears are no different in that matter! Instead, I tried persuading the shop attendants to sell me the hoodies or shirts they Teddies wore, but they never did: they were only available with the bears.

And now, Truffle has understood that he does not need to be jealous.. but… I doubt I will ever visit a Hard Rock Cafe again! I would love though to paint a series of these bears, so I am asking you all, who have such a Hard Rock Cafe Teddy, and would like to share him and his story with me and Truffle and the world: PLEASE contact us, or leave a photo and the connected story in the comment thread. I would love that so much!

Here is an example of A French Teddy bear from the Hard Rock Cafe in Paris, France…

 

Paris Hard Rock Cafe Bear S

 

Camembear

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 3 Comments

By Kev Le Chat

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

When I was a reasonably typical thoughtless twenty-something, I was hit with something that was hard to comprehend. My Mum was diagnosed with cancer.  Being useless at expressing my feelings properly at the best of times, I did something spontaneous….I bought her a big teddy bear. It was probably a bit mental really, but in fact, felt like the completely natural thing to do, and she kept it in her bedroom always.

When she passed away, it came to me. I don’t know if she never named him, perhaps she did. But I so know that he is a lovely reminder of my Mum, not a painful one. When we visited New Orleans many years later, Miki and I brought him some Mardis Gras beads and some New Orleans Saints sunglasses, shaled like fleur-de-lys. He’s become somehow synoymous with The Big Easy since then! …and the French connection doesn’t end there, because on Planet Goodaboom, he was given a name ( you can’t live there without one) …it is Camembear!

Bear on Bourbon S copy

Bearnadette In The Salon Rue Des Moulins

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By Miki de Goodaboom

Once Truffle McFurry, my very first Teddy Bear, had entered my life, there was no stop any more: I wanted many more bears in my life!

And as my favourite colour is pink, I got “Bearnadette”, a fluffy 30 cm Teddy bear with pink fur! First she only wore a  pink bow around her neck. But Bearnadette is very fashionable and loves to dress up, so I bought her many girl clothes.

Bearnadette loves art too. So the other day, as I came back from a painting trip in Albi, France, I showed her paintings from Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, as he was born in Albi and I had visited his museum. She loved the one with all the pretty Madames in The salon Rue des Moulins and said:

“I want to be there too, it is so beautiful!

I told her that it is a very special place… not really for Teddy Bears… but Bearnadette insisted, and this is when I got a great idea for our new project “Go Teddy!”:

I will paint Teddy bears in famous paintings, photographs or film scenes. You know, like a Teddy Bear instead of Mona Lisa, things like that. Human like to do it sometimes, then why not Teddy bears?

So I painted Bearnadette in the salon, very dressed up, with a hat almost reaching to the roof! She wanted to be painted very tall, as she felt a bit shy among the Madames! I hope you like it!

Bearnadette In The Salon In The Rue Des Moulins S