Truffle McFurry

I Want To Lay You Down In A Bed Of Roses

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 1 Comment

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

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 1 Comment

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

/ 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

Georgia And Pedro

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 1 Comment

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

/ 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

 

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

 

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