03.18.07
All change in the woods!!
We have decided to joins blogs with how good friend Richard. All new post by us will now be at Richards’ Realm . Look under Teddy Bears Think. This is now how new home of the the wondeful wide web.
02.13.07
Reminiscing & Daydreaming
Chaucer and I were in a nostalgic mood this morning, so we enjoyed a trip down memory lane. Getting the rather heavy photo albums up onto the bed was hard work, but well worth it. We sat on the bed for hours, happily flicking through the pages of snaps taken over many years by Richard and Laura on our travels. I think our favourite album was the one which contained the photos of Italy. We loved our time there, although we didn’t like the journey much. It’s very uncomfortable being stuffed into a suitcase, and then thrown into the cargo hold of a plane by scary men, not to mention that it was absolutely freezing cold. It was a small price to pay for such a great trip though, and I’m sure if Richard and Laura knew we were alive just like them they would have been more than happy to book us a couple of seats inside the plane with them. We did have fun though in the cargo hold, we managed to get out of the suitcases and play with some other Teddy Bears, they had also been squashed into suitcases. It’s not easy being Teddy Bears, and it’s especially not easy being Teddy Bears who have real feelings. But we love our life, and we love Richard and Laura. We feel happy and safe with them, and maybe soon we will tell them we are alive!
A man who has not been to Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority, from his not having seen what it is expected a man should see. The grand object of travelling is to see the shores of the Mediterranean. Samuel Johnson
02.08.07
Bad Hair Day
Chaucer and I are having a bad hair day. I know many women, and some men have the same problem, but for us Teddy Bears it is a much bigger problem. We don’t just have to worry about the hair on our heads, we are completely covered from head to paw in hair ~ fur. It is so hard to keep it smooth and silky, and as for the amount of grey … it is so depressing getting older. It’s just as well that it is raining today, as with our mass of tangles we would not want to venture outside anyway.
Regrets are the natural property of grey hairs. Charles Dickens
01.30.07
Auguries of Innocence ~ William Blake
Nothing to say today, so we thought we would post this because ……. we like it.
To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all heaven in a rage.
A dove-house fill’d with doves and pigeons
Shudders hell thro’ all its regions.
A dog starv’d at his master’s gate
Predicts the ruin of the state.
A horse misused upon the road
Calls to heaven for human blood.
Each outcry of the hunted hare
A fibre from the brain does tear.
A skylark wounded in the wing,
A cherubim does cease to sing.
The game-cock clipt and arm’d for fight
Does the rising sun affright.
Every wolf’s and lion’s howl
Raises from hell a human soul.
The wild deer, wand’ring here and there,
Keeps the human soul from care.
The lamb misus’d breeds public strife,
And yet forgives the butcher’s knife.
The bat that flits at close of eve
Has left the brain that won’t believe.
The owl that calls upon the night
Speaks the unbeliever’s fright.
He who shall hurt the little wren
Shall never be belov’d by men.
He who the ox to wrath has mov’d
Shall never be by woman lov’d.
The wanton boy that kills the fly
Shall feel the spider’s enmity.
He who torments the chafer’s sprite
Weaves a bower in endless night.
The caterpillar on the leaf
Repeats to thee thy mother’s grief.
Kill not the moth nor butterfly,
For the last judgement draweth nigh.
He who shall train the horse to war
Shall never pass the polar bar.
The beggar’s dog and widow’s cat,
Feed them and thou wilt grow fat.
The gnat that sings his summer’s song
Poison gets from slander’s tongue.
The poison of the snake and newt
Is the sweat of envy’s foot.
The poison of the honey bee
Is the artist’s jealousy.
The prince’s robes and beggar’s rags
Are toadstools on the miser’s bags.
A truth that’s told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.
It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro’ the world we safely go.
Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
The babe is more than swaddling bands;
Every farmer understands.
Every tear from every eye
Becomes a babe in eternity;
This is caught by females bright,
And return’d to its own delight.
The bleat, the bark, bellow, and roar,
Are waves that beat on heaven’s shore.
The babe that weeps the rod beneath
Writes revenge in realms of death.
The beggar’s rags, fluttering in air,
Does to rags the heavens tear.
The soldier, arm’d with sword and gun,
Palsied strikes the summer’s sun.
The poor man’s farthing is worth more
Than all the gold on Afric’s shore.
One mite wrung from the lab’rer’s hands
Shall buy and sell the miser’s lands;
Or, if protected from on high,
Does that whole nation sell and buy.
He who mocks the infant’s faith
Shall be mock’d in age and death.
He who shall teach the child to doubt
The rotting grave shall ne’er get out.
He who respects the infant’s faith
Triumphs over hell and death.
The child’s toys and the old man’s reasons
Are the fruits of the two seasons.
The questioner, who sits so sly,
Shall never know how to reply.
He who replies to words of doubt
Doth put the light of knowledge out.
The strongest poison ever known
Came from Caesar’s laurel crown.
Nought can deform the human race
Like to the armour’s iron brace.
When gold and gems adorn the plow,
To peaceful arts shall envy bow.
A riddle, or the cricket’s cry,
Is to doubt a fit reply.
The emmet’s inch and eagle’s mile
Make lame philosophy to smile.
He who doubts from what he sees
Will ne’er believe, do what you please.
If the sun and moon should doubt,
They’d immediately go out.
To be in a passion you good may do,
But no good if a passion is in you.
The whore and gambler, by the state
Licensed, build that nation’s fate.
The harlot’s cry from street to street
Shall weave old England’s winding-sheet.
The winner’s shout, the loser’s curse,
Dance before dead England’s hearse.
Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born,
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.
Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.
We are led to believe a lie
When we see not thro’ the eye,
Which was born in a night to perish in a night,
When the soul slept in beams of light.
God appears, and God is light,
To those poor souls who dwell in night;
But does a human form display
To those who dwell in realms of day.
To those poor souls who dwell in night;
But does a human form display
To those who dwell in realms of day.
01.28.07
Greedy Teddy Bears
I cooked lunch today to give Chaucer a rest. He looks after me so well, and I wanted to let him know how much I appreciate it. I am not as good at cooking as Chaucer, I guess it’s because he has had more practice. I made us a tasty meal of sauted potatoes and onion, into which I put some sliced smoked salmon, and I topped it with grilled bacon, and an egg. It was delicious, especially the salmon, us Teddy Bears love smoked salmon. I think I cooked too much though, more to the point I dished up too much, and because it was so nice we ate it all. Now we are so full all we want to do is sleep, so we’re off for an afternoon nap.
01.22.07
Not Quite Billionaires
Forbes have named the top three richest women in entertainment. They are 1-Oprah Winfrey, 2-J K Rowling, 3-Martha Stewart. I have read too many conflicting amounts to know exactly how much these women are worth, but it is safe to say they are very wealthy. Good for them, I hope they enjoy all of the things that having money affords them. I think it is odd that just because a person is entertaining, be it by writing, singing, acting etc, they can become a millionaire or even a billionaire. There are many people who really make the world a better place, and yet they are not billionaires or even millionaires. It doesn’t matter how hard, or for how long they they work, they will never become rich from their hard work. I don’t care that Oprah or Martha or someone who can sing, or act are so wealthy, but I think it would be wonderful if the people who really make a difference were as well paid for their efforts. The Scientists, Nurses, Aid Workers, Firefighters, Surgeons, all these people who really make a difference to the lives of others. Oh well, nothing is perfect. Chaucer and I don’t save lives for a living, and we can’t sing so I guess that’s why our names were not on this years Forbes list. There is always next year though.
Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.
Woody Allen.
It frees you from doing the things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy. Groucho Marx.
When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know it is. Oscar Wilde.
01.17.07
CBB on Prime Ministers Question Time
We thought that everything might have calmed down today, we were wrong. This years Celebrity Big Brother is causing quite a lot of mixed emotions. Once again the race card is being played. It happens every year, yet each time it’s considered a first. Chaucer and I were watching the news on tv earlier this morning, and we couldn’t believe it when we saw CBB was being discussed on Prime Ministers Question Time. Surely this has gone far enough? People need to get some perspective. Channel 4 need to stop airing footage that is portraying Jade Goody in particular as a racist. We watch a lot of the live feed, but we don’t wish to comment on who said what and who did what. We do want to say that there are no victims in that house, no one housemate is behaving any better or worse than any other housemate. I can’t remember exactly how many, but I think I read somewhere that there are over 38 cameras filming in the house, 24 hours a day, every day. So why has Channel 4 decided to air the tiny minority of footage that has caused so much anger? Initially I suppose they were just doing the usual, hoping to increase the number of people watching the programme. But now it does seem to have spun out of control. We think it’s time for Channel 4 to air some of the footage which shows the housemates in a positive way. There is so much more positive footage than negative, but I guess that isn’t as good for the ratings. Every year there are a few housemates who complain that they were edited unfairly, what a crock. I appreciate that Channel 4 can and do edit the footage for their own purposes, but it is absolutely impossible for any of the housemates to be shown behaving badly because of editing, if they don’t behave badly in the first place. The cameras cannot film what hasn’t happened, if the people in the Big Brother house behave like civilsed adults then that’s how they will be seen by the viewing public. I just hope that all this alledged rasicm and bitching will take a back seat, and then maybe, just maybe we will be able to watch a programme that used to be entertaining, and unfortunately is now becoming a complete farce. Or better still, take it off the air, maybe that’s what the executives behind the scenes want? Maybe they don’t want to admit defeat by calling it a day, maybe they want to be told to STOP!
01.09.07
Shilpa Shetty or Jade Goody?
Chaucer and I are ever so slightly addicted to this years Celebrity Big Brother. We said it wouldn’t happen this year, but it has. We are not loving the Indian beauty that is Shilpa Shetty. Not quite sure what it is, but we don’t like her. It could have something to do with her families links to the Indian Underworld~Mafia, we don’t like bad people! We love Jade Goody, and we hope she wins. We were loving Leo Sayer, but not so much now. No doubt tomorrow we will have changed our minds about everything, we are very fickle us Teddy Bears you know.
01.04.07
I know Why
I was reading over Chaucer’s shoulder as he typed his post, and now I feel low too. We definitely need some tea and cuddles to cheer us. I know why we don’t have lots of family and friends like we used to ……. it’s because we are very weird and strange and peculiar and contradictory, and (without sounding too conceited, but Richard and Laura are always saying it) we are wonderful too!
A true friend stabs you in the front. Oscar Wilde
01.02.07
Books to Read
Chaucer and I have been in a book reading mood lately. Early this morning I finished reading Laura’s book, Your Body’s Many Cries For Water by Dr F Batmanghelidj, I enjoyed reading it, and is confirmed what I already knew, water is wonderful for your health. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone who is interested in helping their body to be happy and healthy. After I finished Dr Batman’s book I started Blue Shoes And Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith . Chaucer and I both love his writing, this book is part of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency Series, and we are always transported to Botswana whilst reading the wonderful words in these books. I am only a few pages in and already I remember why Mr Smith is one of my favourite authors for a light fun read. After I have read this book I still have a couple of books sitting waiting on a shelf that I haven’t read yet. Innocence by Kathleen Tessaro, which will be the second book of hers I have read. The first one was Elegance, which I really enjoyed, so hopefully I will like this one too. I actually like the physical books of Kathleen Tessaro, both are hardbacks with a fixed silk ribbon page marker, and a dust jacket that is so silky to the touch and pearlescent to look at. I’m not sure if it’s the words or the beauty of the book I like more. Then I will read Will Storr vs The Supernatural, it’s Laura’s book and Richard has just finished reading it and he seemed to like it, so I think I will too. Then if Chaucer and I are still in a reading mood we have got lots of books on order from Amazon to look forward to. I can’t remember what Richard ordered now, but I overheard Laura mentioning several books she wanted. I do remember that there are some more Alexander McCall Smith ones, this time from the Sunday philosophy Club series, and the Scotland Street Series. We get our love of reading from Richard, he loves reading, there are shelves full of books everywhere at home, he could open his own library. Laura loves to read too, but has more trouble concentrating, maybe it’s a female thing? She says she finds it hard to concentrate sometimes as she has a habit of reading each sentence and then going back and counting every word. Or more rarely she says she has to not only count the words in each sentence, but the letters of every word too. I can see how that might lessen the pleasure of reading for her, I’m glad I don’t feel like I have to do that, it’s weird. But it is just one of Laura’s little idiosyncrasies, of which she has many, like touching certain objects in the home a certain amount of times, and moving things to a ‘better’ position. Chaucer and I think she is … well … basically, we think she is mad, but very charming with it!
It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious. Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan, 1892, Act I, Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet (1854 - 1900)