A Matter of Choice

Regular readers will have gathered by now that my Mum is a bit of a teddy bear fan, so what better way to celebrate her birthday than with an Teddy Bear's picnic! Leo was involved in much of the preparations despite not being a fan of the theme at first, trains are more his thing and had to be persuaded that Nana prefers bears! In the week leading up to her birthday we made Teddy Bear holders for the cutlery...Bear shaped cut outs with paws and feet stuck on, then glued to empty toilet roll holders which we painted brown.  We also decorated cut out teddy bears to make a banner for the window. The cake was a teddy, baked by Leo and I but decorated by me... the first 'novelty' cake I've done. (Usually I bake and Aaron decorates!)  Party food was a selection of sandwiches, salad and homemade onion dip (first time I'd made that and it was yummy!) crisps, and bear shaped cheese pastry bites.  I also made 'paw print cupcakes to go with the mai...

Last month I introduced you to 'Travel Ted' - a mad endearing hobby of my Mums where she took her little bear all over the world and created a collection of photos of him on his travels.  I'm not sure she trusts me to explain the story without taking the mickey so I'll hand you over to my Mum so she can explain in her own words..... Ted was lounging in an all items 50 pence basket in the corner of a shop when I first noticed him. Whether it was his wink or a cheeky grin, I decided he was due a more exciting life! So the story of Ted began. I bought him a Passport on a trip to Brighton, where I could not resist popping into a Teddy Bear shop as I passed. Inside the Passport was a stamped mark - ‘Ironbridge’ so I decided that would become his place of birth and added underneath it -18 th June 1996, he now had a Birth date. I had the idea of taking photos of him with a different back ground each time we went on holiday, this turned out to be qui...

Once upon a time there was a teddy bear, unloved and unwanted and left sitting in a charity shop feeling sad and hoping someone would give him a home.... That's the way my Mum saw this little fellow anyway as she passed by the shop window. My Mum is a huge teddy bear fan and has been for years, but over the years she gradually got worse! Obviously teddy bears are lovely  - I mean how horrible would you have to be to not like them, but Mum managed to take it to a whole new level..... This teddy for some reason best known to my Mum became 'Travel Ted' and proceeded  (much to our amusement and continued mickey taking) to travel all over the world with her having his photo taken in increasing unusual places. He's been to more countries than many people I know, from Greece, Spain, Barbados, France and all over the UK. It was decided that he would be going into retirement here in Cyprus but he may come out on special occasions! I now secretly like the collecti...