THE BEAR ESSENTIALS

It's been rather busy these past few weeks. To not fall off the blog wagon, a slightly light entry:

Because this pertains to my childhood, I suppose this entry poses little risk to any current reputation damage. I'm guessing that most kids, boys and girls alike, have a stash of plush animals that kept them company and served as props for many silly stories. During a recent visit to my parents' house, I took a stroll down memory lane:

"Cheurn-Cheurn"









Though his name is clearly marked on his muscle shirt (?), Quan-Quan was renamed to Cheurn-Cheurn because that's how I heard it pronounced on the news. He, and a buddy, were all the craze at the Toronto Zoo in the early eighties: celebrity pandas who were visiting from China. My parents took my sister and I to visit them and I was absolutely delighted!


"My Friendly Bear"









Yeah, didn't get too creative with this guy's name. My Friendly Bear (MFB) was Cheurn-Cheurn's best friend, and helped to defend against my sister's scarf bear gang. MFB was a Christmas gift from a church friend.

"Beary-Bear"









I swear my sister named him "Beary Bear" but, somewhere down the road, he became "Bearington Bear". He was usually docile, but sometimes would be found sitting on Cheurn- Cheurn and making me very upset. That's when I would unleash MFB's fury. I feel bad now, because Bearington Bear isn't able to quite sit upright (here, he's propped up against the wall).

"Charity Bear"









I believe Charity was one of the later additions to my sister's scarf bear gang. When you purchased him from Eaton's, a portion of the purchase was donated to charity. Charity was like the leader of the gang, never getting his paws dirty but always apt in deploying his minions to incite terror on my bears. Notice how his coat is still so pristine white!










After many years of unsolvable conflict, the bears are at peace now.