For several years now my humans have sent cards to their friends and relations that feature me,  which means more modelling work for me.  Sometimes they are very organised and get me to pose for card photographs a year before they are needed, but last year they forgot to do that, so a few weeks ago we had to pretend it was already the festive season in order to do the photo shoot.  My humans decided I should be photographed while making mince pies, which made me a bit nervous while rolling out the pastry….

I used Nigella Lawson’s cookery book though I don’t really think I am ‘domestic goddess’ material.  Karen let me borrow her apron as I was getting rather too much flour stuck in my fur, and in order to create a festive feel I had to wear a Father Christmas hat.  We have holly in the garden that Karen doesn’t usually pick until the winter solstice but she went out and cut a few sprigs to include in the photo.   I had to stay still for ages while bits and pieces were moved around me in order to get the ‘perfect’ image!

One cooked the mince pies looked just like the ones that Nigella made, though I only managed to make seven (the recipe was for twelve!)

Karen ordered lots of packs of pre-cut red cards and arranged for sixty photographs featuring me cooking to be printed.  I then later had the job of glueing the photos into the cards and ended up with very tired paws.  You may notice in the photo below that a pig that lives in the sitting room watched me but didn’t offer to help; for some reason he spends all of his time next to the door.

Gilbert and Growler seemed most impressed with my handiwork.

Karen printed special address labels for the envelopes and wrote in the insides of the cards then I had to stick stamps them all, including airmail stickers for those going abroad.

The final job was to post them all in the pillar box.  A problem with being of such short stature is that sometimes I cannot reach things so I had a little help from a tall human with reaching the letter slot.

I hope they all arrived safely.

I recently visited Stratford-on-Avon and thought it a splendid place for bears and their humans as it is very interesting.  I was a bit worried about some of the buildings that seemed wibbly wobbly looking, but Karen said they wouldn’t fall down as they have been there looking a bit crooked for over 300 years. So, once I had determined that the buildings were OK I climbed up onto the windowsill of one for a photograph.  I got patted on the head by a lady walking by; something that happens to me quite frequently.  I don’t think people realise it squashes my head.We walked to the park where we found people acting on a stage performing a play.  It turned out to be one of Mr Shakespeare’s plays called ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, and Karen seemed quite impressed that people didn’t have to pay to watch it.  I watched for a little while, but the actors were talking in a way that bears don’t understand well (perhaps Stratford bears might be able to understand it, but I am from Alresford, a long way from Stratford).We walked along the edge of the canal for a while – here is my Stratford Selfie…I find lock gates quite fascinating so decided to take a closer look at one, though Karen kept reminding me of the consquences should I fall in.  She seemed to think I would sink and never be seen again, so I was very cautious.Outings usually involve food of some sort,  so after exploring we ended up outside a 40’s themed tea room wondering whether to go in for lunch.  We weren’t outside for long as my humans though it looked like a good place.  Karen likes sitting outside, even if rain is imminent (which it was) so she asked to be seated in the garden.  I was very surprised to find a little grass topped steel shelter out there with sandbags all around it.  Apparently it was an old air raid shelter; during the 2nd World War, long before I was made in the 1940’s people used to sit in them when bombs were being dropped which must have been very scary.Raindrops started to fall so the ideal place to sit was in the air raid shelter, where a waitress wearing old fashioned clothes brought us sandwiches to eat.After lunch it was time to go as we were on our way to Royal Leamington Spa.  It was a shame to leave the air raid shelter as I rather liked being there.I’d like to go back to Stratford-on-Avon again on a sunny day.

Sometimes it’s not so glamorous being a bear that does modelling.  During the past three weeks I have been pulled out of a bag and pushed back in again over 70 times in order to be photographed sitting on sheep, and on one day when it was rather windy, I was tied onto the sheep with string.  Not any old sheep I will add, but ‘Shauns’ – as in ‘Shaun the Sheep’ designed by Aardman Animations in Bristol.  (There are currently 70 of them all around Bristol that people walk around and try to see them all, taking photographs as they go.  The sheep are raising money for Bristol Children’s Hospital, they will be auctioned at the end of the trail).Some of the sheep are more memorable than others;  I was tied to this one, Isambaaard, otherwise I could have blown away into the Avon Gorge (at least that was Karen’s justification for the string around my tummy attaching me to  Isambaaard’s top hat).  I really didn’t like the sheep that had tried to become a rabbit, Peter Rabbit. I think sheep generally speaking are better being sheep.  I didn’t want to sit on the one that was trying to be a rabbit, so just sat next to it instead.Shaunus Romanus on the other hand I thought was quite splendid, and I felt very important while modelling with him at Victoria Park in Bristol.I was treated there to a special commemorative Shaun the Sheep cupcake – you probably know I am very fond of cake.The sheep that worried me most of all on the trail was this one, called ‘Sheepish’, who had been made to look like a poodle with a silly hairstyle.  I don’t think Karen liked this one much either as she only took one photograph.I climbed up onto the hat of ‘The Pirate Captain’.  The seagull sitting on his head seemed quite friendly but  I wouldn’t want to meet up with him on a dark night.Karen sometimes gets into conversation with other people while taking photographs of me, and a lady who had noticed me falling off of ‘Alright Me Babber’ asked if she could have a special staged photograph of a ‘toy in peril’.  I was a bit offended being called a toy, as it is well known that I am a public figure not a toy, but I obliged, and climbed up onto the sheep again(with a bit of help) and deliberately fell off for the photograph.  You can see the result here:-

Copyright – Mary Osbourne

The end result of all my hard work modelling will be a big framed poster on the wall at home, featuring all the sheep and me in 70 photos plus an extra one with just me in.