Misha

A pin found on Ebay

In 1981, when I was eight years old, we went to the Royal Melbourne Show (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Melbourne_Show), as we did every year. I was bought a teddy bear - Misha - who has remained a faithful companion ever since. He is sitting on the dresser in our bedroom now, thirty-one years old and a little careworn but still keeping his end up, as they say. When I was eight, I didn't realise that Misha (or Mishka) had been the symbol of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. When he made it to Melbourne, Misha had been transformed into a football bear and wore a little Hawthorn t-shirt.

Lately I have been looking around the Net at all things Misha, partially on a nostalgia trip and partly due to my love of Soviet-era vintage. There's a lot to be found! Misha is still a very popular bear...

Do you still have a special furry childhood friend?

Lovely 'flock' covered Misha on Dawanda

Hipster Misha getting down in time for the Olympics

Image found at http://femtasia.blogspot.com.au/2009/05/misha.html

Image found at http://paulina.holbreich.org/tag/bear/

Misha as I knew and know him (though no Olympic rings on my Misha)

http://collectableteddybears4sale.com/misha-bear-by-olympic-mascot/

Hello Again

Hello! I feel like it's about time to start blogging again! I hope you've been doing well in your corner of the world since we last spoke. During my blog break, we 'cat-sat' for a friend of mine who was renovating and then moving house. Midg was with us for about five weeks, and after he spent the first afternoon behind the couch in total shock, we got along quite well. He is fourteen years-old and quite set in his ways, but it was a delight to have him around. I have never had a pet, so I was quite fascinated just to watch him do his thing...

Sometimes he watched me do mine...

Sometimes he really didn't want to be watched at all...

A lot of the time he watched the birds in the front yard with eager interest...

And more often than not, a nap was the activity of choice.

We are thinking now about getting our own pet. I went to Save-a-Dog today (who also have cats - they're at http://www.saveadog.org.au/) and there are so many animals looking for homes. If you are going to get a pet, please think about adopting rather than buying from a pet store. Midg was an adoptee and I saw so many sad canine and feline eyes this morning...