THE COTSWOLDS-PART - 5
After the gloriously delicious 'proper lunch', at the Lygon Arms Hotel, we came out to the Main street there in Broadway and Ray, our driver, told us we could walk to the Teddy Bear Museum, which was right up the street from The Lygon Arms...so, off we went.
One of the many wonderful things about theatre people, and this is a generalization, but in my experience this is true of the majority of actors and creative people that I've known throughout my life, so far....the child in us is very much a part of all we are and all we do. And I mean 'childlike' and not 'childish', though of course everyone can be somewhat childish at times in their lives...my love of Teddy Bears comes from some child thing in me....and instead of trying to pretend it isn't there, I have always embraced it and probably will, till they bury me with my Teddy, (I hope)!!!....
He is the softest, dearest most squeezable Teddy I've ever seen or held or clutched...and I've given replica's of him to many many children and many many adults, too! (One wonderful extremely talented painter friend, Morris Broderson, to whom I gave one of these 'special' Teddy's, painted a large painting of him, which hangs in my living room, here in L.A....I'll take a picture of it and post it, one day...) I travel with him, as I said in the last Cotswolds post, and he is the Teddy Bear on my Hotel bed here in this photo, and at home, too, that sits closest to me. (Oh my Lord, I truly do sound like a little child....)
And I wasn't the only one of our group who loves Teddy Bears....I would say that John Mosher loved them very much and Cousin Carol, too. Charley is a collector of anything 'Giraffe', stuffed or otherwise, and Betty is crazy about all sorts of stuffed animals and she very much was ready to go see this famous Museum, and Seemah, too. So, up the street we walked, and suddenly, there it was!
We all went in and of course they had many many Bears for sale in the 'store' part of the Museum...some incredibly old ones and many many new ones, and all of us were like kids in a candy store...you know, 'I want this, and oh, look at that...I want that, too...' well, you get the picture...
I am very loyal to my long time Teddy friend, but if I see a really really soft cuddly Teddy Bear, and if he 'speaks to me'....I don't mean literally guys..., I do go ahead and get the 'new' him! (I'm not sure why, but I always think a Teddy Bear's gender is... 'he' ...). Well, surprise surprise, (not) I did see a very sweet wonderful looking Teddy person....I picked him up and ohhhh my was he ever soft and oh soooo very cuddly, and he had this Golden look to him...John Mosher saw him too, and said he wanted to buy him for his little baby grandaughter...I was rather stricken because I had already visualized him living with me in my house....luckily, The Teddy Bear Museum had two of them....(Thank God)....and so each of us was able to get one and we were very very happy about it! And everyone was very happy for us; isn't that nice? After making our purcheses, we went into the 'Museum' part of the place...(and if I'm remembering correctly there was a small fee to get in)...and they had gobs and gobs of Teddy Bears; some very very old and terribly rare...there were too many to tell you about...but suffice it to say, we were sated on Teddy Bears when we left that wonderful magical place.
(Since that time, The Teddy Bear Museum of Broadway, is no more...sad, to say...)
By this time, we realized that the day was getting away from us, and Ray had calculated that in order to get back to London in a timely fashion for that special Birthday dinner at The Ivy, we would have to get on the road in about an hour and a half; no later than two hours at the very outside.
So, we got in the car and we began traveling from one village to another...stopping here and there to take in some special aspect of that particular village. The following are not in the order we did this at all, cause I truly cannot remember the sequence, but we covered as many towns and villages as we could wit
hout feeling too terribly rushed. Besides Broadway, there were the following glorious places:
Burford; Bourton-On The Water and Stow On The Wold;
and Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter.
At a certain point, Ray began saying that we had to press on and get back on the road...Well, we were enjoying seeing this wonderful bit of England so very much that none of us were really ready to 'get back on the road', quite yet....and after finding out that during this time of year, night did not really fall until almost 10pm, the group as a whole, almost without any hesitation, decided that instead of rushing back to London for 'dinner' at a place we might get to go to on another evening, we would opt to stay out in
The Cotswolds and see as many more towns as we possibly could, til nightfall. This was so much more special than any dinner at any restaurant, to us, at this point. We wanted to see as much of the countryside as we could, cause maybe none of us would ever get back here, again, and if we did, it would not be as magical as this day was for each of us indivdually and for all of us as a group.
We were under
"The Spell"......" The Spell" of The Cotswolds, that is, for sure!...
And there was still Moreton-In-Marsh, and Henley...(yes, the famous Henley where the Regatta's take place), and Oxford....Ahhhh, there was that romantic name: Oxford...the only well known name, to all of us.
And Ray suggested that we could make Oxford our food stop, and there we could have a 'Pub Lunch, for Supper'! We were thrilled! All six of us were experiencing this feeling that we were living in a kind of dream from which none of us wanted to wake up; we wanted to make it last, as long as possible...stay in this dream-like state in this most unusual region for as long as we could.....which we were able to do......
(There IS more to come....and truly, I had no idea that when I began this Cotswold Journey it would cover so many posts...so, with your kind indulgence, I'll just keep on 'wending', and hope you'll come back to 'wend' with me.....)
- had this to say:
so many memories....
We had a friend in Stow, and another in Broadway and I used to cycle all over the Cotswolds in my youth :-)
cq- Monday, November 21, 2005 at 12:52:00 AM PST
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craziequeen--How wonderful! Did you think it was a special place or did you just feel like..this is home?
- Monday, November 21, 2005 at 1:08:00 AM PST
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had this to say:
The Cotswolds are truly beautiful; believe that I have spent half my life reading mysteries set in them!
- Monday, November 21, 2005 at 5:42:00 AM PST
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I have to share a comment my four year old made about Teddy Bears yesterday. I was cleaning his room, and getting rid of toys he no longer plays with. I found a little orange Teddy Bear in his toy box, and it was one of those cheapo things you win out of one of those claw machines. He saw it in the trash bag, and immediately pulled it out. And this is what he told me, "Mommy, didn't you know? You can never throw away a Teddy Bear." I thought that was so cute, and since you like Teddy's, I thought you'd appreciate his sentiment.
- Monday, November 21, 2005 at 6:41:00 AM PST
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Oh, the pictures are just lovely! Such a wonderful place to visit indeed. Thanks for sharing your memories.
I love the Teddy Bear too. I'm glad you have a special one that is your buddy!!- Monday, November 21, 2005 at 7:06:00 AM PST
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Pia--Oh, I'd love to read those nysteries!!
Dena--LOVE that he said that! He is so right about that....
Rachel--Oh indeed, it is a great great place to visit....I'm so glad I had the chance to go there.
I'm glad to have this special Teddy, too...- Monday, November 21, 2005 at 7:18:00 AM PST
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had this to say:
Lovely reading. My "cool" teenager still has his teddy bear! I never had one when I was little but got a panda bear when I was about 14 and kept it many years... until it literally fell apart.Thanks for sharing your trip,it's interesting reading and will come back for more! have a nice day.
- Monday, November 21, 2005 at 10:12:00 AM PST
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Sad to hear about the Teddy Bear Museum. I hope the bears all got good homes! I love love loved Oxford. Don't you just feel like you can breathe in the academia? It's just a wonderful little town. I'm so glad you got to experience all those little towns and villages - what a trip! :)
- Monday, November 21, 2005 at 11:44:00 AM PST
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A very interesting story. The photos are positively charming. It looks like a dream world to me, and it is definitely one I'd like to visit sometime.
- Monday, November 21, 2005 at 1:24:00 PM PST
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I am loving reading about your memories and journeys! The pictures are wonderful!! I believe that no matter how "old" we get that there is always a child in us...thankfully we have teddy bears to remind us of that part in us! ;)
- Monday, November 21, 2005 at 6:56:00 PM PST
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Oh, I think these posts are wonderful. My only trip to England was a two week experience mostly in London. I loved it, but we didn't get out of the city, except to Stonehenge, Bath and Salisbury, all sweezed into two days.
You've seen much more. I enjoy your pictures a lot.- Monday, November 21, 2005 at 7:50:00 PM PST
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Forgot to say that I know a lot of teddy bear collectors. I live about 40 minutes from the Boyd's Bears headquarters in Gettysburg.
- Monday, November 21, 2005 at 7:52:00 PM PST
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I love Teddy Bears too. I love soft, stuffed animals of all kinds. My daughter collects stuffed monkeys.
The pics of the villages and lovely water scenes are so pretty. I makes me want some tea and biscuits.- Monday, November 21, 2005 at 8:23:00 PM PST
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Bueatiful pictures - it is a gorgeous part of the world. I'll be dragging my lot up there for regular day trips as soon as they are all walking:-)
And you've got a picture to go with your nbame now. how clever - I haven't worked out how to do that yet, even though CQ said I could use her dragon now she has the ice queen!
But I have worked out how to blogroll people (sidebar links), so I've given you that honour at last.- Tuesday, November 22, 2005 at 2:47:00 AM PST
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Wend away. Sounds like it was fun. I love all the pictures, but especially the old family ones on the post before this one.
- Tuesday, November 22, 2005 at 3:55:00 AM PST
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Great Photos OOL.
ps..Blogrolled (linked) you at last... :o)- Tuesday, November 22, 2005 at 4:34:00 AM PST
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simply fabulous you are a good story teller. makes me wish I was younger. Then I would apply to carry your luggage next trip.
- Tuesday, November 22, 2005 at 5:54:00 AM PST
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I was about to ask, "How do you decide going to a teddy musueum might be fun...?" And then I realized I still have the teddy first placed in my crib when I was born saved in plastic.
Dangit. I'm a wuss. ;)- Tuesday, November 22, 2005 at 9:24:00 AM PST
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You will probably take your Doctor's advice more often now, ha, ha! He sure was right about you and the Cotswolds!
You are so detailed in your writtings, you should really write a book. You Bring it all to life for me!
Did you find your Staples Rewards card yet and get to spin the wheel?
I will be away over the Thanksgiving holidays. But will Post and visit when I get back. No telling how much writting you will have done when I get back, I will have to catch up!
Oh and here is a naughty little ditty that my Grandmother from England, used to sing to us kids, LOL!
In the Attic she ad it and ad it and in the Attic she ad it again and nobody knows when she'll ave it and ave it and nobody know when she'll ave it again! Those sayings I told you about, I have traced them on the internet but I can't seem to trace this naughty little ditty! She sang many others too but this one I always kind of stuck in my head.- Tuesday, November 22, 2005 at 12:18:00 PM PST
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Waht great pictures!!
- Tuesday, November 22, 2005 at 12:32:00 PM PST
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I gave my favourite Teddy Bear to my sister on her 1st Birthday. I was 9.
I always knew we'd get on.
Now that I'm... considerably older... people keep giving me cuddly toys.... and I like it.... (grin)- Tuesday, November 22, 2005 at 2:15:00 PM PST
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I still have the bear that was a Christmas present when I was 18 months old. He is much more "loved" than the Velveteen Rabbit would ever think of being. He was retired and I now sleep (and travel) with one I got in college.
- Tuesday, November 22, 2005 at 3:13:00 PM PST
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I'm loving reading these stories!
- Wednesday, November 23, 2005 at 11:11:00 AM PST
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had this to say:
Hey I agree 100% agree with the last few comments. This blog has great opinions and this is why I continue to visit, thanks! ##link#
- Saturday, February 25, 2006 at 6:24:00 AM PST
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