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This week's cute site is just the cutest of the cute.

Orsinal is filled with cute characters in cute games. It is so lovely for me to find a site filled with games which don't involve shooting or hunting or violence. Primula loves it too.

My favourite game is bungee bear (click on the bear graphic about half way down) but Sunny Day Sky (first graphic on the page) is lots of fun, involving using an umbrella as a parachute and feeding acorns to duck in the pond (click on the duck in the third row) is lots of fun.

Orsinal is going to be one of my favourites for a long time.

This week's bear of the week is a TV star. WOW! I'm in awe. AND he can play the piano - and I know, from experience, just how hard it is to control a keyboard when you are blessed with paws instead of human fingers.

So,w ho is this bear? Fozzie Bear, of course, of Muppet fame.Fozzie not only plays the piano, he also dances (not so well, but hey, who am I to criticize another bear's dancing skills) and he tells jokes. All the time, which sometimes lands him in trouble.

You can learn more about Fozzie Bear here.

Time for another cute site. More cute animals this time - at the Cute Cat Blog. My favourite is the Invisible Guitar Hero photo - my friend Sally's kids (the Murphlets) love Guitar Hero, but I've never seen a cat playing it!

Anyway, enjoy the site.

Time for a new regular feature here at my Writing for Children blog. Called Seven Answers to Seven Questions, it asks the same seven questions of any writer who cares to drop by and answer them. I’ve started by asking some of my writer friends to contribute and their answers will be posted here soon. In the meantime I figured I should have a go at answering them for myself. So, here are my own

Today’s word is tenebrous. According to dictionary.com, this word means dark and gloomy, as in ‘a tenebrous cave’


I wonder if it could be used to describe me before I met Primula. You see, I used to be a tenebrous bear, until I met Primula. When I fell off the shelf and accidentally found myself joining her for a sing along, my whole life changed – instead of being tenebrous, I was suddenly light and bright, like Primula. I realised life was GOOD.

And it is, still. So don’t be tenebrous.
Be happy!

Today’s word of the day at Dictionary.com is beneficence – the practice of doing good, or an act of charity. So, I figured having learnt a new word, I’d try putting that word into action. So, to show some beneficence. Hmm. I looked around the toyroom. Toys were playing, toys were snoozing, toys were chatting. Who could benefit from my beneficence?

Then I saw Primula, the most giving and caring of all the toys. Giving and caring and sharing are what she’s all about – so perhaps it was her turn to be on the receiving end. I raced over to a group of stuffies (stuffed animals for those of you not in the know) and whispered my suggestion. Then we crept across the toyroom to where Primula was busy tidying a shelf.

‘Ahem, Primula,’ I said. ‘We have something for you.’
“For me?” Primula was surprised.
‘Yes. You are always so busy helping us that we want to do something for you.’ I turned to the other toys. ‘Now one, two three.’

And what do you think we did? We launched into a song. One of Primula’s favourites – Don’t Worry, Be Happy.

Soon, Primula was joining in, which was lovely, but still, I think she most enjoyed hearing all of us sing for her, and she certainly ahs had an extra spring in her step ever since.

Beneficence. When was the last time you tried it?

Happy St Pat's Day. Pemberthy has written some words in honour of the day.

Another busy day today – I did over 14 000 steps, mostly while sweeping and mopping my floors! So I have clean floors, but still managed some work (household chores don’t count as work – they are just a tedious necessity). I added nine new book reviews to Aussiereviews, including three by other reviewers. I also helped Pemberthy to compose a new poem – his first for quite some time – in

I have been tagged by Joh at johblogs. I’ve never been tagged before, but figure I’ll give it a go. Here’s how it works: Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their

I’ve been a bit slack of late when it comes to blogging. This bear has been a little lazy, and there really is no excuse. I suppose the coming of spring has a little to do with it. I’ve spent so much time singing, enjoying the warmer weather and looking out of the toy room window at Sally’s beautiful spring garden, that I’ve just not been paying enough attention to my blog and my writing skills. So, being a Sunday, and with a gentle calm throughout the toy room, I’ve decided to spend just a few moments blogging.

But what to write about? I suppose that’s every writer’s dilemma at times like these, and being a bear makes no difference from any other writer – though perhaps a little furrier. Perhaps I should write about how lucky I am to be able to write. To be able to take up my pen (or at least my keyboard) and write away, expressing whatever it is I fancy, is a gift I’ve been given. Not every bear has my way with words, or my adeptness at typing with paws – and as I’ve been given this gift, I really should use it more often.

So what are you good at? Writing? Singing? Sport? Glory in that gift this sunny Sunday, and make the most of it. There are probably many around you who wish they could do what it is you can do.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go! (And enjoy.)

Spring has sprung here down under. From the toyroom window I can see Sally’s garden all abloom with bright and beautiful flowers. There are ranunculi, anemones, sweet peas, gerberas, poppies and more all raising their beautiful heads to the sky. Earlier there were jonquils and daffodils, but they’re just finishing, as are the multi-coloured freesias.

Spring is such a wonderful season. People (and toys) no longer moan about the cold (I myself have been known to do this in winter) and it is not yet so hot it could singe your fur. There are birds building nests and people singing. Sally even sang as she did the vacuuming this morning. As if there were some joy in doing the housework!

But I suppose the point isn’t think whether the task deserves joy – but to carry that joy with you whatever you’re doing. Life’s too short to be grumpy and gruff. Whether it’s spring or summer, autumn or winter, we need to find pleasure in here we are and what we’re doing. Otherwise life is passing us by. So what song are you singing today?

I've written a new poem. Here it is:

Though others may be fair
Fabulous, free and fine
I love being a bear

My life is without care
No finer life than mine
Though others may be fair

I no longer grump and glare
Instead I sing and shine
I love being a bear

From my stuffing to my hair
I feel simply divine
Though others may be fair

Yes you may stop and stare
Wondering why I do not whine
I love being a bear.

If you're wondering about the form, this poem is a villanelle. The structure of the form is based around the first and third lines of the opening stanza, which form the essence of the poem and are each repeated as the concluding lines of the other four stanzas.

If you want to read some of the other poems I've written, I have previously tried:
A triolet
An acrostic
A diamante
An abbreviated haiku
An a haiku

Writing poetry is fun, and good for the spirit. You should try it some time.

The fifth day of my story sessions in honour of children’s book week. Today I thought I’d have a little fun and read my life story to the other toys. See, Pemberthy Bear isn’t just a story about me – it’s also about all the other toys as well, because they’re all there, in the beautiful pictures that my friend Jacqui painted of us. So, in a week where we are sharing and celebrating books, what better book than to share than one in which we all appear?

Anyway, I had a bit of fun with toys. They were all gathered for story time and I had hidden the book under a cushion before they got there. Then I made them guess which story I’d chosen. I gave them hints. ‘It’s a tale of a beautiful heroine overcoming overwhelming odds,’ I hinted. ‘It’s almost too sweet to bear,’ was the next hint. It took a while but eventually Robbie Robot guessed. Then I read them the story, and they all wondered anew at seeing themselves brought to life in the lovely illustrations.

It really was a lovely story session. It’s wonderful that we all have this book to share and remind us of how blessed we are to have each other. And of course I must admit that I love being the star of the book. How lucky am I to have a friend like Sally, willing to write my story down and share it with the world, and a friend like Jacqui who was able to portray me so beautifully in her illustrations.

I’m a lucky bear!

My friend (and official biographer) Sally came back from Perth with a new word for me. Sally had been listening to Erin Brockovich, and according to Brockovich, it’s her favourite word. The word?

Sticktoitive (adjective) tenaciously resolute (also spelt stick-to-it-ive)

Brockovich recounted the story of her mother always using the word whenever she was finding life hard. ‘Where’s your sticktoitiveness?’ her mother would say. Brockovich eventually told her mother to stop using the word – because it wasn’t real. Hah! Her mother made her open the dictionary – and sure enough there it was.

Anyway, as soon as Sally told me this tale I reached for the toy room dictionaries. It wasn’t in the Collins Australian Dictionary, but it is there Websters College Dictionary, which comes all the way from the United States. The word has US origins, which is why it’s there, I guess.

I think it’s a great word and a great way to live life. If Primula had no sticktoitiveness, she wouldn’t have persevered in getting this bear to sing. And if I had no sticktoitiveness, I wouldn’t have mastered the art of typing – keyboards are NOT paw-friendly.

Are YOU sticktoitive? If not, why not try to develop some sticktoitiveness in the areas of your life you find challenging?

I’ve written another poem, again all about ME. Here it is:

I used to sit upon my shelf
Quiet and alone
Preferring to keep to myself
I used to sit upon my shelf
It wasn’t so good for my health
To sit and moan and groan
I used to sit upon my shelf
Quiet and alone


This one is a triolet, which is a French poetry form. You might have spotted the pattern. In a triolet the first line is repeated on lines four and seven, and the second line is repeated in line eight. Lines three and four rhyme with line one, and line six rhymes with line two.

Have you written a poem lately? If not, why not write a triolet? There’s a wonderful article with a better explanation and some more examples here.

What a quiet weekend it was here in the nursery. Primula managed to get hold of a copy of the Harry Potter book and spent the whole weekend engrossed in finding our what happens to Harry. I do love reading but found myself unable to read the Harry Potter series – they are so heavy that my little paws just can’t hold them up! So I stick to beautiful picture books, which are a little lighter, or, of course, reading online.

If you’ve looked closely at the illustrations in my life story, then you’ll know that we have some great books on the shelves here in the toy room. The Big Friendly Bear could well have been written with me in mind and The Bear Facts has some enlightening information for those of you who are not bruins. New Toy on the Block is full of suspense and Left on the Floor brings a tear to the eye. Then there are the nonfiction offerings. Primula’s favourite is Joy of Signing, and 101 Ways to Freeze is compulsory reading for every toy – we don’t want to be caught singing and dancing when one of our humans enters the room.

If you hadn't noticed these book titles in the background when reading my life story, have another look next time you get the chance. You know, the book's not just about me - I'm just the star!

Primula has finished Harry Potter, has wiped away her tears and is ready to sing with me again. So it’s back to normal here in the toy room.