Bear Necessity

This Diary Is A Reflection Of Life


I'm used to writing review of single blogs. But someone who writes three blogs? Now that's a tough challenge, mate. The ``mother'' of a little British teddy bear named Bob brings us the heart-warming blog Bob's Diary.

Bob's mother just happens to be the most creative person I am in touch with across the internet. I write one blog and have my hands full, but she writes three and does so with flair and individuality. Her other two sites are Dilly's Castle and Sketch and Colour.

In any summation of her huge spread of talents, a critic would have to take into account another salient point. She has been refreshingly open about her issues, but I see none of these. That is not denial on my part. That is not a push-it-to-the-backyard-so-we-can-pretend-it-doesn't-exist attitude. No, I recognise her open admission of what is sometimes an uphill battle for her. And despite all of that, I see only a never-ending well of creativity, a passion for entertainment without damning satire, without bitter revelations and without sardonic comments.

She offers slice-of-life writing and a novel way of looking at life which sometimes touches the most creative people with occasional dark clouds of self-doubt. She transcends all that she speaks about so openly about. And she transcends those factors in a fashion that pays tribute to her Muses and her creative impulses.

She makes us smile in a way few can emulate. Some people can be funny when writing or talking about real life. Some writers can be funny when pointing out foibles of others. She does it with ease, when writing about imagined lives of inanimate objects - as much as we could be permitted to call the inimitable Dilly or Bob ``inanimate'', for they possess more life and soul than many.

She brings us nose hugs and tissue-issuers, dwagons in their castles and toys who speak their own distinctive language. Most fittingly of all, she brings us the agony ``uncle'' as well, with cheery advice, delivered by Bob (pictured above, right) on a variety of issues.

She is the A.A. Milne of the internet. There are many similarities between her own creations and those conjured up in the magical world of the Hundred Acre Wood. In both realms, stuffed animal toys have feelings and personalities. In both realms, humans are present but do not overwhelm the toys' interaction in any way. In both worlds there are bouncy, ebullient characters like Milne’s Tigger. And in both worlds, there is an occasional, but not critical, reminder of stark human frailties, such as the depression implicit in the utterances of the thistle-eating, deeply introspective Eeyore.

If Bob or Dilly ever wanted to look for an agent or a publisher, I would be the first person to help in that quest. Surely there is a book or three in the adventures of these plush toys who grow appealingly more animated with each day and each tale that passes.

Most crucially, I would never trivialise health issues, but I do appreciate the superhuman effort made by someone, day in and day out, to not only face the day, but to conquer it in more ways than one.

Bob and Dilly's mother speaks not just for herself, but she speaks on behalf of people of many races and beliefs from continents stretched across this earth we inhabit. The darkness of self-doubt, or questions of self-worth or of self-esteem can be assuaged in different degrees by different trigger factors.

Writing - and by extension, communicating - have given new purpose to this gentle, gifted artist and teller of tales. Hand on heart, she tells us that some people need a purpose to get them out of bed each day to face new challenges. Hand on heart, we can truthfully assure her that she has indeed found her personal purpose.

I'd like to remind her (and any publisher who reads this) that there was another British writer in a different era, who not only brought animals to life in her gentle stories, but had the talent to sketch and paint them as well. Her name was Beatrix Potter. Perhaps we have in our midst a modern-day Potter, who imbues animals with more life than we could ever imagine - and quietly and unobtrusively sketches them with aplomb. The sketch of the cat (above, left) is from her Sketch and Colour blog.

We, her audience, are grateful to have her. She deserves a much wider audience, just as much as she deserves a badge of courage for winning her own battle.

God bless her. God bless her amazing fortitude. And God bless and protect her many Muses.