ROSIE: "Hullo Daisy-Maud!"
CORNELIA: "Hullo Daisy-Maud!"
DAISY-MAUD: "Oh! Hullo Rosie and Cornelia! You startled me! I was miles away."
ROSIE: "No you aren't, Daisy-Maud! You are here, in the Fitzroy Gardens with us."
DAISY-MAUD: "Oh yes I know that, Rosie. It's a turn of phrase. To be miles away means to be dreaming, usually of far way places."
CORNELIA: "Were you dreaming about your home across the ocean? I do that sometimes."
DAISY-MAUD: "Well, I often do think about Mummy June and all the Norfolk Bears, but I can use Daddy's bearphone to telephone them if I am lonely or miss them. No, I don't know where my mind had wandered to."
CORNELIA: "Perhaps you were dreaming about these beautiful flowers in your favourite colour."
DAISY-MAUD: "Well, I do love the beautiful lollypop primulas and tulips, but you are mistaken in thinking that pink is my favourite colour. It isn't."
ROSIE: "It isn't, Daisy-Maud?"
DAISY-MAUD: "Indeed no, Rosie."
ROSIE: "Pink is my favourite colour."
DAISY-MAUD: "Well, that makes a lot of sense, what with your woollen plush being pink."
CORNELIA: "How can pink not be your favourite colour, Daisy-Maud? You are a girl bear after all. Rosie and I are both girl bears and pink is our favourite colour."
DAISY-MAUD: "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, Cornelia, but blue is my favourite colour. That's why I have a blue hat, to match my blue paw pads."
CORNELIA: *Chuckles goodnaturedly.* "Oh Daisy-Maud! Blue can't possibly be your favourite colour! Blue is a boy bear's colour."
DAISY-MAUD: "Well, blue is Jago's favourite colour too, and Benny's, and Daddy's."
ROSIE: "Exactly, Daisy-Maud! They are both boys."
DAISY-MAUD: "Yes, but blue is also Mummy June's favourite colour, and she is a girl. Cornelia, have you asked Moesje what her favourite colour is?"
CORNELIA: "Why no I haven't Daisy-Maud. I just assumed it was pink, like me."
DAISY-MAUD: "Well, she wears quite a bit of yellow and gold, so they may be her favourite colours."
CORNELIA: "I must ask her."
DAISY-MAUD: "And of course Scout is a boy bear, and his favourite colour is pink. Isn't that right, Rosie?"
ROSIE: "Why yes, so it is."
DAISY-MAUD: "So you see, Cornelia, colours are not prescribed as boy bear colours or girl bear colours. Anybear can like any colour that they like. I imagine there are a lot of girl bears who prefer colours other than pink, and I'm sure there are lots of boy bears who like other colours other than blue."
CORNELIA: "That's very wise, Daisy-Maud."
ROSIE: "Yes, it is Daisy-Maud. I will think about colours differently from now on."
CORNELIA: "Yes, so will I, Daisy-Maud."
DAISY-MAUD: "Well, I'm very glad to hear that, Rosie and Cornelia. However, in saying that blue is my favourite colour, I also do like pink, and green, and yellow and orange and all sorts of colours."
ROSIE: "Oh, I do too, Daisy-Maud!"
CORNELIA: "Yes, I suppose I like other colours too."
DAISY-MAUD: "That's good to know, Rosie and Cornelia."
Daisy Maud is Jago's little sister and was made by the same friend in England who made him. She is made of German mohair with floral fabric cotton paw pads that match her pretty sunhat, and glass eyes. A sweet and loving little girl bear, she is happy to be reunited with her big brother, Jago, and enjoys being spoiled by her new Daddy.
Rosie is Scout's cousin, because like Scout, she is a free trade knitted bear from Africa. She was made in Kenya by one of the Kenana Knitters, Martha Wanjira. She is made from home spun and dyed wool. She was a gift to me from two very dear friends, includng the one who gave Scout to Paddy.
Cornelia, I found in an antique and vintage market quite recently. She is a vintage edition Russ Bear from their Mohair Collection. She is made of deliberately mottled mohair to give her that vintage look. One of a limited edition of 10,000, she was designed by artist Carol Hosfstad and is completely handmade.
Just on the edge of the Melbourne Central Business District's formal grid of streets, you will find the beautiful Fitzroy Gardens. A haven of green with avenues of elms, lush rolling lawns and beautiful seasonal plantings the gardens are populated with various buildings and points of interest.
In spring 2023 the gardeners of the Fitzroy Gardens excelled themselves with several annual and perennial borders in the area around the Model Tudor Village Planted with beautiful pink petunias, pink lollipop primulas, cinerarias in pink, white, purple and blue and rows of pink tulips they are a roar of colour! I have never seen these beds look so beautiful!
The Fitzroy Gardens was named after Sir Charles Augustus Fitzroy (1796-1858), Governor of New South Wales (1846-1851) and Governor-General of the Australian Colonies (1851-1855). The Gardens have a long history of over 150 years, few other capital cities can boast such a significant garden so close to the City's centre. As crown land the City of Melbourne are the custodians to preserve and oversee this magnificent garden, visited by over 2 million local, interstate and international visitors each year, it is one of the major attractions in Melbourne. It features many beautiful statues, a bandstand, the Temple of the Winds, a conservatory and Captain Cook's Cottage.
