Plush Animal Lover's Day 2017

Today is Plush Animal Lover's Day, and the image atop this entry of a plush animal rendered in the likeness of a male cardinal, is my way of paying honoring this holiday, but please don't tell Cam I'm doing this!

As many of you know, Cam (who is pictured directly below where she is in my rooftop garden),

gets her feathers ruffled over things like this.

In all the versions of her book, Words In Our Beak Volume One (WIOB V1)

WIOB V1 DIGITAL

WIOB V1 SOFTCOVER

Cam mentions the fact that artifacts which are rendered in the likeness of cardinals are often only created in the likeness of a male cardinal. Here's what she has to say:

"Folks often dismiss me and focus on the males in my "breed;" even choosing their likeness to create figurines (such as the one seen below) stuffed animals (as evidenced in the image atop this entry) and Christmas ornaments (also seen in the pictures below)."








And with no disrespect to Cam intended, I've included the plush animal rendered in the likeness of a male cardinal in order to raise awareness re Plush Animal Lover's Day.

According to daysoftheyear.com, "Plush Animal Lovers Day is a day of celebration that is held every year to show your favorite stuffed toy some extra special love and appreciation. There’s an urban legend that says that the Teddy Bear, one of the worlds most popular plush animal pets, was invented when American President Theodore Roosevelt saw a baby bear on a hunting trip, and refused to shoot it...

"...The original origins of the day’s creation are vague but there is an unconfirmed Urban Legend that the day first came about after a collectibles dealer named Royal Selangor came up with the idea of a Teddy Bears Picnic Day in the late eighties. Other stuffed toys became jealous that Teddy Bears were being singled out for their own celebration and demanded a special day all of their own! Not long after, Plush Animal Lovers Day quickly replaced Teddy Bears Picnic Day in popularity!"

In any event, I hope I'm not reporting fake news by discussing Plush Animal Lover's Day, but from all the sources I've checked, it seems to be a legit (albeit unofficial) holiday.

Moreover, with Halloween just around the corner (this coming Tuesday, October thirty-first), I'll include another plush animal within this entry. This one is rendered to represent Woodstock dressed as The Great Pumpkin, evidenced in the next picture.

This particular plush animal was given to me by one of my sisters as a Halloween gift. We can be seen together in the image (taken in beyond bygone years) directly below with our Halloween pumpkins.

And this concludes my musings (and some of Cam's) re Plush Animal Lover's Day.

ADDENDUM FALL 2018: 

The digital versions of Volume One within the Words In Our Beak book series that are mentioned in this entry may only remain available for a limited time, but hardcover versions of Volume One, Two and Three can now be found wherever books are sold. Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books.

MY BOOK SERIES

Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.