#boyds bears

Hey guys. I wanted to show you all a very special blinkie! It's blinkies like this that make me particularly fond of collecting them. Here it is!

Now, what's so special about this blinkie? Well, I DO love Boyds Bears, but that's not the reason. The reason is, this blinkie is 23 years old, and it's important to the person who made it. They made it for their mother! Here's what they said about it:

"This blinkie is very special. I made it for my mom. You may borrow it, BUT, you must take good care of it!"

I remember seeing this blinkie months ago, tossing it into the pile knowing I'd see it again, and now I have. Just given that message, that tiny bit of backstory, it DOES make me want to take good care of it. I'm happy I have it before it was too late. Even sites on the Wayback Machine disappear. I've seen it happen. I've lost blinkies that way. If I didn't care about preserving this blinkie, would anyone else have? Would it eventually disappear from the web, maybe floating around once or twice but no one knowing who created it? Who it was created for? Would anyone know that it's special?

This blinkie is special to me, too. I feel like I get to keep something important safe and sound. Something just barely younger than me, still loved, still taken care of, twenty three years later. Does Jessica even care at this point? Probably not, but that's okay. It's a window into a loving gesture from the past. I'm happy I have it. I'm happy I am preserving it on my site, and I'm happy that I have the source screenshoted in case it ever disappears. It's things like this that make me so passionate about internet preservation. This SHOULD be safe for another twenty years. I think so, anyway. It's wonderful.

Your blinkie is safe with me, Jessica. I understand what it meant to you, and I love it for that. I'll take good care of it, and that's a promise.

(Source, and the blinkie at it's original size:)

Allison ❤️

I got Allison as a present from my grandmother in around 2006. We got her in Dublin when we were there on holiday.

Age and being badly stored had Allison in a really bad state, but I've been doing my best to clean her. Her ears are still discoloured after several washes, but I'm going to try something else next time!

🌱 My favorite plushie! I named him Basil! 🌱

New listings this week! I have a couple of cleaning projects this week to get new friends ready for the shop, so let's say hello and Happy Monday to this handsome fellow.

I'll show you how he's doing after his bath! He will definitely be amongst our new adoptions this week. We just need to come up with a good name!