Cuty, Emjay's place, Delft, Netherla

Emjay Posted Apr 18, 2013, 1:23 pm	Hi everyone! Here I am: Cuty the Cat! I'm happy cause today I got my ID and now I can travel the world! I love to meet new people, TV's and real animals. I'm good at cheering up people and TV's who feel a little down. When you shake me gently, you can hear a sound. I'm invited by Oehippus to Finland in July. That will be my first trip. Yay! I'm looking forward to that! Big purrrr, Cuty
Emjay Posted Apr 18, 2013, 1:24 pm	As every young tomcat, I love to climb trees!
Emjay Posted May 9, 2013, 5:36 pm	Hi all, It was a beautiful day when I climbed this tree, with my friend HolgiHH. We sat among the blossom for a while.
Emjay Posted May 9, 2013, 5:37 pm	Hooray! It's Queens Day! Holgi and me enjoy a special treat in national clolours.
Emjay Posted May 9, 2013, 6:02 pm	Yay, it's another celebration today. We're celebrating the liberation of the Dutch people after World War II. As it is nice and sunny, we're enjoying a little cake in the garden.
Emjay Posted Jun 3, 2013, 11:58 am	Hello friends! I have good news! This week I'm going to Oehippus is Finland! I've heard there are great trees to climb over there. But for now I'm climbing the tree in my own garden.
Emjay Posted Jun 3, 2013, 11:59 am	Climbing is my hobby.
Emjay Posted Jun 3, 2013, 12:00 pm	Excuse me, I have to use the toilet.
Emjay Posted Jun 3, 2013, 12:02 pm	This is my friend Longtail. He's a bit stiff, cause he's made of wood. I'm soft and cuddly, though!
Emjay Posted Jun 5, 2013, 6:33 pm	It's a beautiful day for climbing! First I vist the children's playground near Emjay's house.
Emjay Posted Jun 5, 2013, 6:35 pm	And then I walk through the park. What a beautiful trees!
Emjay Posted Jun 5, 2013, 6:36 pm	Oh look, my distant cousin! He's just as goodlooking as me!
Emjay Posted Jun 5, 2013, 6:38 pm	The next day a package was delivered. Hey, is someone in there?
Emjay Posted Jun 5, 2013, 6:40 pm	I try to scratch the tape away. It's very artistic looking tape. I think I keep it as a scarf!
Emjay Posted Jun 5, 2013, 6:42 pm	Oh, look! It's Rattie Rat! Pleased to meet you, Rattie.
Emjay Posted Jun 5, 2013, 6:45 pm	Well, it was great to meet you, Rattie. But now I must be on my way. I'm going to Finland, to climb some Finish trees! Bye, bye! And bye to you too, Holgi. I'm on my way, Oehippus!
Eohippus pikkuaasi@gmail.com Posted Jul 11, 2013, 4:11 pm	Hello, mom!  It is your little Cuty writing to you at last! As you know I´ve already been here in Finland for some time, but my host Hennas camera broke just when I arrived, and so I couldn´t make any updates.  She just got her new camera couple of days ago, and now I can start my updating! Phew!  First of all - here you can see where I live here.  I must say it looked a bit exotic to me in the beginning to be living in this little cottage!  It is about hundred years old, and doesn´t have running water nor toilet inside! It has instead a good well and an outhouse, and Henna wants to live in it, because it is in middle of Nuuksio forest, which she loves.  The yard is very wild - we only need to take five steps from our door and we find ourselves inside the forest. So we also have many of the forest plants growing on the yard, like these wild strawberries. They are really good!  And blueberries!  Ha ha, if we happen to feel hungry we just need to go outside and start eating!  When the new camera arrived we left right away into the surrounding forest to take some pics and to learn to use it. In this photo you can see my new friends.  Zoe the kiwi is leading the queue, because she is now living with Henna and knows this forest well already. She is originally from California. Then comes the cutest cat in the world, that´s ME!  Tuli the frog, who also lives here, is riding Poschti, the little postbus from Schwitzerland/Germany.  Then comes Tiger Lilly and after her Stoker, the little bat. They are both from Germany. Quite a gang, huh?  Anyway, we walked in the wonderful forest. The sun was shining after the rain, and the forest was smelling fresh and summery. There was berries and flowers and busy ants and other insects in their unknown tasks.. These beautiful flowers are called "kurjenkello" (cranes bell) in finnish. They are for you!  The moss under our paws felt so soft and inviting, that after walking some time, we couldn´t resist its call anymore.  We rested on our backs, watched the blue sky and the treetops, listened to the different buzzes of the different insects, breathed the scent of the heather flowers, and really let the finnish summer to get in.  But we didn´t rest very long!  Henna told us "lazy brats" to get up and pick some berries with her. We picked a lot!  But we ate even more..  So it took a long time before the bucket was full! When it was full we took this small path out from the forest, because we had a visit to make, said Henna.  We took a train to Helsinki. And took the bucketfull of blueberries to Hennas mother! She gave us cakes for being such nice voyagers!  We shared the feeling - what a nice lady! You can see her chin in the photo.  Then we were behaving.  Watching the view from the windows and talking with subdued voices and avoiding too much hanging from the lamps with out tails. There were very civilized dolls living there. They wanted to hold us and pet us, but oh gosh how dull their discussions were! Teaparties, dresses and boring gossip, ugh!  So we kinda pressed Henna to take us out from there, by threatening to tell her mother some interesting details we had been reading in one of her teenage diaries. And we took the train again..  We made a small walking trip in Espoo.  Here is the Espoo mediaeval church. We also went inside, and saw some very interesting biblical wallpaintings, but there was a guide who was so annoying that we didn´t stay to take any pics.  Here is the small Espoonjoki river.  We followed it and visited Hennas workplace. This summer she works as a gardener.  We helped her to plant a big flowerbed. I think her summerjob is quite fun! Then we came back home here in Nuuksio. I´ll soon tell you more! A big hug from your cute Cuty!
Emjay Posted Jul 11, 2013, 6:16 pm	Hi Cuty, Wow! What a wonderful place you're in! I'm glad you're sharing it with me! Wish I was there... Give Henna my best regards. She takes beautiful pictures! Till next time. Your human mom, Emjay
Eohippus pikkuaasi@gmail.com Posted Jul 20, 2013, 6:20 pm	Hei taas, äiti!  (Hi again, mom!) How are you? Thank you for your message! I would like you to be here too, although, there might rise some issues, like umm, about the time to go to bed..  My hostmom Henna is rather easily fooled in suchs things! We have been spending a lot of time outside, rummaging round the forests around us. One day we made a long walking trip trough the nearby countryside. We walked a long way trough fields and meadows. Every now and then we saw a farmhouse somewhere behind the fields.  We saw also some cows and horses, but usually they were too far away for us to see them properly, but on one house they had these longhaired cows right on the yard.  "Hello, cow!" said I, "why do you have such a long hair?" "Muu muu, little cat!" answered she, "maybe my hairdresser just happens to be on holidays!"  Do you think she was pulling my leg, mom? There was a river making its slow way trough the fields too, and since we seemed to be heading to the same direction, we decided to go on same foot.  She didn´t seem to mind the company either. There was beautiful rantakukka/Lythrum salicaria/Purple loosestrife growing in many places on the shore.  In some places the river was running faster, and we had to run too, to keep the same speed.  Other times we wer much faster, and had to sit down to wait for our friend.  (Do you understand my ramblings, mom? Henna doesn´t. She´s just rolling her eyes and saying there must be the full moon up soon, reading our writings.)  There was a beautiful birch growing on the shore too, and seeing it I felt a primeval, irresistible urge, hiding inside every cat, to climb it.  "Cats!" said Zoe when she saw me up there. "How are you going to get down again?" I had to admit I had not been considering that! It was a long way back upon earth!  So I did what every cat does sooner or later - I looked fluffy and innocent and said "Miau!" Usually it works, and so it did now too. Henna came running and started to babytalk to me "Ooh you little pussykins, don´t you move, auntie Henna is coming already after you, guu guu!"  And then she climbed after me and took me back down. It was a bit shamefull. Then at one point we crossed the river and said goodby to her and reached a road.  On the road we met a little sisilisko/Zootoca vivipara/Viviparous lizard. The poor thing had lost its tail! You know, they can save their life by dropping their tail, if, say, a hungry crow attacks them. So they drop the tail for the crow to eat and go on, growing slowly a new tail. Quite handy, but also very tiring. It takes a lot of energy to grow a new tail!  "Hi, little lizard!" said I, "what did scare you so much you had to drop your tail?" "Well, mister Cat", answered she, "it was  two evenings ago while I was peacefully eating flies, when suddenly a huge flying saucer landed next to me, and out came these naughty-looking, bulge-headed creatures who tried to pick me up and put me into their animals of earth -collection!" Mom? WHat do you think of that? We came onto a humid area growing reed and osmankäämi/Typha latifolia/Common bulrush - surely we were comin again onto a shore! Oh yes!  There was soon a map showing an island called Linlo. We crossed a little bridge onto the island.  And then we followed duckboards trough the little island, in search of a fireplace to make some coffee.  Soon we found an old fireplace and had a fire going on and a coffeepot over the fire in about ten seconds.  The coffee tasted better than ever! It always does in the forest!  And then we went to sit on a rock on the shore and ate gingerbread cookies.  The rock was warm under the sun and the sea was singing around it.  We saw some other small islands in middle of the blue sea.. Then we went to investigate our surroundings.  We found an interesting small cave. We went inside, but it was humid and cold inside, so we came out again. There was old iron hooks on the shore rocks to bind boats onto. We found many bushes of wild raspberries!  Njam njam! We picked many of them to take with us too, so we could devour them later.  There were small swamps deeper inside the island.  Henna had told us to avoid them, because they can be dangerous places to walk upon. Some of them can "suck you in", she said. So we of course had to walk upon them to see if anything would happen. Nothing did.  But we saw there some maariankämmekkä/Dactylorhiza maculata/Moorland spotted orchids.  They belong to the orchidea family. And then we found the first mushrooms of this summer! Some beautiful chantarellis!  Because the island was such a nice place we decided to stay overnight there. Of course we needed a tent to sleep in. Here it is!  In the evening, before goin to sleep, we sat in our sleepingbacks round the fire and talked about our experiences round the world and about our homes.  Zoe and Tuli taught us a finnish song which is sang when sitting round a fire. "Meil on metsässä nuotipiiri    missä kuusten kuiske soi.      Kipunat kohti tähtiä kiirii lähipuutkin punervoi. Ja me muistamme sankariaikaa sadun tenhon tunnemme, taikaa. Ja kun laulumme yön yli kiirii ja kun hongat huminoi. We have an open fire in the forest which is ringing by the whispers of the spruces. The sparkles are reaching the stars and making the nearby trees glow red. We are remembering the past times of heroes and feeling the enchantment of fairy tales when our song is ringing trough the nigh, when the fir trees are humming." Then we went to sleep. We could hear owls and some other nightbirds singing their weird songs around us.. Hyvää yötä! Good night to you too, dear mom! And hug from your little cat!
Eohippus pikkuaasi@gmail.com Posted Aug 2, 2013, 6:25 pm	Hyvää iltaa, rakas äiti! (Good evening, dear mother!) How are you? We were spending some days (or nights, actually) in Hennas mothers place, taking care of her two cats, while she went for a trip to Berlin. Uh oh, it was both a nice and a tiring time, as you´ll see!  One of Hennas mothers two cats was saved from the street as a kitten, and she is so shy there was no possibility to get any photos of her. But the other one is a pampered little pussy, named Nalli, and she came soon to check what kinda creatures were playing with her personal belongings.  "Miau", she said, "I don´t know about you others - there seem to be some kinda flying rat and one non-flying birdie amongst you, whom I could eat both! And then there is one slimy thing, living in the mudbottom of a pond (whom I wouldnt even eat), but at least there is two decent animals amongst you!" (meaning me and Tiger Lilly).  Although lucky to be one of the "decent animals" in our gang, I wasn´t happy to hear her talking in that tone about my friends!  Besides, she was staring at Stoker and Zoe and licking her lips and drooling in a way which was more than slightly annoying! So, I thought it better to start the "taking care of the cat" right away, and filled her food bowl. (I also tasted the food a bit, although she looked rather grumpy seeing it.)  Then I had to loan her toilet just a bit, but just when I was inside there, uhm, taking care of my business, she came to the door and said she needed to use the toilet too!  And then she pushed her way inside. I must say it is not a situation in which I value a company very much!  Henna told us she needed to go to do some shopping in the nearby supermarket, and said that meanwhile we could watch around in the apartment or something. And there really was many things to watch at! Hennas mother and her boyfriend are both collecting old toys, and there was lots of those in the apartment!  There was a cabinet full of old dolls and their equipment. We took a ride in an old doll pram along the floors, going faster and faster, and it was very fun. But we shouldn´t!  Oh no! Do you still remember the dolls we met last time while visiting Hennas mother, the very boring ones who wanted us to sit on their lap and to pet us?  Well, they had seen us driwing in the doll pram, and that had given them an idea.  "Oh how the toyvoyagers are cute sitting in those prams!" they shouted, "why don´t we dress them up and play they are our babies?!"  We tried to hide, but the awfull dolls found us!  And then they were dressing us in stupid little doll shoes and other things and playing with us!  Help!  It was our luck Henna came back home just when the dolls had brought up some diapers and milk bottles! She soon saved us from disaster, took the horrible garments away and told the dolls to behave, and later she told us she had never much cared about dolls herself, even as a little girl. No wonder, I just say!  Hennas mother should keep them all inside that cabinet.. But now you´ve heard all the horrors of our visit! Did it make your hair stand up? The rest of our visit was very nice! We went for a walking trip, and I got my first glimpses of Helsinki. I hope to get still many more! Here I´m walkin along one of the main streets called Mannerheimintie. (tie=street) (Mannerheim was some kinda war hero) We saw the oldest existing church in Helsinki central area It is called Vanha Kirkko (= old church) and it is built of wood. Sadly it was already closed, like most things are at the time Henna gets from work.  The little park around it is a popular place to spend time, pickinicking and such, but originally it was a graveyard in which the victims of the last plague in Finland were buried in the 18th century. The park is called Ruttopuisto (pestilence park).  This is the opposite thing - the newest chapel in Helsinki!  It is called Hiljaisuuden kappeli (The chapel of Silence), and it is also built totally of wood, although the architecture is pretty different!  Near the chapel we saw an interesting statue called Enkelidemoni (Angeldemon).  Then we walked towards the direction of the sea shore. It was already rather late, about ten a clock in the evening, but as you can see there is still lots of light here at that time.  We walked trough a park called Kaivopuisto (Well park). At the time when wealthy people in Europe were travelling to "spas" to take various baths and drink different waters, here was one of them. The white building was the "pump room" were the waters were served.  Nowadays it is a restaurant. We were admiring their flowerbeds.  On the other end of the park we saw an old observatorium.  And soon we could see the sea!  We bought icecreams. Mine was liquorice!  Zoe asked if they have herring icecream..  (They didn´t.) We saw the memorial for people died on seas. There is a neverending fire burning on top of it, although you can´t see it in the pic.  There was nice mirror-balls in different sizes on the shoreline.  Then we saw suddenly many sailingboats and -ships. There was Helsinki Tall Ship Race going on.  There was boats from all countries around the Baltic sea, but we saw also ships as far away as Saudi-Arabia, Mexico and Brazil!  Some of them were very old, and some of them were very funny.  We were walking around and watching the ships and the people in them and outside them.. But then it was time to go back home and sleep!  I liked my first experiences of Helsinki. I hope you like them too! Kisses from your Cuty!
Eohippus pikkuaasi@gmail.com Posted Aug 9, 2013, 9:41 pm	Hyvää iltaa, rakas äiti! (Good evening, dear mom!)  I wish you´re doing well, and I think you are - I´ve been reading so many nice updates written by Orkku Orava, who´s there with you!  The gang here is total forest dwellers, and I think I´m becoming one too! I really like our walking trips in the forests. Last weekend we made a trip into an area called Luutasuo (Broom swamp).  I guess it is because there was growing lots of heather, which is exellent material to make brooms. Luutasuo is part of Komio nature reserve area, and it is about 50 kilometers from Nuuksio. We followed a path, which led us trough forests and over swamps along duckboards. These duckboards actually form a route which is about hundred kilometers long!  The forest was full of blueberries, and so were we in no time!  We also saw some mushrooms. This one is Russula paludosa, (isohapero in finnish) and it is an excellent mushroom to eat, but it was a bit old and so we left it where it was.  Let maggots enjoy it! The summer has been extremely dry in Finland, and the leaves of trees and plants are already turning yellow and red because of that. It makes the landscape to look more autumn-like than it usually is in August, said Henna. The path was cirkling a very big lake named Luutalampi (Broom lake). We sat on its shore to discus important issues, like "do the maggots become dizzy when they eat hallusinogenic mushrooms?". And if they do, what kind of hallusinations do they have? What do you think, mom?  The duckboards took us past a small building, and I thought it was someones summer cottage. But actually it was a toilet made for walkers just like us.  And can you imagine! Just next to the toilet I spotted clear evidence that there had been an elk who had not bothered to use the toilet!  What arrogance! Or maybe the toilet had been occupied just when he/she would have needed it, hmm! Maybe there was a hare inside, just reading cartoons and not caring at all about the banging on the door!  Tut tut! We found more mushrooms. These are Lactarius Camphoratus.  Delicious too, says Zoe, who is crazy about mushrooms. Our duckboards took us onto a resting place with a great view and a possibility to lit fire.  So we were admiring the views first!  There was some waterlily leaves floating on the surface, but they were too far away for us to try to sit on them.  So we had to test our bravenes in other ways.. oh yes, you´re quite right! This is not a big deal to Tuli, who is a frog! If she drops to the water she just feels like home, used to it since a tadpole! But for me.. well, you know my attitudes towards water and getting wet!  Luckily I didn´t get wet, anyway! Isn´t it beautiful, mom? I was just sitting at least 1½ whole minutes admiring it! Can you imagine? Henna started to look genuinely worried.  And then we made some coffee!  And then we realized our little paws were tired and unwilling to walk more! Well, just think of the fact that while Henna takes one step we have to take about thirty!  So we started to wait for some kind of lift to appear for us. Here you can see us waiting.  Belief can move mountains, they say. We had our lift!  It was the valiant toyvoyager S/S who came to our rescue! "Cannot have toyvoyagers running their little legs shorter than they already are!" So we came back to home with style. Hyvää yötä, äiti! (Good night, mom!) Nähdään pian! (See you soon!) Your Cuty
Eohippus pikkuaasi@gmail.com Posted Aug 17, 2013, 6:42 pm	Hyvää päivää, rakas äiti! (Good day, dear mother!)  How´re you doing? We have had rain, rain and more rain and I´ve been more humid than any cat would like to.  One day my fur started to turn green and I was sure it was algae growing in it because of all the humidity, until I remembered the wonderful pesto sauce we´d been eating the previous evening! Yesterday the rain stopped for some hours and we went to Helsinki to continue our "sightseeing".  We started our round from the maybe most famous statue in Helsinki, named Kolme seppää (Three blacksmiths). As you can see it is picturing these three guys who have stripped away all their clothing, and are hammering who knows what, totally naked, sparkles just flying around them.  Donno if this is some oddish finnish tradition or what, but anyway the statue is the most popular meeting place in Helsinki. We walked towards north along Mannerheimintie, and passed this nice little fountain.  The passageway down there was originally a railway route. Couple of years ago they took off the tracks and turned it into a light traffic route for bikes and walkers, named "Baana".  We crossed the Baana and reached the finnish Parliament House (Eduskuntatalo).  It was built in 1931. I think it looked rather pompous.  This is where finnish people mainly come to demonstrate - to shout for the parliament members going in or out. We also saw a miniature model of the building. We were counting the pillars, after Henna told us that when she was a brat, they asked the number of the pillars of the parliament house in an exam at school, and she had no idea.  We counted fourteen. So now you know if someone asks you! The aquarium -like building is a new music center, which was built couple of years ago. The statue is called "Laulupuut" - The song trees, and it is picturing a pike (Esox lucius) in the top of a tree, singing.  Henna told the statue was inspired by a poem of the poet Aaro Hellaakoski called "Hauen laulu", the song of a pike, in which a pike climbes a spruce to taste the reddish cones and to sing. Next to the music center is Kiasma, museum of modern art. It has become famous of some rather nauseating pieces of art exhibited there.  We came to Töölönlahti bay. It is an ancient part of the Baltic sea, but nowadays it is more like a little lake in middle of Helsinki.  While we walked along the shore Henna told us something about the history of Helsinki. Helsinki is rather a young city. It was established 1550 by the command of a swedish king who was also the king of Finland at that time. The king was thinking of a good place for a harbour to enlarge the economy, not about the conditions to build the city in. Helsinki was built over a swamp area, and people were so reluctant to move into the new town that the king had to order them to.  Nowadays there is, anyway, over 600 000 inhabitants and the town keeps growing. Around the Töölönlahti bay there is the Töölönlahti park. The inhabitants of Helsinki love the park and spend lots of time there. While we walked trough it, there was a park gym going on.  This is a memorial monument of one of the finnish presidents, Urho Kekkonen. What? It doesn´t look like a monument to you?  Well, nor did it look like that to me either, more like a beautiful swimming pool. But I like it. There was beautiful paths crisscrossing the park, between great trees. I climbed a willow to see how it would feel to climb a willow.  It felt great! We saw another, more conventional statue. It is picturing "runonlaulaja" Larin Paraske. I don´t quite know how to translate runonlaulaja, maybe a bard? Runonlaulaja was a specialist who could sing a big selection of the so called "Kalevala" folk poetry, which was learned by heart, listening to the older people.  Next we saw "Finlandia talo" - Finlandia Hall, which is a concert- and congress hall on the Töölönlahti bay. It was completed 1971, and it seems that on its own time it was something very special, and made the architect Alvar Aalto very famous round the world, but I must say to me it looked just a white box.  This building is "Hakasalmen huvila" - Hakasalmi villa. It was the summer residence of Aurora Karamzin, who was a great philanthropist. As a young maiden Aurora "was appointed a lady-in-waiting of Empress Alexandra Fedorovna the elder, consort to Emperor Nicholas I of Russia and a lady of the bedchamber of their Imperial Majesties Empress Alexandra Feodorovna the younger and Empress Maria Feodorovna. She was made a dame of the Order of Saint Catherine, the highest honor for ladies in Imperial Russia".  (Phew!) Later in life Aurora used her immense wealth to create benefactory institutions in Helsinki, such as schools, public kitchens, and the Deaconess Institution of Helsinki. Quite a remarkable woman!  We walked then to see the building of finnish National museum next to the park. It is a funny building which looks rather much like the finnish mediaeval churches. It was inaugurated 1916. There was a friendly looking bear guarding the stairs of the museum.  We walked again towards south, and passed this very cute museum tram.  We continued our walk along Esplanadi park. There was some small apples already in the appletrees in the park. We tasted couple of them, but they were still too sour to eat.  We peeped into a shop along the Esplanade, called Christmas shop.  We met there a group of Santas helpers, lazying around (It is still long time to christmas).  On the southern end of the Esplanade we saw this fountain called "Havis Amanda" by sculptor Ville Walgren. The statue in middle of it is from the year 1906 and it is a mermaid who stands on seaweed, rising from the water, surrounded by four sea lions. Every year on Vappu, 1.5, Havis Amanda serves as a centrepiece for the celebrations. Students of the local universities put a cap on the statue in an elaborate ceremony. For many it is a "must see" event.  I personally found the sealions more interesting.  They were spitting water showing great talent. Next we walked to the seashore, to see the famous Kauppatori - Market Square.  Originally this was a muddy shore where the fishermen came to sell their catch straight from their boats.  The square was built in beginning of 19th century and became the main market for people from surrounding countryside to sell their products for the city dwellers. Besides vegetables, berries, mushrooms and fish there is nowadays tables selling handicrafts and souveniers. It is also very popular place to sit in outside tables eating fish dishes or coffee and buns.  I noticed there was turtles preventing cars driwing everywhere. Good job! We walked to see Uspenski Cathedral. It is an Eastern Orthodox cathedral, dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary). (Umh..) It was designed by the Russian architect Alexey Gornostaev and built  in 1862–1868 The cathedral was closed, sadly. I would liked to have peep inside it. Maybe another day.. We came down from the hill where the cathedral stands and saw this old lightvessel. It was serving ships in the areas where there was no lighthouse, showing the dangerous rocks and such when the weather got rough.  We passed the old house of finnish bank.  Next we went to see Helsinki Lutheran Cathedral. It was built 1832-1850, and since it was also built over a swamp people were sure it would sink.  We climbed the stairs to see the church better, and also to see the view over the square.  We also managed to take a peep inside, but the light there was so lousy, it was hard to take photos. So we came out again, and it was time to come back home! Hyvää viikonloppua! (Good weekend!) And many purring kisses from your little cat!
Emjay Posted Aug 17, 2013, 8:03 pm	Hi little purry/furry friend! What a lovely pictures of nature and Helsinki! I want to come to Finland too! Do you think Henna could use a human guest? What a funny cat you are! I had to laugh at many of your comments. But one thing made me think: what do maggots hallucinate about? That's a deep one! I guess about a good piece of rotting steak. Or perhaps of a very dirty litterbox. Yuk! Have a good weekend too! A loving pet from your human mum Emjay.
Eohippus pikkuaasi@gmail.com Posted Aug 26, 2013, 3:43 am	Hyvää huomenta, rakas äiti! (Good morning, dear mother!)  How are you? We are doing here just fine!  Haha, your comment about coming here as a human guest caused some funny reactions here.  Henna said first "That would be nice!", but then she watched around and started to look panicky, and I know what she was thinking about - cleaning!  (Don´t tell anyone, but she is not doing that very often!) But we toyvoyagers thought we could just exchange you for some time.  We could roll Henna into a parcel and post her there, and Orkku Orava and the other gang there could put you inside a box and post you here, just like you do with us toyvoyagers. Hah, and then we could write you nice updates, with funny photos! I would like that!  Woops, now Henna is coming to see what I´m writing, so better to move to other subjects..  We have been making lots of small trips, and one of them was to a very funny shop called Kasvihuoneilmiö. Nice word, isn´t it?  Actually, it means "Greenhouse effect". The shop is situated into an old greenhouse, so the name is rather suitable!  Inside the shop there is, well, whatever!  They call themselves as a "home decoration shop". And I must admit some of these items would turn the most boring home into a very interesting place.  Hello, gangaroo! I think the funniest thing about this shop is that everything is so mixed up. There you can see rather valuable antique furniture next to a.. .. huge plastic pig!  It is like a modern jungle, this place. I really like it!  If I won a lottery one day, I´ll come here and buy about everything to our home. I hope you wouldn´t mind.  These cute bunnies are the office workers of the shop, taking care of the paper work and accounts and such.  An hour amongst all that stuff, and we started to feel a bit dizzy!  A very polite cat told us it happens to many visitors, and carried us outside!  See you soon, dear mom! Many kisses from your little cat!
Emjay Posted Aug 27, 2013, 7:24 am	Hi there Cuty! What a wonderful shop you showed us! We can see you are really enjoying your stay in Finland. Not only fantastic shops, but a lot of amazing nature as well! Love from all of us, Orkku Orava, Cherry Lola, Emil & Emjay
Eohippus pikkuaasi@gmail.com Posted Aug 28, 2013, 7:05 pm	Hello, dear mom, and love to you too, and also to Cherry Lola, Emil and Orkku Orava!  I´m following Orkkus updates too. She seems to be doing all sort of interesting things there!  This is just a very short update about a very funny place we found by accident. We were hiking in the big forest areas, and saw these cliffs which looked like human faces to us. We searched the surface of the rocks for possible rock art, because they are often situated onto rocks with antropomorfic shapes. There wasn´t any, anyway, so we climbed over the rocks.  From up there we were watching the view over the surroundings country, and then we saw a sign. It was made of wood, and it said "Lintukiiman paimentenkirkko".  It means "The shepherds church of the birds heat".  Doesn´t it sound fantastic? Henna had no idea what the heck it could be, but we went to find out. It really was a "church"! Outside, in middle of the forest, there were put these very rustic church benches made of planks, and a wooden cross to stand in front of them, and in front of a small cave.  Inside the cave there was flyers telling the story of the place. About hundred years ago there had been two small girls herding the cows in the forest (it was a finnish original breed of cows, who were very small and agile and quite able to find their food in forests). The weather changed suddenly and a heavy fog fell over the earth, the girls couldn´t find their way back home and the cows got scared by the sounds of beasts deeper in the forest and run away. The girls found the cave and decided to wait there until the fog had gone, but they were weeping for the lost cows, when a forest spirit appeared to them as bright light, and told that their folk had led the cows into a safe place in the otherworld, because there was a bear near by, and promised the girls would find them in the morning under a big spruce. After a cold night in the cave the sun rise, and the girls woke up for the happy "moooooing" of their cows under a big spruce. The cows were fatter than before, more intelligent and gave more milk rest of their lives.  The people started to think of the place as "Holy", and the priests weren´t at all happy with it, until one day they decided to give in and turned it into an official church. Nice story, isn´t it?  I think this is the most impressive church I´ve seen in Finland. Certainly I felt more "holynes" there than in the pompous, tourist-filled cathedrals in Helsinki. And never had I seen such a beautiful ceiling!  Yours, Cuty
Eohippus pikkuaasi@gmail.com Posted Sep 1, 2013, 12:54 pm	Hei, rakas äiti! Hello, dear mum!  I wish you´re having a great sunday! Here it rains, but that is just giving us an opportunity to write our updates. Besides, the rain means more mushrooms!  I´m going to show you photos of a mushroom picking trip we made to the Sipoonkorpi national park last week. Sipoonkorpi is the newest national park in Finland, about 50 kilometers towards east from Nuuksio. There are 37 national parks in Finland. They  cover a total area of 8,873 square kilometres. Besides the national parks there is about 8000 other different protected areas, strict nature reserves and wildernes reserves, protecting forests, meadows, swamps, island nature, seal nesting areas etc. Isn´t that great?  We started to search for mushrooms, and found many - both edible and unedible species. The red russulas are always difficult! I never remember the signifying marks, so the only way to know if they are edible or taste discusting, is to taste them!  (of course they´re not poisonous) Unluckily this one was a Russula emetica, and I had to wash my mouth by eating some berries!  These are Rubus saxatilis, stone bramble. They are related to raspberry and quite good.  Luckily I found next a delicious birch bolete as a compensation!  But who is this black fellow? I don´t have any idea, although I think it must belong to the families Hygrophoraceae, Clitocybe or Tricholoma.  Do you know, mom? We climbed over a rocky ridge. There was thick carpet of reindeer lichen (Cladina stellaris) growing over rocks. This is what reindeers eat (hard to guess!) It was so soft, we were rolling and rolling on it.  On the other side of the ridge the ground turned more humid and we guessed we would soon be coming onto a shore of a lake.  There was a wonderfull little pool, which´s bottom grew beautiful haircap moss (Polytrichum).  It looked too lovely, we couldn´t resist for trying how it would feel under our paws. It was fantastic!  The water was warm, and it was like standing in a soft bathtub! I could have slept there!  We found a gang of chantarelles! They tried to escape, but we run faster!  Then we saw the lake, and sat on its shore to rest a bit and to discus the problem how would it be possible to create a similar kind mossy pool inside an apartment without making our hosts too pissed off.  Zoe suggested we could simply hide a washing bowl filled with the moss and water inside a closet. I don´t think it would work. We stopped to make some coffee on a fireplace. How surprising, isn´t it? We are all here coffee addicts! But the reason to that is that coffee made over an open fire is so much better than any other!  This is Stag Horn fungus, Colocera viscosa. The mushroom books tell it is not a good mushroom to eat, being too viscous, but we here like to put into out mushroom dishes anyway, because it makes them look so cheerful with its bright colours!  We walked forward, and saw this promising flock of sheathed woodtuft (Kuehneromyces mutabilis). They grow on dead leaf trees, and they are really delicious. Our baskets started to be full and heavy with mushrooms! What could be more wonderful!  Then we found a young boletus edulis (porcino) !  We got all very exited! Maybe there would be more of them around? Stoker was even hugging the porcino!  Then we  found another porcino! Gee, we felt ourselves so rich!  We were dancing around the mushroom, singing a wild mushroom song. And guess what! Then we found some more!  And more and more and more and more!  We were running like crazys from mushroom to mushroom, panting and shrieking with joy, and dragging the porcinos to Hennas big basket, because our own were already bursting!  Here you can see the big basket when we started our way back home! Marvellous, isn´t it!?  Kisses from your little cat, mom! See you soon!
Eohippus pikkuaasi@gmail.com Posted Sep 3, 2013, 7:24 pm	Hyvää iltaa! Goedenavond!  Are you already packing your bags, mom?  I saw Orkku Oravas new smile, and I must say she is rather cute! Although, of course, nothing compaired to a beautiful cat maiden! (Aaaargh, help, Orkkus cousins are hitting me with pillows!)  I´m now going to tell again about an interesting place we  found accidentally!  We were walking one day in the forests (what else!) and admiring the beautiful landscapes, when we encountered a very well kept path, and started to follow it.  The path led us to this interesting looking building in middle of the forest.  It´s walls were decorated with bones.  And there was kinda bone mobiles hanging from the trees on the yard.  What kind of place is this? There was a plake (under a deer skull) telling the hut had been built in the year 2007. We encouraged each other to go in to find out more. In the end we went all together, it was nicer..  Inside it was actually quite cosy. There was less bones, and a fireplace in middle of the floor.  We also found a book telling us that the building was built and owned by some guy named Pekka, but instead of enjoying the place just by himself, he had turned into an "autiotupa".  There is not an equivalence in english language, but it means a hut everyone has a right to use for resting and for shelter from bad weather, making food and stay overnight couple of nights. The original idea was to have such places in forests, because the distances in Finland are rather long, and people sometimes needed shelter to survive in the harsh conditions specially in the winter, while travelling from place to place, or maybe if the weather changed suddenly or they got lost etc. I think it is a fantastic tradition!  There still is some places like that, specially in Lappland, where it is easy to get lost on the fjells.  I would gladly overnight here some day, although the taste of decoration of the people who have built it is a bit doubtfull..  There was a guest book and we all wrote our names into it.  We went back outside to investigate a bit more the things on the yard.  This bowl is made of a pine branch and a flat, concave piece of stone. Nice, isn´t it?  There was bronze age grave on the backyard.  All in all, one of the most interesting places I have seen on our trips in Finland this far!  See you soon again, mom! Nähdään pian!  A BIG hug from Cuty!
Eohippus pikkuaasi@gmail.com Posted Sep 6, 2013, 7:04 pm	Hello again, dear mom!  Today I´ll show you pics from a trip we made in Turku region. Henna went there to listen some very boring lecture in a museum, and meanwhile we were investigating around.  On our way there in Hennas friends car, it was raining and shining at the same time, and there was a rainbow arching over the sky.  We escorted Henna to her lecture and stayed inside a minute and half, but it sounded so horrible we came out to avoid a braindamage.  Then we walked trough the beautiful village landscape. This is the old mainbuilding of a farm called Kurala. It is now turned into a home museum.  There was a swing on the yard, and we were swinging quite a lot!  There was also an old warehouse full of interesting stuff!  Like this old loom. It would be wonderful to try making carpets and even fabric with a loom some day.  Then we popped inside the main building. This is the kitchen. Do you see the bread hanging up on the ceiling?  That is the way the bread was kept in Western Finland. They only baked bread maybe four times a year and then let it dry on the ceiling. Of course it was stone hard when eaten! This is where they ate. Looks cosy, doesn´t it?  In finnish farmhauses everyone ate in the same table and at the same time - the servants, the householder family and the communal wards who were living one years time in turns in every house. This is the hall. Of course this house was a rather wealthy one.. Do you see the swinging chair?  Could I have one, mom?  I wonder if all these carpets are made with that loom we saw. I would like to live in a house like this, but I don´t know about the other things they have to do in a farm. This is the Aurajoki river, and we followed it to the city of Turku.  We met the Russian czar Alexander I and the Swedish king Carl XIV negotiating on the rivershore and joined them. I don´t know how our suggestions might have effected the outcome.  We walked past the nice old library house.  There was huge birdies swimming in the river.  We walked to see the Turku cathedral, which originates from the medieval times. It is the Mother Church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and and the seat of the Archbishop of Finland. And then we found the same church in toyvoyager size!  Do you think it has an toyvoyager sized archbishop?  This is Mikael Agricola, who translated the Bible into finnish language. We helped him!  (Do not wonder if there´s some naughty words in the finnish bible nowadays!) Then we climbed to see the Samppalinna windmill. And then we run back to the Kurala museum, again following the river,  before Henna would notice we were gone! Hah!  See you soon, mom! Your Cuty
Eohippus pikkuaasi@gmail.com Posted Sep 28, 2013, 9:38 am	Hello, dear mom!  I hope you´re having a wonderful time in Greece!  We´ve had here beautiful autumn days, and some very rainy ones too. Henna had to visit the allergy hospital one day. While she was enjoying the joys of different tests, we went for a walk along the shoreline.  It was a nice bay area with boat harbours and canooing clubs and such. We enjoyed the rare autumn sun laying over a smooth rock.  We walked trough a small park, discussing if it would be possible that someone could be allergic to tovoyagers.  What awkward thought! I don´t believe it! What do you think, mom? There was a monument in the park, honouring the finnish composer Jean Sibelius.  Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957) was a composer of the late Romantic period. His music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His best known work is his set of seven symphonies.  Sibelius loved nature, and the Finnish landscape served as material for his music. So I guess these pipes can be interpreted as being either pipes of a church organ or icicles hanging from a cliff in the forest, or maybe both..  It is said that these pipes have an echo too. So we were shouting and growling and singing into them, and I guess half of the Helsinki must have heard it.  We returned to the shoreline and continued our walk. We saw some old industrial buildings on the other side of the bay. Suddenly we came onto an area which was divided into many small garden patches growing vegetables and autumn flowers.  There is many such areas in the Helsinki region. The land is owned by the ctiy, and people living in the region can rent a little garden patch for a summer and grow there vegetables to eat.  I think it is a great system! There was many wonderful flowers!  Do you see these wondrfull cornflowers? There is lots of them in Finland, growing as weeds on the rye fields.  It is now endangered in many parts of Europe by agricultural intensification, particularly over-use of herbicides, destroying its habitat. It was interesting to see how some people were growing for example many different cabbages on their patch, some others had only flowers or berrybushes, strawberries or potatoes. I guess everyone grow what they like most.  I´m sure you would love to see these small gardens, mom!  Maybe we can come here together some day. These are Echinacea purpurea, purple coneflower. They are used as herbs to prevent flue.  We left the wonderful little paradise, and walked forward along the shoreline. We saw a cute little red cottage pretty near, and there seemed to be lots of people around it. So went to find out what was happening there. It was a cute little cottage café! We decided realised immediately that we were immensely hungry and in need of coffee!  It was a bit difficult to decide what cakes to have, but in the end and after lots of debating we chose blueberry pie!  With whipped cream!  There was a blog of flats for birdies on the yard of the café cottage. Must be nice people keeping it!  We walked past an old graveyard called Hietaniemen hautausmaa. It was very green and park-like and full of trees and flowers. Many people here come to spend time in the graveyards, there is so silent and peacefull to sit on the benches under the trees, reading and enjoying the summer´s beauty.  There was also a verdant, shady bergola.  We walked then past some nice old wooden houses.  This was the home of one of the finnish presidents, Urho Kekkonen. Now it is a museum, showing his private life to people.  We came onto a small beach, where there was no other people than us. Instead there was a fireplace, and since we were again feeling a bit peckish, we lit up the fire and warmed some karjalanpiirakkas (Carelian pastries) over it.  The fire felt very good. Not that the day had been a cold one, but after so much walking it is relaxing to sit round a fire.  The Carelian pastries felt very good too!  After eating five pastries each, we went to investigate the little beach.  Then we sat for awhile in a little nest between the roots of a pine, well, just because we felt like sitting there!  And then I was irritating the waves !  You know - walking very near the waterfront and letting the waves almost touch my feet, but actually jumping aside every time in the last moment.  We saw some mushrooms near the forests edge. We started to search for edible mushrooms too! This Russula was pretty hard NOT to find!  Then I found some Cantharellus tubaeformis!  We started a feverish search for more, because they´re the best ever mushrooms!  Here is our prey!  We returned home with the mushrooms, drooling with expectation, and started to make food! We added some onion, garlic, broccoli, carrot, cream and green beans with the mushrooms.  And then we ate!  It was a great day and a great meal! I´m sure you would have loved the meal too! See you very soon again, dear mom! Your Cuty
Emjay Posted Sep 29, 2013, 8:48 am	Dear Cuty, What a great places you see! I loved the bone house, although it's a bit spooky, and the pictures from Turku. But most of all I love the nature of Finland! I'm glad you showed me the cornflowers, cause they are my favorite ones. It's a shame they are endangered, in the Netherlands too. Give Henna my love. I hope the allergies aren't bothering her too much. I'm sure she's not allergic to TV's! Big hug, your mum Emjay
Eohippus pikkuaasi@gmail.com Posted Sep 29, 2013, 4:45 pm	Hyvää iltaa, rakas äiti! (Good evening, dear mother!)  I´m happy to hear your trip went well.  I´m writing now an update showing you something else than finnish nature.  Last weekend we visited Linnanmäki amusement park in Helsinki.  We were first walking around the park, watching the different rides and listening to people screaming.  Besides people bumping onto each other, coming dizzy from the rides, or eating candy floss, there was also some nice flowers and fountains to be seen. I think this one looks like a peacocks tail.  We wanted to try some rides too, but it wasn´t so easy to find an understanding about the rides! Some of them looked a bit too horrible, and others just a bit too boring.  But then we saw one ride we all wanted certainly to visit - this cute old carousel with swings!  So, there we went, and it was so wonderful we went there about ten times more!  Next we visited this ghosthouse, and there we were screaming too! Sadly it was too dark inside to take pics, but I can tell that we saw monsters attacking us behind corners, and horrible ghosts flying across the ceiling!  So we wanted something more relaxing, and took a ride in the Ferris wheel.  It had cute little gondolas in which we rised higher and higher towards the sky.  From the top we saw a beautiful view over Helsinki.  Back upon the earth again. We passed this ride, because it looked quite too horrible, but Henna went in, and we watched her to come out, rather green-faced but grinning.  Then we were going round and round in teacups, hahaa!  We watched a beautiful old animal carousel, in which people sit over elephants and giraffees and whatnot.  We took a ride around the area in a small monorail train. The evening was already turning dark, and we knew we sould leave back to home soon. Surprisingly Henna said she wanted to take another round in the monorail. We were a bit surprised, but followed her to sit in a wagon.. But she was fooling us! It wasn´t the monorail at all, it was the rollercoaster, and soon we were all screaming and giggling like hell! It was both horrible and fantastic! Wheeeeeeeee! What a great way to finish a great day!  See you soon again, dear mom! Many hugs from your little Cuty!
Emjay Posted Sep 30, 2013, 11:58 am	Hi Cuty! What a wonderful day at the fairground! Makes you feel like a kid again! I know you have a great time with Henna and the other TV's, but I have a little surprise for you. Would you like to go to Paris? A nice couple is waiting to meet you! But no hurry, you can stay with Henna as long as you like. big hug, your mum Emjay
Eohippus pikkuaasi@gmail.com Posted Oct 6, 2013, 7:41 pm	Hello  hello hello! Did I just heard you saying "Paris" ? Was it "Paris" ?  Here I come, Eiffel tower - I think I´ll be ready to travel in about seven seconds! It´s about time too! The temperature has already dropped here below zero in some days, and cats like warmth! Miau!  Henna says the post office is closed today because it´s sunday. I´ll be queuing behind their door tomorrow morning at nine! But now I can as well tell about my last days here.  We started our days breakfasting in the old appletrees round the cottage. The trees only produce fruit every other year, and this is the good year, and the apples are njammy!  Then we walked trough a forest of ink cap mushrooms. It´s funny mushroom. It´s edible, but after you have eaten it you cannot have any alcohol for two weeks or the consequences can be horrible. So many people just rather don´t eat it at all..  I climbed a pine to take a lookout for which direction we should be going. What does it matter, you ask, hm? There is just forest in all directions, right? Well.. not exactly! I´m now going to show you the "sights".  Ha! This is one of the sights.  It is the main road to the village along which the bus runs. Sometimes you can even see people there!  We followed the road, and it took us trough fields. It would be a great place to make cropcircles, don´t you think? Not much audience, though.  Ohoo! Next sight! Horsies!  I tried to talk to them, but they were just staring, dumbfounded, not used seeing many people around, not to mention toyvoyagers. There was a little brooke running alongside the road, shaded by trees. It is called Sahaoja, and it runs from the lake Sahajärvi to the lake Nuuksion Pitkäjärvi. There was beautiful birchforest on the shores of the small brooke. I love the way how the birchleaves look almost transparent, illuminated by the sun.  Wow! We saw a building!  There was delicious lingonberries growing in the forest on both sides of the road. I ate maybe three kilos.  This is not so delicious a thing! But pretty!  There was an old stonebridge crossing the little stream. I guess it must be the sight number three.  This is the Nuuksio school. It has classes from 1th to 6th, but because there is altogether only about 30 students, the brats of 1th, 2th and 3th classes are studying in the same classroom, and the brats from the classes 4th, 5th and 6th in another classroom.  The stream led us to the shore of Nuuksion Pitkäjärvi lake. There was some boats, seemingly enjoying the sun. (I swear I heard them purring!)  We followed the example of the boats, and sat for sometime on the shore enjoying the sun too.  Lake Pitkäjärvi is a very long and narrow lake. It is about ten kilometers long. After the iceage it was a fjord, part of the sea, but with the land rising it became a lake. There is a rockart site on the shore of it, but it can only be observed from a boat or from the ice in the winter.  There was a house on the other side of the lake, and we even spotted a person! We left the lakeshore and encountered the stream again, now grown bigger. Then we hopped into the village bus and hopped out again next to the nearest café.  The we took a second bus to the seashore in Porkkala. When we arrived, there was a fog howering over the sea and turning the landscape mysterious.  There was lots of beautiful green algae growing on the seabottom. As the fog was slowly starting to clear away, we saw small islands emerging from it, like fairy islands in fairytales. Maybe they were.  We investigated small details on the rocks, like this wonderful oval pool, polished smooth by the sea.  I think this kind of weather and atmosphere has its own, special kind of beauty, don´t you agree? But I was really starting to feel the fog roaming under my delicate fur!  So I suggested we could make a fire on the beach.  So we did, and it felt great! And with it also the sun was coaxed to peek out between the clouds!  Soon we were warm and happy again and climbing the trees.  We loitered on the sand, which was now turning deliciously warm under our paws.  There was bunches of golden reed growing on the shore.  We sat bathing in the sun in a little hollow of the rock, lulled by the soud of wawes and late insects.  It was a wonderful little beach, but it was time for us to move on, since were going to visit a friend of Hennas.  Hennas friend had a cat called Ralli, and we became soon great pals!  Ralli was rubbing my back, purrrrr!  And then he was washing my paws. Purrr!  In no time I was very very clean!  I was really enjoying the cattish company again! We ended our day by a short walk in Seurasaari open air museum. There we saw many different old buildings. Some of them were very humble. I was imagining how it would be to live in a hut like this. Not so bad in summertime, but winter would be a different thing!  This house has been a much wealthier one. I would rather like to live in here!  Then we went to have some coffee and pancakes with jam and whipped cream, as my goodbye - feast. Njam njam!  Now I´m going to sleep to be early in the post office tomorrow!  See you soon again, dear mom!
Emjay Posted Oct 7, 2013, 7:03 am	Hi dear Cuty, What a wonderful way to say goodbye to Finland and your friends! Have a safe trip to Paris. But before you jump in your envelope, give Henna a big hug from me! Bye, Cuty! Have a great time in Paris! Your mum Emjay
Eohippus pikkuaasi@gmail.com Posted Oct 7, 2013, 7:30 pm	Hello, auntie Emjay!  It is Zoe the Great, the worlds coolest kiwi bird writing this update. You see - Cuty cannot do it himself, since he is already on his way to Paris. I don´t think I have ever seen quite as fast departure as his! He had been humming a song since yesterday, something like "Stranger beware, there’s love in the air under paris skies Try to be smart and don’t let your heart catch on fire .."   We hugged him farewell and good bye, and still he was humming, and had a twinkle in his eyes. He roamed into his envelope and wawed the last time, and we heard him muttering something about the "pussycats of the left bank with artistic temperaments", and then he started to purr!  So, I think he is travelling in good spirits!  He asked me to send you a kiss. Greetings! Zoe the Great
Emjay Posted Oct 8, 2013, 7:23 am	Hi Zoe the Great! Thanks for your update! What a big smile of Cuty's face! There's a Dutch song about a cat who goes to Paris. I will translate a little piece: The cat of uncle William has been on a journey. So where did he go? He went to Paris for seven months. And now he only reads French newspapers. "Bonjour" and "voulez-vous". He is so elegant. He purs in French. He goes with his rosery to the French Cathedral. That's just to give you an idea. It's a long song! Well, thanks for being such a good friend for Cuty. I'm looking forward to his update in French  Big hug, "auntie" Emjay
Emjay Posted Oct 15, 2013, 12:54 pm	Dear Cuty! Thanks for sending us a surprise from Finland! We had a lot of fun with it. I ate the lollipop, which tasted like pear, and the TV's ate all the liquorice. They had to get used to the taste first, but then they loved it! Dutchy thought he looked just like the hanger. Well, it reminds me of you too, Cuty! The pussycat fridge magnet is lovely too. Thanks a lot, Cuty! Big cuddle from your mum Emjay
Aleksandra_Sunny Posted Oct 27, 2013, 6:09 pm	Hello my dear family!!! Bonjour! Salut! Coucou!! Here am I, in Paris!!! My trip passed very well, and I was very excited to meet my new host family!! There have been already 3 others toy voyagers, Lille who is in Austria now, and also Kripchen and Shooga who is a cat like me! There are many other friends here, and a big cat Inna. I gave them my presents and they were very glad to talk me about the life here! I'm looking forward for the new adventures!! Cuty
Emjay Posted Oct 28, 2013, 8:40 am	Hi dear Cuty! I'm glad you arrived safely in Paris! You have some lovely friends there! Have fun and I hope I will see your adventures soon! Big hug, your mum Emjay
Aleksandra_Sunny Posted Dec 15, 2013, 4:49 pm	Hello dear family!! I'm really sorry to make you wait for my news for a very long time.. Our host-mother hasn't been feeling herself very well and she wasn't able to take us to Paris... But now she's better and she promised to go to the city tomorrow! We'll say good bye to Krippchen  who goes to another country! Today we prepared the flat for Christmas! We worked very hard and now the Christmas tree and the other decorations are ready! I wish to see Paris with Christmas decoration too! We'll do it tomorrow! Sorry again, Cuty
Emjay Posted Dec 19, 2013, 9:15 am	Hi dear Cuty! I'm glad to hear from you and I'm glad hostmum is feeling better. I understand if she can't take you places. I just hope you have a nice time with your friends overthere! Take care and say hello to hostmum from me! Love, Emjay
Aleksandra_Sunny Posted Dec 23, 2013, 12:04 pm	Hello mummy! And here I am, with some photos of our walk in Christmas Paris! The weather is very nice here, but I'm very sad without snow... Surely, in this time in Finland it's much colder... My host mother said that there aren't any hope to have a "white Christmas" this year... She is very upset about it too, her native town is St Petersbourg and there are always many snow in December.. . I've seen the Arc of Triumph, the Louvre museum, St Eustache church and the Defense district which looks a little bit like New York.. We I found a box for letters to Santa and I posted a small note for him, hope, it'll go directly to Lapland!! I'll write again soon for talking about our Christmas evening! Huges, Cuty
Emjay Posted Dec 23, 2013, 6:14 pm	Hi Cuty! Wow! Looks wonderful, but... no snow, that's a pity  ! Here is no snow too, only rain and storm. Well, you can't change anything about the weather! Have a good Christmas! Big hug from your mum Emjay and the TV's!
Emjay Posted Dec 27, 2013, 3:44 pm	Dear Cuty, Have fun in Paris!
Aleksandra_Sunny Posted Jan 2, 2014, 2:50 pm	We wish you a Merry Christmas! We wish you a Merry Christmas! We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! Joyeux Noel!!! С Новым годом!! Prettige kerstdagen en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! Here are some pictures of our Christmas evening which was very quiet and cosy! The dinner was very well and than we played differents games all together! Hope your Christmas passed well too and I wish you wonderful 2014 year!!! Cuty
Aleksandra_Sunny Posted May 13, 2014, 3:31 pm	Hello Mummy! It's my last letter from Paris, now I'm on the way to Germany, to my new host family! Sorry that I've not giving any news for so long time.. . There is a small baby-girl who has appeared in this home and the life trn around her now... She is vers cute and funny, I played a lot with her.. I'll give youmy news from Germany as soon as I come! Bye, my dear mum! Happy Mother's day!! Cuty
Emjay Posted May 13, 2014, 4:11 pm	Hi dear Cuty! I'm glad I hear from you! I can understand you haven't written to me for a while. You were playing with that other cuty in the house! I understand you are already on your way. Still, I'd like to thank your hostmum for showing you Paris. And congratulations on her baby daughter! Love, your mum Emjay
Dr.Kröbner Posted May 29, 2014, 7:07 am	Hello my dear Mummy, I`m on my way with Dr.Kröbner and his gang, updates will follow later your little cat Cuty
Emjay Posted May 29, 2014, 7:41 am	Hi dear Cuty! Great! And can't wait to see your updates! Big hug, mummy Emjay
Dr.Kröbner Posted Jun 6, 2014, 6:58 pm	Heellloooo Mummy, no time for a welcome at the last minute I could jump into the door of our motorhome and then the journey started northward..pfffff After 3 hours driving we pass Schleswig-Holstein with a golden Sundown. Additional 3 hours later we pass Denmarks highes Point ( the Store Bealt Bridge Pylones with 254m above sealevel) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Belt_Fixed_Link …and one hour later we pass Kopenhavn , the tunnel and Öresund bridge between Denmark and Sweden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%98resund_Bridge bad weather From here we drove directly northward, following the E20 (European Highway no. 20) First overnight stop on a motorway service area near Helsingborg (in the far we can see the Baltic Sea and the coast from Denmark) After a catlik and a promise and  3 hours we reached Göteborg and  changed from the E20….. …. to the E45 until Karesuando at the border between Sweden and Finland. We ride and ride and ride, landscapes are passing by and what a pity, it started to rain….. not realy, but isolated raindrops on the windscreen beclouded our  excellent view ….  At last we  pass Mora and found a place for the night in Orsa. Next morning starts with rain, more rain,  and much more rain…… so we escape northward … and we pass Stornuman  with a giant moose. … ..the rain slow down and when he stopped finally, we stopped too, on an campsite north of Wilhelmina (the owner must be a fan for Salmonfishing, as you can see in the background) more soon from your little kitty a big hug yours Cuty
Dr.Kröbner Posted Jan 7, 2015, 2:12 pm	Hello muuuuum, believe it or not my travelog from last year continues.. . June 2014 …..we continued our expedition northwards. During a short stop in Arvidsjaur it started snowing a little bit …. …we drove across the taiga landscape and a few kilometers south of Jokkmokk we crossed the arctic cirkel…. …and when we reached Gällivare the dense blanket of clouds breaks and we saw the Nordic sun at first time……  and  reindeer, mum  Suddenly Trööt gets very flutteringly…. and then we saw the sign: FINNLAND, his nativ land. We reached the third Scandinavian Country.   First he was sooo happy , thinking he would be close his hometown. At the next bus stop he went out to look for a connection homeward….. but than he realiezed, that he was in Lapland ca. 800km away from Home…..  so he decided to join us northward….. ….we cross the high plains of Lapland and snow began to seeming the roadside and at evening we reached Karasjok, one of the municipal cities of the Samish Peoples. Next morning we enjoy the sunny weather and went hiking along a river. On the way we found some funny little brown pellets ……   so we put one back to our car and asked Dr. Kröbner ….. he explained that this are animal excrements , most likely from an elk!!!...Crazy, such a big animal and so little pellets….:-).. thats all for now kisses from your little cat Cuty
Dr.Kröbner Posted Jan 22, 2015, 5:20 pm	After a kingsize breakfirst we continue our route northward, following the river Tana at the border from Finland to Norway. For a short refueling stop we cross the river and enter Finland....and Troot get nostalgia feelings again... Later we passing Tana bru, Rustefjelbma and Ifjord we turn right on the Nordkinnhalvøja, and there she was:  the Arctic Sea. We following the coastline for a while and suddenly the road run steep uphill and the landscape turn to white. When we reach the plateau we following the road wiggling through a snow dessert without any indication of vegetation. Then we reach Mehamn, one of the northermost cities of the world . We left Mehamn northward (yes it's no typing error) to Gamvik and reaching our destination of the journey, Slettnes Fyr, worldern northernmost lighthouse. We take a walk through the tundra, see reindeers and the Norwegain Postboats, the Hurtigruten, and we have a look to the Nordkinn, the northernmost point of the European Mainland .at midnight we made a fotoshooting with Dr. Kröbner psssst, Ole is sleeping  and at morning we saw the Lighthousekeeper, Harald and Heinz, relaxing in the Sun. Kisses for you mum
Dr.Kröbner Posted Feb 11, 2015, 9:45 am	Hello mum now we ´re at the reversal point of our journey.  Further northward we had to swim till Svalbard or the North Pole, but hostmum  forbid it in case of the water temperature . So we turn southward……. Passing snowfields, fjellareas, fjords, bridges, blue skies, splendid views,  midnight sun, fjords, porpoises, fresh green buds at the trees, more splendid views, fjellareas,………… . and 2 days later we reached the archipelago of the Lofoten. We stop in the regional metropolis town Svolvær. We enjoy the fantastic colours for the light, water and landscape, watching natural spectacles of flowing clouds an Caribbean beach, crazy rocks and an unique distant view at the south end of the Lofoten, where the rocks sinking in the Atlantic ocean…… wow….. .........
Dr.Kröbner Posted Mar 10, 2015, 8:03 pm	Hello my mummy, we´re leaving  the Lofoten southward  and passing Saltstraumen, a small  strait with the strongest tidal current in the world, located near Bodø, riding the touristic value “Kystriksveien No. 17 till Steinkjer and reaching Trondheim . We visiting the huge cathedral Nidarosdom (only from outside) LifeMission!!!! I saw a real CAThedral and the old Hanse-trade-city  Bryggen at Nidelva. We continue our trip to Trollstiegen, where we get a special tour guide; Frida (the cohabitee of Sören), who told us lots of mystic and crazy stories and explain the landscape (Günther means: all cock-and-bull-stories) . we journey on via Geiranger , where we try to enter a cruise ship with Gummischnulli ( it doesn´t matched we were too slowly) Songefjell,  Ovre Ardalfjell (with a big snow-canvas), Songefjord and Lærdalstunnelen. From Aurland we following the Route 50 til Geilo with a tunnel  labyrinth and a few days later we reach the south coast of Norway, Kragerø. yummy zzzzzzzzz We riding along the archipelago of the Norwegian Coast toward the ferry port Kristiansand. On a privat island close to the harbour we are relaxing in the warm Norwegian early summer sun and taking reminding pictures of this terrific holiday. Arrived in Kristiansand, hostmum show us the boat for the passage till Denmark. (fortunately Günther  rumble this again as a cock-and-bull-story, at least we take the speedboat…..) Next morning we awake in the fairytail  kingdom Denmark with plain land, lots of sanddune, nice wooden cottages with flagpoles and old cities and this ist the end of the Norway story  a big hug from your little cat Cuty
Emjay Posted Mar 11, 2015, 12:19 pm	Hi Cuty! Thanks for sharing the pictures and stories of your wonderful roadtrip in Scandinavia! Give my regards to you hostmum and your TV-friends. Big hug, Emjay
Dr.Kröbner Posted Mar 26, 2015, 2:34 pm	Hello my mum, with the first beams of the autumnsun we made a short Weekendtrip. First stop was near Gersfeld in the low mountain rage Rhön, on a realy nice flowery meadow.   On our  tour we cross the Thuringian Forest  with little sleepy villages and for the night we reach our destination for the night: the Boxberg ... we enjoyed a fine Sundown view over the mountains of the Thuringian Forest. Next morning we drove til Gotha, an old Residencetown  of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha with old historical Buildings and parks… ... and Bears..:-)… Next stop was Mühlhausen, a town with 33.000 inhabitants and  a Cultural heyday In the Middle Ages. There are eleven Gothic churchest, several patricians’ houses and a nearly completely preserved fortification s . The biggest church is the  Gothic church St.Mary`s. The church, the second largest in Thuringia after the Erfurt Cathedral, is considered a masterpiece of the Gothic style and was principally constructed in the 14th century. The church's central tower, at 86.7m high, is the highest in the state and is a significant feature of the city's skyline. Very impressive for such a small town…. That’s all for now… kisses for you mum Cuty
Dr.Kröbner Posted Jul 5, 2016, 10:44 am	Hello mum, believe it or not, I`m in Norway again....and here are the pictures from the midnightsun and a wonderful beach... but now it is time to say goodbye to my friends in Delligsen, it was a long time with 3 Scandinavian trips  bye,bye hostmum and Dr.Kröbner Cuty
Emjay Posted Aug 6, 2016, 12:09 pm	Hi everyone! It was just a short trip from Delligsen to Delft. And I was greeted by a lovely girl, called Annie. Thanks for hosting me such a long time, Dr. Kröbner. And thanks for the great roadtrips we made together with all the other TV's. Das war toll!  And now I'm home again. Waiting for my next adventure!
Emjay Posted Oct 29, 2016, 3:31 pm	Hi everyone! Some time ago we went on a little trip to Cologne in Germany. We visited the largest photo exhibit in the world: Photokina. And in the evening we had time to do some sightseeing. It's strange: we SAW a lot of pictures, but we didn't TAKE a lot of pictures! I climbed a German tree, though!
Emjay Posted Oct 29, 2016, 3:36 pm	On this lovely autumn day we went to Vlaardingen. Is a small fishermen's town at the west coast of the Netherlands. Maybe they have some fish left for me
Emjay Posted Oct 29, 2016, 3:37 pm	This channel is leading to the North Sea. A lot of boats pass by.
Emjay Posted Oct 29, 2016, 3:38 pm	It's time to play! I LOVE to roll around in leafs and to climb trees!
Emjay Posted Dec 13, 2016, 9:22 pm	Hi everyone! Today we celebrated Saint Nicolas' day. Saint Nicolas gives presents to all children, much like Santa does. But Saint Nic comes earlier in the year, that's why I like him! On the plate you see a "pepernoot" (peppernut),  a "kruidnoot" (spicenut), a chocolate letter and a marzipan ball.

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