Travelog for: Zoe

Beloved mom!




I know you are somewhere there, upon the clouds, so I lit a big fire on the yard, and  sat in the night, watching the sparkles rising towards the sky, and thinking maybe they will reach you and with them my warm thoughts.

I know you didn´t want your little kiwi bird to be sad, but happy and alive, and so I will go on, roaming the forests and building coffee fires, and thinking loving thoughts about you.

Your Zoe

Hello again, dear mom-upon-the-clouds! 

I think it is needles to ask you now how are you - I´m sure you are doing splendidly, and I´m so happy about that! 
I guess you are happy to know I´m all right too now, after being sitting and watching the embers for some nights.


I want to tell you about  our trip to Porvoo.
It is a small town about 50 kilometers to east from Helsinki.



Here I´m watching the town of Porvoo from the top of an ironage castlehill. There is nothing left of the castle, only the hills, but  the whole town has got its name after it (in swedish Borgå = castle river). 



We went first to admire the river and to peep into the water.
The water in the river was very brown at this time of year, when the huge rains have brought lots of earth from the fields, and I certainly didn´t feel like swimming in it, but the fish didn´t seem to mind. 
What do you think - if I catch a fish here, should I wash it before eating? 



There is many bridges running over the river Porvoo, and here I´m sitting on one, watching the view over the water. 



Porvoo is one of the oldest finnish towns, and the old townpart still has some mediaeval characteristics - the narrow alleys still run where they run in the 14th century, and most houses are made of wood, although Porvoo has suffered so many fires that the oldest houses are from the 17th century. 
The biggest fire in the year 1760 was caused by a woman cooking fish soup, ha ha.. 



The old town is so cute and cosy, that it is a very popular place to come, especially on sunny summer weekends, to stroll on the streets and enjoy the charm of bygone centuries. 




Now the day was pretty cool and cloudy, and the streets were rather empty of people, but we saw many fat cats! A best sign of here living good people! 



It was very funny to walk along the cobblestones.  Henna was walking like a giraffe, but we toyvoyagers, we really had to hop from cobble to cobble.




We saw some remarkable buildings, like this old Porvoo Town Hall, which nowadays serves as the Porvoo Town Museum. 



And the mediaeval church of Porvoo. It was saved from the 1760´s fire, but some young stupidos burned it down some years ago.    They say it was some heavy metal - minded group of young people who did it. I must say I don´t approve that kinda thing! If they unavoidably have to burn down something, why don´t they go and burn one of the new ugly modern churches which look like a cardboard box? 

The church is now totally restaured, anyway. 



We continued our walk trough the cute town, and can you imagine, mom, we met there three nice women who came to ask from what part of world we are from, and told they have a colleague who is also in toyvoyaging. 
It´s great to meet people who have heard of us! We are famous! 



We saw some glorious trees in the autumn colours. 






And more cute alleys and more cute houses. I really like this toyvoyager -sized town. 



In many of the houses people had decorated the windows in delicious ways to make them delightful to look at for the passers by.
I felt like taking pics of many, but I didn´t, because it was a bit awkward to take photos of peoples livingrooms.. 



We saw a beautiful small square, where there was a sundial. We went to investigate it.



How do I read time from this, mom? 
I have no idea, but I thinks it´s cool! I could have one on my bedside table.. 



It was already getting dark.. as you know, we are not very early risers here, unless we really HAVE to. 



We were still walking trough the town center and doing some windowshopping. There was some very inviting little shops.



Then we hobbled back towards the riverfront, and then strolled along the riverside, seeing the small town  from different angles. 



Here are the little red riverfront warehouses, which are one landmark of Porvoo. 



Then we walked onto one of the bridges and saw the river Porvoo and the little red warehouses from opposite direction. 



And then from the opposite front!  ( I bet you have seen enough little red warehouses to last the whole eternity now! Hah! Now I can hear you giggle! )



But here is still one of us all posing in front of them! 

We drowe back home, and sang the whole way a finnish song Tuli was teaching to us. It tells about a frog living under a rhubarb leaf in mothers kitchen garden.
She promised to teach a finnish song for each one of us according to our species. I just wonder how she is going to find a song telling about kiwi birds.. 

Kisses from your little Zoe! 
Love you! 

Greetings to you again, beloved mom, somewhere there!  It is your little Zoe here writing to you.
Guess what, mom? Today it snowed for the first time this year! 



Of course there is only a very thin layer of snow, but anyway, it was great to wake up in the morning and see the earth white! 
The birds and squirrels in the trees were behaving slightly mad, like they always do with the first snow. Of coursem for those of them, who have only hatched/born this summer, it is the first snow ever, and it must be a bit puzzling incidense! 


Wi were visiting the Castle of Turku one day when they had free entrance for students, and Henna managed to coax her neighbor to loan the car to us. 
I don´t don´t know how] she does it. The grumpy old guy always says "But this is the last time I let the car for the mad gang of yours!"

So we drowe towards west about an hour and half, and then we were in Turku, and here I´m standing in front of the castle. 




This photo is from the castle yard.

There was a guide telling us about the history of the castle.
It´s building started on 1280. The Swedish conquerors of Finland intended it originally as a military fortress.
Later on the castle served as a bastion and administrative centre in of Finland under swedish rule. It was built larger and larger when the centuries passed by, and filled with pompous duchesses and other luxury items the swedish introduced this country with. 


It was very dark inside the castle, and I found it somewhat gloomy too. Most photos we took are so dark you can see hardly anything in them, so I´m just putting here the ones where you can see it is your little Zoe in the pic. 



The castle was really huge, and somewhat maze-like. I felt great to stop to watch the light and greennes outside the castlewalls everytime there was a suitable window.



This is the first one of the two rooms with lightning - the kings dining room. Can you imagine the king eating with only one visitor, lets say, another king - both of them of course sitting in the different table-ends and shouting to each other as a polite small-talk over the dishes?  [/size][/color]



We saw many interesting things, and I´m really sorry I cannot show them to you - for example the kings toilet was pretty interesting, and so was the prisoners pit - but both of them were too dark to take any photos. 


This is the other room which had lights on - the castle chapel. There was an organist playing while we were there, and it was nice to sit and listen for awhile. 



The castle was in very bad condition in the beginning of the 20´th century, but it was renovated troughout many decades, and for example this chapel is painted according to old mediaeval manuscripts describing the original works. 



Here we are resting a bit between the many storeys and staircases. 






Then we climbed the last stairs to the uppermost storey where the is a museum representing many of the items found in the castle and its surroundings during the archaeological excavations  and the reconstruction. 



There was lots of gold- and silverware, and other luxury items, which certainly were rare in mediaeval Finland, but even so I think I would rather have lived in a cottage even in mediaeval times than in a castle this gloomy.
The cottage certainly was warmer, and maybe there even was less lice. 



When we had seen everything there was to be seen (except the closed-from-the-public -areas, which, I bet, would have been the most interesting ones!  ) we came out from the castle and spent still some time on the yard.






It was only half an hour to the sunset when we get out, and so it was too late to go and see other parts of the town of Turku, which was a bit of a shame..  but maybe some other time!


Goodbuy, gloomy Turku castle! 

With love,
Your Zoe 

Hello again, dear mom somewhere there! 

We have been making a wonderful trip to the forest again.
We went to search for the last mushrooms and just to breath deep the green, fresh and humid atmosphere. 


I love to pick mushrooms with Tuli, because she is really totally crazy about them, and there is always that happy, broad smile on her face when we find some. 



All the seasons in the forest are magical, and the late autumn has its own, special kind of magic..
Mom, I love forest!



We found a faery ring deep in the forest. This is where the faeries gather at nights. 



I wish they don´t get mad at us that we entered their ring.



We crossed a little lake and saw the last frogs, who had come to say farewell for the sun before starting their long hibernating inside the mudbottom of the lake. 



Isn´t it odd, if you think of it - how the hibernating species only see half of the year.
I also wonder what kind of dreams they see during their long sleep trough the winter months.



"Good late autumn to you!" I said to the forest, since we are soon flying to Portugal and next time I see the forest we are already deep in the winter. 



We found more mushrooms, and more things to be happy about. 



A new fox hole just next to our cottage! 
Maybe we could even see fox puppies next spring! Awwwwwww! 



We went to the seashore, and sat watching over the beautiful waters, and listening to the waterbirds.



We were hopping on the stones, panting and giggling for nothing, just out of pure delight. 



And wondered the marks left by iceage on the rocks. 



We admired the suns route across the sky, crossed by the routes of hundreds of birds.



We built up a coffee fire. 



And waited for the water to boil.
We were telling stories we tend to tell sitting in front of a fire, stories from the past, old tales which rise from somewhere behind many generations.



Then we were having the good coffee. 



And eating away a kilo of gingerbread cookies! 



The sun was setting behind the horizon, and it was time to come home.

Good night, dear mother. 

Good morning, beloved mom! 

We were having here a Kekri party last night.
Kekri is an old finnish celebration related to Samhain and Halloween, but without ghosts and bats and spiders (what a shame, I´m hungry!  )



We carved some lanterns, but instead of pumpkins we used oranges and tangerines. 



And that was an excellent solution, because when we lit the candles inside the lanterns, a wonderful citric smell filled up the whole cottage! 



Our Kekri was hold mainly around a very loaded table. 



We were eating and drinking very well and many times! 



And then we were singing an old finnish Kekri-song over and over again. 




"Yksi kaksi kolme neljä,          "One two three four, 
anna iloinen olla!                  let be happy!
Jos suru tulee                        If the sorrow comes
niin anna hänen mennä.        let him/her go.
Paarmat ne laulaa                  Horseflies are singing
neljä hiirtä hyppelee              four mice are jumping
kissi lyöpi trummun päälle      the cat is banging the drum
koko maailma pauhaa!"        the whole world is roaring!"

If you know how the tune "Folia" (madnes) goes it is about the same. 



Then we were dancing. 






And having a somersault competition. Many somersault competitions, actually.



And then I don´t quite remember.. 



I just remember Tuli  telling us of the finnish "trick or treat" custom at Kekri - it was the adults and adolescents going round in traditional costumes, aping animals such as billygoats or cranes and behaving in obscene ways towards everyone, asking boost from neighbours, threatening otherwise to "break down the owen".

We were going to do that, but I´m not sure if we did. 






Hugs from your little wild kiwi,
Zoe 

"Hip hei!" to everyone, and warm thoughts to my mom somewhere there! 

I´ve had a holiday from writing updates, but now I´m back to tell that though silent, I´ve not been inactive at all - vice versa - I´ve been having a great midwinter in Portugal with friends. 



We´ve been eating very well, as always,
and I´ve especially enjoyed the "living food" only Tuli is sharing with me.
(Good - more for us). 



Hah, of course the strawberries we pick in the forest are "living food" too until we swallow them, but those I have to share with everybody. "As long as they don´t kick it´s ok" they say. Hmm.. 

I´m sure I don´t want to encounter a kicking strawberry.



These sardins I dream about when I´m not in Portugal. 

Huh? What? What do you mean by "have I not been doing anything else but eating" and "how many kilos do you weigh" ? 




Food is important! 
Well, this one I didn´t actually eat, nor did Tuli.
It looked a bit TOO itchy.



Huh? You don´t LIKE spiders? 

I do, as far as they are smaller than me. 
Ok, ok, no more spiders..



We have been moving a lot in nature like always, and not just in search of something to stuff into our mouths, but also to feed our spirits. We are not just materia, luckily. 

So we don´t need just "panem", but also "circenses", like said Juvenalis, hum hum, as you can see I´ve also been studying and becoming a civilized kiwi bird! 
But, no, we are not leading our brains astray with light amusements, but concentrating to nurish our souls with the beauty of nature we can see everywhere.



Like in my cousins, although their toilet manners are not a real source of visual enjoyment (unless you are kinky in a certain way..  )



In the wonderful wild flowers growing everywhere and round the year in this wonderful land. 



In the wonderful trees from the smallest sapling to these giants. 



And in the waters, from smallest streams to Ocean. 



And as the nature is giving us so much, everything, actually, it is very natural that some people are giving back - feeding the nature spirits on this small tables set for them in some more faraway nooks in the forest.  (I wonder if they really enjoy red wine and grapes so much, and if it in Finland, for example, should be vodka and sausage instead, then..  )




I have visited many places anew, working as a turist guide for my friends who are here for first time. 



I have also learned some new things myself.
Poor russian boys.
They should immediately join Toyvoyagers.
Maybe that would turn the country a bit less aggressive. 



I´ll now end this babbling and go to eat a bit more.  This was mainly to tell to everyone that I´m alive and spirited. 
I´ll soon start the regular updates again.

Kisses from Zoë 

Hello everybody! 

The big Z is ready and willing to go on with the updates again!
I know you´ve been missing me, but I´ve been too busy digging worms and eating them. 

Now we are back in Finland and here is no worms, or at least they are somewhere deep under the thick snowcover, and the earth itself is frozen, so - no worms here.
This is sad but leaves me time to make updates to delight you all.



Here is our beloved little cottage in its winter outit.
I think it likes winter, because in some nights I´ve heard it to purr like a big cat. 



I like finnish winter too! 
In my first winter here I was at first a bit shocked with the low temperatures and with the fact that even the sea freezes over, but that was only because I´m from California and had not experienced anything like that before.



I´ll now show you photos illustrating some aspects of finnish winter. 

In this pic we are on a walk here in Nuuksio.
The little stream is called Salaoja, and it is running free, because it has been extremely warm past few days, -2 degrees celsius or so. 



We came to the shore of the nearest lake called Sahajärvi,and saw some rowing boats hibernating there, their backs turned towards the sky. 



The lake was of course covered with ice, but there was a route circulating over the ice, which was cleaned from snow for the walkers and skaters. 



Of course we too had to go to test it a bit. 



We saw an interesting hole in the ice, and I spent some time trying to spot any fish swimming past, since I was feeling a bit peckish, but the only fish I saw was very small and smiling very sweetly, so I didn´t have the heart to eat him. How frustrating! 

I asked the fish how he did like the life under the ice - wasn´t he missing the sun during winter, and he answered that he and his friends had spent the whole winter in huge parties, dancing and eating! 
Who would have guessed!



We walked over the ice to the spot where the Sahaoja stream runs to the Sahajärvi lake, and sat for sometime watching the water running under the ice.



On the shore of the little stream we found the home cave of some small animal.
Whomever he/she was, he/she had a nice icicle -decoration round the door. 



Then we walked trough the forest back towards home.



But we stopped to have a snowfight.. 



And then we walked forward and found a place were there was lots of beautiful, big icicles hanging from the side of a rock.



We were kinda staring in ave for some time, but then we run to investigate! 



We were licking the icicles to see how they taste (yes, still peckish!) and checked if it was possible to watch trough them like trough glas. 



And then we ere climbing them. 
Ha ha, I get higher than the others because I was already training last winter!



Withount hands, do you see?! 
(or without wings in my case..)



Between the rock and the hanging icicles there was a ice-floored cave for us to play in. 



Some of the icicles were so thick they werent transparent anymore.
Why they were a bit yellowish I don´t know - maybe there is iron on the ground on that spot or something. 



It wouldn´t be pleasant to get one these falling on your head, but they are so beautiful i would still love to have them hanging rom our roof. 



We were starting to feel a bit cold, because some drops of water had fallen over us from the icicles, and it is not nice to have a humid fur (feathers) in minusdegrees.
We headed back home. 



There we were sitting in front of a fire.
It felt wonderful. 



See you soon again!
I smell there is chocolate somewhere near by! 
Zoe The I Great

Hello to everyone again! And specially warm thoughts to my mom somewhere there! 




After a wonderful winter month in Finland we are back in the never-ending summer of Portugal again. 

I´m sad to tell that our old friend, the cunning cat Sibila has passed away. But she was already 18 years old and had health troubles, and so she is now resting in peace. 

The young cat here in the pic is the new member of our portuguese family, Emilia. 
And specially my mom must be happy to hear that she is a kitten rescued from the
street!
There is now lots and lots of abandoned animals here.
With the economical crisis many people have lost their jobs and cannot take care of their pets anymore.
It is so sad!



Our first week here just finished.
During it we have spent lots of time at home, taking care of the young and still very shy cat.
But on couple of days we have been out, and I´ve been showing places to the other voyagers, specially to Squab, to whom this is the first time in Portugal. 



I went also to Sintra to greet my beloved trees. 
"Hello again, little kiwi bird!" they said, "how were the finnish birches doing on this winter?"

I´ll soon tell you more! 
Kisses from Zoe!

Hello to everyone again, and special thoughts to my mom! 

I´ve been greatly enjoying the neverending summer here in Portugal.
I´ve been working as a tourist guide for my fellow voyagers, showing them the miracles of this land, but also seeing some new things myself, which is always a joy. 




And I have more good news, especially to my mom. 
I was helping Henna to save another streetcat! 
She is now here with us, and she will come to live with us in Finland!
Her name is Olivia. 
She is still very shy, but we toyvoyagers are helping her to feel at home by keeping her company and by petting her.



In Easter we made a trip onto the rivershore of a small stream called Ribeiro do Vinho (Vine Stream) in Cascais. 
We thought we could try our luck and find some Easter eggs there, because we thought it was just that kinda place the Easter bunnies would like to spend time laying eggs.



We found some brown, roundish objects and first we thought them to be chocolate eggs, but after smelling them we found out the horrible truth - they were not laid by an Easter bunny, but by a sheep!
I´m happy no one of us didn´t taste them first! 



We continued our search for the Easter eggs, hopping on the rivershores and on the river itself. 



We found our first eggs on the shore!
But we had learned not to believe what we saw!

"Are you sure these are real Easter eggs and not something laid by a sheep again?"
"Well, these are wrapped in red and green and golden aluminium paper!"
"And how can you be sure a cunning sheep has not done that just to fool us again?!" 
"There is only one way to find out - we have to taste them!"
"Ok, you first!" 

In the end we took a small bite at the same time each of us, and to our big relief they WERE chocolate! 




We found wonderfull calla lilies, and sat down watching the spring bumble bees flying in and out of them, buzzing like small oldmodish airplanes. 



We found more eggs on a beautiful green meadow. 



Suddenly we spotted a small Easter bunny hopping along a small bridge, and managed to follow her, hiding behind stones and bushes. 



Then we saw a bigger Easter bunny, pushing a big load of eggs on a wheelbarrow! 
Of course we then started to follow her, moving as silently as possible, trough the thickets of clover and periwinkles.. 



After some very exiting moments she led us to the sacred Easter forest, where the trees are full of Easter eggs! 
The eggs were glimmering in the sun, and it was all very beautiful!

We collected some eggs, but took carefully only couple of eggs from each tree, not to ruin the beauty of them. 



Here we are with all our eggs! 



Back at home we spend a nice hour painting some eggs. 



And then we ate some delicious grilled mackerel!  Njam njam!

See you all soon again!
Hug to my mom!
Zoe the Great 

Hello again, everyone! 

The winter is beginning here in Finland, but it seems
it has not quite made up his mind yet - it is snowing one day
and raining the next day, and it feels like we were hopping
back and forth. 



Last saturday morning when we woke up
the ground was white, and since it seemed to be coming
a great day, we went for a walk. 



The leaftrees have changed colour, and when
the sun shines their foliage is like glowing gold, only more beautiful. 



At this time of year the hibernating
animals are roaming into their winter nests.
Tuli doesn´t want to hibernate. She says she would loose too
much time and adventures and delicious insects. 



We were playing in the piles of dry leaves -
roaming under them (and catching some insects and slugs),
making somersaults and such. 



There was a sleepy little brooke roaming slowly
amongst the wonderful green moss, and we followed it
and watched it to grow bigger and faster on its way. 



The brook got so enthusiastic it even formed
a tiny rapid and asked us to play with it, and sure we did!
We hopped from stone to stone and the brook tried to sprinkle
water over us! 



We came onto the lake shore, where the
swans had been combing their feathers and left some behind. 



Then we returned to our home forest.



I sat down enjoying the warmth of the
pinetrunk behind my back, the wonderful smell of the forest and
the earth itself. Soon it will be all under the snow and the
world will turn black-and-white.
That is beautiful too, but so different. 



We climbed a tree to be near the sky. 



In the evening we lit candles inside our first
ice lantern of this winter. 



Good autumn to all of you! (Or spring, if you happen to recide on the other side of the equator!) 

Jihaa! Wow!

I got a mystery package from my sister Crawfish! 



The postman brought it to our door, and I
was hopping up and down.
(You see, I had heard hints of the mystery BOX for some days already!)
So, I was in a hurry to open it! 



And then I dived in to the box! 

The others started to gather around to watch.



The box was full of wonderful things! 

Even the cat Emilia got interested.



Such riches! 
I wanted to hug every item and ended to roll in the pile. 



The cat Emilia pointed out that there was a note
to read.




It was from my sister Crawfish. 
Hi, dear sis! Thank you for all the great things!
You´re a sweety pie!



There was the cutest ever little bag for me! 




I have never been as stylish!
Or maybe I should say chic! 



Poschti noticed there was some sweets
residing inside! 



And there was more sweets, and this
beautiful giant gingerbread cake! 



Just look how marvellous things I got! 

A giant big hug to you, sis Crawfish! And to auntie Sanny too! 

Hello, dear friends! 

It is really wonderful to be here after such a long time! 
Although I've become a Facebook addict during the past half a year, the genuine toyvoyagers page really isn't sustitutable! 

When the tv page went down, it was really heart breaking to see the hollow look on Henna's face! 
She was slouching around like some Hamlet's ghost and talking aloud about toyvoyagers in her restless dreams! 

So it was about time to get the page online again and we have all been a bit mixed-up with joy all the afternoon!  Thank you, admins, we love you! 



Yours, Zoe 

Hello, friends! 

This is a day of great joy and wonder!
I´m going to tell you everything about it! 



I had been waiting some surprise gift coming from my sis Crawfish
already for over a week! 

She had been very secretive about it, giving all sorts of
hints and instructions to Sanny to tell Henna to tell me.
So I had grown VERY excited and PRETTY impatient! 



Today the package arrived at last! 
And it was so cute and beautiful! Just so typical for my sis Crawfish, that I was hugging the package in exicitement!



But then I wanted to get it open!  Fast! 

.. Henna anyway took the drill away from me!



She gave me a pair of scissors instead..
and told me to use them carefully! 



I got the package opened, and the first item I saw was a long list of instructions written by Crawfish. 
Henna told me to read it through and to follow it or either..


The instructions told me 1. to open and inspect everything in the package EXCEPT a box. 



Here is the box I DIDN´T open. 



Instead I investigated everything else in the package.
I found these very cute little items!
I wasn´t quite sure what they were for, But Henna told me she thought they were bathing soaps. Hmm.. ! 






Then I found this cute little blue thing.
I thought it was a bag, but Mr casanova, who knows very well all this girl- stuff informed me it was a bathing cap! 

"Uhum, I thought, very nice from dear Crawfish, but why this sudden interest into my personal hygiene?" 



The next item I found from the package was this pink pouche of "Foam Bath of Princesses" ! 

I asked Henna and the others if they have been spreading some worrying information about my personal cleanliness (or the lack of it) in internet, but they all said no.
Although Mr Shaun was then marching round the house a peg on his nose.. 
And the others were laughing a BIT too much!






Next came out a VERY bulky and heavy item!
I had no idea of what it might be!



It was a bathtub!
A BATHTUB! 

You can have no idea about the amount of laughing that caused amongst the others! 



Well, it made me giggle too!
I thought my sister had maybe lost some of her marbles.. 

Now everything but the top secret box was open, and I continued reading Crawfish's instructions.
"All right!"  I thought. "She can't have all the moomins in the valley!" 
Her instructions told me to take a bath in MILK! 

..On the other hand.. I know my sis Crawfish!
She has always been a very smart girl, and she seemed to think this very important - there were three exclamation marks in the instructions! 

"Well, all right then! If Crawfish tells me to bath in milk, she must have a reason for it! 
Milk bath it is then!
(The others seemed to approve of the idea of me taking a bath - can´t understand why! 



I stripped of my clothing (The others started to cheer). 



I filled the bathtub with milk and dropped the "foam bath for princesses" after it! 
The result was a pinkish, nice smelling liquid, like strawberry milk!



And then I plunged in! 



Ooh, my crazy sister! What ideas she comes up with! 
But, what wouldn´t I be ready to do for her?!! 



After the long bath (after which eveybody was telling me I smelled very nice!) I was eager to open the very secret box!

The instructions told me to be careful while doing it!



Carefull? Why?
Has my sis send me some of Sanny's cactuses or a poisonous spider or what? 



First there was plastic, and then there was a soft bundle!
I pulled it carefully out! I thought I heard a sound while doing it! 



So, I started to roll it open very carefully indeed! 






There was something pinky protruding out from the bundle, which reminded me of something.. but what? 

I opened faster now!



I found a pinky antenna, which was oddly familiar!

My heart started to beat faster! 



Then there was this apparition of my sister Crawfish standing in front of me!
I heard her voice shouting "Surprise!" 

And then I fainted.






I came soon back to my senses, anyway, by someone kissing and hugging me, and when I opened my eyes - sure, it WAS my sis Crawfish herself!!     



And then we were hugging more, and Crawfish asked me if I was suprised.  Sure I was![
And then she too told me I smelled nicely and then she was laughing! 



And after that we have been laughing a lot together, and sat hand in hand, exchanging lots of sisterly secrets!

Oo, I´m so overjoyed to have my crazy sister here visiting me!   
We will spend some great times together!






 

Hello again dear friends and admirers! 

I'm acutely aware of the fact, that every time you cast your eyes upon a kiwi bird, that valiant, beautiful creature, your hearts are filled with deep admiration and your minds overwhelmed with yearning of more knowledge about it! 

So, I take the noble task of lightening the weight of your ignorance! 



A long long time ago we were dinosaurs, but because perfection was our aim even on those times, we decided to become something much better! 




One of the first things to do was to grow feathers! (So much more stylish than the scales!)
Around the same time we decided to give up the unpractical ectothermity and become warm-blooded. 

Who wants to spend the winter sleeping in a hole in a mud bottom of a lake?! Don't ask the frogs, they're all loonies.



Here is troodon, one of my first foremothers who grew feathers.
"Troodon had some of the largest known brains of any dinosaur group, relative to their body mass", tells Wikipedia, which unquestionably prooves it to be my kinswoman. 




We dropped away the useles extra toes and ended up wit the perfect amount of three pretty early on, as you can see if you compare my toes to the ones of Compsognathus. 



After some trial period we reached also the perfect size, which is between 25-45 cm of height and 1-5 kg of weight. 
I really don't know what my great-grandmother Tyrannosaurus Rex was thinking while growing herself to that idiotical size! Our nowadays size is so much more handy! (Maybe she just though about the amount of food she would be able to devour with a stomack of the size of three elephants).



We had an odd period of flying attempts too.
Here is my third cousin Archaeopteryx.
Her offspring were flying on the sky when the brains were distributed from the evolutionar larder, and they continued their evolution to birds such like swallows and sparrows and pigeons.. 



The foremothers of kiwi birds (yeah, we're matriarcal sort) soon came to the conclusion that flying was greatly over-advertized, and that it was much more cool to grow the brain size.
You know.. you cannot have too heavy brain, if you want to fly.. 



Here is Confuciusornis, who has almost reached the perfectnes!



Looks even better!



And here! Tattadaa! 
The finished, polished, gracefull, ready product!
Ach! The crown of evolution!
The Kiwi bird! 



I'm sure you are able to value this objective fact sheet just as much as it deserves!

Sincerely yours!
Zoe I The Great