Travelog for: Jeremy

Hei/Hello/Olá, dear mom! 

Your little tiger here is travelling in so fast speed there and back over Europe that he has already started to speak a funny pidgin language, mixing english, finnish and portuguese words. 
Actually, we are all speaking like that nowadays and having lots of fun with it.



I´ve met two cats.
First  one was this hostile kitten who lives with Hennas mother. In this pic she is showing of, frustrated because I didn´t agree with her plans of eating Zoe. 



Instead of the suggested kiwi bird meal I was devouring this delicious dish of salmon and potatoes. 



The other cat I met lives with a friend of Henna. He leads a double life. At night time he is a flying saucer driwer in the TPTC -  transplanetary public transport company.
Or that is what he said. 



We were making more little trips to see how the spring was spreading over the land. 



And eating more njammy snacks around fire places. 
Her I´m eating a pumpernickel.



And here we are having delicious little potatoes we fried on the fire. 



The spring was gaining strength every day when the days got longer.  there was more and more blue anemones in our yard.



A sea of them! 



And do you know what this is, mum? 
It is a rhubarb pushing up from the earth!
Soon there will be rhubarb soup!



Then went to search for false morels, but it was still too early..



All snow melted away and run to the sea along the rivers. Good bye! Wellcome back next winter! 



We were camping couple of days in a tent we build up with pinched towels. 



The first little lizard of the spring came for a visit. 



It had just woken up after hibernating whole winter and it was very hungry! We helped her to catch some flies. 



We wellcomed the first crocuses. 



And drew to the nearest "center" (= a village with 500 inhabitants) to eat "korvapuustis" (kind of buns). 



And then guess what, mum. We flew again to Portugal! 






First day in Portugal we took part into a demonstration. 
Here the red carnations are always part of demonstrating, commemorating the 1974 Carnation Revolution, when the dictatorship was overthrown.
We were singing "O povo unido jamais será vencido". 



And then we were sitting in the table of little kiosk and trying a local drink called "Ginja" which is made of sour cherries.



And I think we also opened the bottle of "Salmiakkikossu" we had bought with us from Finland as a souvenier, but I don´t remember so well.. 



But next morning when I woke up someone had painted a red heart onto my tail, with lipstick, I think. 
I have a suspicion Zoe and Krystal might know something about it.
Anyway, Henna commanded me into a bath. 






Zoe and Krystal were washing even my ears and then I had to take a shower! 
They even put some hair conditioner into my fur so that now I´m smelling of flowers!



"I am a tiger and I wash myself like all cats do, by licking myself!" I told them. But they just said "Jaiks!" 



Then they wanted to comb and brush my fur..



And middle of all this Henna came in and said I´m cute! 
Maybe all this combing and fur conditioning has its bright side too..



Do you think I´m cute too, mom? 

Many kisses from your (cute) Jeremy. 

Olá de novo, querida mamã! (Hello again, dear mom!) 

Como estás? How are you? Estou muito bem. (I´m very well.) 



Here you can see your little mechanic regulating the electric current in the city of Lisbon. Krhm! 

In a way that is true too, because I´m visiting the Museum of electricity in Lisbon and it is here where all the electricity to Lisbon was coming from hundred years ago. 



It is a very impressive building, full of interesting looking stairs, pipes and machinery. 



Being honest, I didn´t understand very much about them, but I was admiring their special beauty.




Like some piece of modern sculpture. 



Or a sight from a 1920´s "futuristic" film about space travelling. 



One could easily get lost here! 
Or hide behind all these things for some generations and turn into a new species
without no one realizing anything! 

Actually I think I saw there some enormous rats with self-luminous whiskers and using some mysterious equipment! 

Just kidding. Pfffff!  I think. 



I saw a workman in clothing which looked like being from a time hundred years ago.
Maybe some part of the odd machinery was a time machine and I had been sent backwards in time. 
I saw the guy opening a hatch and went to see nearer. 



It was some kind of huge owen full off burning coal.



I hopped in to try in real life the theory I had been reading
about the trick how to walk over burning coal.
Quite easy!  Just need to concentrate..

Just kidding again! 



I didn´t go even near the burning coal, but I saw more of those guys in oldmodish working outfits.. 



And a little boy too, also in funny clothes.
Besides, he was clearly underaged for so heavy work! 

I watched out from a window..



.. and became convinced that I really had moved backwards in time. 

Maybe it was those rats with the odd equipment.. 



I saw more of that odd folk. 
And decided I better find those rats again..



I went to search for them near the place where I thought
I had seen them..



And when I peeped out from another window I realised I really need to find them FAST! 



I was running now!

And saw one of those odd rats gesturing to me, showing me a glass ball, full of blue light!



I hopped over the ball!



..and was sucked into a time continuum.



On the other end of it there was a platefull of spaghetti and eggplant with cheese filling. 

Or that is what I told to Zoe and Krystal when they asked me about the museum visit.   
  Well, just because of the bath some days ago..  They looked a bit suspicious.

What do you think, mom? 
Kisses from Jeremy!

Kukkuu, mãe! 

I wish you are as well as I am, and I'm splendid! 



I have made two new friends. 
This guinea pig is one of them. She is named Guilhermina (can you imagine  ) and she is a very affectionate animal.



This elderly cat lady was a bandit in her younger days. 
Now she is already retired and came to spend here the rest of her days.



Here she is taking care of her personal hygiene.
18 years of age and still that elastic! Wow! 



We have all been helping Henna and Maria in the house.
I have for example been doing the shopping in he farmers market. 



I´m smelling all the melons to find out if they have the wonderful, sweet smell, which tells they are ripe and delicious. 



This is what I bought from the market. 



Wonderful, juicy apricots! 



Delicious, sweet strawberries! 



The best cherries I have ever eaten! 



I also bought the invitingly smelly cheese, but the olives are from the trees of Marias parents. 
Her mother has prepared them herself.



Then we took the little ferry to Lisbon over river Tejo.
The weather was cloudy and sending little showers of rain over us, but we had a mission to do. 



We went to search for certain flowers! 



We saw beautiful camomillas. 



And spiky opuntias. (Too spiky!  )




An glowing pelargonias. 



And also these nasturtiums. 
Did you know, mom, that they are edible? They are good in salads and they have vitamin C.
Some people even put them over pizza. 



This bunch is what we were collecting and it is for you, mom. 
It is a tradition here to collect this kind of bunch in the "Dia de Espiga" which means the day of the Thursday of the Ascension.

The flowers in it symbolize different things:
Ear of a grain plant  - bread
Poppy - love and life
Olive branch - light and peace
Wine leaves - joy
Marigold - wealth
Rosemary - health and strength

I wish all of these for you! 



Then we were grilling some salmon for our dinner. 



We were having some boiled potatoes, carrots and cauliflower with the salmon.
We sprinkled olive oil and lemon over everything in portuguese style.
Njammy! 



Then we made some fresh coffee. 



And had it with choc cake. 



I hope strawberries and choc cake are part of your summer joys too, mom! 

See you soon again!
Kisses from Jeremy. 

Hei rakas äiti! 
"I wish this finds you as it leaves me!" I just read this magnificent sentence in an old book and thought it useful. 

It was time to say good by to Portugal again.



Here we are having a "bica" in the Lisbon airport.  That is the most common way to have coffee in Portugal. It is rather strong and the cup is almost toyvoyager sized.




People were watching us, when we glided stylishly on the escalators like big cosmopolitans. 
Ha ha, we turned our noses towards the ceiling and started to talk nonsense, like "But you have to take in account also the statutory formatting of the portofolio, and the paragraph 7 conserning the coloring of socks." 



Good by, Portugal! 
It was a bit sad to leave again so soon, but on the other hand, we were all very eager to see if the summer had arrived meanwhile to Finland! 



Here I´m trying to watch the air hostesses appealingly with my endearing kitten eyes so that they would bring us soon something to eat. 



It worked!  (Who could resist blue kitten eyes?)



When we arrived to Finland we found both a new toyvoyager mate and the northern summer waiting for us! 

Here is Brownbeard, standing between Zoe and Krystal.




And the wonderful northern summer is everywhere around us!  It is in these forget-me-nots..




.. and in the unbelievable fragnance of the lillies of the valley. 



It is in the birds and squirrels busying everywhere, collecting food for their babies, and in these glorious buttercups, who look like little suns. 



Until they are ready to be blown to fly and to spread seeds for new little suns over the fields for next summer. 



The fresh greenness felt so wonderful and inviting after the already somewhat hot Lisbon, that we couldn´t wait, but just dived into it, into the forest! 



Have you ever become drunk of nature, mom?  I think we really were. Or maybe we were drunk of summer, I don´t know. But I know we were all giddy, laughing out loud out of pure delight, dancing and singing.. 



.. and running onto treetops and roaming under fallen trees, and saying "Good day!" to every ant we encountered.. 



.. and played to be ents from Tolkiens Middle Earth. 



Then we came to the lake shore, and grew suddenly silent in front of the beauty of the landscape. 



So we just sat there for some time and listened the dragonflies making sounds like small helicopters, the bumblebees buzzing and the waterbirds honking on the lake, and let the summer in to fill us. 






But of course that kind of silence is not a very natural state for four lively toyvoyagers, and soon we were hopping again. 



The little stream was singing happily too when we jumped over it from stone to stone. 



Filled with summer or not, we all soon felt a certain emptines in our stomachs and decided to build up a fire to make something to eat and drink. 



Soon we had coffee water heating and a frying pan ready to make pancakes. 



Oh it was hard to wait them to get ready! 



But they were just perfect! A bit burned here and a bit raw there - just like they have to be made in a forest on an open fire!  Njam Njam!



We were also having carelian pastries, which are a traditional food from eastern Finland. They were very good too. 



Then we had some very sweet portuguese tangerines we had brought with us to Finland. 



We started to head back towards home, but not along the straightest route! 
There was so many things to watch and touch and smell.



I just love the smell of newly ploughed, dark earth! 



And also the smell of newl cut trees. Although it is sad to see cut trees.. 






I´ll write soon again, mom!
Have a joyoys summer too!
Your Jeremy 

Hello, mum! 

I wish you are well!
We have been enjoying the finnish summer a lot.
Although it has been a "traditional" finnish summer weather too - raining most days, and aproximately 15 degrees warm and a horrible amount of mosquitoes everywhere - I´m full of bumps!  - but what does that matter when everything is green and fresh and full of life! 



One day we walked to Helsinki. 
Well, we didn´t walk all the way, because it is about 30 km from Nuuksio where we live, we took a bus first to Leppävaara and from there we walked along the sea shores, maybe 15 kilometers alltogether.









The landscapes were very beautiful, and we saw many rowing boats and waterbirds and some icecream boots. 



But also some international, not so pleasant symbolism. 






We saw also these small airplanes in their own harbour. 



Then we saw a VERY inviting looking little café. 



We were having some buns and coffee and watching over the beautiful bay. 



They had a block of flats for birds!  What a swell idea! This could do as a toyvoyager hotel too! 






Then we came to a harbour where there is some old sailing boats.
One of them was just coming from the sea. 



This one could be a pirate ship. 



This is an old lighthouse ship, which was anchored into dangerous spots when a storm was coming to warn the other ships about underwater stones. 



We walked over a little bridge, which was full of padlocks.
Henna explained to us that couples in love come here and hang there a lock as a sign of their love and commitment, and the keys are usually dropped to the sea. 
That sounds very romantic to me, but what if the couple divorces? Do they come here with an iron saw or what? 



On the other side of the bridge we saw the Uspenski orthodox cathedral. 



It started to rain and we went in. 






Then we continued our walk.
This building is one of the Helsinki city museums. Originally it was the summer villa of a powerful woman, Ulrika Eleonora, who lived in the 19th century.



Behind my back is the Finnish National Museum building, which looks rather like a church to me. 



We walked trough a park full of wonderfully smelling syringas. 



Then we came to the shore of Töölönlahti bay. It was formerly a bay of the sea, but when the city was growing they filling parts of the shores to gain more land, and nowadays it is more like a lake, although it still has connection to the sea trough narrow channels. 



The people living in Helsinki just love this place. For them it is like a little piece of countryside in middle of the capitol city. 



We came to the gate of Linnanmäki, which is the Helsinki amusement park, and the oldest one in Finland.



We made a stroll in the area, watching the kids running from ride to ride and exhausted parents running after them. 



There was some nice fountains and lots of beautiful flowerbenches. 



And a lue Moomin house serving as a toy shop. 



We couldn´t into any of the rides, because most of them had a hight limit of 120 cm.  Henna tried to hide us into her clothing, but the gatekeeper was very alert and noticed the suspicious bumps in her thin summer clothing.. 
But tell you the truth, it didn´t matter at all, because in my opinion we have just as much or even more fun just climbing a tree or hopping in a pile of hay.



I liked this flowerbed in the shape of a peakock.






The old merry-go-rounds with their polished paintings were the most adorable of the rides, I think. 






Haha, mum, do you know  what these are?
They are giant pinecone cows! Like those kids in past were making and playing with, when they still didn´t have many toys.. 






The masses of people and the noise soon started to get on our nerves, although it was nice to see all the happy children.



So we just had some more buns and then headed back towards home. 



Here you can see the view over the Töölönlahti from the hill where the amusement park is situated.



We walked trough a park named "Lenin puisto" = Park of Lenin, after Vladimir Iljits. 



There was lots of rhododendrons. 



And a beautiful little pool. 



When we came back home, we found the first ripe wild strawberries in the yard! 

As you know, mum, I´m soon leaving towars new adventures. So I´ll make soon the last upate from Finland. 

Love, Jeremy 

Hello mommy! 

Hello also to my new host Zandy - I´m already on my way to you when you see this. 

My last days here in Finland where pretty busy. I´ll show you.



We went for example to see a mediaeval church called Pyhän Laurin kirkko. (Church of Saint Laurentius)
We walked there some kilometers along a path which followed the river Vantaa. 



The path was totall bordered with blooming lupines. Isn´t it beautiful? 



We crossed the river along a bridge. But we sat sometime watching the slowly running water.  It wasn´t running, it was lazying forward! 
"You cannot cross the same river twice" said some filosofist, and "Time is a river in which I fish" said another one. We sat talking about the time and the change and were deep in a filosofical discussion when we reached the old church.



Here it is. 
It has been standing (or sitting, laying?) here over six hundred years. How many different rivers has it seen?  We continued on this subject and came to the conclusion that propably it had never before seen a river with a bridge with a white tiger, kiwi bird, a siberian husky and a little pirate crossing over together. 



The church suffered from a fire in the 19th century, so there is not interesting old wallpaintings left.
We peeped in, but there was some meeting of priests going on and we backed of. 



Then we had some buns in a café. 



And walked back trough a beautiful birch forest. 



Back in Nuuksio we enjoyed the rare sunny weather in a garden swing. 






We build a hut with rhubarb leaves and set a bonfire in front of it.
We decided to spend the night in it. 



Hennas toyvoyager Tuli, who had spent a long time in California with miss Kate, arrived back home, and me, her and Zoe had a lot to talk about the places we all know so well. 

Then we were doing something exiting!
We went shooting onto a target with an air rifle! 



The aiming and handling the gun was a bit difficult, but I think I did quite well! 



Here you can see how well I hit! 



A neighbor called Henna and asked help. He had catched a rat into a trap and didn´t know what to do with it.

The rats are a problem. They don´t survive in finnish nature, they only live under peoples houses, where they are not wellcome because they eat the houses and spread deceaces, but people don´t want to use poison against them, because that is really nonhumane. It tooks a whole week for the rats to die and they have awful pains trough all that time. So people catch them alive, but what to do with them? 

We were making several phonecalls, and at last found a person who was willing to take the rat to live with her.. I hope the neighor catch another rat too, so that the first one gets company..



We came back to our hut and stayed up for late night, telling stories and singing round the fire. 
Tuli taught us to sing a finnish song.

"Meil on metsässä nuotiopiiri          "We have a fire in the forest
missä kuusten kuiske soi.              where the spruces are whispering
Kipunat kohti tähtiä kiirii                sparks fly toward stars
lähipuutkin punervoi.                      reddening also the nearby trees.
Ja me muistamme sankariaikaa      We remember the heroes of past
sadun tenhon tunnemme, taikaa.  and feel the glamor of fairy tales
Ja kun laulumme yön yli kiirii          Our singing rangs over the night
ja kun hongat huminoi."                And the pines are humming."




Then we slept.






In the morning we had a small feast with blueberry pie and coffee Henna had arranged to say farewell to me. 






I said goodbye to the little cottage. 



And to all my friends there. 



Especially to Zoe, because we two are from the same corner of the earth and our mommies are good friends too. 



Then we pushed the boat to water.



I hopped in. Zoe gave me a lucky kiss for the trip. 



Then I set sail. Goodbye, goodbye!






Germany, here I come! 

See you soon again, dear mommy!
Your Jeremy 

Don't worry, Mom, I'm okay.  I have been hosted by a nice lady in Germany since July.  She took me to a medieval fair and gave me a wonderful surprise.  Cheerio, my dear sister, was there!  We had so much fun catching up.  The TV celebrity,  TV-TV was there, too; remember, he came to visit me just a week before I was born as a TV.  . A lot of us became TVs because of his fame.   I have family and friends everywhere!!  .

Here is a photo of me and the gang taken by Yosemite, Cheerio's host.  Mom, keep a look out at Aquatic Pier, I'm rowing home!

Jeremy

It was a very long, rough trip back across the Atlantic Ocean, through the Panama Canal and up the Pacific Coast.  I almost ran out of fresh water, candy and cupcakes.  =o^^o=  I know it was Zoe's farewell kiss that kept me safe on my journey alone.  Farewell.  Farewell.

When I finally sailed back to Aquatic Pier, poof!  I popped out of a box at home, on stage!!

WTF!

My older but smaller brother, BarryO hugged me and showed me I was inside a
magic trick!  . I hugged my brother-in-law, DuDu, my pals, POD-not and C.T. Mouse, Detective; and met the TVs visiting  here:  Squab, Konrad, Suomi-boy, and Lexie.  They took turns carrying my luggage, which has stickers from four countries, to my room and tucked me into bed.  They will be on Santa's nice list.

It is so good to be home.

Hugs and a big kiss from

Your Pal, Jeremy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfoFCf5QU78

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

T'was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.

The Lord has promised good to me...
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be...
as long as life endures.

When we've been here ten thousand years...
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise...
then when we've first begun.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

While Mom was busy in her office, we went up to the attic to see if we could find some old junk to use for Halloween costumes and decorations.  We found a wardrobe full of old clothes!  Lexie, Squab  and Suomi-boy put on sweaters while BarryO got a jacket.  Konrad put on a plaid bowtie and I picked out a fireman's hat and boots.  But Konrad and I had enough, we are guys, and won't wear anymore of that stuff. 

The cold rainy season has started here.  Burr!  So Konrad jumped at a chance to head for a tropical climate, a place called Paradise on Earth!!

We gave him a group hug and Lexie offered to send him by magic    but he decided to go by traditional ToyVoyager travelope instead.

Your Pal,

Jeremy

It's good to be home.  It's me, Original Jeremy.  Lexie needs more magic lessons!  .  She's applying for a scholarship to ballet school instead.  Wow!  She is soooo beautiful. Yep, it's good to be home.  I'm back in time to be on the set-up committee for our annual family reunion.  My dear cousin Magic Jeremy is here already.

DuDu and his friend, POD-not are thinking about dressing as cowboys for Halloween so we baby tigers are now rodeo horses.

We did lots of hugging and took a bath with the soap Zandy sent and ate up all her candy.  Thanks, Zandy, I miss you.

Your pal,

Jeremy

Hey Alex,

So cool to have your own apartment!  Hope you find or make some cool furniture.  Can't wait to see it finished.  Yep, we have lots of tips.  Maybe put your lawn chair on the roof but leave room for Santa to land there on Christmas Eve.  .  Make a picnic up there.  Sun bathe.  Star gaze.

This is how we make a bed:  find a box top in the size you want for the base.  Gather lots of material from the charity bag for sheets, blankets and pillow cases.  We took a piece of cat bed material from an old broken cat perch, sewed it double and stuffed it for a soft mattress.  A dark brown velour blouse was cut up for bedspreads, tablecloth, pillow and bolster covers.  The headboard is a 4" x 6" picture frame covered in that same velour material.

A smaller bed has a platform made from another 4" x 6" frame.

We got lazy and never finished hemming all the sheets and bedspreads but we think it doesn't show too much.   Of course, we test the beds daily by jumping up and down. .

Have fun, Alex,

Your friend,

Jeremy

Today is Lexie's last day here and we put on our outdoor gear to hike at Rodeo Beach in Marin County. Then we went home; she played a melodic bell for us and Squab did the chicken dance ; we hugged a lot and she took off through the magic box. Poof!!

Don't worry, she read a book by Houdini's brother. If all goes well, she will soon appear on the most famous blue chair in all of Germany.  

OMG!!  What is this ....

Your pal,

Jeremy

Cheerio is home!!  My sister really knows how to make an entrance!   We hugged a lot and settled into the living room where she showed us her new purse, postcard and what, her new baby duck!!  

We hugged her and she told us of her adventures with Yosemite in Germany.  We giggled about our meeting at the medieval fair and talked on into the night.

Your pal,

Jeremy