Ronnie, Calgary, Canada

katjaintenerife katjaintenerife@yahoo.co.uk Posted Jun 27, 2009, 5:28 pm	Today I'm going to start travelling all over the world. I hope to see lots of different forests during my journey. My first destination is Glauburg-Stockheim in Germany I didn't have much time to see around Tenerife but at least we made a few photos with my cat friends Felix and Katie and some plants my mentor's got outside. Felix, Sambu and me Katie, Sambu and me Some petunias Some strawberry plants And an aloe vera. Aloe vera is a very typical Canarian plant. Here I come world!!!
Misha Posted Jun 30, 2009, 1:27 pm	Hey mommy, now Im arrived in Glauburg-Stockheim/Hessen. Here is so beautiful. I have never seen before. Misha, my host is also very nice to me.  Mommy, I'm scared. I see a wolf.  Misha told me that the wolf has a name. he is actually a she and called "Aida". She gives the thing a name.  well I've lied a little.  "Aida" isn't an wolf but a dog. actually a "husky". friends I've found But unfortunately there are no real mouse. But....Misha then showed me her other pets. RATS! real RATS!  They wanted me to eat  But there cute haha, I had a hard battle with them, but unfortunately there are no photos that are not FamilySafe  So mommy, that was a very tiring day. it was very hot today. I think I am going to sleep now. see you later Hugs and regards Ronnie <3
Misha Posted Jun 30, 2009, 3:20 pm	Hello Mommy, I forogt to tell you what... We have made an strawberry cake. I love it <3 Here you can see, how hungry I was :O Rawr, I eat it all  This day was perfect. Hugs and Kisses Ronnie
Misha Posted Jul 3, 2009, 9:20 pm	Hello mommy, Today we could not do much because it was really hot. we had 35 degrees in the shade.  how many degrees in the sun we had, I want you do not say. It was horrible. Well, finally I met LittleWestiePup know. Misha my host had its financial statements ball today. Unfortunately there are no pictures because there was not allowed to photograph. but she looked beautiful in her dress.  Tonight, where it was cooler then slowly we have look tv. Oh, and I give you what Misha say: "Hello Katja, Sorry that I have at the moment not so much "travel". But I am at the moment a little bussy because today I get my diploma. in the next time I try to show more you can." So that's all from Misha. Just us, she even showed their birds. They called "Pünktchen" and "Anton" and there are "zebra finches". The names are really funny.  And then the day was already at the end. See you. Hugs and kisses Ronnie.
Misha Posted Jul 8, 2009, 9:30 am	Hello mommy, today we drove to Misha's boyfriend. he lives in maintal-Dörnigheim this is in Frankfurt. First we drove through Glauburg. then we have, so LittleWestiePup and I seen many things. e.g. old looking houses. which looked very interesting Then we came to Enzheim. there were also old houses to see. very historically. Later on the motorway in the direction of Hanau. the autos are there really fast, so fast we could not look.  as we enter dörnigheim arrived, there was only once what to eat. there were: rice with "meatballs" and scalloped tomatoes. that has tasted so good. Monday next week will make my friend a lan party. you know what that is, mama? a LAN party is a party where many people with their computer via a LAN cable is connected. on this LAN cable is then played several games. because I'm really curious times, as this will.  photos of the lan party is there next week, promise! we'll see what I have not yet experienced everything. Hugs and Kisses Ronnie
Misha Posted Jul 12, 2009, 11:31 am	Hello mommy, today we gone at a playground in Dörnigheim. Then we also have breakfast, you can see. there was "apple pie" and a "Schweine-ohr". "Schweine-ohr" ... what a funny name.      Then we went to a swing. by the way. with us, I mean Misha, her boyfriend and LittleWestiePup Misha is right after the meal went on the swing. her was a little sick.  So it was a nice day we see us. Hgs and kisses Ronnie
Misha Posted Jul 13, 2009, 12:07 pm	Hello mommy, Today, the Lan party started. It was so exciting. We are total of nine people and each has brought his PC. as I said. a lan party is a party where you play different games. e.g "Warcraft", World of warcraft", "Counter Strike 1.6". The games are brutal, which is shot with pistols. for me and misha it's really nothing. LittleWestiePup does not like it really.  But the friend of misha's boyfriend are all nice. nils has made with us a photo. he is somewhat under the influence of alcohol, but he is really nice and funny.  The youth today.      in the next few days do I sign up again with you. and new photos, you will also see. Hugs and kisses Ronnie
Misha Posted Jul 16, 2009, 4:30 pm	Hello Mommy, Today we went walking. Misha and Patrick (her boyfriend) show me and LittleWestiePup the old town. We have seen so many things. also amongst the oldest standing house of dörnigheim. this house is a restaurant and calls "the old town hall". here al little bit historie of Dörnigheim.:         Dörnigheim was first established in 793 mentioned. A certain Bodo Wolf gave to the abbot of the monastery of Lorsch, inter alia, the area in Maingau, in "Turinchheim," says the old name of the city lies. The ownership of this community shared the Counts of Hanau and the bishop of Mainz. Due to its strategic location between the cities in the East, and Hanau Frankfurt flourished here in the west of the restaurant and hostel operation - many of the old pubs are still managed - because travelers like it here one last stop before the last stage of their journey to Frankfurt am Main appeal. In 1964 the city received Dörnigheim rights. Ten years later, on 1 July 1974 Dörnigheim with Bischofsheim, High Town and Guard Book by law to a new town Maintal summarized. inhabitants: 15.040 (31. Dez. 2006) That was so exiting today See you. Hugs and kisses Ronnie
Misha Posted Jul 21, 2009, 8:08 pm	Hello mommy, today we met Mr. Smiley. He is realy nice. Misha isn't good today, so we look only tv and eat cookies. At next time, we show you more. See you Hugs and kisses Ronnie
eilidhlive eilidh-dougan@hotmail.com Posted Aug 11, 2009, 9:53 am	A big hello from Scotland mum! I have now arrived here and am looking forward to a few highland adventures. The journey was long (not that I know when I set off!) but here I am, looking tired I'd say. However after a small nap I met the other TV's staying with the host here, Eilidh. They are Rocky and Chance. They're both American and talk in funny accents compared to me, but they both seem nice, so I'm sure we will have a lot of fun together! I will photo where I am staying and who with later, because today I am off to Scotland's 4th largest city - Dundee! I'll show you the photos later. Hope you are well! Ronnie
eilidhlive eilidh-dougan@hotmail.com Posted Aug 11, 2009, 10:28 pm	Evening mum. Today has been a big adventure for such a small guy like me. I went with Eilidh, Rocky and Chance to Dundee. We went by bus, so that was quite cool, here we are on the bus. It wasn't that busy today. Here's a view out the window as we crossed the Tay Bridge (in the rain of course!) to Dundee, you can almost make out the rail bridge in the backround. In Dundee we met up with some of Eilidh's friends and went out for lunch. We went to a Chinese buffet restaurant, this is us with the menu. Don't we look full? We also got to spend some time with another TV Emil - who apparently is a friend of Chances from a previous voyage/host, so that was nice. After lunch and a quick stretch of the legs it was time for ice-cream. We went to 'Marble Slab' which is such a cool place! You pick your flavour of ice-cream and then whatever you would like mixed in to it and the mash it all together for you. Here's me munching on mango ice-cream with strawberries and meringue in it. Yum! On the bus on the way back to Earlsferry we had a lovely view out the window. Where I'm staying now is very rural - right in the countryside, so here is some views of the fields. Also I got my first glimmer of the sea! Eilidh lives only a 2 minute walk from the beach, so if the weather ever picks up here, I'll make sure she takes me someday! Ronnie
eilidhlive eilidh-dougan@hotmail.com Posted Aug 13, 2009, 7:16 pm	Today was good here, the weather picked up (a little) so we decided it was time for an adventure - off we went to Perth. Perth is around an hour and a half from Earlsferry by car. An interesting fact about Perth is that Sir George Murray was born here before he moved to Australia and named the particular territory there 'Perth'. So the Perth in Scotland is the original. When we arrived in Perth the first thing we noticed is how green it is. There is a lot of plants, trees and sculptures everywhere - very pretty. Apparently it wins a lot of competitions for 'Britain's Best Kept Town' (it used to be a city, but is now no longer classed as that as it has a population of less than 50,000.) The streets are lovely and wide, with many shops that you can only find in Perth located here. This is me in one of the streets. And here is me with Rocky and Chance outside a very famous department store - McEwens. I also found some information about Perth, so had a little read of it. Then we headed down to the River. Perth lies on the River Tay, Scotland's longest river (7th largest in the UK). It was very peaceful down here and we enjoyed the beautiful views. Ronnie x
eilidhlive eilidh-dougan@hotmail.com Posted Aug 15, 2009, 8:10 pm	You should see the weather here mum - oh my! It's raining cats and dogs! We've been stuck inside the past two days which is not so great,  so here are some pictures from a walk we went on last week. There are 2 golf courses in Earlsferry - so two golf clubs. This is the one that Eilidh's dad's a member of 'The Thistle'. And in the distance is the other one, which is just named the 'Golf Club'. Oh, this place is just so obsessed with golf. If you look across the sea here you can see our capitol city - Edinburgh. Eilidh says that she will take me there, but not at the moment because the Edinburgh festival is on and it will be too busy for a little guy like me. I've been doing some reading whilst being here. We all found this dictionary very strange - I didn't recognise many words at all! Mum, this is cool - am I now a Fifer?! (Not sure if you can actually make this picture out or not!) This is me and the national symbol of Scotland - the thistle. They're very sharp and prickly purple flowers, they are quite groovy to look at though! Hope you are having better weather than we are! Ronnie x
eilidhlive eilidh-dougan@hotmail.com Posted Aug 17, 2009, 10:49 pm	"Carnoustie is famous for golf, which is first recorded as having been played here in the 16th century. Carnoustie Golf Links is one of the venues in The Open Championship's rotation and has been nicknamed in the media as 'Carnasty' for its difficulty." That's right mum, today we went to the other home of golf (St Andrews being the first!) Carnoustie! It's quite far up north compared to where Earlsferry is, so it was quite a drive to get there. When we arrived we went for a wander, we saw in the distance the very famous club house - it is often on the TV when the Open is played here - just think so many famous golfers, including Tiger Woods have been in this very place! This is the hotel the golfers stay in. It's sponsored by the watch makers 'Rolex' - so I think that shows it's quality. We were in awe just standing outside! My time in Scotland so far has shown me that it really is a nation in love with this sport. Scotland does not do very well in sports really (apart from maybe cycling and Andy Murray for tennis!) however it does excel in it's facilities. These are award winning courses we have visited. We carried on the walk and saw these MASSIVE shells! They were really cool. I'm learning a lot about sea life here, because Eilidh stays so close to the beach I've been there a fair bit. Carnoustie also has very good transport links, perhaps not the most exciting thing to photo but you might be interested to know that Carnoustie is located only a few miles from the bridge that the 'Hogwarts Express' train goes over in the Harry Potter films. Eilidh is planning on taking us to discover 'The Old Course' in St Andrews next weekend I think, so you will see some more world famous courses then - I sure hope you are in to golf mum, haha! Ronnie x
eilidhlive eilidh-dougan@hotmail.com Posted Aug 18, 2009, 7:56 am	These were just a few pictures from the few days where it rained non-stop. Nothing exciting happened so Eilidh didn't think she would bother to update, but we pestered her until she has because we thought you might like to know anyway! This is me, Rocky Squirrel and Chance having a wee pose on the table in the back room. Then here we are again looking at the rain. It rained non-stop for around 3 days here. Seems to have brightened up (a little!) now, so let's hope it stays like this so our adventures continue. Don't worry though, whilst it was pouring down we helped Eilidh with her French homework. Maintenant je suis tres fort en francais! Today I'm taking Archie (Eilidh's dog) to get his haircut, so there might be pictures of that, or of something else later tonight. Wait and see I guess. And tomorrow Eilidh returns to school (ugh!) after the summer holidays and having 7 weeks off. So I'll maybe go with her and see what a Scottish school is like. Ronnie x
eilidhlive eilidh-dougan@hotmail.com Posted Aug 18, 2009, 8:52 pm	Tomorrow's the day that school here in Scotland returns. Eilidh is a little nervous about it all after being on holiday for so long. I'm excited to go and visit her school after helping her get all the bits and bobs organised tonight for it. As Eilidh is hosting 3 TVs she doesn't think that she will take us all to school at once, so tomorrow she will take Rocky Squirrel before it's my turn on Thursday. We all helped look out Eilidh's school uniform - that's right mum, pupils have to wear a uniform here. It consists of black/grey trousers or skirt, white/black shirt, a tie (usually red and black striped, but Eilidh has a special all red one for winning a competition) and a black blazer with red piping. I'm not sure if I like it yet! We also had to help with packing her school bag, there were lots of folders to get in. Even though Eilidh only does 5 subjects - maths, English, French, history and human biology. I've been trying to cheer her up all evening because I don't think she wants to go back to school much - oh well! I think I got a smile out of her - that's what we TVs do though, spread happiness. Update you soon mum! Ronnie x
eilidhlive eilidh-dougan@hotmail.com Posted Aug 19, 2009, 8:57 pm	Today was exciting - a new TV came to join us here in Earlsferry. He's called MrCoolHH and he's red - it's a cool colour and so bright compared to us 3 TVs Eilidh is used to hosting. Here's me and the gang now. We sure are becoming quite a squad - Eilidh reckons she will have to take 2 trips everywhere, or get a special bag to keep us in when we go out places. It's a hard life being a TV host...apparently. Anyway this evening we helped make dinner. First we had to get the potato's and peel them. Then they had to be mashed up and seasoned. And some other things happened too - but we were only in charge of potato's so I can't tell you what - but it was ready. Now this does not look very appetising (Eilidh wants to add at this point that she hates how there is American spellings on this site and everything she types in English as opposed to American-English gets underlined in red...wasn't this site set up by a couple of Brits? Hmm!) - but it's haggis. Haggis is a traditional dish served in Scotland - it's usually accompanied with 'neeps and tatties' or mashed turnip and mashed potato to the non-Scots. However no one likes turnip in Eilidh's house, so we didn't have it. So more information about haggis - "Haggis is a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours. Haggis somewhat resembles stuffed intestines (pig intestines otherwise known as chitterlings), sausages and savoury puddings of which it is among the largest types. As the 2001 English edition of the Larousse Gastronomique puts it, "Although its description is not immediately appealing, haggis has an excellent nutty texture and delicious savoury flavour". Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach. There are also meat-free recipes for vegetarians. The haggis is a traditional Scottish dish memorialised as the national dish of Scotland by Robert Burns' poem Address to a Haggis in 1787. Haggis is traditionally served with "neeps and tatties" (Scots: swede, yellow turnip or rutabaga and potatoes, boiled and mashed separately) and a "dram" (i.e. a glass of Scotch whisky), especially as the main course of a Burns supper. However it is also often eaten with other accompaniments, or served with a whisky-based sauce." Tomorrow I'm going to school - so update you tomorrow night I guess! Ronnie x
eilidhlive eilidh-dougan@hotmail.com Posted Aug 20, 2009, 9:59 pm	I have mixed feelings about today - we TVs were stuck in the house all day! It rained real heavy plus Eilidh was at school from 8:15-4, then she had dance tonight, so Thursdays are pretty much impossible to do anything on for us lot. Talking of school here I am with Eilidh this morning before she left. There's always time for a quick pose with a little fellow like me it seems. However we still had fun. I like all the TV friends I've made here. Today during the worst of the rain we read a book - here we are with The Great Gatsby - supposedly the best written American novel of all time. Eilidh is studying it for school, so we thought we should swat up too. Maybe we'll be quizzed about it later! We also read through some of Eilidh's mail - she gets a surreal amount of mail. That's because as well as ToyVoyagers she is a member of Postcrossing. And she has 4 penpals - this is us reading a letter from her penpal in China. It sounds like such an interesting country! Then we decided to see what all our other TV friends were up to across the globe - looks like not much, seems not many people are as keen on updating their mummy's back home as we are here. We just get worried that you'll miss us so. When Eilidh came home from school she had little time to spend with us this evening - just enough to ask for some sympathy as she got burnt today. We'll try make it better though, don't you worry. Not much else to add here in Scotland, so goodnight for now. Ronnie x
eilidhlive eilidh-dougan@hotmail.com Posted Aug 22, 2009, 7:58 am	A new TV came to stay with us today, it's always exciting when newbies come as they have so many stories to tell.Here we all are in a group photo. From left to right here we are MrCoolHH, Chance, Ronnie, Meleca, Rocky & Jennifer. However Jennifer is leaving us soon, so that's a pity. Looks like tomorrow is going to be good, tomorrow (if Eilidh can work out how to take us all - not easy transporting 5/6 toys) we are going to Edinburgh, the capitol city of Scotland! So until later bye! Ronnie x
eilidhlive eilidh-dougan@hotmail.com Posted Aug 24, 2009, 5:38 pm	Yesterday was so very exciting here in Scotland. It rained all day but that did not put a dampner on things. First we had to hop on to the bus and travel to Edinburgh. Here are all us TVs being looked after by Eilidh's friend. We were going to Edinburgh (the capitol city of Scotland, and a really lovely city - Eilidh's birthplace!) to see the African Children's Choir perform. I was pretty excited about seeing them as I'd heard they were good and very inspiring. Unfortunately cameras were not permitted in the show - but it was wonderful, if you want to find out more about the choir be sure to look them up on google. After seeing the choir it was time for a quick snack, so we headed to Starbucks where drinks and cookies were enjoyed by all. Now we had been fed it was time for a little sightseeing - Eilidh did photo us with Edinburgh castle, however the weather was so gross that it's hard to make out. She says if you really want to see the picture or have a thing for castles then to let her know and she'll post them. Because the festival is on in Edinburgh at the moment there are lots of funny signs posted around the city - apparently it's art? We found this one funny and fitting, seeing as we TVs are all tourists! It was soon time to head home, so we walked to the bus station and waited for a bit. On the bus on the way home as we were crossing the Forth Road Bridge we got a lovely view of the rail bridge - so of course we could not resist a few photos! What a lovely day out it was! Ronnie x
eilidhlive eilidh-dougan@hotmail.com Posted Sep 6, 2009, 10:24 pm	My host Eilidh has been super busy here in Scotland recently. School has been rather manic with coursework and the weather here has been constant rain - flooded last week, so we TVs have had a dull indoor time. However I am now off on my adventures to Canada taking along a few Scottish goodies! Goodbye rainy Scotland! Ronnie x
smaug Posted Sep 16, 2009, 2:53 am	Hi Mum, I made it, I am in Canada  . There was a bit of a crowd welcoming me here when I came out of my envelope  : Sully Monster is visiting from Australia, Snuttig comes from Austria and sammino is a stay at home TV. There were also quite a few other antlered toys  . They are all very nice and were very happy about the present I brought with me (I have been so good, I resisted from eating the goodies that Eilidh put in the envelope with me...only a little bite  ). But I was feeling a bit jet lagged so I went to sleep, I’ll get to know everybody better tomorrow  .
smaug Posted Sep 19, 2009, 5:49 am	Hi Mum, Today smaug had to do some field work within Banff National Park and we TVs were allowed to go with him, my first visit to the mountains . The weather was quite bad, it was raining most of the time  , but we still managed to take some pictures, here I am on the road between Lake Louise and Kicking Horse Pass, as you can see it was very wet When we reached the pass the weather improved slightly. By the way, there is not really any horse kicking anyone at the pass  , apparently a member of one of the first exploration expeditions that came here was kicked by his horse while in this area and hence the name  . The pass sits on the Continental Divide. That means that rain falling just east of it flows towards Hudson Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, while rain falling on West side ends up in the Pacific Ocean  . Actually near the pass there is a small creek called Divide Creek that forks at the pass and its waters flow part towards east and part west. Here I am standing more or less on the divide: We didn’t really leave Alberta, but were welcomed back anyway, how kind  On the way back the weather improved even more and we found a nice spot for a picture in the Bow Valley, look how big is that forest, I can’t wait to explore it  . Bye  Ronnie
smaug Posted Sep 19, 2009, 7:28 pm	Hi Mum! Wow, today a new guest arrived  . His name’s Lysander and he’s a lobster from Scotland. As always we get very excited when smaug comes home with a parcel, so we gathered around to give him a warm welcome  .
smaug Posted Sep 23, 2009, 4:32 am	Hi Mum! How cool, today a new guest arrived: her name is Nathalie and she is a German duckling  . smaug didn’t really warn us that someone else was coming so we got extremely curious when we saw a typical TV envelope, and what a great surprise was seeing her coming out  ...guess we’ll spend the whole night chatting
smaug Posted Sep 24, 2009, 5:15 am	Hi Mum! Wow, it was so hot here today, it went up to 34C , just like being in Spain  . It is strange to have the hottest day of the year when we are officially already in autumn, but smaug told us not to get use to it: the forecast for next week said that morning temperature could go as low as -5C or less,  . So, when he came back from work he told us that we should make the most of the nice weather and we went out for a walk along the river  . Here we took a picture from a bridge on the Bow River looking at downtown Calgary. Then we went walking a bit in the river channel and took another couple of pictures As you can see it was getting a bit too dark to take more photos but we kept walking a bit longer before coming home. It was nice, pity it soon will be much colder  .
smaug Posted Sep 29, 2009, 4:03 am	Hi Mum! today was a lovely sunny day so smaug decided to have a final (for the season) high mountain hike.  Our destination was Mount Allan in the Kananaskis Provincial Park. We spent the first part of the day climbing up a thick forest (where we tried to take some photos without getting anything presentable in an update  ). When we eventually came out of the trees we were on a steep ridge overlooking Kananaskis Valley. From the ridge you could see the valley heading north (look what a big forest  and I was right in the middle of it, I completed one of my missions  )… …and south… …this big mountain called Mt Kidd... ….and the top of the ridge, called Olympic Summit. Just next to it is the Nakiska ski area (that you can't see in the picture) where all the alpine ski races where held during the 1988 Winter Olympics, hence the name…or at least I guess so  . Once we reached Olympic Summit we were not even half way to our destination  . We had to follow a long and very, very windy ridge (so windy that the rucksack was shaking enouh to worry us inside it  ).  From the ridge we got some lovely views over Kananaskis Valley and the surrounding mountains  . ….and we could also see our destination, Mount Allan. Here you can see Mount Allan on the right in the shadow and the much higher Mount Lougheed on the left. Halfway through the ridge we came across these funny pinnacles formed by rock that has resisted erosion  better than the rest of the mountain  . Eventually we reached the top at 2819m  and the view, of course, was great  : we could see the Bow River Valley in the north-west… …Kananaskis Valley in the south-east… …endless mountains in the north… …and Mount Lougheed just in front of us On the way back smaug decided to enjoy a bit the sun by laying in the grass. So we took the chance to come out of the rucksack, have a bit of fun by ourselves and so we went climbing  . First we organized the team: smaug (before falling asleep) suggested to have the two best climbers leading and closing the team. Snuttig  went first ( black bears are natural born climbers) while I followed him Lysander and Sully Monster behind me. Nathalie and sammino, being flying TVs, were going to support us by indicating us the best routes and holds from the air. Phew! Climbing is hard work  !! I am not sure that elks (or moose as I am called on this side of the Atlantic) are made for climbing…but sammino was always close by making me feel a bit more comfortable  . Here I was trying to reach Snuttig up an angled fissure…with sammino and Nathalie keeping a watchful eye on us all the way. How tiring!! But how great to reach the top and sit all together watching the landscape  ! I am probably the first climbing elk ever  .
smaug Posted Oct 4, 2009, 7:29 pm	Hi Mum! Today it was Sully Monster’s birthday, so this morning we all gathered around to sing Happy Birthday for him  . Since smaug was at work and didn’t leave anything special for us, sammino decided that we should raid the kitchen and find some proper party food. We started with the fridge without too much luck  (I kind of noticed that the man didn’t come back home with any shopping bag for a few days). The first cupboard we checked wasn’t really any better than the fridge, all canned food  Now this looks good, not healthy maybe, but tasty  So we stuffed ourselves with nutella, cookies and crisps. After that we checked out the latest updates on toyvoyagers Then, since it was a fairly cold day, we spent the afternoon wrapped in a fleece blanket chatting and watching TV on the sofa...keeping a few extra cookies nearby, just in case
smaug Posted Oct 4, 2009, 10:54 pm	Hi Mum! Today we said goodbye to Snuttig. He is travelling to California...wow  ! He actually chose a very good time to move to the south as here, in the night, it started snowing  .
smaug Posted Oct 14, 2009, 3:50 am	Hi Mum! tonight sammino went out with smaug saying that he had a mission and he was going to come back with a surprise for us. Very, very much later he reappeared with two new TVs  : Hedgie and Mortimer. They all looked very cheerful, maybe a bit too cheerful...I dare say that they were totally drunk  . They decided that we should have a few beers with them... ... and then they fell asleep  . I guess we will have to wait until tomorrow to find out something more about them  .
smaug Posted Oct 18, 2009, 8:30 pm	Hi Mum! today we were all still feeling a bit lightheaded after all the drinking last night  . smaug actually noticed that Mortimer was even too lightheaded and needed urgent surgery before the head came off completely  . Of course, we TVs all gathered around the surgery theatre  to help. I’ll spare you the details of the operation; luckily it was successful and when he woke up he was feeling fine  . Later in the afternoon we thought that we might go out for a walk, but it was still cold and snowy so we decided to spend the day nice and warm at home just looking out of the window  .
smaug Posted Oct 26, 2009, 3:12 am	Hi Mum! It’s been a bit boring around here over the last fortnight as smaug was too busy to take us anywhere  . The only event worth mentioning is the arrival of a new guest last weekend. His name’s Henry-Bo and he is visiting from Germany. As always we all gave him a warm welcome  . Yesterday we were hoping to do something, but it was snowing again in the morning  , ...so we just spent the day planning future trips. Eventually today the weather was good, so we went for a quick drive in the morning towards Kananaskis Country  . First we took a picture of Kananaskis Valley... ...then we stopped at this falls... ...and well. The well was really nice, but fully filled with soil so there was really no risk of falling inside  . On the way back we stopped to take a picture at Barrier Lake. The lake is apparently famous because it served as Alkali Lake in the X-man movies  . Later in the afternoon smaug had to do some work so we stopped at his office where, to keep us quiet, he damped us at the window with some food  . Nothing ever likely to feature on the Michelin Guide, but it was edible. When we went home we found out that Monsters, Inc. was on TV. So Sully Monster told us something about his previous life (before becoming a TV) as a movie star  . Wow, until now I didn’t really realized that I was sharing adventures with such a celebrity  .
smaug Posted Nov 2, 2009, 3:44 am	Hi Mum! Today the weather was wonderful here in Calgary  , so smaug decided to take us out for a trip to the mountains, but as we left the prairies and approached Banff National Park we were greeted by a mix of rain, snow and heavy clouds  . Still, as we could see some blue gaps in the sky  we headed North hoping that the situation improved. To our supreme disappointment we just entered a thick snowfall with no real sign of improvements on the way. The road conditions were getting actually a bit tricky  . Eventually we just headed back trying to take some wintry picture here and there when the gaps in the clouds allowed it. Here I was at Bow Lake with Crowfoot Mountain in the background... ...and here at Hector Lake. This is a famous bend just south of Lake Louise were road, railway and river are very close to each other and it is a typical location for a picture. Ideally there would be a train  passing by and a sunny view of the mountains...neither of which was really available today  . Later we just run from the storm and headed back home where we were greeted again by a sunny blue sky and spring-like temperatures  .
smaug Posted Nov 4, 2009, 3:33 am	Hi Mum! Today we said goodbye to Sully Monster who is moving to his new host. Last night we all gathered around to wish him a safe trip  ... ...and, of course, we ended up spending the whole night chatting  .
smaug Posted Nov 11, 2009, 6:55 pm	Hi Mum! today the weather here in Calgary was gorgeous so we thought we were going for some nice trip, but apparently it was snowing on the mountains  , so, to avoid ending up in another blizzard, smaug decided to just have a walk here in town along the Bow River  . At one point we found a platform over the river bank where we could take a couple of pictures...looking upstream... ...and downstream. Later on we found out that the footpath that we were supposed to follow was closed, so we went up an another small road that climbed the hill on the side of the river. It was mainly walking between the trees, but we could occasionally get a glimpse of the river below us and of downtown in the distance. When we were amost at the top we found another gap from where we could see downtown, But after that we ended up between some houses and, since it was getting very windy, we just decided to head back home.
smaug Posted Nov 19, 2009, 4:39 am	Hi Mum! This week a new guest arrived! Her name is Lucy K and she’s from Germany...and she brought some sweets for us, how kind of her  ! The rest of the week nothing really happened, but today it was Hedgie’s birthday so we all gathered around to sing Happy Birthday for him  . Later in the day, instead of getting a big cake for the celebrations  , smaug decided to take us for a walk in the forest in the ElbowValley, not far from Calgary. The trail was wide and not really steep, but it was mostly within the trees. I crossed a few frozen streams like this one... ...and occasionally had the chance to see the surrounding mountains  . Later, we found ourselves on a bank of the Elbow River...that gives the name to the valley. And this is the river again from the shore. As you can see it was getting dark and we reached the car just before nightfall. I was so tired when we eventually arrived back home  . Bye Ronnie
smaug Posted Nov 23, 2009, 4:29 am	Hi Mum! Today smaug took us out for a walk. We went to Lake Minnewanka, not far from Banff. The lakeshore trail is one of smaug’s favourites in winter as even with the snow it is usually passable and safe. smaug was wondering if the lake had already started freezing...not the case as you can see. After a bit we crossed this small canyon called Stewart Canyon. And it was frozen up  . And in the distance you can see the lake. Here we are back close to the shoreline looking east... ...and west. The trail follows the lake shore up the easternmost point for more than 20km, but we just followed it for a couple of hours and turned back. We passed again close to the mouth of Stewart Canyon. This is where the canyon’s ice meets the lake’s water  . And here is another shot of the lake. On the way back to the car we noticed that someone built a big inukshuk on a beach, so we took a picture with it and the lake behind us. Well, it desn't look so big in this picture  , but it is just behind Henry-Bo's head  . And finally, while already nice and warm in the car, we got a final shot of the lake from its westernmost point. Smaug told us that in few weeks the lake will probably be frozen, but it will take a bit longer before the ice is thick enough to walk on it. Can’t wait to see that  !
smaug Posted Dec 6, 2009, 5:04 am	Hi Mum! It’s been a quite boring around here recently  as smaug was a bit busy. We had hope to go somewhere this weekend, but on Friday the weather played funny and during the evening commuting hour Calgary roads turned into a giant ice-rink with cars almost unable to turn or stop even at the slowest speed and pedestrians struggling to stay on their feet on the sidewalks (should have been funny to be out there  ). Of course the whole city got stuck in massive gridlock and smaug took more than 2 hours to get home (compared with the usual 15min). So, when he eventually arrived home, he told us that he had already enjoyed enough driving for the whole weekend  . But today he decided that, with the real winter approaching, there were far too many useless clothes still around the wardrobe and it was time to put them away and tidy up a bit around. sammino told us that this meant that the house was going to be a total mess (even worse than the usual one  ) in a matter of minutes, so we got really excited  . First we helped getting out some boxes. Then we opened them...hmmm, they looked a bit too full to get other clothes in there. But, as sammino foretold, soon clothes started coming out of the boxes (instead of going in  ) and they got scattered everywhere. We decided that the most interesting items were the cycling and football jerseys, so we started playing with them. But after a while smaug must have decided that we were not being helpful  , so he suggested that we might had more fun surfing a bit internet and to encourage us out of the way he even offered us some ice-cream  . It sounded a bit as a polite way to get rid of us, but the ice-cream was very good .
smaug Posted Dec 11, 2009, 4:17 am	Hi Mum! Today there was a big snowfall here in Calgary  . It started in the morning and became heavier during the day, with strong winds too, wow  . So, since smaug was busy first at work and then trying to make his way back from work  , we TVs spent most of the day chatting and looking at the snow from the comfort of the living room  . Even the balcony, that is quite well sheltered, was soon white with snow. Later we decided to rummage in the storage room and found some Christmas lights. We particularly liked the ice-cubes lights... ...and the snowball ones (very appropriate to the current weather  ) Hopefully smaug will allow us to help him in putting them up  !
smaug Posted Dec 14, 2009, 2:06 am	Hi Mum! Today we told smaug that we were bored of staying at home and wanted to go out somewhere. He suggested that maybe we should have a look out of the window first...hmmm, al covered in ice...can’t see anything  . We wondered if that was supposed to be a subtle message to discourage us, but it takes more than a frozen window to scare off some bored TVs, so out of we went  . Oh my, it was bone-rattling cold, almost -30C  , it felt like being Dr Zhivago! But we have a pride, so we went on and walked along the Bow River. In this section of the river the surface has not completely frozen yet, so the sludgy mix of ice and water is still more than 20C warmer than the surrounding air and causes this strange steamy fog  . As you can see the footpath wasn’t really crowded... smaug pointed out that few people (unless they needed to) were insane enough to be out and about in this weather  . A bit further downstream we reached a section of the river that was almost completely frozen. We also decided to play a bit in the snow  . It was so powdery that even us TVs were almost sinking in it. Eventually smaug said that his right hand was flirting with frostbite  (due to the fact that operating the camera with a glove on was kind of impossible), so he decided to head back home. About time, my nose was totally frozen and about to fall off  !
smaug Posted Dec 21, 2009, 11:36 pm	Hi Mum, This evening smaug had to be in Banff, so we TVs accompanied him. On the way we stopped to meet this herd of Elks  . As taking a picture focusing on both us and the elks didn’t work, smaug decided to take a zoomed version of the above photo showing only a part of the herd. We suggested that we could get closer and meet them  , but smaug explained us that elks get a bit annoyed when people approach them and he didn’t fancy spending a few lively moments being chased down by a deer taller and massively heavier than him  . Since we were a bit early for supper, we went to have a look at Lake Minnewanka. You might rememeber that last time we have been there (about a month ago) it was still a…lake. Well, today, thanks to the cold weather, it was a massive slab of ice  . Smaug said that the ice would probably support the weight of the TVs, but their host might not be so lucky, so it will be a few more weeks before we can walk on the ice. On the way down to Banff we stopped taking a picture with another frozen lake and Mt. Rundle in the background. Unfortunately, once we made it to Banff, we were not allowed to attend the supper, but we found a nice window from where we could look at the mountains while chatting all the evening  .
smaug Posted Jan 2, 2010, 7:27 pm	Hi Mum, today a new guest arrived . His name’s Michel and he is a white bear from Germany. sammino went to pick him up at the airport and then introduced him to us all. Later, since his trip apparently had been far from smooth, we helped Michel to recover with some Timbits, and, of course, we provided help in eating them .
smaug Posted Jan 2, 2010, 8:46 pm	Hi Mum! Today we took Michel out for his first trip in the Mountains. As it was a bit cold we convinced smaug to take pictures from inside the car . Here we were entering the Bow Valley. While here we were reaching the gate of Banff National Park. Once in the Park we had a lovely view over Cascade Mountain. Then we took the road to Lake Minnewanka, but we didn’t meet any elk. And eventually we reached the Lake. Later this evening we were allowed to taste a typical Christmas cake from northern Italy, a pandoro. Not sure how smaug managed to find one here in Canada, but it was delicious  .
smaug Posted Jan 2, 2010, 9:29 pm	Hi Mum, Today smaug took us out to visit a place not too far from Calgary called Elbow Falls, where the Elbow River forms some nice (guess what!?) falls  . Here I was just downstream of the falls. (No, there are not ice falls: although it is very well hidden, there is also some “liquid” water coming down ). And this is the river flowing away in a nice little canyon  . Later we played a bit in the snow, but it was freezing cold and we soon make our way for the heat of the car  .
smaug Posted Jan 3, 2010, 10:22 pm	Hi Mum! Happy New Year  ! Today the weather was fine and it wasn’t even too cold (-15C  ), hence smaug decided that it was a good idea to have a walk in the forest to try burning some of the excessive food eaten over the last couple of weeks. So we TVs went too, working as ballast in the rucksack  . We spent most of the day under tree cover and it was a bit too dark to take photos, but we still found a couple of points where we could take a few decent shots  .
smaug Posted Jan 3, 2010, 11:15 pm	Hi Mum! Today is my last day here in Calgary as tomorrow I’ll jump in the post and come home. It is actually a group-departure day as Lysander is also going home to the UK and Henry-Bo is moving to his next host in Hong Kong. So all the other TVs gathered around to wish us a safe journey … ...and sammino gave me a big goodbye hug .

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