North Bay Village, FL, USA - 12th October 2007
By: marina
Hello, how are you? It’s very nice to meet you. My name is Rosemary and I’m a little girl skunk.
I just became a Toy Voyager and will be traveling to France soon, where I will meet Mistigree.
I live with Robito, Trapito and Palmito.
My hobby is collecting cute or interesting buttons. I also like Victorian postcards and hope to be able to find at least a couple to give to my Mom, since she likes them a lot too. I also love reading and writing letters to friends.
I’ve arrived at my new home recently. There are many books here, so I’m quite happy.
The best thing about a good hardcover book is that it doubles as a great table, don’t you think?
I thought it’d make a perfect table to play dominoes on, so I invited Budd to play with me.
So far, it looks like I’m winning!
It's your turn, Budd.
Hmmmm…
Oh, it’s a draw.
Later we read together. We ended up falling asleep!
I haven't yet decided where I’ll go when I come back from France. If you’d like to host me, please let my Mom know. I'll be delighted to meet you. I'd also love to see your garden if you happen to have one, as I just love pretty flowers and plants.
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Posted Oct 12, 2007, 5:54 am Last edited Oct 16, 2007, 3:00 am by marina
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Ger, France - 28th October 2007
By: Mistigree
We arrived in Ger, the village where Mistigree's parents are living, 2 hours later. What I first saw when I entered the house is that cat who was sleeping on the kitchen table.
I decided to introduce myself to her : "Hi, I'm Rosemary from the USA". No answer. "Hi I'm Rosmary from the USA" . No answer. "Hi, I'm Rosemary from the USA" . Still no answer. "Hi, I'm Rosemary from the USA"... Silence...
It is only later that Mistigree told me that this cat was old and quite deaf !!
Outside, there is a big garden, see how green the grass is !! Greener than in an English garden !!
Usually there are plenty of flowers around, but now, we are in autumn and most of the flowers already faded. The only ones that I saw were the following ones.
No lavender field here :O(
But some nice daisies instead !
Look how beautiful I am !! It is in case I meet a French skunk...!! Who knows ???
Then I had a look at the vegetable garden where I found some cabbage.
There were also green peppers that Mistigree likes a lot, but I prefer the yellow peppers that are milder to the taste.
What is this strange vegetable with long leaves ??? Mistigree thinks it is beet, but she's not sure and nor am I !
And finally, I saw 4 pumpkins that were waiting to be cooked !!
We ate them the day after indeed !! There was a soup, a cake and a tart !
Look how strange the inside of a pumpkin is !!! It looks like a grotto with stalactites and stalagmites !
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Posted Nov 9, 2007, 8:44 pm Last edited Nov 9, 2007, 8:47 pm by Mistigree
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Vieux-Boucau, France - 2nd November 2007
By: Mistigree
Mood who’s a friend of Mistigree is now hosting (Playmo)Bill whose aim is to surf anywhere else than its sink, so today Mood drove us to the beach, Mistigree, Bill and I ! ! We went in a region called "Landes", which has numerous pines forests.
The little town we went is Vieux-Boucau, and is situated near the Atlantic Ocean.
I looked at the map and the sea seemed not too far, so let's go by foot !
Behind me is the parking just in front of the sea. Usually it is full of cars, but as we are in November, there were not much people this time !
Those flats are flats for tourists who come here during summer. These are quite nice but there are others than are not very beautiful and that spoil the lanscape !
Most of the shops were closed, so I could only watch the windowshop with beach articles inside ! There was a funny turtle buoy, maybe I'll buy it another time so that I could learn swimming !
I saw a nice Betty Boop towel ! It aroused my attention because she was dressed with the US flag pattern ! !
By approaching the sea, we passed along this hotel/restaurant called « hôtel de la pomme de pin » (pine cone hotel), who’s got a typical architecture from here.
I went to see the menu, thinking they had a speciality of pine cones...
...but there were only sea food !
In front of a bar near the sea, I found amusing to see this toutou’s bar here ! ! (although they have less drink choice than human, only water is served in the toutou’s bar !). By the way, "toutou" is the French word for "doggie" !
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Posted Nov 11, 2007, 3:29 pm Last edited Nov 11, 2007, 3:30 pm by Mistigree
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Vieux-Boucau, France - 2nd November 2007
By: Mistigree
Here we are, in front of the sea !! As I came from Miami, I already knew what a beach looked like of course, but I felt a bit nervous nevertheles because I realized that Marina should be just in front on me, on the American coast !!
I approached the water, or more exactly Mistigree approached the water hanging me in her hands because I was afraid !!
At a moment, we bent down to gather shells to send to Marina as a souvenir...
...and here is the result !!! We were so wrapped up in selecting a nice shell that we did not see the water coming !! I'm so sorry for Mistigree shoes and trousers !!
Then I went to see if I could find some crabs under those rocks, but I did not find any.
Instead of crabs, I saw (Playmo)Bill who found this not too deep place to surf !!
I left him surfing and wandered a little farther on the dunes.
I arrived at a lake where there were some anglers fishing.
I saw a sign then that indicates what kind of fishes we can catch here.
One of the fishermen who certainly had forgotten his glasses took me for a fish and threw a net on me ! ! !
HELP ! ! ! I’m prisonner ! ! ! !
I managed to escape outside the net and ran on the sand to move away from this silly fisherman !
I arrived at a place that sounds nice with little boats waiting for me on the sand.
I jumped into one of the boat, but then realized that I couldn't row because I have no arms !!
So I decided to drive a pedalo that only needs to have feet.
But unfortunately the pedalos were padlocked ! ! !
Then it began to be cold and late, so we left the sea for now, but not before having seen the sun going down !
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Posted Nov 11, 2007, 4:33 pm Last edited Nov 11, 2007, 4:37 pm by Mistigree
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Toulouse, France - 10th November 2007
By: Mistigree
The sun was shining today and it was just perfect for wandering in a park ! So Mistigree and I went to "Le Jardin des Plantes", the most important park in Toulouse.
This is one of the entrance. In fact this wall is part of the previous townhall's walls that has been carried here when the new townhall was built.
It is open until 18 pm in autumn and winter, and I read on the note here that the mayor of the city allowed people to walk on the grass, but that they have to respect the flowers and the animals. Of course I agree with him as I'm fond of plants and flowers.
Let's enter now !
This sign made me laugh because it says the park is forbidden to dogs and to two-wheeled vehicles ("deux-roues" in French)... but because of the way it is made, it seems to tell that the dogs wo have 2 wheels are forbidden !
First, I went to see the little river, it was so quiet ! We were very early and we were almost alone in the park !
I said hello to the ducks, they are not wild because they used to be fed with bread by people.
Then I met 2 gooses, but I must confess that they scared me a little, they have a strange and loud cry !
I did not dare to enter in their house, because Mistigree told me that when a goose is angry, it can be agressive (Mistigree's mother had a bad experience with a goose when she was a child !)
I prefered to go and see the birds house but it was empty !
There weren't much flowers as we are already in autumn and they have all already faded, but I found those ones very colourful however.
Usually there are yellow roses here, that surround the statue in the back.
A very beautiful statue by the way, but who looked sad !
Here are two naked lovers !! If only I could find a nice French skunk around, but there seems to be only winged creatures here... Mistigree told me there were also bears, monkeys and seals until 1976 (of course they were in a cage...which was not a very nice house for them I must say)
Besides this is a fountain especially for birds. You can not see it, but the water pours in the middle.
That statue seems to be a Roman or Greek godess, but I can be mistaken ?!
In the middle of the garden, there is a wall all alone ! Mistigree doesn't know where it comes from, but she will look on the internet because I told her it was a pitty that she lived here without knowing such things about her town !
What I prefered in the garden are those swings called "Escarpolettes", what a funny French word !
I also liked the little train, but the driver was not here (maybe he was sleeping or on strike ?!)
Soon, there will be a natural history museum here (in fact it already exists but has been closed for years because it needed to be restored). It will be the second greater natural history museum of France. We can already see this dinosaur skeleton.
We went out by another door on the other side of the park.
I enjoyed the garden very much but it should be even more nice in spring or summer !
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Posted Nov 20, 2007, 9:36 pm Last edited Nov 20, 2007, 9:37 pm by Mistigree
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Toulouse, France - 10th November 2007
By: Mistigree
The same day, but in the afternoon, Mistigree showed me some interesting shops. The one I prefered is called "Mes aïeux" (which means "My ancestors"). The blue windowshop is lovely...
And what we can find inside is all that I like !! Victorian things... Unfortunately there were no postcards, what you can see here are just perfumed bags with victorian pictures.
Mistigree told me she will certainly buy those tags for her pictures albums... I'm a little jealous because I like stationery too !!
Besides here is another stationery shop with many tempting writing items !
Oh and this one is called "Violettes et pastels" and we can find different violet products inside (candies, soaps, perfumes...) because Toulouse is famous in France for its violets.
In a little street we found this cartoon shop with Mickey Mouse in front of it. It made me think of Marina my mentor who's drawing nice cartoon characters too !
And do you know "Tintin et Milou" ?? It is a Belgian cartoon, but it has been translated in many languages.
I was amused to see that Tintin has his own shop here !
At the end, Mistigree showed me a French tea shop, but unfortunately, she's not fond of tea, she prefers coffee ! It is written "The French art of tea"...
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Posted Nov 25, 2007, 5:20 pm Last edited Nov 25, 2007, 5:23 pm by Mistigree
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Toulouse, France - 11th November 2007
By: Mistigree
A ToyVoyager arrived at Mistigree's house. It is Seamus, a little lion who comes from Finland.
He was persuaded that his tail was bigger than mine, so Snegovik measured our tails to make sure.
I'm afraid dear Seamus, but it seems the tail of the king of the animals is smaller than a skunk's tail !!
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Posted Dec 9, 2007, 10:55 am Last edited Dec 9, 2007, 11:17 am by Mistigree
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Toulouse, France - 13th November 2007
By: Mistigree
As Seamus is fond of board games, we played to some games to please him. The first one is a game about French blazons, where we have to search and put the same blazons together.
It was terrific ! Seamus won so rapidly that Snegovik and I wondered if he hasn't cheated...
Nevertheless, we agreed to play another game with him. It is "La bonne paye" a money game.
I lost to that game, I had so many bills to pay (doctor, garage...) that I was rapidly ruined.
To conclude we played Monopoly. As I know and like reading, I read the rules to Seamus and Snegovik.
It is a Monopoly about Europe and I chose "the House of Parliament" of London as a piece as England makes me think of Victorian things that I like so much.
Unfortunately, Seamus had a lot of houses and hotels and each time, I came across his squares full of hotels. I had to mortgage all my properties and of course, I lost once again.
To comfort me in my grief because I had lost 3 times, Mistigree brought me a nice bag with apples drawn on it.
I was curious to see what I was going to find inside of it...
"Miam-miam" as they say in French (it means "yum-yum"), 2 parts of apple croustade !! I immediately ate the 2 parts... I thought that Snegovik was already too well-padded to eat croustade...but don't tell him that I ate his part please !!
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Posted Dec 9, 2007, 11:57 am Last edited Dec 9, 2007, 2:04 pm by Mistigree
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