May 3, 2019
Edelweiss is back!
As you will see from my updated profile photo I've aged since Iceland and become a vegetarian. 😉 Comments on Facebook made me recall having fun with the blog and reactivate it. Who knows what might happen here.😄 Of course, I'm an oldster now, so watch out!
More to come....
Jun 26, 2009
Iceland Expedition - Part 5
When we reached the end of the fjord it got cloudy and a cold wind blew. Bearbirds climbed down to the shore and cried full of excitement, "Look at the wild Northern sea, Edelweiss! We nearly have reached the Polar Circle, we have crossed the 66th parallel already!"
I'm not a fan of such a big bathtub full of cold water, but the latitude was interesting.
"Am I now entitled to get such a cap we have seen in the 66° North shop?" I asked.
"Oh Edelweiss, I fear your head is too little for such a cap!"
I growled extensively (yes I can!).
We cancelled the troll visit and had a little walk around the hills in a hailstorm. Suddenly I stopped. An odd being peered at us out of the hill. Was this a munchkin troll?
"I don't know what kind of creature it is," Bearbirds said.
Comment from Hoopoe
Jun 16, 2009
Iceland Expedition - Part 4
Here is another Iceland adventure that Bearbirds and I had, with wonderful photos courtesy of Bearbirds.
It turned out that the second part of Bearbirds name was going to get a plague on our journey through Iceland.
Bearbirds was talking with a Japanese Christian missionary in the bus to Mývatn (Midge Lake) when he suddenly cried, "I beg your pardon a thousand times, but have a look out of the window, please!"
Three white swans were flying beside our bus over the deserted Icelandic highland. After a while they turned off.
"Probably they are humans turned into swans by a sorcerer or a troll," Bearbirds whispered to me when the missionary had apologized for the interruption a second time and had delved into his nice Japanese Bible. Probably he had to reread how to proselytize people without losing the famous Japanese politeness. It's like try to square the circle, if you ask me.
Finally we reached Mývatn and stayed in a nice hostel near the lake. In the night Bearbirds tossed and turned in bed and said, "I can't sleep. The birds are crying so loud!"
"It was you who chose the place near the lake," I answered without turning my face.
I was sitting on the windowsill watching the water birds busy in the moonlight to arrange their nesting places. There was a lot of discussions and quarrel among all the ducks, geese and divers.
Then we went down to visit the mud pools. They didn't smell nice. Bearbirds stopped at a pool with blue bubbles.
"Do you want to have a bath?" I asked.
"Of course not! Silly cat, can't you see that it's boiling? I really don't like to be grilled!"
I would have liked to ask if there was hot blueberry soup in the pool but I preferred to keep my mouth shut.
Later we reached a fenced pool where Bearbirds had to pay an admission fee. I sat down in a beach chair and Bearbirds dived into the steaming water. She met two women, tourists from the other end of the world, and they began to chat.
"Oh, yes, there are no tourists here!"
And finally they all began to sing and to cry, "Here are no tourists! We are no tourists! All the others are tourists, but not we!"
Which troll* had turned them into a crazy gaggle of geese? It was extremely embarrassing. And this was the first time when I thought, Bearbirds, you really can be a plague!
* You can see him in this picture:
May 25, 2009
Iceland Expedition - Part 3
Moon over Puffin City
"What are puffins?" I asked her.
"They are birds. You mustn't come along. It would be too exciting for you."
"Oh, dear Bearbirds, I promise to be as good as gold!"
"Okay, but you have to stay in my backpack!"
I agreed and we walked along the shore for one hour or more till we reached a big rock. Bearbirds climbed up. I peered out of the backpack, but all I saw were shrieking gulls.
A funny looking bird was sitting on the grassy part of the slope. It had a black cap over its white face and a big orange-red bill making it look like a parrot. Then another puffin came flying, but it had difficulties to land. Like a human who opens his parachute to break his fall the puffin straddled its legs with its orange diving fins. But it stumbled, felt on its back, got balance again and then waddled around in its black tailcoat like a penguin.
The two puffins didn't pay attention of us. They were so clumsy, it would be easy to catch them, but I wasn't allowed. Now they began to argue.
"Really, this isn't a nice place. Let's fly back to our last year's rock!" the he-puffin said.
"No, it's much better here. Think over what happened to our youngsters last year," answered the she-puffin.
"You haven't yet seen this place by night!"
"But I have asked the others. Here are no artificial moons deflecting the youngsters."
"The sneaky humans are everywhere! They have erected so many moons in and outside of their nesting holes just so that our youngsters are not able to navigate by the moon as we have taught them. They will get lost between the big human dwellings both here and elsewhere," he muttered.
They turned away from each other and stared at the sea.
Eventually the two puffins turned and faced each other and the discontented one said to his companion:
"In Moon's name, let's try here."
It sure was exciting to see the puffins, even if I had to stay in Bearbirds' backpack. They looked rather tasty, but I think with their stocky bodies and large beaks they would have made cat food, er...mince meat...out of little me.
Love & hugs, Edelweiss
May 22, 2009
Iceland Expedition - Part 2
The next days we stayed at a lonesome horse farm in the great river plain. On the first day Bearbirds was sitting in the guesthouse starring out of the window and tearing her hair in despair.
"Look, Edelweiss, everything outside is under smeltwater!"
"Gut Ding will Weile haben - good things take a long time, you always say. It will ooze away in a few days."
"But meanwhile - what shall I do here?" Bearbirds shouted. "Nowhere can I ride or hike!"
I nodded compassionately and slipped out. Through mud I sloshed to the farmhouse to meet Skotti, the resident tomcat. We sat down on the windowsill and looked out: A man was balancing on a small plank over the water to reach the stable.
"Don't try to catch it. It will lure you in the bog. You would get very wet and dirty," Skotti said.
Next day I walked with Bearbirds on the gravel road. Outside the fences we met a herd of horses, then we reached the river bank. Between black lava sand the glacier river was carrying ice floes to the sea. Bearbirds was interested in a seal and I was watching a couple of red-throated divers.
Later Bearbird was riding her horse along the same road, but it stopped by the herd and didn't want to go on. I heard it grumbling:
""The devil's own horseshoes! They could have chosen another fool but me to be shod for carrying an untimely, stupid tourist!"
It stopped such slander the next day when Bearbirds was holding a switch in her hand.
"I have to resign to my fate," the mare muttered and trotted to the river bank willingly.
The last day the free living horse herd broke down the fences and invaded the farm meadows where the water had decreased.
"They are like humans. Who is restricted wants to be free, but who is unattached desires fences," Bearbirds said.
I have to think over this question carefully even if I belong to a freedom-loving folk.
I hope you like the Iceland blogs and great photos, courtesy of dear Bearbirds.
Iceland has such haunting beauty, don't you agree?
Love & kisses, Edelweiss
Iceland Expedition - Part 1
"Come on!" I shouted to Bearbirds, who had sat down on a rock at half height of the slope.
"I can't see the next marking pole," she said.
"Because you are going to break your legs on your first day in Iceland," the vetrarblóm whispered in chorus.
The little petals nodded slightly in the wind.
Stay tuned for Part 2.
Feb 22, 2009
EK goes home
So the world trip is off for now and it's back to Edmonton to live with Mops & Pops. They're happy and so am I because there's lots to see and do at home.
I love Winterpeg, or as Pops & Mops sometimes say, "We'll always have Winnipeg." Talk about Rick & Ilsa wannabees. <8-)
It was really snowy there and I was invisible. My only salvation was to stop washing and get 'down and dirty' as shown in this photo. As you can see, a grubby Edelweiss is one unhappy fur ball!
They would not serve me in any of the fancier restaurants but the Salisbury House, or the Sals as it's know locally, came through. The Sals diner has been a Winnipeg institution for over 75 years. Mops tells me that her Mom used to work there in the 1940s. And in her teens Mops herself would stop in for a large chocolate milkshake. "Meow!" is all I can say.
So heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to Edmonton I go!