with a happy ending

Pete likes living close to the edge.


He figures that cats have nine lives.


So, he figures it's okay for him to do things that creatures with only one lifetime really should not do.


But Pete came very close to cashing in his ninth life.


Right now we are in Cappadocia - it's an amazing area of southern Turkey filled with "fairy chimneys" (land forms created as a result of volcanic eruptions and erosion).






Pete thought that Dubrovnik and Prague had old buildings. 
Then he went to Turkey.
Pete enjoyed spending a week working on an organic farm.
seeing the sights in Ephesus, Turkey



He liked the markets, saw some famous sights,






checked out some rugs, found that he did not like Turkish coffee but quiteliked çay (chai),
and thought that the cat condos were wonderful.
Pete’s imagination was captured by the ancient cities that he visited.
Ephesus is a city that is over 2500 years old.
Sitting in the amphitheatre at Ephesus, Pete thought about the people who sat exactly where he was sitting – over 2000 years ago.
What were they watching. What where their homes like. What did they like to do for work and for fun. What did they feed their cats.
Then he thought about the huge amphitheatre being “forgotten”. Bits and pieces falling apart. Soil drifting into the amphitheatre, gradually filling it up, so that it looked like there was never a place big enough for 15,000 people to sit and watch something.
Pete saw people working – trying to figure out what the amphitheatre – and other buildings and houses – had looked like when they were built.
Archeologists who carefully dig in the ground, looking for bits of old amphitheatres, homes, columns – and then put the right pieces back together like a puzzle.
After feeling like a very small feline at the amphitheatre, getting lost at the library, and not being able to read Greek, Pete decided he needed some light relief.
He went to visit the bathroom. Not the kitty litter box bathroom for cats.
The 2000 year old bathroom for people who used to live in Ephesus.
It was a pretty big bathroom. Apparently 50 people could use it at the same time. 
Underneath the seats was a stream of water that flushed everything away. They had running water, but not a lot of privacy! 
Ephesus was full of amazingly ancient, and amazingly beautiful architecture and art.
Some animals just didn’t seem to appreciate it!




            

Prague – Czech Republic

Prague is a beautiful old city in the Czech Republic.
An old city with a sense of fun.
This is a city that likes to celebrate a delight in living.
Right downtown in the Old Town Square (just past the clock tower), there are always lots of fun things going on.
Huge bubbles are a favourite of mine. And for lots of other people.




Iceland!

Most people think of Iceland as a cold land with a strange and wonderful geography.
And they would be right.
There are pools of hot water, made an eerie blue by silica mud (which is also supposed to make your skin stay healthy and young looking).
Geysers that shoot high into the air from burbling muddy pools.


Green lakes created at the top of extinct volcanoes.


And that does not even include the active volcanoes, or the sleeping one that is overdue to erupt …

As well as its crazy geography, Iceland is also a land of  many sheep, happily grazing on the Iceland plains, and climbing the steep slopes to nibble on high altitude grass.


These sheep are descendants of the sheep that the Vikings brought to Iceland around 1000 years ago.  (So are Icelandic horses.)
Icelandic sheep grow lovely warm wool that is sheared in the spring.
It is cleaned. 
Spun into wool and dyed a rainbow of lovely colours.


And knit into beautiful, warm and cosy sweaters that say Iceland to whomever sees them.







  Image Map
Next Monday is Canadian Thanksgiving. 

A time to remember all that we have. 

I  tell my kids ( my own kids) that we are incredibly fortunate since we have all that we need and most of what we want. 

So much of the world cannot say that. 

This year my husband and I will be spending Thanksgiving in Turkey. No turkey in Turkey.  But we have so much to thankful for. 


pause for thankful thoughts - and back to kindergarten "stuff"

Last year I made my kidlets a button-on-the-feathers turkey. (Thanks Mary Lea from Pink and Green Mama for the inspiration.)

Beautiful fall colours.  Soft, rich wool felt.  





I kept seeing funny looking penguins in the gift shops in Prague.

                                         

What on earth do penguins have to do with the Czech republic, I wondered.


And why do they have hands (not flippers) and red noses (not orange beaks).


Well, it's because they were moles!


Little Mole is a beloved Czech children's character.


Fire Safety Week is next week - but it's always a good week to learn about fire safety.



First I am going to tell you a little story.


A long time ago (like the 70s) I was visiting my grandparents' unheated home in England (they don't seem to believe in central heating in England - at least in the 70s).  My bedroom had an old electric fire in it.  One morning, I was chilly, and stood in front of the electric fire to warm up.  The frill on my jammies got inside the protective cage and caught on fire.  I had no clue what to do, so I ran around the room screaming my head off.  Luckily my mother was in the next room and stop, drop and rolled me.  The end of the story is that I had a deep second, partial third degree burn on the back of my leg and got to check out a number of hospitals around England. 


The post script to the story is that I believe that it is really important to teach kids what to do if they, or someone else catch on fire.



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