For those of you who visited the Roost while Mrs. Turkadactyl and I were at Camas you may recall some photos of me with one of the Iona sheep. Now I am in the first to admit, based on evidence over at Turkavision, it will appear that I want to make war and not peace with our four legged friends. That is, however, not the case. I realize that we must ally ourselves with as many different species as we can to put up a brave front to the squirrel menace. The squirrel menace you may ask. Yes, it is true. The squirrels mean to take over as supreme overlords on Earth. There will be more to come on the squirrel front. While on our travels I took the time to persuade some of the furry critters to take to my cause.
Posted by: Turkadactyl | January 22, 2009
Ally To The Animal Kingdom
Posted in Animal Kingdom, European Vacation
Posted by: Turkadactyl | December 28, 2008
Updates at the Roost (Update January 13)
Now that I have the world wide web avaialbe at my house I am starting to upload pictures from our Eurpean vacation. Wrath of Caen has been updated as of December 27. Rome- It’s a Spicy Meatball and Italy- Road Kill Cafe have been updated as of December 29. Italy- Siena and Radiohead has been updated as of December 30. Italy- Never Ending Story has been updated as of January 6. Italy- A-Maze-Ing has been updated as of Janury 9. Austria- There Are No Kangaroos In Austria has been updated as of January 10. Austria- The Hills Are Alive… and Austria- I Bought The Wrong Banana have been updated as of January 12. Austria- The Visible Part has been updated as of January 13. All of my European Vacation posts have now been updates with photos. To view photos please scroll down. I will notify when other posts have been updated with photos.
Posted in Uncategorized
Posted by: Turkadactyl | December 28, 2008
Home Sweet Home
Mrs. Turkadactyl and I have been home for a a couple of weeks now. It has been a tough adjustment since returning primarily beacuse we arrived to a cold snap. Edmonton is now coming out of the deep freeze. The last two weeks have seen weather in the -30 degrees Celsius range and that is before th wind chill. I am really missing the mild temperatures of the Mediterranean at the moment. Mrs. T and I appreciate the big welcome we received at the airport. Mama and Papa Turkadactyl, Drew and Melissa with their new additon to the Teal army, Grace, as well as Emmy (Wes we now you wanted to be there but Sequoia had a bedtime to make), and John and Kim.
Posted in European Vacation, The Camas Adventures
Posted by: Turkadactyl | November 30, 2008
Austria- I Bought The Wrong Banana (Photo Update January 12)
The title to this post is inspired from here. One thing I am still not used to are all the shops being closed on a Sunday. Mrs. Turkadactyl and I are taking the sleeper train the Amsterdam tonight and were going to buy some groceries for the train. All the supermarkets are closed. We came across a stand that was selling fruit and we purchased the fruit. Probably the biggest fruit purchased mistake that we will ever make. The prices must have been jacked up since no other stores are open. Anyways, next time we will go without fruit. I bought the wrong banana. At least I get to link a catchy song to my Roost.
Posted in European Vacation
Posted by: Turkadactyl | November 30, 2008
Austria- The Visible Part (Photo Update January 13)
I am very thankful to have visited the Mauthausen Memorial. The only unfortunate part of the day is I ran out of time and that is with half of the memorial closed to renovations and many displays only in German. I had to take the train from Vienna to Mauthausen, which ate up a large portion of the day. I am thankful to Cecilia who gave me a ride from the post office to the memorial. I was asking for directions and she said she can give me a ride. Cecelia told me on route to the memorial that the people of Mauthausen are still judged for the atrocities that happened at the camp over sixty years ago. Travellers try to avoid the town when visiting the memorial. Cecelia also shared about her experience in Israel that she was strongly encouraged to not disclose that she is from Mauthausen as there are still many open wounds with the Jews and the Nazi concentration camps of WWII.
Posted in European Vacation
Posted by: Turkadactyl | November 30, 2008
The Moustache Letters- Home Sweet Home
Dear Mark,
Austria is a pleasant surprise. While I was expecting moustache’s galore in Italy; I had no expectations for Austria. The image of Mario and Luigi gave me high expectations for the Italians. I think it is Austria of where the moustache was born. There are moustaches everywhere here. The young men do not seem to be as enthused as their older brethren but I think there is hope for them yet.
Posted in The Moustache Letters
Posted by: Turkadactyl | November 29, 2008
Austria- The Hills Are Alive… (Photo Update January 12)
… With the sound of music. We are in Salzburg now. We spend the full day in Salzburg tomorrow and then board the overnight train to Amsterdam. We spend an afternoon and night in Amsterdam and then it is time to return to the Great White North. It is hard to belief that we left my grandparents almost a month ago. Salzburg is beautiful. For those of you who have seen The Sound Of Music you will be familiar with our picturesque surroundings. There are Christmas markets crowding the streets. The Austrians love their Christmas markets. The streets were crowded today. Many people were drinking punsch- it is an orange drink mixed with rum heated up over a burner.
Posted in European Vacation
Posted by: Turkadactyl | November 24, 2008
Austria- There Are No Kangaroos In Austria (Photo Update January 10)
We have been in Vienna since Friday evening. My taunting of the weather has now caught up to me. Here I have been laughing that we are enjoying shorts type weather and Edmonton is receiving snow. We are now becoming acclimatized to Canada. Saturday and Sunday has seen snow, which is alright. It is the wind that has been a pain. The weather warmed up a bit today. What is a kick to the teeth is before we arrived in Vienna the weather was around plus 15. The long range forecast for next week is around plus 12. Nooooo!!!
Posted in European Vacation
Posted by: Turkadactyl | November 21, 2008
Italy- A-Maze-Ing (Photo Update January 9)
Our trip of Italy concluded with a stop in Venice. I was not a big fan of Venice. It was very crowded even out of tourist season and vastly overpriced. We did take some very nice photos and enjoyed a ride down the Canale Grand. I made some new friends- pigeons. Snuggles, my travel bunny was trying to make new friends as well. Two pigeons started to fight and tok no notice of poor Snuggles. Snuggles received a black eye out of the whole ordeal.
Posted in European Vacation
Posted by: Turkadactyl | November 21, 2008
The Moustache Letters- Plumbers Crack
Dear Mark,
It has been a while since I have heard from you. I hope the Paydro gang are behaving themselves. I have just completed a trip through Italy and I want to voice my sincerest displeasure to the Italians. You see I had big expectations. I guess I was hoping for too much after being exposed to the most famous Italian moustaches of them all- Mario and Luigi.
Posted in The Moustache Letters
Posted by: Turkadactyl | November 18, 2008
Italy- Never Ending Story (Photo Update January 6)
Friday night saw the release of many Siena University students into the streets of Siena. Siena has a bustling night life, which it can thank a large part to the University campus located in its city centre. Friday saw a larger than usual crowd pour to its streets. Mrs. Turkadactyl and I came across a group of at least twenty young men dressed up in bell bottoms and afro wigs. They were having a good time at a bar. Shortly after returning to our room we heard some jovial singing from who we assumed to be the group dressed to party. At first we were impressed with the how far the sound carried. Then the singing was starting to get old until they pulled out there secret weapon- the theme song to the Never Ending Story. That brought a smileto our face. It was getting old, however, after the third time when they were still singing about three hours later. What makes their singing even more impressive is these young men sang constantly. They followed one song into another and did not pause between songs. I am sure they did not have much to say the following day.
Posted in European Vacation
Posted by: Turkadactyl | November 14, 2008
Italy- Siena and Radiohead (Photo Update December 30)
I am in an internet cafe typing away and listening to Radiohead on YouTube. I missed Radioheads world tour so I will take this as a consolation. It appears that winter is now catching up to Italy. We have enjoyed amild winter up until a couple of days ago. For a Nelson ha ha moment we have no snow, ha ha.
Posted in European Vacation
Posted by: Turkadactyl | November 12, 2008
Italy- Road Kill Cafe (Photo Update December 29)
Mrs. Turkadactyl and I have e njoyed three relaxing days at a farm just outside of Sora. There isn’t much to do here so we have had no choice but to relax. The down time has been grand. Both of our hips have been sore with all the walking we have been doing. Plus this has been the first time we have had some extended time off for a long time.
Posted in European Vacation
Posted by: Turkadactyl | November 10, 2008
Hunchaks
Thank you to Anne and to John and Kim for informing and keeping us updated about the Hunchaks. The Hunchaks go to our church back in Edmonton. Ken, husband to Larra, and father to Taryn, Raena, and Allayna passed away of a heart attack. The news came to a shock to us as I am sure to many others as well. Michelle and I were expecting to come back home seeing a couple new faces, Grace Teal and Naomi Boldt, but we did not expect to lose anyone we know. Our thoughts and praeyrs are with the Hunchaks.
Posted in Uncategorized
Posted by: Turkadactyl | November 10, 2008
Rome- It’s A Spicy Meatball (Photo Update December 29)
Okay, I will admit I was reaching for a good title for this post. Spicy Meatball is the best I could come up with. Rome was fantastic. I will warn you, hoever, if you are arriving by train to the Roma Termini the tourist information is very hard to find. the map in the station has about eight information booths. The booths are actually currency converters and hotel lodging reservations. It took us a half hour at least to find tourist info. That and Romes public toilets are scary.
Posted in European Vacation
Posted by: Turkadactyl | November 10, 2008
France- The Wrath of Caen (Photo Update December 27)
For those of you who are familiar with Star Trek I am sure you will appreciate the title of this post. Caen is pronounced the same as Khan. Caen was wonderful. It was our base of operation for me to visit the D-Day sites. I really wish I could upload some photos to share with all of you what I saw. I experienced a wide range of emotions for the two days I was in Lower Normandy. I now have a deeper sense of admiration and respect for the soldiers of the allied forces who landed on the Normandy beaches on June 6, 1944.
Posted in European Vacation
Posted by: Turkadactyl | November 2, 2008
Sigh Of Relief
We are leaving for France tommorrow. It has been good to see my grandparents. We are looking forward to seeing some of the sights of Europe. We had a close call yesterday. I found a discount air carrier. We ready ready to book tickets to arrive and depart at Vienna, Austria. Upon further investigation we would have landed at Vienna airport in Slovakia. Now that is a nasty trick. Yes, mom we did make it to Bromsgrove on foot. It was a long walk and good exercise. Too much car traffic on the way. We met a lovely woman Yvonne. Hi Yvonne! we ‘re looking forward to the new chapter on our trip. Please keep checking in. My updates will be unpredictable but I still want to keep my roost fresh. Ever since my departure from Camas my increased fan base to five has dropped back to three again. Time to drown my lower fan base with some chocolate now. Mmmm chocolate.
Here are some songs to keep you entertained until my next post. Warning, I have only seen the videos for these three songs. Sarah gave me notice that some of the content on the site may go too far. Oh yeah, John and Kim make sure the boys are not around unless you want them to sing the songs over and over again.
Posted in European Vacation
Posted by: Turkadactyl | November 1, 2008
Humbling
I have finished reading the testimonials of the Jewish holocaust survivors. It was a humbling experience. One woman was a teenager at the time when she was rounded up and shipped off to a concentration camp. The prisoners were herded into one of two gates. This woman shared that she was designated the gate of life. All those directed through the other gate were led to the gas chamber and to death that very day. Others talked about being lucky and were able to flee Germany and Austria before the war broke out. Some had the luck to be put on a boat to England, whereas if they were but on the boat to Belgium or Holland they feel they most likely would have been caught by the Nazis again and then concentration camp bound. This book is stark reminder that I live in freedom and will appreciate the lifestyle I live.
Posted in Cardboard Creations, European Vacation
Posted by: Turkadactyl | October 31, 2008
I Fart In Your General Direction
Through migrating from one site to the next I found an Italian train carrier that I was able to purchase our train tickets from Paris to Rome. Nuts to the travel agent who wanted to charge me three times the amount. Inspired by Monty Python and the Holy Grail- I fart in your general direction. We were hanging out at the local library yesterday. Mrs. Turkadactyl found a wonderful book for me to read. It is a collection of interviews with Jews who survived the WWII holocaust and these survivors ended settling down in Birmingham. I am appreciative to be reading it because I want to visit a Nazi concentration camp close to Mauthausen, Austria. Mrs. T’s family has some history in said region. I made my stir fry last night. It did not go so well. A lid was put on the pan and the vegetables were steamed. A lesson to all of you is this- do not steam a stir fry.
Posted in European Vacation
Posted by: Turkadactyl | October 30, 2008
Bonjour
I am surprised as to how fast this week has past. We have been away from Camas for 8 days now. I am struggling with living in a big city now. There are mechanical noises and people everywhere. Yesterday I took a trip to city centre in hopes to secure a pair of train tickets for Paris to Rome. The amount of people and smells were overwhelming. It may be the culture shock of being in a big city now, however, I am not too sure if Mrs. Turkadactyl and I will seek a life out in a city when we come back. We grew fond of living in the country and the small town lifestyle.
Posted in European Vacation
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The Roost of Turkadactyl 