A Princess And Trolls

Aniara has got a new snowflake skirt and a sky blue mohair top. But the girl is not quite satisfied...


Aniara: I wish I had something for my hair...

Be careful what you wish for, you may get it...

Naks: I have a several extra frog hair clips. I think these blue ones would look nice with your dress.
Aniara: Thank you so much, they look lovely!


Aniara: Naks, I think your hair needs brushing, too
Naks: I wish you had some toys so you would not need to bother innocent trolls. Troll hair does not need to be brushed, you know.

Help is near! Niks arrives with a cartload of toys.

Niks: I think you could use some toys. And the Moomin family has been badly neglected. They need someone to play with them.


Aniara: Thank you, Niks! These are so cute.
Naks: I think Niks's hair needs some brushing, too...
Niks: Leave me alone or I'll sic Little Myy on you!

A princess with frogs in her hair

Aniara: These are pretty, don't you think?

Ice and water

Mikko:

When we have a fall storm when the lakes are not frozen yet but temperature is below freezing we get some spectacular ice formations on the shore. The last snow storm we had was like that and today we have been in Aspinniemi to photograph the ice formations.


Here is a tree that is thickly covered with ice.


Wheee! This is way high! You can see how thick the ice is.


Here's a closeup of the ice covered twigs


A wall of ice


Ice layers build even on blades of grass.


This is incredible!


Another icicle that has formed around a single straw


The icicles behind me look like ghosts... We couldn't get near them because the shore was so icy.


This three also has a thick covering of ice


I think there is a bush inside this ice monster.


Here is a closeup, you can see the twigs inside the ice.


These are straws that have been bent down before the ice has formed on them.


Grass roots.


Some more ice crusted straws


And here some big ones. These are the kind of plants that dry standing up and the seeds fall on the snow and then spread around when the snow melts.


This looks like an alien landscape. I wonder if it looks like this on Zumiklox!

That's all for today. It's a bit chilly and we must go home now.

Andromeda expedition

Something strange happened after the big snowstorm...


Umbriel: Mikko! Come quick, I have found a dimension door! We can go explore.


Mikko: Does any of your keys fit?
Umbriel: The space key fits. We'll get to some faraway place.


Umbriel: Come on now, Mikko!
Mikko: But it's pitch black on the other side!


Umbriel: It just looks black. It will be perfectly all right on the other side. You just can't see though the dimension doors, they are not for spying your neighbors.

But in the end Umbriel went in and Mikko stayed outside

Mikko: Sir Isaac Newton, I see that you did not go in either. We'll just wait here until Umbriel comes back.


Mikko: We can read books while we wait.

After a couple of hours Umbriel returns - and he has someone with him!

Mikko: Who is that??????????? A girl?????
Umbriel: Mikko, this is Princess Aniara Andromeda. She's from the Andromeda galaxy.


Aniara: Umbriel, lock the door quickly so that no one can get through!
Mikko: ????????????????????????


Mikko: The dimension door is gone!
Umbriel: The door disappears after it has been locked again. And therefore nobody can follow us from the other side. Aniara's father sent her here with me so that she will be safe. But I think she can explain better herself.


Aniara: My father is a great king in the Andromeda galaxy. But evil forces - something like Darth Vader, Zorg and the Daleks combined are trying to take over the whole galaxy. They want to conquer the whole galaxy and destroy all the local kings. It is not safe place for a princess in those times.

Umbriel: How do you know about Darth Vader and other bad guys from this galaxy?

Aniara: Our subspace probes can pick up your TV programs. And subspace communication is instantaneous, the speed of light does not limit the communication speeds. We have seen lots of your TV programs.

Umbriel: But how could your father send you away - even to be safe?

Aniara: It has been done here, too, you know. During the second world war lots of Finnish children were sent to Sweden and Denmark to be safe and to get better living conditions. It was dangerous here because of the bombings and there was a serious shortage of food - and everything else. After the war the children returned back home.

Umbriel: But the dimension door is gone, you can't go back!


Aniara: My father gave me a homing device. It is a tiny crystal that can be activated by sending a secret code via a specific subspace frequency. When it is safe again in Andromeda, my father will send the signal, and his men will fetch me home. Our science is very advanced. We can create a dimension door that opens to a specific place if a device on the other side transmits the homing signal. But only my father knows the code and frequency of my homing signal, so only he can tell how the dimension door must be tuned to get me home. The bad guys will never find me.

And so Aniara Andromeda came to stay with us - until further notice. We must take god care of her - she may be the future queen of the Andromeda galaxy.

Snow, snow and snow

Umbriel:

It has been snowing two days. There's heaps and heaps of snow everywhere, even on our balcony. Here's the Black Batboy in snow. Not the best camouflage, huh?

Hey... this is wet and cold... Take me in -NOW!


This is better...
Look, we've been snowed in though this is the third floor...


Well, not really. There's just lots of snow heaped on the window sill. I need a higher something to stand on.


Now, this is better! Just look at the wintery landscape. Oh well, it'll probably melt next week, the snow usually isn't permanent this early.