Have you ever been to the snow or seen it? I haven't, but I heard that it was coloured white!! Oh, what fun it must be to have lots of nice fluffy white textures falling down all around you!!  And can you imagine me, little Kiosk -Ted Strath stomping my way right through the snow!! And I would put on my bright yellow gum boots and put paw prints in the snow and leave a bearprint trail in the snow! I have seen pictures of snowmen though. They always have carrots as noses. I can't ever work out why people would waste good fresh carrots on giving snowmen carrots for their noses! If a snowman has a nose, then they might catch a cold from being outdoors in the chilly weather and then they would start to sneeze! No, I think these carrots should be used to make carrot soup. My friend, Betty Bear makes the bestest ever  homemade soup!! In fact she entered it in the annual C.B. A soup making contest (just to explain in case you were wondering, it stands for the Country Bear Association, they are such a great group of teddies you know! And wow!! What great cooking skills they have! It is good being friends with them when they are baking! And the very, very appetizing aromas that come from their ovens and in their kitchens make you feel that you just can't wait even another second until you can eat their most delicious food.)  Betty  would have won first prize in this soup contest but… there was a slight not-so-happy incident that happened. Betty had made her tasty carrot soup and took it to the official judging tent, along with other teddies that had brought tomato, zucchini, potato, pumpkin soups…and lots more. Jenny the judging teddy had the hard task of eating/drinking each soup and giving her verdict. All the competitors left the judging tent, and gathered together in another area of the showgrounds where the contest was being held. All of a sudden, there was quite an alarming sight to be seen when Jenny came running out of the judging tent with her tongue poking straight out in the air!! Poor Jenny had taken a gulp of the tomato soup that had been made by one contestant…and it was so hot that it scalded her tongue in her  mouth! Poor Jenny!! She rushed to visit her local teddy doctor, and at first he refused to see her because he though that she was being very, very impolite  by sticking her tongue out at him, but after a few hand gestures he realised that it was just because she had burnt her tongue because of the soup!! I am glad to say, that any scaulding damage was only temporary, and after a hugely BIG gulp of water, the tongue pain settled down. But after this sad event occurred, everyone decided to cancel the soup tasting contest, and declare no-one a winner.  So Betty couldn't be the winner, but…it all turned out really great because Betty had cooked up a huge big batch of the carrot soup and she very kindlkindly invited all her friends, including me!, to come and enjoy tasting it. It was delicious! And so that is why I think that carrots should be used for carrot soup rather than for snowmen noses!

 I did see a photo that little Valma took of the time she went to the snow. This dear little young teddy was just so extra extra excited when her Mum and Dad said that they were taking her to the snow! She just hardly stopped talking about it before she went on the trip and when she came back. She told everyone all about it! And very nice Glenda Grandmotherly Bear very kindly agreed to Valma's request to teach her how to knit , so as Valma could make a scarf to put on a snowman. Well…the scarf looked good….hmmm…a few dropped stitches…hmmmm perhaps more than just a few dropped stitches…very bright colours…very straggly…but knitted very well by a  very excited little teddy girl!! And I'm sure Snowy Snowman would have been very happy to have it draped around his neck! Valma showed me a picture of Snowy wearing it, and I did have to admit he did look quite a suave fashionable snowman! He could have made the top ten best-clothed snowmen for 2013 if he had entered it I would think! But Snowy is quite a shy snowman and doesn't like to be the centre of attention, so I think that he would not like to be featured in any glossy fashion magazines of "the" clothes to wear this year for chic and trendy snowmen.

Talking about fashions, did I ever tell you about Marissa the Model teddy bear? She is the most stylish teddy bear that I know! She is a teddy bear fashion model, and was recently invited to model the new teddy winter collection of clothes! She got to wear gloves, and beanies, and scarves, woollen dresses and ear muffs and jackets and really cute bright pink woollen slippers!!  She has just arrived home from being in Paris, modeling the latest fashions in the Annual Teddy Winter Fashion Parade. She told me that she had such a fun time walking the stages over there. And Marissa always has a HUGE smile on her face as she elegantly walks down the line. Well, perhaps I should rephrase that. Marissa enjoys it so much, that she doesn't just walk down the stage, she literally hops, skips and jumps down it! She is a very bubbly and happy teddy! She only had one time that she sort of wishes didn't happen. She was heading down the stage to do a little twizzle turn at the end, and her enthusiastic twizzle turned into a tumble straight into the front row of the teddy crowd!  She wasn't hurt, but it did give both the crowd and Marissa quite a surprise and shock! She just jumped back onto the stage, gave a quick little curtsey to everyone, and then skipped back to behind the curtain! She is a very nice Teddy!

Oh ! I have had such a great idea! It would be soooo very good to set up an ice skating rink right outside the Strathalan Kiosk and Café ! It is covered over and protected from the weather and it would be such fun to put on some bright multi- coloured skates and go whizzing around the rink in a circular pattern! And the Strathalan Residents could all take turns in ice skating too, and perhaps there could be special skating wheels that could be attached to their walkers, so they could hold onto the walkers as they enjoyed their time on the ice-skating rink. What fun we would all have!  Oh! I have just realised something.  I read in the local teddy newspaper the other day, that there is a world-wide shortage of ice at the moment. You see, there is global warming, and the funny thing is, that as soon as ice is laid down for the ice skating rinks, the sun shines on it and melts it!! Then all that is left is a big flood of water, which gets quite messy! Sooo….I will just have to abandon my idea for an ice-skating rink.

All this talking about snow and ice and snowmen makes me feel that I would like my little bear tummy to be full of something warm. I think that I will grab an egg from the Kiosk fridge, boil it, and make some little bread "soldiers" to have with it. That is simple comfort food. What could be nicer on a cold day?! Or I could have a nice cup-o-soup from off the Kiosk shelves? And later I could have a drink of milo or ovaltine or drinking chocolate? Or a great cup of tea and coffee that always warms your insides up! (And your paws and hands too, as you wrap them around the cup or mug!) And perhaps some biscuits, there are such a variety of creams, plains, and chocolate biscuits to choose from. Oh, I am starting to feel quite hungry now! I will have to say goodbye for now and have a little something to eat!

Until next time,

             Keep warm! Eat up your carrots because they are good for seeing in the dark! Be careful that you don't burn your tongue if you are having some soup!

                         Your friend, Mr. Kiosk-Ted Strath

                       Also simply known as "Ted"!!