Geo-Gophers

This sounds fun, you could count us in!!

Basketball Day Camp

These look fantastic.........great job!!!!!

The Norwegian Forest Cat is an ancient breed of cat, having changed little from it's origins in Norway. Over numerous centuries, the Norwegian Forest cat has evolved and adapted to survive in the sometimes hostile Scandinavian climate. During the winter it develops a dense undercoat to protect it from the cold, which supplements its long, often flowing, overcoat (called 'Guard hairs') that is course in texture and water repellent to further protect from the elements. It is a strong, muscular, heavily built cat, ideally suited to hunting in the wilderness and became a favourite as a farm cat in Norway (as you travel through Norway today, you will still see many a forest cat patrolling it's farmhouse territory). The NFO is also unique in the cat world since it will often been seen climb down headfirst. It's strength and agility is also well suited to climbing any surface, including a sheer rock face! It's Lynx ear tips, ear tufts, snowshoes (tufts of fur on the underside of the paws) and large size have been know to lead the NFO to be mistaken for a Lynx (although, in reality, it is MUCH smaller). The NFO can authoritatively be traced back to the 1500s, but it's history is much longer than this. There are many references to large cats in Norse mythology, with descriptions that can only describe the NFO. These myths were developed from the storytelling and songs of great feats that were recounted around the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries). By the 20th century however, this magnificent cat was becoming a rarity and at risk of becoming extinct. During the mid 1930s, the Norwegians began to make plans to ensure the future of their national cat, and a few NFOs even appeared at cat shows during this time. Unfortunately, the outbreak of hostilities in Europe, in the form of WWII, put a stop to these activities, and the Norwegian Forest Cat once again became largely forgotten. It was not until the 1970s that the Norwegians once again recognised the risk to one of their national treasures, and once again a move was made to protect the NFO and a special breeding program was instigated. After much hard work in Norway, the Norwegian Forest cat was finally recognised as a distinct pedigree cat in 1977. Since then the breed has gone from strength to strength and is now extremely popular in many countries, particularly Scandinavia, where as many as 200 Norwegian Forest Cats can be seen at a cat show, often making it the largest single breed represented.

A great cause and coin. Have put in an order for one of the gold, and one silver. My Dad had Parkinsons and I plan on keeping the gold one and releasing the silver coin to travel in his memory. Ali

The Oseberg ship is a well-preserved Viking ship discovered in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold county, Norway. The burial mound contained numerous grave goods and two female human skeletons. The internment of the ship into the burial mound is from 834 but parts of the ship date from around AD 800 but the ship itself is thought to be older. It was excavated by Swedish archaeologist Gabriel Gustafson, and Norwegian archaeologist Haakon Shetelig in 1904-1905. This ship is widely celebrated and has been called one of the finest finds to have survived the Viking Age. The ship and some of its contents are displayed at the Viking Ship Museum, Bygdøy, Oslo.

DITTO!!

Selma is the name of a lake serpent in Norway. Other names used are the Seljord Orm and Seljora. The sightings came from the lake (Seljordsvatnet) near the town of Seljord, Telemark. The first sighting was in 1750 by Gunleik Andersson Verpe. He was on a boat in the middle of the lake, where he claimed a serpent attacked and overturned the boat. Many locals have claimed to see Selma and she is now on the coat of arms of the town (since 1986). Descriptions vary, but she seems to be about 5-15 meters long with a head shaped a bit like a horse or elk. The colouration is dark, sometimes with light undersides. Small flippers or feet are often described. Usually the serpent is seen swimming under the surface or moving about on land near the lake. Various attempts have been made by scientists to find Selma. The main attempts have been by Jan Sundberg and his team (GUST). They have sonar readings of what might be Selma, but have so far failed to catch a serpent or get clear pictures.

A Gift From Norway.....The Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree The huge tree has been an annual gift from Norway since 1947 in gratitude for Britain's support in World War II. The tree itself, a Norwegian spruce (Picea abies), is chosen with great care. Selected from the forests surrounding Oslo, it is normally earmarked for its pride of place in London’s Trafalgar Square several months, even years, in advance. The Norwegian foresters who look after it describe it fondly as 'the queen of the forest'. The tree is cut down one day in November during a ceremony in which the Lord Mayor of Westminster, the British ambassador to Norway and the Mayor of Oslo take active part. Most years, the first snow will have just fallen to brighten the otherwise dark forest. Local and international schoolchildren sing Christmas carols and the city authorities serve 'forest coffee' and sandwiches. In addition to Oslo's tree to London, the city of Bergen gives a tree to Newcastle, and Sunderland receives one from Stavanger.

What a great idea!! I would love to be the FTR this cache/TB because I've never heard of a this type of cache/TB before and this sounds like so much fun!! Our address is in the database/address book.

How cute is that.........just lovely!!!

Ordered a couple of these a few weeks ago. Wonderful choice in featuring "Fountains Abbey" on the coin, it's one of our favourite places to visit whenever we are down that way. Can't make it to the Mega Event unfortunately.....would have loved to have been able to get one of the "attendee only" coins too.

We couldn't manage to bid any higher than we did for one of the coins in the auction... so we've donated the amount that we planned to bid directly to Moira's just giving page instead. Like so many others we have both lost friends and family members to cancer (my Dad, Andy's Dad and many more). The Macmillan Nurses do a truly wonderful job and are a marvellous support to families in their time of need, it's such worthy cause. Well done to Tennessee Jed and HGF!!!!

What a wonderful surprise this was this morning!! Thanks SO much for the cointest. I'm over the moon to have won one of your lovely moose coins. Congrats to all the other winners too.... thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the pics. I wish we had moose in Scotland they look like great characters LOL....very nosey by the look of some of the photos!!

When we were caching down in the Yorkshire Dales in 2006.... between the the downpours, this beautiful rainbow appeared and seemed to last for ages.

I felt so bad as I was taking this........it must have been near their feeding time and they all came rushing towards me. Then they just stood staring and looked so disappointed....especially the lambs. Thought I'd stick this one up because they do have tiny hooves and this breed have horns lol.....they're hardly as interesting as a moose or any of the other critters on here though!!

That was a nice little coin to be getting.....it looks so cute!!

Well, I was totally stunned by what arrived in our post today. Our purple Earth Turtle from Ebay arrived (beautiful!)... along with Walpurgis Event 2008 coins (a silver and a copper) and also a Walpurgis Event 2006 coin (love those little witches) that the other half had bought for me as a complete surprise!! These were all coins that were on my dream list, so you wouldn't think that anything could top that......but something very special indeed did. There was another envelope addressed to both me and Andy. I thought to myself that it must be something from the "Lhasa Apso Club of Scotland" LOL because that's usually how they're addressed....but when I opened it I was truly stunned......a beautiful black and gold (#023) Highland Geofairy coin...and from The Highland Geofairy herself!!!!! It's honestly taken hours to sink in, I never dreamt that I (or that should be we!!) would ever own one of these beautiful coins and the thought that the lovely HGF chose to send us one herself means so much to both of us and makes it doubley special. It's just the loveliest feeling ever and I know that this sounds soppy but I've honestly shed quite a few tears today since opening that little packet.....very happy ones though. Thank you so much once again HGF for sprinkling your fairy dust down our way, we really are over the moon and will treasure this little coin always. Thanks too for the little task that you asked if we would help you with....we will be absolutely delighted to help, and feel really honoured at getting asked. I collect fairies and witches....so it's been quite a day for me because I had neither in coin form before. I certainly DO believe...always have and always will!!. Ali

I'm just going along the lines of looking at what their place (town, state or region) is famous for now and also about the history of the area....and then trying to find things that have a link with any of the those subjects...however vague a link that may be LOL! I also thought about trying to find a link between where we are and where mine is going........but that wasn't working for me (they are both so different). I've got a horrible feeling that they might get their package and wonder what on earth I was thinking about lol.....all in the name good fun though. Ali

Those are absolutely gorgeous. I would love to see one. These are beautiful.......a colourful armadillo coin designed with these in mind would be a great idea!!

Still busy researching mine ........but I ended up dreaming about my person's "place" last night LOL!! This is the first mission I've done and I want to try my best to get it right......it really is a lot of fun though and I'm thoroughly enjoying this. Ali

Email sent May 23rd Name received June 1st Mission sent - Mission received - If it helps, whoever ends up with mine could also search "Stirling" as well as "Clackmannanshire" or "Alloa" (as both are so small lol).........Stirling is just a few miles away.

It certainly is..............

Congrats on your angels grodan Karin and Dorsetgal (really sad news about Caesar though ).

Another of a red deer stag.......taken in Glen Etive again, last year.