Dinner

When the economy's wobbly and the future of the nation uncertain, sometimes its best to just go fishing.

Campers

Oh, the green hills and valleys of summertime!

Everything is wobbly here on the lava rock. Our economy's going the way of Zimbabwe's, we're protesting on the streets like the French and our downtown is looking a too ghetto-style USA.

Maybe its time to just lease a luxury camper and get away from it all...

Stuck

Today, the second of Easter (also a national holiday), snow is dusting our chilly city. No leaves on trees, but persistent tulips are making headway through the cold earth here and there. The economy is grinding through a serious downshifting of gears and there's wonder whether we'll all adjust. And in mid-city a deflated ball never drops back down from the spindly prison it's been caught in, to some child's chagrin.

Wildlife

In the interest of keeping with March's (unintended) animal theme, Iceland Eyes presents SuperCat, protector of Rvk's Lower West Side...

LIfe is wonderful, the sun shines, and either a general sense of peace wafts through the city or some of us aren't in the mindset to process anything else. The long Easter vacation has started and teachers across Iceland must be stoked to be in the profession and get the same extended breaks their students get.

Word has it every single flight out of the country is booked to the hilt. That makes living on a chilly island in the North Atlantic a little more interesting for the next week or so: those of us not heading for Tenerife are stuck here. No exit.

Or you could choose to look at the bright side: we've got the whole place to ourselves...

P.s. a special hello goes out to Pabbi and the Shadygrove crew. Miss you!

Animal Farm

Another wonderful Sunday down at the Zoo (Húsdýragarðinn) at Laugardalur...

The days are getting longer at an amazing pace now. During the first week of March it's like an extra set of lights has been turned on in the heavens, and suddenly 7 a.m. is dawn and 8 o'clock still sees a hint of brightness on the horizon. By the equinox a few weeks from now we'll officially be out of the dark days and cruising slowly toward the eternal sunlight of summer. As I say every year, it's just as amazing each spring that summer will once again come round.

Just waiting for the tulips...

Still Life Rvk

Here's a pretty shot of Ása and Benoný's cute timber house on Skólavördurstígur, well-guarded by all manner of iconic images, as well as an iron fence.

Black Church

A classic 19th church sits in evening light on Brautarholt in Kjalarnes, a small town just to the north of Reykjavík (just to the left of the red box with Esja written in it on this map.) This church, with it's Italian marble baptismal font, is the direct successor to the first church erected in Iceland, at Esjuberg at the foot of Mount Esja just prior to 900 A.D. This building is of course only 150 years old, but Christian structures have stood on this location since the days of settlement over a thousand years ago.

Here is a fascinating document from 1873 on "Some Ruins in..Iceland" for those of you who, like me, love history.