Snowtime

No, this is not Iceland. This is a shot of my sister Addy and her husband Dan's "cabin" in the California Sierrras (just west of Bear Valley ski resort, about a three hour drive from San Francisco. There is more snow on the bumper of the SUV in the photo than we've had all winter long here in Reykjavik. As my Dad says, this could be a good time for Icelanders to start investing in palm trees...

Speaking of my Father, Thor Roff, who took this great shot, its his Birthday Today! March 15th! Yaayyy!

Til Hamingju Með Afmæli, Pabbi!

Family Stroll

Taking a shortcut across the frozen Reykjavik town lake with the City Hall and downtown area in the background...

(It's been cold here lately and is, as a matter of fact, snowing as I type. We might need to be prepared for a drawn-out winter after all.)

Lovers

A sweet and private moment captured on digital...

The boyfriend in this tourist couple had to seriously encourage, and then coerce, his girl to step out onto the ice. She was not going to do it. I was with her all the way: not having experienced a lot of pond walking growing up in California, I was trepidatious to say the least the first time someone tried to get me out onto the Reykjavik town lake as an adult. Even after being told the lake is only about shin deep, I was wary...it's just not a natural thing for a valley/beach girl to do! Once on the ice and firmly attached to her gentleman's arm, though, this young woman seemed to enjoy the adventure.

Thingvellir

In honor of the small but jolting 4.6 earthquake that struck the Reykjanes Peninsula yesterday, I give you a photo of the Mid-Atlantic Rift as seen from national park Thingvellir. The gorge seen the picture is actually the separator between the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate, meaning that the people seen on the right hand side of the photo are standing on North America...just kidding. Some people, though, see this ever-growing rift as symbolic of Iceland's divided loyalties: are we Europeans or simply another capitalized US holding? Both, I'd say. But playing two side to gain the middle is always a risky venture. Ask anyone who lives in an earthquake zone...

Oh, and here is a simple, concise report on the Rift for the geology buffs among us.

(Photo courtesy of the Linköping University )website.

Prime Real Estate

I'm investing in real estate: a sweet home with a wonderful ocean view.

Thankfully, it's not this tin shack on Ægisíða in West Side Reykjavik (the road running along the sea on this map). Instead, it's the great 3rd & 4th floor apartment I've lived in for the past 6 1/2 years (minus year or so) on Baldursgata, in central Rvk. Lucky us, my parents, who own the pad, are giving us a great deal (with the understanding that that takes care of any inheritance I might have coming!!!). And even more lucky, our friend Jónas bought my apt off me, the one that's on the first floor of the same building. One big happy family!

In other news, I've been invited to represent Reykjavik on European City Blog, a cool glimpse into life in a number of major Euro locations. Be sure to click by for a visit...

Bolludagur

Today is Bolludagur, or Bun Day, and as you can see a certain 8 year-old I know got her mitts on a hefty cream and chocolate number! This odd semi-holiday revolves in whole around eating puff pastries...not too bad a concept, eh? You can read more about it on the The Icelandic Canadian Homepage, a charming resouce for North Americans of Icelandic origin, nicknamed Vesturíslendingar or Western Icelanders.

Tomorrow, then, is Sprengidagur, or Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday (sprengi=bursting, dagur=day) when we are to overindulge in salted lamb meat and split pea soup. And the day after is once again Ash Wednesday, or Öskudagur, which you can read more about in this post from last year.

In less pleasant news, this year's false spring has caused not only a serious shortage of snow, but glacial melting as well. On Saturday a trio of off-roaders decided to drive Hofsjökull, which only a week before had been, according to this photo travelogue, decently safe to travel over. Unfortunately, Icelandic Nature, ever fickle, swallowed one of the jeeps into a snow-covered crevace. Hundreds of mountain rescuers with helicopters, 4x4's and snowmobiles set out on Saturday to save the two men trapped 20 meters deep in the massive crack in the ice. Only the driver lived.

I always wonder at the stupid risks humans (read "men" - excuse the honesty) take for adrenalin rushes. Was a 4-wheel spree over an always-precarious glacier worth the loss of a 21 year-old's life? This wasn't an instance of new discovery or scientific exploration. This was just for fun. I suppose you can submit to the Reaper playing tennis if your time is really up, but something about giving up the ghost while taking heavy, pollutive machinery for a day tour over one of the most unreliable types of terrain in the world seems ridiculous. Call me crazy...

Weathered

I've been taking a lot of pictures of houses and buildings these days. I think I've been a little too busy to explore smaller details, rushing as I do from location to location (the university, my practice teaching school, Valentina's gymnastics gym, the grocery store, etc etc) in the station wagon. I end up seeing big, obvious things like buidings on my travels and squeeze in the time to snap off a couple of pix before heading out again.

I have a special affinity for houses or buildings that have survived demolition during modern development sprees. I like the way they often sit at angles to new roads, giving reference to some much older concept of correct lot placement. As I've written before, Iceland doesn't have very many very old buildings, but the winds, rain and snow (I've heard rumors that it used to snow here!) make sure even century-old structures look ancient.

This old timber number with its ready-looking rowboat sits on a rise right next to the parking lot of the elementary school I'm practice teaching at up in Breiðholt. I have no idea how old it really is...like I said, it could be only a couple of decades old but with an extremely tired paint job. I think its the boat that I really like, sitting so far as it does from the sea. When I first saw it I had an image of a far away time when the coastline lay just before it, with an intrepid hearty fisherman putting it out each dawn to wrastle the day's catch. But that's not possible, even with receeding sea levels: this house and boat are far up on a hill miles from the ocean. Were they part of a movie set, perhaps? Who knows. I just like the fact that its a variation on the common modern architecture that stubble Reykjavik's suburbs in blandness.