Inside Sómastaðir

Waterfall Valley

...driving from Seyðisfjörður east toward Egilsstaðir. The climb up out of the deep fjörd valley is amazing, with a winding road that skirts a series of beautiful cascades. The midday fog wisping on the tarmac made the scene ethereal.

Blue Church

This church in Seyðisfjörður is actually called the Blue Church, or Bláa kirkja. Like a lot of the buildings here it's turn-of-the century, when fishing money poured into the eastern fjords, turning villages into important towns. Seyðisfjörður, nestled as it is between protective mountains on either side, is especially charming, and even the fog that creeps in in broad daylight adds a lovely mystique. The ferry Norræna docks here every week in the summer months, taking passengers to and from the Faroe and Shetland Islands and Norway. Unfortunately, last week a man was busted for trying to smuggle some poundage of meth into the country in his car, an all too common occurance on the ferry, but that ugliness simply cannot tarnish the beauty of this sweet spot.

Reunion

This is only a smattering of the 160 or so folk who traveled to Seyðisfjörður for the reunion we attended, a gathering of Thorgeir's people on his Grandmother's side. We met on a hillside plateau on the north side of the fjord where his great-grandmother's house once stood and had a picnic in the summer sun. This photo looks east out of the long fjord and to the Atlantic, next stop Norway.

Námafjall

We just got back a week or so ago from our great trip around Iceland. We set off to the North, which is actually called going West, then phased to the East, reaching the Northern city of Akureyri where we spent the night in a very nice hostel.

The following day we picked up Valentina, who was bussed into town around noon from her summer camp at Ástjörn and hit the road on the way to a family reunion on the east coast. On our way we stopped at the Námafjall fumarole/sulpher zone (video), where the earth's bowels ooze and steam to surface in bubbling pits of brimstone. The tourists thought we were nuts for bringing the baby out of the car, exposing him as we were to wind and stench and mudpits, but he's an Icelander and this land, sulpher zones included, is his to learn to love.

Flower Day

Skólavörðurstígur in Reykjavík

The Saturday before last was Flower Day in Reykjavik. I went for a stroll with Óðinn in his belly pack and noticed that just about every woman I passed on Skólavörðurstígur (the street leading up to the big church) held a rose in her hand. Valentína, who was holding a tombóla with Marsibil at the top of Skólavörðurstígur told me when I went to visit their enterprise (they made over $25 each that day!) that someone was handing out flowers to women downtown, though she didn't know who. I didn't make it far enough on my walk to find out, but I did see this charming group of people with their watering cans. It must have been an acting troupe....they were very cute and kind of pranced about watering things like parking meters and garbage cans. We definitely more of this type of urban attraction here in our little city!

Achievement

Achievement, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

This often overlooked bust of (aaack...I don't know her name!) on the campus of the University of Iceland is symbolic of womanly achievement in the realm of the scholastic arts. And speaking of achievement, I somehow managed to pass all my classes and will be presented with my teaching credential later this month. My daughter said, "Of course you passed everything, Mamma," and my mother asked, rhetorically, if I'd ever failed anything in my life, but honstly I was seriously doubting that I'd make it through the last month of essay writing and exams. I joke that I had to learn to type with one finger and a sleeping baby in the crook of my arm, but that's less of a joke than it sounds! I honestly have to thank my beautiful, patient Valentina for keeping me encouraged through the final haul. And of course little Óðinn for being such a sweet sweet baby. I should also mention my core instructor, Hafdís Ingvarsdóttir for totally believing in my potential as an English teacher. What a powerhouse that woman is!

Life here is good and sometimes sunny and everyone is buying new barbeques and people with summer houses are splurging on hot tubs and the young and free are getting out their shorts and sunglasses and drinking chilled summer beers. Political life is beyond my comprehension, with ministers switching seats in some bizzare grownup version of musical chairs, but no one seems to care. The krona is not so very strong these days and gas is over $6 a gallon, but that isn't stopping anyone from spending like money grows on trees. That's the start of summer for you...full of hope and life and endless days that anyone in a northern clime would be foolish to not take advantage of. Skál fyrir því!