Sjómenn

One more photo from Arnarstapi, on the Snæfell Peninsula, and this one in honor of our seafaring men and women of the last millennia-plus on National Seafarer's Day, or Sjómannadagur. Iceland Eyes offers great thanks for their courage and sacrifice throughout this country's history. (And not least to my father, Þórir Pálsson Roff {Thor Roff in the States} who served a four year tour of duty in the U.S. Navy on the USS Great Sitkin 1960-64, with some excellent stories to share for it : )

Thinking of sailing to/around Iceland? Every summer we get scores of intrepid sailors visiting our harbours in their fancy yachts and sloops. If so, visit the Icelandic Maritime Administration site for info. And be sure to be here in time for the Sail Húsavík Nordic Coastal Cultural Festival 2011. They've got some very lovely boats set to attend.)

A good reason to get a Mac

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Stapafell

This chalet near the seaside town of Hellnar just below Snæfellsjökull nicely mirrors the near-perfect natural pyramid of Stapafell Mountain, which in my eyes is an often-overlooked magical companion to the gorgeous glacier above it. Bárður, the guardian half-ogre/half human of the region, calls this special place his home.

Wondering how one recognizes an ogre? Here's a read about our Bárður in English by Ármann Jakobsson, a renowned local writer and professor of Icelandic (and the brother of our outgoing Minister of Education, Science and Culture, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, who is off on maternity leave.)

Note: the chalet has a yin yang symbol over it's door, but I have no idea who owns it....very curious.

Snæfellsjökull

Even with a little digital compact, the Snæfellsjökull glacier* and it's volcanic mountain are easy to glorify. Blessed in many minds as a source of energetic and spiritual power, as well as being the start point for a journey to the center of the earth according to Jules Verne's fiction, this mountain is very special indeed.

*This link takes you to a very nice, informative PDF of the Snæfellsjökull National Park

World's Greatest Dad

This movie came out in Aug'09. I had it in my ext hard drive for so long but only watched it today. Great movie and nice soundtracks.

Farm

Very happy children frolic on slick hay bales at a farm in Mosfellsdalur, a verdant valley that connects Mosfellsbær, just outside of Reykjavik, with the ever-popular Þingvellir,* where the Eurasian and North American continental plates endlessly diverge.

For the more literary-minded, Mosfellsdalur is the seat of Halldór Laxness territory and one of the original settlement sites in Iceland from as early as 874, as cited by the Landnámabók, or The Book of Settlement. For the archaeologists among us, here's a nice paper from UCLA on Viking-age excavations in the area.

But none of those fancy things mattered today. The kids just played, fed the new-born lambs, held tiny bunnies and puppies and kittens, petted tolerant horses and a very grandmotherly hen, ate hot dogs and cookies and got as dirty-muddy as they wanted to. Despite even the rain, it was a perfect day.

*Thingvellir

Bullseye

Astrology at its best!