Only the heads remain.
Big guys, though!
Whoever said Iceland was never inhabited by big game!
Near Hafragilsfoss
Graveyard of the Tyrannosaurs
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Tag Archives: Iceland
Home of the Wind
The wind lives north of Dettifoss, in a landscape in perfect balance: what is neither hard nor seeking shelter is blown away, yet in these flows the wind is often denied purchase and sent on.
Walking is not the point here. Standing and staying, those are the triumphs. If you walk, you will not see.
We Are Dettifoss
Water that enters a fall zone and flows down through air to the centre of the Earth, before being stopped by stone, first attempts to find its original level by climbing back, before the Earth draws it away. Have a look.
Dettifoss
People come from around the world to experience this power. What at first appears to make one small and insignificant actually makes one large because as humans we live in what we see. We are the waterfall. Keeping a little distance is safe, though.
The Art of Cairns
When you are caught by a veið, or a plane of gaping energy, that can devour you without a trace…
… where everything (and soon you too) is thrown, or strewn, around without sense…
… it’s best to create memory, and sense, or you will be lost, literally. Cairns like the one below are the Parthenons of Iceland. Don’t touch.
And don’t make more! That would be like destroying Shakespeare.
Even if the highway-building crew starts it, please resist translating cairns, energy gathered from throws to make wide space close, into an image of yourself as witness. This isn’t magic or art. It’s architecture and language. The path to history through them should remain open. If not, why go to Iceland?
~
Images from between Hafragilsfoss and Dettifoss, as well as on Highway 85 to Vopnafjörður.
1100 Years of Sheep Roaming Free vs. Industrial Agriculture
The sheep missed a blob there on the cliff.
Sandfjall
Don’t worry. They’ll be back to finish.
The Light-Keeping Sheep of Hraunhafnartangi
Keeping us safe where no man dares live any longer.
Hraunhafnartangaviti lies 800 m. south of the Arctic Circle. Much of Siberia washes up on shore.
The Right Gifts to Leave in a Dwarf’s Church
So, you’ve made it through the fog …
… and across the bridge …
… and the other bridge …
…carefully! …
… to the Troll Church in Seyðisfjörður…
… with its skylight and its steeple …
… but what do you leave for the dwarves? You want to be a good guest, right? Well, a needle and some wool, maybe?
A flower? Heather is a good choice.
And the blue of the sky and the sea and the white of the waves.
And shiny things. 1 kronur coins with their flashing codfish are perfect. Dwarves love shiny things.
Might as well admire the view, eh.
And the human church next door. Not so well-built, of course. Not so experienced with stone work. Poor things. Great with plastic, though!
And then back. What else? Easy does it.
And to town.
And, yes, the dwarves have come along. The Icelanders will call it “nature,” because they’re polite and they know that the rest of us like that stuff. They know better. They even call it a “town”…
… when it is really, two. Such good manners! Such sneakiness!
Lunch in Iceland? It Doesn’t Have to Break the Bank
So, lunch. That would be nice. Why not the Apotek in Reykjavik?
Highly rated. A rather desolate environment, sure…
… but you came here for desolate, right? The bracing subarctic! And there is a fine menu. Why, the hamburger is only about CAD$40. Add a Gull, of course, and it’ll be around $55.
What? That was a whole day’s food budget? Not to worry. There are other options. The road to Seyðisfjörður, for example, or just off to the side, in case there’s a car. Serving travellers for 1100 years.
Neðri Uðafoss
The menu is simple.
Bilberries and Rainwater
Add a Skyr for CAD$2.00…
15 grams of protein!It even comes with a clever little Chinese folding spoon, which you can keep as a souvenir! And you can wander while you eat.
Efri Selfoss
Bring a coat, though. It’s Iceland! Oh, and dessert is the same as lunch.
But that’s OK, right?
The Best Way to Approach the Sea
Sideways, so sly?
Or head on, so bold?
With a house for company?
With a fence for (ha ha) protection?
Or with a sandbar to still that water down until it turns to swans?
In snow?
In the midnight sun?
From halfway down a ridiculous cliff called, for some reason, a road?
From the land of the dead at the bottom of the cliff?
Among muck-raking sheep?
From the city?
From a place on no map?
From a boat?
From a coal mine?
With a lighthouse?
Through a gate while tipping over in the wind (a common affliction)?
On a lazy evening when horses come to visit and refuse to eat your apples because they’ve never encountered such a strange thing before?
At the end of the road?
Without a road at all?
When the sea turns to silver?
When silver turns to the sea?
When the sky rains gold?
Over the mouth of a river?
Or when the sea flows into a river’s mouth and speaks of deep mystery?
These are the mysteries of people who live after the landing that makes firm ground out of waves that, wouldn’t you know, is not so firm after all. Yeah, best, maybe to just wade out with the trolls.
Waiting for whatever comes!
Having Fun keeping Warm with the Fairies in the Icelandic (Oh Not Really) Cold
Six years back, these ads for warm weather clothing were all the rage.
A melancholy bunch, but they appealed to visitors of European heritage.
Who just want to go where it is cold and to be warm there, or at least are willing to let their bodies remember all that.
Of course, the ads were made in New York.
But their appeal was solid.
Today, the ads are still about superhuman melancholy, about prowess in conditions that would slay most others, but with adventure. No longer is being bodily present in Iceland enough. You have to be an airplane.
And of course, at the same time still be a vulnerable waif, even with a bit of fear and disdain.
Ah, Iceland, still playing with fairy lore after all these years.
Imagine if the Icelanders just got up one day and redefined the human myth instead! I’m waiting for that day.
Perhaps new glasses first?
A Farm in Iceland 