Rock

Rock, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

This building and its companions, nestled into the foot of a cliff on the south coast of Iceland between Seljalandsfoss and Skógarfoss, are probably my all time favorite structures on our island. I assume they were used as livestock shelters, built as they are as extensions of the gnarled but somehow soothing rock that towers above them.

It reminds me of the home of a girlfriend of mine in Cupertino when I was ten or eleven. We lived in an Eichler home exactly like the one in this picture , and she lived in one as well, but with a different floor plan. All Eichler designs have the common conceit of allowing the outdoors into the home by use of walls of glass, plant-filled atriums, skylights and high open-beam construction. This is fairly common in modern homes today, but in the 1950's this was all extremely cutting edge. What I found so appealing about my girlfriend's home was that there was a huge tree growing up through the enclosed courtyard in the center of her home. We had pretty shrubs and plants in ours, but she had a whole tree!

I think I would like to wake up in the morning and be able to reach out and run my fingers along a wall of stone that was once a lava flow, now frozen in time, softened into smooth curves and ripples by the elements. I would feel protected by the immensity of the cliff above me, like a baby penguin secure at daddy's feet. It would be wonderful knowing I was sharing the rock with ravens and eagles and mosses and ferns, and that I was integrated into the natural landscape while still experiencing human architectural ingenuity. The best of both worlds.

Some day I will live so close to the ocean that the sounds of the waves will lull me to sleep, and a tree will grow through the center of our home, and ancient rock will comprise a wall, or a floor. Glass will flow the sun and the stars into our home and every day will be a symphony of the elements enveloping our lives.

Ad

blue lagoon, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

I got a call from an acquaintance in March asking if I'd mind acting in a commercial for the Keflavík Airport. The casting call was for an American speaking woman, and I happened to be the first person that came to mind. I tried to help look around for someone else, but ultimately the director chose me.

So one evening in late March we filmed the ad and did a photo shoot at the Blue Lagoon. They dolled me up, almost ridiculously so for a person taking a dip in a glorified hot tub, and for three hours or so I spoke my lines with American verve and smiled with my eyes in best Tyra Banks fashion. (This shot was taken towards the end when I was almost smiled out.) I'm not quite sure what the director was thinking, having me all prettied up, especially as my character (Anna Wright :) was supposed to be on a quick layover on the way to Europe (do we US born and bred wear this much makeup for red-eye flights over the Atlantic? Umm, no.) There are four other ads in the series with other international characters, and I think the whole thing is supposed to be a bit tongue in cheek.

I had a blast, regardless, of course got nicely compensated, and now have the honor of having my photo (looking kind of like I'm wearing an evening gown and have been photoshopped into the Blue Lagoon:p ) and commercial spread throughout our international airport, as well as in magazines like Altantica and Iceland Review. The best part is how the gig came about: via one more sweet connection in our pretty little city.

Contact

Contact, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

The beauty of living in a small city is that no matter the distance between people, the web of connectivity keeps us always together.

Not to say that separations can't occur. I've lost folk for years who live just down the street, a seemingly impossible feat considering the compactness of our Reykjavik. But just as easily I've found myself running into the right person at just the right time, over and again. It all seems to be a matter of synchronicity, and sometimes even as though we each occupy our own separate dimension, which merge when the city seems to want them to. Until those moments, we can make due with the knowledge that we are all connected, linked and twined, by the intricate web of contact that binds us.

Eye

Eye, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

In a world of illusion, we see what we want to see, yes?

(Flowerwatch Journal, this one is for you ~.~ )

Balloons

, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

A balloon tower rose over Austurvellir on Saturday, part of the Jónsvaka Midsummer Fesitval. For me, the fascination lay not just in how the breeze played with the ephemeral structure, but in how seemingly minute additions, in this case one small balloon at a time, over time, created it. It is the tiny moments, possibly considered inconsequential in themselves, that add depth to our histories by bridging the spaces between the more dramatic and defining events of our lives.

Pink

Pink, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

With all the words floating about in the ether, both spoken and written, words that inform, report, damage, debate, judge, describe, as well as those that thankfully admire, respect and heal, I think there is simply nothing much more to communicate than what this bloom signifies. In the words of Tolle, "Flowers, more fleeting, more ethereal, and more delicate than the plants out of which they emerge...[are like] messengers from another realm, like a bridge between the world of physical forms and the formless." Beyond language, beyond society and petty things, beyond the human capacity to recreate, a simple bloom says it all.

Sheep

Sheep, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

As two major planets of great mass and affect move into the sign of the Ram for the first time in decades, it seems appropriate to display a very content ewe and her lamb, who posed for us at a farm just north of Reykjavik. This proud mother and her offspring are the latest in a long line of Icelandic ovis aries, whose history as a breed apart has mirrored that of people on this island and has, in all actuality, been the main reason for any human success this past millennia.

For more on the beast, read this Wikipedia article, and for anyone interested (visiting families with children, for example) a trip to this farm in Mosfellsdalur can be arranged with a simple phone call to Nína at 820-1829.

Stream

Stream, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

The kiddies tried to dam the stream with rocks and twigs and leaves but, as always, the cool water found a path of lesser resistance and flowed on...

Bliss

Bliss, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Today is a perfect day to follow our bliss, and to begin in the middle, where we stand, centering ourselves for the start of a new era. We turn our faces to the sun and, like children, bask in the beautiful and glistening now.

Flip

Flip, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Sunday and Monday were perfect beach days here in Reykjavik, reminding me of childhood trips out to Asilomar and Lovers Point, the sands of Carmel and, in later years, Santa Cruz. In Northern California the ocean is cold, and spring/early summer excursions to the seaside demand just-in-case parkas and blankets and even cozy socks to cover up with when the winds pick up or the clouds shift over the sun. The same goes here, athough I'm not sure the water is quite as cold out there, Alaska current or no, as it is here: 8°C along the coastline.

Kids, though, run hot in general, and seem to hardly mind the chill waters. Adults who practice cold-water swimming here make the front page of papers for braving ten-minute health dips, while teens like my daughter Valentina, shown here, are doing back flips off a small cliff into the sea just for fun.

How easy it is to forget the simple joys of nature! Of riding a bike along an ocean path, of leaping off anything, into the sky, just for a thrill, of laughing joyfully while bundled against cold winds with friends, and of sitting on a quite rock near midnight, just miles below the arctic circle, and watching the golden sun set into a placid northern sea.

Award

Tripbase, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Thank you, Tripbase : )

Self Portrait

Self Portrait, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Some praise for Iceland Eyes:

"I just wanted to say that I think your blog is great. You have a fantastic photographic eye. I believe, having never actually been to Iceland, that the imagery you’ve posted shows what I think is the real Iceland – fantastic composition that shows the balance between the natural beauty of the country and the life and verve of the people." GK, Canada

"Came upon your blog today and I'm very appreciative of your photos. I have never been to Iceland but have read many of the Icelandic Sagas and Norse mythologies, so I thank you for keeping my interest as one day I hope to visit." MF, Switzerland

"i've just seen your blog beacause i was looking about informations on your country, and your photos are really beautifull, i like so much the photo BALANCE." YD, France

"Iceland Eyes is a wonderful blend of spontaneity and sophistication. Thanks for sharing your photographs of Iceland's beauty. It is my favorite of all the nations I have visited." RJ, USA

"I was looking through the net and found a few photographs but nothing compared to the ones you post
on your blog." KL, Canada

Gracious thanks to everyone who has emailed me kind words and/or commented on Iceland Eyes. You make this little hobby of mine worth the love and effort : )

(this self portrait in a tiny bubble was taken out at the beach on Seltjarnarnes.)

p.s. I've gone off facebook for anyone who reads Iceland Eyes and was a friend on that network. I'm still here, though, and often post additional photos on flickr, which can be accessed by double clicking on any of the pictures on this site ~.~ )

Happiness

Happiness, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

The secret to happiness, I think, is not more complex than enjoying an amazing playdate with a beautiful friend.

Night

Night, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Warm, dark nights are uncommon here so far north.

Tonight a rare aspect shows, though: a tree that has just burst forth its new green leaves (the first on the block to do so) is lit by a streetlamp on a calm, balmy May midnight, with a purply-blue sky as backdrop. Soon the days will lengthen into forever and the stars and moon will disappear as the sun takes over for a season and we'll almost forget what they look like, their charm and twinkle.

They never leave us, though, which is a good thing to know.

Summerday

Summerday, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Yesterday was our first day of Summer, and though chilly, we were gifted sunshine by the gods. No ashfall, no doom-laden black smoke skies, no new eruption. We've settled into our volcanism, and our latest foray into the world stage, with the calmness and wry humor of a people who count these disasters like clockwork. Like other fault-line cultures, ash and lava are part of who we are.

Meanwhile, our children still play.

Presence

Presence, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

It's rare that I post a photo taken by someone else, but this image must be shared.

Everything is changing. The heart of our island is pulsing, throbs exposed for all to see, releasing a nature we've not witnessed for aeons. And we're to let our own hearts beat in time, push past the fear, find the Love we've forgotten or neglected, welcome the spirits, and dance. This is Paradise, and a most beautiful moment to be alive.


(photo by Örvar Atli Þorgeirsson)

Remembrance

Remembrance, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

We bury a share of our national soul this week, and hope beyond hope there's an afterlife...

For more on the current state of our state, I'll let the Reykjavik Grapevine do the honors.

Climb

Climb, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

I have not been to the volcano yet, so no photos of gurgling, spewing lava lighting up the still-dark spring nights at the edge of a glacier.

Instead I'll offer up something much more mundane: a brightly-painted play feature standing lonely on the 7,300 year old Búrfellshraun lava field, east of Hafnarfjörður.

Rest

Rest, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

As predicted, the snow has all washed away in a cold rain.

This image was taken, though, a few weeks ago before that first dusting of white noted in the last post. It's a bit of mossy lava peeking out from cold-bleached straw just south of Hafnarfjörður, but for the life of me it looks like the body of a man, resting comatose or dead, or a night troll caught out in sunlight and turned to stone on the barren landscape.

Today is voting day as Alda of The Iceland Weather Report can explain most clearly, and by the end of the day we'll see if this cold rocky figure is an accurate representation of the state of the nation's soul.

Powder

Powder, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

We've gotten snow, the first for 2010 and only the second dusting of this winter season. It never lasts long here in Reykjavík, and by weeks end it will surely all be gone.

For now, the pretty powder decorates our backyard nicely, and it's only a matter of adding a snowman or two to make the scene complete.

Life

Life, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Sunrise

Sunrise, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

It's that time of year when the sun presents full over the eastern horizon by 9 am, arctic style. That's relatively early, given that only a solstice ago it was barely peeking up over the Reykjanes range by lunchtime. Now deep winter seems miles away, and it's the new light, and the songs of hopeful birds in (though) still-leafless trees, that keep our faces turned toward a summer we know will one day come again.

New Years 2010

New Years Eve, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Gleðilegt nýtt ár, allir! *:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Happy New Year to you all! *:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Dreams

Abandoned, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Out on the mossy moors of Iceland stand houses collapsing slowly into themselves, still memorials of family dreams and lost hope. Iron roofs rust to a deep red that compliments the colors of the surrounding landscape and weathered timber frames take on the same kind of rough fragility as the lava that surrounds them. They seem to belong just as they are, slipping quietly into decay, making hard to imagine them new in such lonely places, filled with children and with the warm smells of a hopeful family's home.

Night Swim

Night Swim, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Fall and winter night swimming is one of the luxuries of living in Iceland. This shot is taken at the Laugardalur pool.

Moment

Moment, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Sometimes its all the indescribable moments surrounding a photo, in all dimensions and temporal directions, that make it beautiful.

Sunday

Fire, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

I'll let Professor Batty do the honors of relating his play-by-play of Iceland Airwaves as only he could: his photos are amazing and his writing makes you feel like you've known him for years. Salutations, Professor, and glad you're enjoying your trip!

Another abandoned house burned today, the same one I posted about recently when it was officially squatted and made a Schengen-Free zone. Arson? One could speculate...

Moon

Moon, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

This full harvest moon was accompanied last night by an "unusually bright" shooting star that lit up the midnight skies over southwestern Iceland last night. Here you can see it for yourselves.

Full

Full, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Our first fall full moon glows in tonight's sky golden and low. Some things, like a moonrise, are sure in this life and that is a good thing to know.

Concert

Concert, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

gusgus played an outdoor live set for us last night and we fell in love with them all over again.

Balance

Balance, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Image by Óðinn, three years old.

Today is 20.09.2009 and I've little to say but that fall is here, and dark nights still warm enough to stroll around in without mittens or muffs or such. We walk a thin line these days between hope and dolor, and I think it's safe to say that, honestly, at this point, the waiting is the hardest part. Our collapse lingers, a slow motion graceless tumble, as infighting and fracturous party bickering keep us clinging to old structures and ideals when letting go, fully falling into true humility, admitting fault, releasing blame and dissolving useless, demeaning obligations might be the only way to save our national soul. But what do I know. I've always found politics, finance and the ways of the worldly truly confounding.

And then there's all this, the true measure of our life force: our art. Visit these links and know that our hearts are still beating and our blood runs as hot and cool as ever, and that we'll never, never give up:

Add This Song by gusgus, directed by Heimir Sverrisson and Jón Atli Helgasson

gusgus web site

Hljóðaklettar Icelandic Music Label, feat. Rúnar Magnússon, DJ Musician and Thor Magnússon

Anonymous feat. Tanya and Marlon Pollock, video by Berglind

Reykjavik Roundup

gogoyoko Fair Play in Music

E-label Designs by Ásgrímur Már Friðriksson

Thormuzik

Reykjavik International Film Festival

Nikita Design

Eve Online

Olvis

Ólafur Eliasson at TED.com

Ragnar Kjartansson at the 2009 Venice Biennial

Snorri Ásmundsson

Steinunn Designs

11th annual Iceland Airwaves music festival

Sequences Art Festival


And so many more...Do yourself a favor and check them all out *.*

Beach

Beach, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

I've dug deep into classic Iceland Eyes and pulled out this photo of a little Valentína on the black pebble beach at Djúpalónssandur, a most beautiful Icelandic landscape.

Íslendingur

Íslendingur, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Ok, people, time to vote!

Go to this link, Blog Tournaments, and check out my competition, then leave a comment on the Blog Tournaments site to cast your vote for Iceland Eyes.

Let's take this to the next level, my friends!

Squat

Squat, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Squatters recently took over an abandoned house on Skólavörðurstígur, with the (approval) of the owner, who's looking the other way, ahem. For last Saturday's Culture Night they spiffied up the yard and announced a Schengen-Free Zone with a free-stuff bazar in the house's basement. Very cool.


p.s. Iceland eyes has been invited to take part in a joust! Really just a blog tournament, but cool anyway. Go here for more info and get yourselves ready to vote!

Carrots

Carrots, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

The thing is, Icelandic carrots like these are absolutely delicious and while munching away one is hopefully not mulling over their price per pound. Local produce is, in general, super good, especially the greenhouse stuff like tomatoes, cucumber, paprika (bell peppers,) zucchini and various lettuces. I buy local, despite the cost, almost without exception.

Oh, of course, you nod understandingly, Iceland has all that geothermal power to heat greenhouses for cheap, just the reason why Alcoa and Alcan have set up aluminum smeltering shop there. And you'd be right about the smeltering part. But please know that greenhouse farmers are not subsidized in any way or offered reduced energy rates at all, though Big Aluminum is. Though I usually don't take political sides, this is a very dear issue to me. Read this article from Saving Iceland for more info. It's two years old, but totally on topic*. Here's a more recent one by a possibly even more controversial source, but it raises some interesting topics.

Here's the deal: Iceland is on the very verge of self sustainability, of creating a green eco-culture that will provide an international model of development. This book excerpt helps to define in more scientific terms our capacity to provide nutrient-rich foods for our local population. And this article from the Guardian adds a hopeful note to the argument. And here's a post of mine with links to great articles re: this issue of our future.

Out of chaos comes order, every time, without fail. It's the nature of systems at all levels, ultra-micro to macro and beyond. We have the opportunity, we have the technology, we have the attitude to make something brilliant, innovative and of lasting global impact out of the rubble of our economy. The Heart Park is a good start: a little patch of green in the heart of the city where obsolete structures once stood. A small gesture like that gives hope in an unmeasurable way. That's our future. We tried the other way and it failed us. Now its time to return to the land that made us.

We live here, we are forged and bound together by ancestors, survivors of tremors and blasts and lingering ash clouds that suffocated the less hardy, smothered the flora and culled our numbers to the quick. We were parasites then, half-dug into the raw skin of the island, barely covered by sod roofs and what we could weave off the backs of sheep. We were destroyers, desperately hacking away at the gnarled and primitive birch forests til the fragile soils ran loosely into glacial rivers, leaving nothing behind but the stripped volcanic muscle of our mother. We fought each other and killed, bore children too weak to live another day in the hostile depleted world into which they came.

Hundreds of years ago the island split and raged, taking back her own life through destruction. Dank black clouds lay thick in the skies for months, starving so much of what fed on her, breaking down the tenuous cycle of life until a numb stillness overwhelmed the last people, until the starved cattle and sheep could no longer raise their heads in protest. The oldest groves, home to Baldur and to sacred things, were finally felled, burned, lost. The island had sundered herself, had shaken and seared and smothered the desperate, uglied population that burrowed itself like lice into her fragile moss derma.

Yet some survived, and we are the children of those people. We are cousins, we are rare, and born of destruction. We are inheritors of a memory of overwhelming sorrow dusted with hope, and the progeny of the precious moments of lust between members of a dying race. We owe great debt to those who made us in the wake of devastation, and to the land that ultimately spared out lives.**

*I do not necessarily support the overall political views of the sources I link.
**excerpt, MAR 2004

Mural

Mural, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

I was tempted to post about the price of carrots but thought better about it and decided to display this artsy beauty shot instead. Who really cares out there in the world that locally grown carrots are up to 900 kr/kg ($7/kg., or ~$3.50/lb.) though organic? Not you. It may not even seem like that much when you do the currency conversion. It's more a local issue. Like the cost of milk almost doubling over the course of the summer. It's a relative thing. And we are on a remote island. And it's expensive in Hawaii as well, I've heard. And H1N1 didn't really even get a toehold here. AND we've had the Most Excellent weather EVER here this summer. So what's to worry about?

Everything's fine.

Leap

Leap, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Óðinn leaps over the stream flowing from a boiling hot spring located about fifteen minutes from the city's edge. He getting some serious air there.

Borg

Borg, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Pabbi (Dad) told me that the wife of the owner of Hotel Borg* lived in this corner tower of the gorgeous Art Deco hotel back in the days. He worked there as a bellhop when he was a young teen and says that no on ever saw the reclusive wife...she was an utter mystery. Not so mysterious were the goings on of the adult staff in linen closets and corners, so I hear. And the dances and balls and parties that were held there! I've heard stories from the the older generations that would make today's youth blush. Somehow every generation imagines it invented the concept of drinking and dancing and kissing til dawn, doesn't it?

This is post number 492, everyone. Damn! Wow! Five years of Iceland Eyes, almost to the day. I'd have given up long ago if the international support hadn't shown itself in so many ways. I'm starting to consider what I should do to celebrate half a decade of this persistent hobby, and just exactly what my five hundredth post's photo should be. Ideas, anyone?

*Borg = city. Raise your hand if you immediately thought of the hive-mind collective. Live long and prosper...

Locals

Locals, originally uploaded by Iceland Eyes.

Here we see other forms of local wildlife, Gay-daying it with style.

Bee

Bee, originally uploaded by Iceland Eyes.

True beauty is found in subtle and wondrous places if we stop long enough to allow its emergence into our reality.

Thank You to all who made this holiday weekend an Amazing Experience and Thank the Gods for our heavenly weather! And remember to thank the humble and lovely Bee on whom our lives may actually, literally, depend.

Fishing

Fishing, originally uploaded by Iceland Eyes.

This young man and his buddy were setting up to angle a few fishies when I drove by Elliðavatn last weekend. Our (spooky) good weather spell continues, with only one real day/night of rain in the past two months here in the southwest region, though last weekend a night frost ruined nearly all of potato-paradise Þykkvabær's new spuds. Bummer. Forever at the mercy of Nature, we are.

Naming

Naming, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Little Ísadóra was presented to family and friends at her naming ceremony this past Sunday. Her mother, Rósa Birgitta Ísfeld (lead singer of Sometime) and musician father Finnur Hákonarson invited Jónína, a goði from the Ásatrú religion to perform the ceremony in the Hljómskálagarður public park by the town lake.

We welcome her with love and joy into the world and thank her parents for a wonderful, memorable event!

Bum

Bum, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Yeah, ok, we've got some bums here.

This one was just sleeping it off in the summertime sunshine. We're hoping his ankles didn't burn too much...

Heart

Heart, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Where there wasn't one only months ago, a park appeared between Laugavegur and Hverfisgata, replete with a sweet heart at its center.

In this world of fleeting things it seems right to remind, in brick even, and in a very public way, of the power of that overwhelming, eternal and sometimes subtle constant we call love.

Sun

Sun, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Hello beautiful World!

We've got a heatwave going on here in Iceland, so we're all in various states of undress (!) roaming around in the sunshine like pleasure seeking zombies. Or something like that.

It is lovely here when the days glow so warm (25°C-ish today) and as usual I feel so happy for the tourists who get to see our little land all dolled up in leaf-greens and rainbow flower hues, warm in the shade and with a big kissable blue sky...

It's Magical *+*

Kraft

Kraft, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Just a half hour's drive from our front door Óðinn and I found this crazy high-pressure steam release site. We drove right up to and under these massive plumes (the photo doesn't do justice to their true size) that droned and hissed and thundered at an unbearably loud level. It was amazing and a bit scary: I had to keep pushing away images of sudden earthquakes cracking the pipes and drums causing boiling spouts of water to explode around us. Not everyone's happy with this latest geothermal energy plant (Hellisheiðarvirkjun) but I have to admit it was very impressive to see how the human mind engages a fantastic force of nature like this.

Steam

Steam, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

For now, just take in the image. More on this bizarre location later...

Classic

Árbæjarsafn III, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

This is how we spend our evenings when we dream we're living in the 19th century...

Belly

Belly, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

I don't know who these dancers are but they put on an amazing show at the Start Art Gallery on Laugavegur today just as I was strolling by.

Happy

Happy, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

Here's pretty people, joyful and shiny, celebrating June 17th in the 65th year of our Republic. The earlier day's festivities belong to families and strollers and fanciful foil balloons, but by evening downtown Reykjavik is teeming with teens and all they're made of, and all they stand for. This group represented their generation beautifully.