A Glacier in the Fog

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER: Vincent Briglia

Vincent writes:

This picture was taken at Sólheimajökull when a few friends came over to Iceland to celebrate a stag party. I organized a trip for them and took them sightseeing on a Sunday. 'Eerie Sólheimajökull' is what I call this picture. Everyone was quiet; there was a solid sense of awe from the guys who had never seen it and they thanked me for taking them there, since this isn't exactly a tourist-trap.

Smoke

Like I mentioned yesterday on the Facebook page I've decided to dig a little bit into the story of tobacco in Iceland, specifically because this photo is of the display window of our local smoke shop, Tóbaksverslunin Björk on Bankastræti. I'm going to guess that all of you who've visited Reykjavik have passed by this store, which is just a few houses up the street from the restaurant I wrote about in November. It's been there for as long as I can remember, with the same friendly and slightly eccentric man behind the counter, Sölvi Óskarsson.

A Bright and Happy New Year to Us All

It's that time of year again to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

It's been a busy and super enjoyable holiday season, ending with tonight's rack of lamb dinner at my parent's house just a few blocks away from where we live. While my daughter Valentina and I were poking around on our iPhones (don't judge, please!) Óðinn, my 7 year old son, called his best friend Þórir, who lives just a few houses away, and invited him over to eat with us without asking his grandmother first.

Adventures in Taking the Bus Just for Fun

It's been a super busy week for me here on the Lava Rock, pretty much all good stuff. For starters, I was on BBC World Service again last Tuesday. I was sitting in my kitchen nursing a rare cold brought home by my son from school and feeling a bit blue the way colds make you do, when an unlisted number called. I don't know who I thought it would be, but definitely not a producer from an international radio program! She introduced herself and asked if I'd be willing to go live on World Have Your Say in two hours' time, and I said yes.

Vibe

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER: Keira Brown

I met Keira on the last night of Airwaves and we pretty much bonded right away. Music does that, it brings people together. She showed me this soulful photo and we agreed that it was a beauty. I asked her to write about the story behind the shot, and here's what she had to say:

88 ~ a love letter to an island

This is my book ~.~ It's a love letter to my favorite island home, written over the course of 88 days in Reykjavik, Iceland, during one glorious and apocalyptic autumn season.

I've known for years that I would write it in 2012, starting on my birthday, but I didn't really understand how much it would mean to me. I'd like to share it with you all, and give you the chance to purchase your own copy via the Blurb Online Bookstore.

Since I was 17 I've known that I have the same birthday as F. Scott Fitzgerald, and that we're both born in the Year of the Monkey, he in 1896, me in 1968. I knew that he died far too young of alcoholism, at age 44, after having, in large part, destroyed his family (the amazing Zelda and their daughter Scotty) and so decided that I'd try starting up where he left off and begin to write with dedication at that same age.

A few years ago I discovered something that frankly boggled me: F. Scott passed away on December 21st, 1940, at 44 years and 88 days old. It just so happened that I would turn 44 years and 88 days old on December 21st, 2012, the famous end day of the Mayan calendar. So a decision was made. I'd start writing on our birthday. And because he drank himself to death, I'd even try living a bit of his lifestyle while writing. So I had a plan from the start. But what I didn't account for were all the things that happened during those days, and how they were to influence how the story unfolded: life, death, sex... and love.

Buy yourself a copy and take the journey I took, experiencing the autumn season of a white girl living on a volcano who knew she was supposed to die.

(88 is free now as an ebook through Blurb, though not yet on iTunes.)