Sabbatical over, perhaps

I thought I´d drop by and say hi and comment on the weather and the lengthening days in Iceland.

Snow showers and sun are alternating, toying with my optimism by offering the carrot of spring and then slapping me in the face with another unnecessary helping of sleet, snow or a howling gale to blow me off my not-wintery-enough shoe-clad feet. This second there is sunshine, blue skies and a dusting of snow on Esja.

Jóhann Ísberg´s photo of Esja looks similar to the view today.
Perhaps it will all change tomorrow.

I´ve been busy thinking about ceilidhs but just now we are searching for a drummer to allow us to continue getting up on stage and making a lot of noise for folk to dance to. If you play the drums and live in or near Reykjavík please get in touch.

On top of that I´ve been dreaming.. of books and book stores and sitting in continental cafés for hours alternately burrowing my head in a good novel, sipping a hot chocolate and watching the world go by. One day I will open a good book store where I would want to spend time. I will serve homemade fruit loaf and let people pick their own mint from a pot in the window to make their tea. I dream of folk gathering to knit of an evening in the cosy atmosphere or to talk about their latest books chosen from the theme of warm sunny countries in winter and long starry nights in the summer and exchanging reading rights to students for book reviews in Icelandic.

Recently, I read an interesting blog about a woman in Scotland setting up her own book shop, not far from Edinburgh (Inkspot and Silverleaf Booksellers). One of her recommended book stores is Shakespeare and Company, set on the left bank of the Seine, looking over to Notre Dame de Paris. This is a key indicator of her wonderful taste and hopefully bodes well for the future and atmosphere of her new shop. Shakespeare and Company is perhaps the best book shop in the world.

Shakespeare and Company, Paris

Meanwhile I am actually actively and busily employed on a variety of projects in geology: learning how to tame the technology of ArcGIS to make beautiful, useful and accurate hazard maps, which can be clever enough to lend a hand at analysis to give the pocket calculator and map pens a rest; collecting information for a database on all people and projects to do with marine geology around Iceland which is proving a fun way to meet new people here and is turning up a few gems of knowledge that apply to my other work and interests; modeling volcanic ash fall from the majestic volcano Hekla. Day in day out I sit at the beautiful wooden, carved desk that Sigurður Þórarinsson once sat at, studying the ash of Hekla and the great eruption of 1947 among many other things including penning a few lively folk songs and I hope some of his wisdom, breadth of knowledge and great motivation to publish will seep into my veins. I take heart from his song-writing times that mixing folk music, ceilidh dancing and geology can be good for the soul and general productivity.

First steps in North America

I am back in Iceland now. It is a true summer here with temperatures almost reaching 20 C and blue skies for the last week. I have worn my newly acquired summer dress bought to survive Montreal temperatures and I have sat by the beach and watched the warm waters from Öskjuhlíð trickle into Nauthólsvík making a small sun, sea and pale sand oasis along these normally dark, chilly northern shores.

Nauthólsvík sand castle, made September 2006.
The sand is just a touch too shelly for great architectural feats.

I have returned also with lots of thoughts and ideas stemming from my trip to North America. I had expected something rather different. I was nervous of those big cities I planned to visit. I thought I might get lost or maybe I´d feel in danger walking through streets alone. I certainly didn´t expect to feel at home.

At home in a bookshop on Commercial Drive, Vancouver

The best things .. I didn´t feel like a foreigner, particularly in Montreal; seeing chipmunks and blue jays; talking to people I´d heard about and finding that they are really decent people; feeling the sun on my skin and watching the world go by from the shade of a tree or a balcony with a book in my hand; looking an old friend in the eyes. The worst things .. wearing woollen trousers at 30 degrees C; trying to be a tourist and see the highlights of Vancouver in one day; trying to stay in touch with home with a 7 hour time difference.

Mt. Rainier snowman, mid June.

Some spell has been cast over me that has opened my eyes to what I like about different lifestyles. It is nice to have clarity and a different perspective. The life of a city, the bustle, the freedom of not needing a car and the friendliness of strangers. I don´t know if this can be achieved in Iceland. Outside a 10 minute walking zone of the centre of Reykjavík you are in the suburbs already because it is a city serving a pretty small population, and is definitely car-dominated. No corner shops, no high frequency public transport. No general openness to strangers. In general it can take time to feel the friendliness of Icelanders though it is there, just gradually revealed and true and long-lasting once found.

I am also re-inspired about work. I met some interesting people and saw some interesting sand and gravel! Avalanches deposits and mud flows. It is funny that sediment can create such enthusiasm in me but since it does I take this to assume I´m not in the wrong field of work. Nice news.

Osceola mudflow deposits.. and trees. A massive mid-Holocene lahar. Much more about the Osceola mudflow on the US Geological Survey site.

So, last week I started something new at work. I start working with others more, I start thinking about a project that is less specific than jökulhlaups / glacier floods. I start writing again.

Lab life

It's a Friday night and I am here, up there, above. I wish I could capture the buzz of the air conditoning the whirring of the instrument and the black black blackness of the view outside. Insdide it seems a grey world on the surface. Yet, I have been searching for points of colour as I wait for calibration.



I don't mind. After a while this little world becomes cosy and safe. And it's worth it .. I expect greatness from these results. Making connections where none were visible before, a great puzzle coming together. Jigsaws of lines of evidence, strands of impressions, sketches in notebooks, maps and on my brain blending and weaving into a story to tell. The life and desires of a palaenvironmental detective.

Meanwhile, microwave ready meals, pickled onion Monster Munch, pretty pink fairy cakes and Coca Cola keep me going, buzzing into the night.

Meanwhile sad news from "home" - a major fire and a burst hot water pipe both in downtown Reykjavik. Some people were badly scolded by the hot water running down Laugavegur. The fire has destroyed some of Reykjavik's oldest buildings.

Night monsters

It is dark and cold outside but in a windowless room in Edinburgh there is work to be done. The smell of petroleum ether and araldite glue mix in the air along with shortbread and tea. I work on my slides, polishing and grinding until they shine and the coloured specks of ash from the volcanoes of Iceland glow like specks of gold. The air conditioning monsters growl and I play bellydance music to chase them away. They go. Perhaps they can try a little shimmy in their corner.

There are shadows outside waiting for me to join them and walk, head held high between pools of lamp light back to the homely warmth of my rented room. Plastic bags russling in the wind wait too, drifting along the pavement. They will follow me home, try to tempt me towards one glance back. What was that shadow, that noise?

Back to work, tea and shortbread and all monsters and shadows and plastic bags can wait, their time will come before bed. They have a ten minute slot as I walk to try their best. It's not long enough to get me.