Spring?

Wrapped in a tender green fog of first leaves two rows of poplar trees stood along the side of the road. The leaves fluttered in the wind, sparkling under the sun light. I reached to touch their tender surface anticipating its smoothness and.. woke up.

It will be at least one more month untill green leaves appear on the trees here but there are some signs of spring - the sun rises just before seven and goes down a little bit after eight giving us thirteen hours of daylight; little fuzzy buds of pussy willow appeared all over the place, and to my utter amazement, cow berries are red again.

In the Library

Saturday is a busy day in a local library – a whole slew of families with kids are there, and there are lines at every checking out counter. My younger son tries to scan the books he intends to take out. One of them doesn’t go through the machine. A man with a couple of small kids behind us instructs him in a slightly impatient tone, “Put the book different side up, higher, lower...” I turn and thank him for being helpful. He stares at me for a moment and says, “Well, that’s how it is in Iceland – we are not polite, but we are helpful.”