Things to Celebrate.

Today, after full year, I finally finished a bottle of cod liver oil. Icelanders believe that cod liver oil has magic qualities and can cure everything from arthritis to depression. Last September on insistent of my Icelandic teacher I bought one bottle of this elixir of life. I did try to drink it but the taste and aftertaste and the smell and the mess surrounding its intake, made it difficult. Honestly, I haven’t thrown it away only because I didn’t know how to dispose of it. What if it leaks inside the garbage bin and I will never get rid off the smell? Or what if our backyard will be invaded by army of meowing cats if I simply pour it out under a bush? The bottle stayed and reproachfully stared at me every time I opened our refrigerator. It became my mission to finish it off. And today it was accomplished. Hurray!

Other things to celebrate include arrival of the clementines in the local stores; cold, but calm weather, and abundance of ice and snow crystals in the lava fields. They are stunning, aren't they?

Simple Pleasures.

There are a lot of small lakes in a lava field nearby and now they are covered with thin crust of ice. The kids and I went for a walk there and unexpectedly found a new pastime. Throwing lava rocks at the frozen lakes, watching who can break the ice or hit the same spot twice proved to be vastly entertaining. (With utter amazement I realized that it was my first time indulging in such activity. Skipping stones – yes, of course I’ve done it, throwing them at frozen water – never before.) The rocks either skate on ice or cracked it and sat there half submerged in water, or simply plummeted through it down to the bottom. As soon as a stone hit the surface, white shapes of air bubbles and water appeared under the skin of ice and began quickly move away from the epicenter as if escaping danger. They started as perfect circles and went through a series of transformations before turning into nothing near the bank. Their floating movements kept us entranced for a good half and hour.

All About Ice

I hurried out the house in the morning to discover a street covered with ice. It is pitch black in the wee hours nowadays, so ice sparkling under the soft glow of the street lights, created a magical picture. I stepped on a pavement and immediately slipped, regaining my balance only by sheer luck. Caught between the desire to look around and the necessity to keep my eyes on the ground, I started to proceed forward with all the grace of a person wearing heals on an icy day. Of course, the fact that I am easily amused and kept giggling at myself didn’t help much. When I turned on Öldugate, which goes downhill, walking became even trickier: I might as well have taken off my boots and started to skate; it would have been faster too. I reached the end of the street,.. and forgot about all the inconveniences. Here in front of me stretched out Læekjargate decorated with Christmas lights, water of a canal glistened behind it; up the hill the windows of the houses glowed in the dark, and above all - the stars shimmered in the velvet sky.

It would have been nice to stay there a bit longer but I had a bus to catch and icy streets to conquer.