Recollection of Summer

In June we closed the door on our Iceland adventure and went for a home leave before going to our next post. What a change it was! From a cool weather of Iceland where we wore sweaters to the heat of Phoenix where we couldn’t shade enough clothing off.

For a month we led a quintessential American life starting with living in a trailer in the RV park and finishing with frequenting fast food places and malls. We visited our families and friends, did necessary shopping, and hoped from goofy golfing places to museums.

Looking back to Phoenix my favourite memories were swimming in the pool, it provided immediate relief from the heat, and traveling to cooler (temperature wise) places like Flagstaff. Ok, we didn’t go to Flagstaff for the sake of lower temperatures, we stopped there on our way to and back from the Grand Canyon, but the town had such a great feel about it and, more importantly, it provided an opportunity for walking, so Grand Canyon paled in comparison. There, at Grand Canyon it is, I overheard the conversation between a father and a daughter:
D: So, we saw Grand Canyon, can we go home already?
F: No, we've seen only a small part of it, there is much more to see.
D: But it is all the same.

The aforementioned Grand Canyon and the boys.

Phoenix Art Museum held some wonderful surprises, among them a statue by Anish Kapoor “Upside Down, Inside Out” and a work of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama “Fireflies on the Water”. The later consisted of a darkened room lined with mirrors on all sides and numerous purple lights hanging from the ceiling. It created a dazzling effect of direct and reflected light, feeling of floating in endless cosmos. We returned to this room several times and every time we didn’t want to get out.

"Fireflies on the Water" by Yayoi Kusama

Kapoor’s piece “Upside Down, Inside Out” was equally engaging – black highly polished curved form, in which you can see your reflection horizontally, vertically and upside down depending on what part of the piece you look at. It seemed mysterious to me and I kept circling it transfixed by its smoothness and darkness.

"Upside Down, Inside Out" by Anish Kapoor, 2003

photo by Daniel Greene

The week in Washington flew by way too fast. It was filled to the brim with reunions - some planned, some chanced; as usual it made me happy, as usual it made me long for more.

Last but not least is the sign that captured my attention. My guess is that "standee" was based on relational pairs of antonyms "employer - employee; trainer- trainee; interviewer- interviewee", but what will its mate be?

Summer Days

My boys and I do a lot of nature walks this summer. Today we found a new to us nature reserve, Ástjörn. It is a lake surrounded by lava fields and it is a home to more than 24 species of birds. Apparently this lake is the only regular nesting site of the horned grebe left in the Southwest of Iceland. The trails around it are closed for walking between the 1st of May and 15th of July so not to disturb its habitants. It was a bit disappointing not be able to come closer to the lake’s shore, but the guard in a little hut reprimanded us to strictly follow the path, so we did as we were told. We found interesting lava formations there, a forest of unusually small birch trees, miniature stone bridges, young pine trees and a sea of red clover. (Some photos are here) Clover caused quite an excitement because I taught the boys how to suck nectar out of flowers.
This summer is quite unusual. Most of the time summer is such a busy time – we are either moving to a new place or receiving visitors, or just working; there are camps and play dates, and other scheduled activities. But this summer is so not rushed. It reminds me of carefree summers of my childhood. Of course, there are errands and morning studies with the kids and I have to start thinking about upcoming review but in general there is a wonderful slowness in it, which let me just sit back and let the day take its own course.

You Know It Is Summer in Iceland

• When lava fields blossom with colours;

• New ducklings appear in the stream;

• The kids have time to fool around with their food during breakfast:

Look at those bread and blueberries creatures

• One can read sitting on a cliff ;
  

... still in a jacket though