“The love of freedom and independence has always been characteristic of the Icelandic People.” Independent People, by Halldor Laxness, Nobel Prize in Literature.
[caption id="attachment_3903" align="aligncenter" width="750"] Independent People: Iceland, Fire and (pr)ice Read Post »
After visiting the geothermal glasshouses in Flúðir, Iceland, and hearing about rising electricity costs despite all the waterfalls and geothermal hotspots in the …
Iceland's geothermal standard Read Post »
Many are familiar with paintings and sketches of men in open boats on high waves hurling harpoons at giant whales. From the Japanese to the Basques, the British in the South Seas, the Norwegians, the Yankees, the Greenlanders – the list is long, we …
Whaling, ancient and modern Read Post »
Alex Proimos Flickr[/caption]
The medical face of Fra…
The small Leper colony in the woods down the hill with its Saint Thomas Chapel dates back to the 12th Century. We have been coming here on our walks for the last 15 years. It is surrounded by a high flint wall now taken over by the rampant vegetation.
Leprosy and La Chapelle Saint Thomas Read Post »
We were sitting on the steps of an orthodox church, its gold-tipped dome shimmering like a glorious crown in the sun. It stood on a bluff above the sandy clamming beaches, overlooking Cook Inlet and from our vantage point we could see in the distanc…
An Orthodox Tlingit in Alaska Read Post »
On the barbed wire fence by the farm up the road we counted 120 moles strung up in the sun like socks hung out to dry. A gruesome encounter. The local mole catcher had been by. He gets paid per mole, has to prove his catch and he’d clearly earned …
Alternative medecine: moles Read Post »
I live in my father’s garden
celebrate our conversations
summer lighting up the roses
pink carnations spreading scents and memory.
Crocuses – another spring –
we talk of children growing up
summer seeping through our thoughts
I hold …
In my father's garden Read Post »
Master mountain sighs his enormity
weeps in small gullies at the weight he holds,
despairs of immensity, too big to hold himself
mountain shifts, avalanche of granite and schist
slate sliding down to a clear glacial stream.
Yet he holds his head…
Master Mountain, Denali, Alaska Read Post »
You never would imagine he could close up like that,
like an oyster, wrinkled mouth sealed shut
contours of hermetic rock.
I tried to prize him out of his privacy,
bore through the crustaceous shell
but everyone told me he was impenetrable.
…
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