frozen sea

the sea has frozen in Skagastrond. tiny icebergs float on the sea, whilst near the harbour the sea is covered by a wholesome skin of ice.
There is still no snow.i am not sure if i should be grateful or disappointed by the lack of snow in the north of Iceland, whilst is snowing in London.

Þorrablót

yesterday Skagastrond celebrated Þorrablót with a traditional food dinner in the town hall.
the menu included: sheep head, ram testicles, potatoes in every form and shape, fermented shark, whale. All to be drank with Brennivin.Not the best menu for a vegetarian but the bread was delicious.
Moby Dick meat is white/grey and look like lard. I did not eat Moby Dick.
Brennivin, also known as "black death", is not that bad: less strong than vodka, it has a strange cumin+cough syrup taste.
After the dinner there was a show organised by the locals to poke fun to local issues and gossips. I couldn't understand a word but it was funny and well choreographed.
Then wild dances: i was dragged on the dance floor by an elderly fisherman who concluded that i am a rubbish dancer (well you try dancing wearing mountain boots!).

toward the lighthouse

today i walked toward the lighthouse.
of course, i never made it to the lighthouse (25 km away).
the wind was not too bad and so many little things to look at. i went of the road and wondered through the fields of frozen hay.
i am getting used to the "trespassing" and i am now less worried about an icelandic farmer surprising me in one of my clumsy attempt to pass over/under the barb wire.
the only problem is photographing without being followed by the overtly-friendly icelandic ponies.
which are sweet and cute horses with very short legs but very attention seekers and curios of the camera!

little adventures

early morning, as i was photographing, i got to chat a local lady. She is the town's fortune teller.

Behind the village of Skagatrond there is Spákonufell (Soothsayer's Mountain), a name which originates from the 10th century when Þórdí the soothsayer lived here.

the fortune teller was not wearing a turbant and did not have a cristal ball, she was wearing a warm and cosy snowsuit.
the fortune teller also owns a field and in the field she keeps icelandic ponies. She took me to feed the ponies and i played with them. They look funny and cute, have very short legs and long fur. The fortune teller said that Icelandic ponies always stay outside, even with heavy snow. But if it rains, they want to go in their shed, they don't like having wet hair.

A pony tried to eat my hat.

something i found

this is something i found. from far away it looks like a huge bed. i think it may be a part of a ship.
A photographer whose work is inspiring me at the moment is Henrik Saxgren http://www.saxgren.dk/, with his book "Unintended Sculptures" , images that represent "...aesthetic implication of man's impact on the environment..."

today i walked and walked and walked in the early morning, to catch the best light.
i walked though fields and across a frozen river, not big but still quite a scary thing to do for a countryside-phobic girl like me!
My photographic work proceeds slowly but is satisfying and exciting. I walk through the frozen grass of the fields searching for little reminders of humanity, spread on the plain there are abandoned houses and sheds. One shed has been made out of half- a boat and it was full of rubbish. I have to walk long distances through farms and fields to find a shed or an element that attracts my attention.
In London this would be called "trespassing" but here in Skagastrond people don't even need to lock their front door and are easygoing about me hopping around their fields.
In the afternoon i went for a walk on the cliff and saw seals, which were gorgeous, however the wind was so strong that i had to head back to NES studios.