Mo'a Romig-Boyles

Snow Magic

There is, to me, something magical about an overnight snow storm.  One wakes up in the morning to Snow Magic...Especially when the sun is shining and the wind  blows the fluffy snow making it look like diamonds falling from the sky.

The first thing I do is open the front door to smell the air and to take a picture of my 'Snow Cake' that forms on the bird bath.

I look to see who is at the bird feeder and saw this little guy the beautiful Blue Bird.  I am blessed with him and his familie's presence every year around this time.

Then I go back inside and run from window to window to check on my girls.  I look out the guest room window and there is Paloma is donning a new hat...she does that with every snow storm...this one is quite stunning.  Don't you think?

I look out the kitchen window and there is the little Faery with her magic wand and the snow lantern.  I am besides myself with excitement.

I look to the right and there another one of my girls with a snow hat...one I think Paloma would be jealous of...good thing she can not see around the corner of the house.

She looks like she is wearing the headdress of an Icelandic costume called Skautbúningur click on this link and tell me if you agree.  I see hats everywhere.

In my house it is Christmas until January 6th with Christmas music, lights and too much food that one has to Pay the Piper for in the form of a diet.  In Iceland 12th night is called Þrettándinn or the thirteenth...click on the link to read about how Iceland celebrates that night...*Hint* there is dancing around a fire...elves and much more.  This is also the day that Kertasníkir.....Candle-beggar the last of the Jólasveinar leaves for the mountains.   And, the day my singers along with the Jólasveinar and miscellaneous Christmas decorations get put away for another year. 

Happy New Year...I hope 2014 will be a good year for you.

 

 

A Window for Wednesday

I am a day late for A Window for Wednesday.  I have a valid excuse as I arrived back from Iceland on Tuesday and spent yesterday severely jet lagged.

This week I have chosen yet another window...actually a whole building made of windows The Harp or Harpa in Icelandic, a Concert Hall and Conference Center.

With all these windows and the sea breeze, there is a need for a crew of people to wash the windows every working day of the week.

Here is a view from the inside.  

I love the dappled light that falls on the diners at the restaurant called the Munnharpa (Mouthharp) A nice place to sit and have an open face sandwich and a cup of coffee.

Check out the links in this post they tell more of the story of this amazing building. The links appear in a light colored text. 

MAGNOLIA

My cousin Elinros is a fabulous painter and is giving me pointers in using oil paint.

Here is an example of the type of painting that she does.  This style  of painting is called Alla Prima.

Traveling...Iceland

I have been traveling. We started out in Iceland and took a trip to the Snæfellsnes peninsula. My birth father (my parents divorced when I was 8 years old) was born and raised on this peninsula on a farm named Hamraendar. This is a photo of my paternal grandparents.

I knew that this farm had been bought years ago by my cousin and two of his friends to have as a summer house. He died three years ago and I was not sure if it was still in the family.  We drove up to the farm and there was a young man working outside. He approached me and I explained who I was. Much to my delight I found out that he was my second cousin. He, his sister and a friend own the farm now and use it as a summer house.

 My cousin invited us to take a look at the house.  He said to me "you can see your room"...I had spent a couple of summers on the farm and had many visits to the farm.  The photo above, is a closeup view of a mountain side and a waterfall, that I saw out my window as a child. Another view from the house is of Snæfellsjökull. I felt very happy to be back and to have recieved such a loving welcome by my cousin and his wife.

When you take a walk to the length of the field at the side of the house you come to a cliff (hamar in Icelandic) and the next two photos are of the view you have when you arrive there. While we were sitting there taking in the view, all of a sudden everything became quiet, not a sea bird in sight and then we noticed two White Tailed Eagles flying in circles above our head. It was an awe inspiring sight. We were worried about the three dogs that were with us, they did not move a muscle while the Eagles were visiting. My cousin wrote and told me that the Eagles have made a visit each day since we were there.

On this beach, four years ago, my cousins son found a bottle with a message in it and a request to please contact The Students On Ice Expedition who had launched the bottle in Canada...he did. He was invited to join the expedition this year...Serendipity.  What an amazing experience for a fourteen year old boy.

Here is a view of the farmhouse as we walked back from the cliff.

There is much more to tell about our trip to Iceland...however, next time I will tell you about Denmark and our visit there with our son and his family.

Thank you for being so loyal...you all know who you are, you come here and visit even though I have not posted for a long time.               

Reykjavik, Art, Easter Eggs and A Lighthouse

While I was in Iceland I stayed for two nights at my friends Katrin's house.  Katrin and I have been friends for fifteen years.  I met her when I had a One Woman Show in Reykjavik, Iceland.  Katrin and I went together to Hawaii for Marilyn's retreat. a year ago.
I always love staying with Katrin, her home magical and is filled with art made by her and her friends.
I also love the views from her living room window.
In this photo there are apartment buildings, in the lower left corner.  I lived in the one with the red roof and  Katrin lived in the one behind it  as children. We did not know each other then.



Katrin and I found out that we had the same Norwegian Nanny, Tubba.  Tubba was my Nanny first...I am six years older than Katrin.  We have always felt like sisters and now we suspect it is do to Tubba's influence :)
Here is another view from Katrin's living room window...think panorama.

Katrin is a full time artist.  She makes costumes, masks and stage setting for plays, operas, television and the movies.  She also designs and preforms with, puppets and marionettes. 
Katrin has several studios and offices in her home each has it's own purpose...sewing, sculpting etc.
This photo shows one of the windows in her sewing room.

One of the things I love to do while in another country is to go shopping at the local grocery store.
These photos were taken in one of Reykjavik's grocery stores.  It was just before Easter. In Iceland we have very special Easter Eggs, they are hollow and filled with candy of all sorts and a fortune.

Everyone has their favorite kind of Easter Egg, I love the combination of chocolate and licorice so I would select the ones above :)
Your can see by this photo that there are many choices.

We also went to a peninsula where the views are wonderful and one can walk, on a walkway, all the way to the center of Reykjavik.
Here is a photo of a light house at the end of the peninsula. I have always been intrigued  by the electrical posts in the water

 
I hope you enjoyed the visit to Reykjavik.  Next time I will take you to Denmark.

Cousins, Boats, Basketball, Festival of Lights, A Troll's Home and Art

I am back from my amazing ten day trip to Iceland and Denmark.
In Iceland I stayed for two nights with my cousin Disa second from the left in the photo below.

This photo was taken of us at a dinner party given my my cousin Ella (first on the left), I am the last one on the right and my cousin Gudrun is next to me.
My three cousins are sisters, we grew up together in the town of Keflavik now know as Reykjanesbaer, where they all live.
I had two and a half whirlwind days in my old home town...I grew up in Keflavik and Reykjavik.

I enjoyed the view. from my cousin Disa's new apartment. window.  I used to fish on that dock.

We went to a basketball game, in which my cousin Disa's Granddaughter played...she is number 10 in the photo below.

I am happy to report that they won the National Junior League Title  ( they are 10 years old)
They, to say the very least, were ecstatic.

Every year in September, Keflavik (Reykjanesbaer) has a festival of lights.  They even have an official song for Ljosanot.
It seems that a certain Troll woman (the word Troll in Icelandic means Giant) liked the Festival of Lights so much that she moved in. 
Here is the home she built herself, by the harbor where the main events take place during the Festival of Lights.

And here is her view.  She like my Cousin Disa have the most amazing views from their homes.

I also had the pleasure of visiting my Cousin Ella's studio. It is amazing and so very clean...I have to make a note to clean my studio before she comes for a visit.

There I saw the original of the Christmas Card she sent us at Christmas.

In a couple of days, I will tell you about and show you some photos, from my stay in Reykjavik...And last but not least from my  wonderful days with my Family  in Denmark.

One of the many places we visited while in Iceland was the Reykjanes peninsula. Where one can find wast lava fields and landscape that one imagines the landscape on the Moon must look like. 

We stopped in Krisuvik and looked at bubbling hot water that came straight from the earth. The sound was amazing.....imagine hundreds of posts boiling over.

Here is where one finds one of Iceland's biggest tourist attraction the  Blue Lagoon . The Blue Lagoon started as a run of from the geothermal power plant, that produces electricity and hot water for the entire peninsula.

It was my Daughter-in-law's Birthday and one of her presents (given to her by my Son, her Husband) was a Massage in the Blue Lagoon.  We also celebrated her Birthday with a lovely dinner at their restaurant.

Our house is very quiet and empty now as my Family has left for their home in Denmark. We had a month of many happy moments and memories.  One week with them in Iceland and three weeks with them here in the US.

One of my favorite things about Iceland are the wide open spaces and the big sky filled with clouds.
Here are a few pictures to show you some of the amazing cloud formations that we saw this time we were in  Iceland.
The flowers are lupines that grow wild all over Iceland.

The last two photo are of a sunset at midnight. They were taken through a window at my friends house.

It is a warm and bright summer night in Iceland.
After a walk through the garden, we go into the greenhouse for a cool refreshing drink, made from berries that grown in this very special garden.
Conversation with good friends. The evening sun shines on our smiling faces. I am in my homeland...the sounds of my Mouther Tongue surrounds me... life is good.

Ash Wednesday...Green Post

Be forewarned...this is another recycled post from my blogger  Leikur og List.  If you have read my story about Ash Wednesday in Iceland and don’t want to read it again...or even if you do read it...go and visit Britt-Arnhild’s Blue Cafe and House in the Woods.  She  has been telling wonderful and delicious stories, about Lenten celebrations in Norway,  her native country. Note:  Each link will bring you to a different day at Britt-Arnhild’s House and Blue Cafe.

When I was growing up in Iceland this was one of my favorite times of year. Starting with Bolludagur or Cream Puff Day, which was this Monday. We start the day by waking our parents and any other adults in the house, by banging on their duvet with a long stick, and counting the number of blows we could get, each blow meant another Cream Puff for us. This stick was made by us days before, out of a long piece of wood and decorated with strips of crepe paper in multitude of colors.   
Sprengjdagur or Eat until you explode day, was Tuesday. That day the menu consisted Salt Kjot and Baunir, a stew made out of salted lamb, yellow peas, potatoes, turnips, and in my family Sod Kokur a big dumpling like cakes made from four and water. As a child, I loved this meal and still do.......it is on my wish list when I go to Iceland for a visit,  my Uncle Eirik always makes it for me. 
Then came my all time favorite day Oskudagur or Ash Wednesday. There are new customs that have evolved over the years. When I was growing up, it was the day we...the girls....tried to hang a bag filled with ashes on every male we could find. Days before we made our bags out of scraps of fabric that we had been collecting all year long. The bags were a simple construction that we hand stitched then added a long string with a bent straight pin on the end. They told the story of the what fabrics had been used for each member of the family, much like a quilt would.
My Mother has a cousin who was a seamstress and made all our dresses, I would collect the scraps of fabric left over. We made our bags in our Sewing Club, where we talked about who was going to get each bag and how we were going to hang it on their back. The boys we had a crush on got the most beautiful bags. Planing was important as the men made it hard for us to hang bags on them. They would wear Rain Slickers or Trench Coats that were impossible to hang a bag on, it was important to get the men in our household before they could put their coat on.
One of the most memorable Ash Wednesdays for me, was when there was a man who visited the Book Store, where my Mother was working. He was from a foreign country and was oblivious to the fact that on the back of his Wool Coat were numerous bags. He smiled on each child as they were hovering around him, laughing, pointing, and slapping each other on the back, at this point the boys had joined us in the fun. No doubt he was thinking how happy and friendly the children of Iceland were. By the time he left the Book Store he must have had over thirty bags on his back. As an adult, I imagine his surprise as he took of his coat back at his hotel, to discover these colorful little bags filled with ashes.
I know I would have been delighted to make such a discovery.

Photos: The first photo is from Thingvellir in Iceland.  The second photo a view from my friends house in Reykjavik. Click on photos for a closer view.