Let’s Go?

Martha Kennedy 38 Comments

Bear is ready for another rawhide pencil. I’m ready for snow. Teddy is ready for anything. That’s the state of readiness in this house this morning. I’m also ready to go somewhere, but where? I have no idea. My friend Lois recently suggested we return to Iceland. But, Iceland and I are, well, I don’t accuse Iceland of malice or anything, I wasn’t in the best shape for that trip (torn Achilles tendon. Yes I’ve realized I’m a litany of injury), and the weather was beyond description (see how I’m sparing you from a tedious description of horizontal rain, Arctic wind, landscape-obscuring fog? See how I did that?) which is OK because Iceland didn’t owe me anything. I remember telling my friends in Zürich we were going to Iceland, and they both leaned forward across the dinner table and said, “Iceland???” with looks of horror on their faces. Still, grueling as that “vacation” was, I did see this which is, for me, the equivalent of the Parthenon. ❤

Thingvellir

SO Bear, Teddy and I will be here for the nonce hoping some great idea wafts past our (meaning my) consciousness and we (meaning I) get a good idea. For now? Allt er í lagi.



 

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2022/01/18/rdp-tuesday-ready/

38 thoughts on “Let’s Go?”

  1. I found a little girlfriend for Teddy yesterday, on a walk in the park. Literally, we were walking in the park, and I saw a Teddy-dog! She was adorable. She was also very easily distracted. Her owner threw her a toy, Alice picked it up and brought it over to me and my husband. Then she saw another dog and fixated on them. Her owner (older gal–my age) laughed and said, ‘She’s very friendly.’ Then she told Alice to ‘sit and drop it (the toy).’ Alice dropped both the toy and her round little butt on the ground like a champ. She was an older dog, but I pictured her and Teddy running around the park, having the best time.

    • Sounds like Alice has a great owner! Poor Teddy basically belongs to Bear. 🙂 Aussies are easily distracted because they have to make sure no random sheep are off in the moors. Teddy did learn to fetch, but he got bored very quickly. 🙂

      • Teddy and Bear are meant to be. Alice was such a good dog. I didn’t know that about the distraction. She didn’t bark at us or the other dog–well, she had the toy in her mouth–but, still. She just watched. An older girl, but such a charmer. You will posting photos of older Teddy and I’ll still be thinking he is adorable.

  2. Upon seeing the “Disco Tent” meme, I barked “HAH” so loud, it reverberated in my small office space. Thank you for that!

    I am also okay with never visiting Iceland after your description of their weather. (I already live in Michigan. I think I can safely say, I’ve been to Iceland in spirit sufficiently to exempt me from ever travelling there in future.) Granted, we have a dearth of mountains, it is true. Our flat lands are not that enticing, unless you really like looking at endless farms and the impenetrability of forest preserves. However, we do have lovely lakes you can enjoy–if you like skirting the edge of a state–Michigan is the place for you!

    There is an appeal to travel that is only known before one goes there or after one has been there that tends to be overestimated. And, once you finally do go to a place, you are reminded that, however lovely, it is still just a place on a planet that shares a very similar ecosystem worldwide with just enough variations that sometimes the picture postcards are not entirely interchangeable. That said, I still long to travel–if only for the thrill of anticipation and the relief of return. I do wonder if anyone actually likes the travel they do go on? Or do we simply appreciate what we’ve got once we get home and unpack.

    I suspect the fact that I’ve been physically trapped in my house for almost two years may play a small part in my desire to wander somewhere farther than my own backyard. Until I can do that safely again, I suspect this will be my burden to bear. I will look to you for reminders that being a traveler is not the only way to appreciate the spaces outside one’s usual haunts! Vicarious travel is! So, feel free to gad about and report back for my pleasure!

    • I don’t know — your question about travelers is mine, too. I usually enjoy being in a place where I’ve traveled very much. I hate the traveling. I’m a lousy tourist as I learned on that trip with my friend. I learned I don’t much like traveling with other people, too. Pretty weird. For now, like you, I’m just staying where I live. And yeah, Michigan? Iceland? The San Luis Valley? Iceland is everywhere except maybe in Maui well, volcanoes.

  4. If you want to visit Iceland vicariously, check out https://www.michaelkienitz.com/iceland. Mickey is a photographer (former photojournalist who worked in war zones) and has traveled to Iceland multiple times to photograph the ice before it is gone. I saw the work on large aluminum prints. The bigger the screen you can see these on, the better. Your phone won’t do them justice. Some are handheld and some from drones. There are some amazing drone fly-through videos.

    • It’s beautiful, amazing, really wonderful and the people are the nicest I’ve met anywhere. The food is great and the landscapes are indescribable. I just wanted to hike and I couldn’t. I wanted to ride Icelandic horses and I couldn’t. In the Airbnb we rented, I didn’t have a bed because of my tendon I couldn’t go up the Norwegian stairs which are a hybrid between stairs and a ladder. I had to make a bed out of a sofa and chair. A lot of things about the adventure were good, but if I did it again (I won’t) I’d probably join an organized tour to go to the remote places and stay in Rekjavik OR rent a new car (the car that came with our Airbnb wouldn’t go in 3rd gear) and do the Ring Road, allowing an Icelandic travel agent to arrange places for me to stay. But I won’t do it again.

  6. Iceland gave us the musical group Of Monsters and Men and the singer Bjork. That makes it pretty amazing right there.

    I understand it had large forests until the Vikings showed up.

    • Of Monsters and Men ❤ and Bjork are both reasons to love Iceland. Yeah, they're starting to re-grow the forests. A lot of the buildings are imported pre-fab from Norway. There's a very fancy greenhouse where they grow bananas. I really enjoyed the people I talked to. I loved the little horses. The scenery was beyond description. I loved being in a place that loved the sagas even more than I do. I didn't love the excruciating pain and marginal mobility of a torn Achilles tendon or the truly impossible weather — I don't think I'd have minded the weather if I'd have lived in Iceland OR hadn't had the tendon thing, but with only a week? It was really too bad. I don't hold it against Iceland. If I could move there I probably would. 😀

  7. Ah. At least you had an experience that you can regale people with – horizontal rain sounds awful! If you’d like a little jaunt to a midwestern normal town I’d be willing to put you and the dogs up for a couple days… Of course northern Indiana in Jan/Feb is cold and snowy and nasty but we have some nice parks nearby that you’d probably enjoy – I think they even do cross country skiing in Bendix Woods.

    • I have family in Carmel and a friend who teaches at Purdue! Indiana is on my radar. Bear and Teddy and I would enjoy that and Sparky would have a dog for a while. 😀 But I’m afraid it might be too hospitable… 😉

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