Ship on Shore

Looking back, I have to say, our first day in Iceland was a little rough. We waited 3 hours for our rental car...which I did have reserved. Finally after tossing our luggage in the back and driving off, I come to find my seat belt kept sticking, only to find so did the back hatch, which after about 20 min decided not to open at all. Then I found me questioning why I registered myself to drive. Maybe because I always drive, because not only do I love driving open roads, I stop a million times along the way to take pictures. Yet no one told me Iceland was full of round-a-bouts. So I learned a new skill that day, not really loving it but forcefully having to get used to it. It was fine, really. Now they are a breeze. We drove back to the rental car place, they put some grease and oil in the locks and buckles and moments later, our car smelling like a mechanic's work shop, we were off.

We stayed overnight along side the road somewhere, stepping out into a town that I won't even attempt to put the letters in order. Even if I did, it would be unpronounceable. But it was the biggest little town I've seen since Reykjavik. I stepped out of our little rental car and headed over to where an old abandoned ship sat upon the shore.  There was not a sound once I closed that car door aside from the distant call of a shore bird. Even the water that filled the little inlets along the coast was still and silent...as silent as a forest on a calm day...yet here there are no trees to be seen. That reminds me, seeing trees in Iceland was very rare, at least at the parts we were in. Yet her beauty remained.

I dodge puddles from an earlier rainfall as I also dodge the only two earthworms I will see on our entire trip. I also finally see that sea bird who was calling off in the distance as she gracefully flies above, white against an already white sky. Nature is fun like that, you know? So colorful and noisy with bird song, or whistling winds, to the absence of all color and any sound. As I photograph some of the ships upon the calm waters, as well as this beautiful old ship, which sat patiently upon the shore, I take in the calmness of it all. This ship, sitting perhaps for others to wonder about. Perhaps for birds to perch upon or perhaps to be used as a landmark for all the passer-byer's or the ones who are fortunate enough to return and say "I remember that old ship" with a grin on their face.

Either way, the world is rushing around, busy in the cities, busy with to do's, busy with have to's. There is silence here, once again. There is a story written behind the hull of this ship, upon her mast and within her paint. I wish I knew it all but for now...I can only imagine.

Until next time...