Well, at some time it seemed inevitable that something should go wrong. I have managed to misplace my notebook with all of my notes, contacts, names, places, Icelandic phrases, meanderings, ideas, stories, directions, shoping list, and everything that is really important. Disaster. This, I discovered today in the midst of a failed root canal and an extremely labourious and painful and prolonged after the fact extraction. So if you look up despondant in the dictionary, you will see a photographer of me, steeped in vicodin, In the midst of great despair, the best solution (or at least one) is some reflection. So here are some reflections out and about Djup and Pollinn.

Also, if you have given me your name and contact information so that i can send you a photo and stay in touch, would you please do so again? I'll be back in January and want to make sue to visit all of those whom I said I would. You can send me a mail to the site or to my other address: willenm@etown.edu 

Ok I feel like I am typing in mud, thanks to the painkillers. so enjoy the picts. :-)

Á Vestfjörðum þvælist enn um ameríkaninn Matt. Hefur hann verið hér undanfarinn mánuð við að mynda og hitta fólk um alla Vestfirðina. Má segja að hann hafi ekið þá mest alla, að undanskildum Árneshreppnum og svo auðvitað þeim stöðum sem eigi er akandi. Það má finna nýtt efni undir Towns og þá prófíl um Reykhóla. Hitti Matt mjög mikið af áhugaverðu fólki og fékk svo ábendingar um enn fleiri og eru það upplýsingar sem við ætlum að vinna úr næstu mánuði. Matt sagðist greinilega finna fyrir því að fólk sé farið að kannast við verkefnið og er það vel og þökkum við áhugann. Því miður gat ég ekki farið með honum að þessu sinni vegna anna, en maður er víst í fullu starfi líka.

 Nú ætlum við að fara að finna nokkra einstaklinga víðsvegar um Vestfirðina sem við gætum heimsótt og fengið að eyða degi eða tveim með og mynda hið daglega líf og spjalla létt um lífið og tilveruna. Stefnt er á að framkvæma þessa vinnu í janúar. Allar ábendingar um áhugavert og viljugt fólk til að taka þátt í þessu með okkur eru vel þegnar.

Svo langar mig að benda áhugasömum á að Matt mun verða með smá tölu um verkefnið í Háskólasetri Vestfjarða í hádeginu á morgun, nánara tiltekið kl: 12:15, endilega láttu sjá þig, hafir þú tök á því!

I got into Ísafjörður on Tuesday morning and took a day to get rested and settled in. I am staying at Áslaug´s guest house again near the center of town, where I stayed for the month in May. Got started this time with visit to the Westfjords Heritage Museum to get some close up photographs of artifacts from the history of the fishing industry, and then rode over to Reykhólar with Gusti, who was on his way to Reykjavík for an appointment....
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The Hornstrandir Nature Preserve is located at the northernmost reaches of the Westfjords. The preserve was founded in 1975. Surprisingly, most of the land in the preserve is private, owned by families whose ancestors lived year round in the area up until the mid-1950s when the last year round residents left. Several dozen houses still stand in the preserve and are used as summer cottages in July and August by the families who own them. Living year round in this part of the Westfjords was a considerable feat, as we were told by a couple of folks whom we met and visited who used to live there when they were children.
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With the exception of Suðavík, about fifteen minutes from Isafjörður, the closest town to the east is Holmavík, which lies on the shore of Steingrimsfjörður on the east coast of the Westfjords. Judging from the scale on my map, it is only about 60 or 70 miles distant as the crow flies. Yet because route 61 follows the south coast along Ísafjarðardjúp in and out of each fjord, the trip by car takes 3 to 4 hours....
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