North Atlantic Rum Boogie in Memphis

 Beale Street, Memphis, TN

Back in mid-April I attended the Society for American Archaeology conference that was held in Memphis, Tennessee.  I also volunteered my time to help out at the SAA booth and at the employment services center. I had a good time attending a variety of presentations from around the world on contemporary archaeology at the border crossing between Arizona and Mexico, historical archaeology in Canada along the Collins Overland Telegraph Trail, archaeology of South American witchcraft practices and research on holy houses in Neolithic Taiwan and Easter Island just to name a few. But where I felt the most at home, on familiar territory archaeologically speaking, was at the North Atlantic presentations that represented the sphere of environmental archaeology. Although my research is primarily historical, it made me happy to hear the names of Icelandic sites and researchers that I have become familiar with over the past two years.

NABO @ the SAA

Mississippi River at sunset

You can't go to Memphis without visiting the birth place of rock-n-roll, Sun Studio. This was one of the highlights of my trip.

Sun Studio

last of the original 5 microphone stands from Sun Studio

I ended my stay by visiting Graceland and I stayed one night at the Heartbreak Hotel. I think if anyone considers themselves a fan of music they should make the pilgrimage to Memphis. You don't have to be an Elvis fan but it sure does make it more fun!

Graceland

a little bit of Elvis for everyone

Taking Care of Business on the Lisa Marie jet  

Heartbreak Hotel swimming pool seen from my room

On a final note, this will be my last blog entry for Cold Fever.  I would just like to say thank you to all of you who have followed my adventures in Iceland and I appreciate the support and feedback. Through this site I have been able to meet people from around the world and I am grateful for the new friends that I have made and wish all of you the best on your adventures throughout the year!
After spending time in the North Atlantic, if you are interested in seeing how things are coming along with me in the southeastern part of the U.S., I will be continuing my ruminations on the human condition on tumblr at Pink Bean & Smarty Pants
Until then, sjáumst!

bless, bless
cate

lopi ♥

While I was in Iceland attending university, I had the opportunity to volunteer some time with cleaning the skeletal assemblage that was recovered from archaeological excavations conducted at Hofstaðir. This is one of Iceland's major historical archaeological sites from the Viking Period of  a longhouse and farmstead. A chapel was erected in the vicinity of the site in the later period of occupation and this is where the human remains have been recovered from its cemetery. For my time spent in cleaning the skeletal remains, the lead archaeologist conducting the cemetery excavations, Hildur, knitted a lopi for me. The lopi is a unique Icelandic sweater that is very precious when given as a gift. One afternoon, Hildur and I walked over to her favorite yarn shop where I chose the colors for my sweater. I was a little overwhelmed by the large color selection with all the different shades of just the color black alone to consider. But even so, I was drawn to the blues and grays. It wasn't until some time later when one morning I was standing at my apartment window looking out over the ocean, I realized why I had chosen those colors. They surrounded me every day with the way the sky looks in the morning, and the ocean in late winter. Now I am back in the states, writing up my thesis but I have a little piece of the Icelandic sky and the North Atlantic ocean that I can wrap around me and remember my time in Iceland. Takk fyrir Hildur!

i love my lopi! 

yarn shop mascot: the arctic "knit" fox

winter town

ice skating on Tjornin 

end of day over Tjornin

gleðileg jól!

It's that time of year when the Yule lads descend from their mountain cave and arrive in town one by one to wreak their special little havoc in anticipation of Christmas day. But the one to look out for is their pet, the Yule Cat! Make sure you have been good and receive a piece of clothing for Christmas or the Cat will come for you!

Nobody knows exactly how the Icelandic Yulemen, often called Yule lads or just santas, or Jolasveinar, came into being. There are 13 Yule lads and they are the sons of two trolls, Gryla and Leppaludi, who were frightening creatures (they are said to be dead), and had a reputation for snatching and eating children who are naughty. The trolls had a pet cat, the Yule cat, who was used to bogey naughty children and especially if the children didn't get some new clothes for Christmas. The oldest written sources on the Yule Cat are from the 19^th century. These refer to the fact that those who do not get a new item of clothing for Yule are destined to become offerings for the Yule Cat. It may sound strange that the deprived ones will also become the sacrifices, but this tradition is based on the fact that every effort was made to finish all work with the autumn wool before Yule. The reward for those who took part in the work was a new piece of clothing. Those who were lazy received nothing. Thus the Yule Cat was used as an incentive to get people to work harder. When stories about the Jolasveinar first appeared, they were frightening creatures just like their parents. Over the years, they have become milder, gentler creatures and are now just plain fun to be around. The Yule lads come one by one, and start arriving 13 days before Christmas. Each one would do their best to cause minor havoc on Christmas preparations. Children leave a shoe or a stocking by an open window during this time. Well-behaved children receive something of value whereas ill behaved children usually receive a rotten potato.

Skyrgámur: “curd glutton”

Gluggagægir: “peeper” with a saucy looking toy horse and a drunk looking worm  with rotten potato

Kertasníkir: “candle beggar” 

Yule Cat: this unfortunate youngin' did not get new clothes for Christmas

Yule lads: Stekkjastur: “sheepfold stick” who tries to drink milk from the farmers’ ewes
December 12; Giljagaur: “gully oaf” sneaks into the cowshed and skims the froth off the pails of milk December 13; Stúfur: “shorty” or “pan-scraper” scrapes scraps of food off of pans December 14; Þvörusleikir: “spoon-licker” steals wooden spoons that have been used for stirring December 15; Pottaskefill: “pot-licker” snatches pots that have not been washed and licks the scraps from them December 16; Askasleikir: “bowl-licker” hides under the bed and if someone puts their wooden food-bowl on the floor, he grabs it and licks it clean December 17; Hurðaskellir: “door slammer” slams doors and keeps people awake December 18; Skyrgámur: “curd glutton” eats all the skyr in the pantry December 19; Bjúgnakrækir: “sausage pilferer” eats all the sausage December 20; Gluggagægir: “peeper” looks in windows and steals toys  December 21; Gáttaþefur: “sniffer” has a big nose and loves cakes and steals them December 22;  Ketkrókur: “meat hook” in old days he would lower a hook down the kitchen chimney and pull up a leg of lamb hanging from a rafter, or a bit of smoked lamb from a pan December 23; Kertasníkir: “candle beggar” in olden times, candlelight was the brightest light available. Candles were so rare and precious that it was a treat for children to be given a candle at Christmas and candle beggar wanted one too December 24

first, last and always

The first time I learned about Iceland was from a song back in the mid-1980s called, Birthday, sung by a small elf-like woman named Bjork from a band called The Sugarcubes. Since then, Iceland has always been with me, fixed in my mind and it really makes all kinds of sense that since being here I would submerge myself in the Reykjavik music scene. Sadly, I have not seen Bjork since being here but she is around and I have been told that the little coffee shop called, C is for Cookie, is a favorite hangout. I will have to visit before the end of this week... So, I have finished the fall semester and am now cleaning up the apartment, making sure I have research material for my thesis to take home with me and going to free live music shows that have been going on these past couple of weeks. 

It only seems appropriate that Ólafur Arnalds would be one of the last bands I would see before leaving since he was one of the very first bands I saw when I arrived in August 2010. Last week he played a free show at the Reykjavik Downtown Hostel that has started offering free shows about twice a month called Live in the Lobby. It's nice to see that other venues are picking up where Havari has left off.

Ólafur Arnalds

Samaris 

I saw two new (new to me) bands this past week, Samaris and Mammút. Samaris played at Harpa's concert series, Undercurrent. Their music is quiet and fragile-like, whereas Mammút is like a mashup of Sonic Youth and the Sugarcubes. Loved both bands. Unfortunately, I walked out of the apartment without my camera the night of Mammút's show at the downtown cafe/bar, Hresso and missed many wonderful photo opportunities. Most regrettably is the one where the actor, Kit Harington who plays John Snow in HBOs Game of Thrones, stood next to me during the show drinking whiskey. I was star struck to say the least. He's been in town while they film the second season out in the north country side of Iceland. He is as cute as he looks on tv and in the papers.

Samaris

Mr. Silla

ah yeah, i also got to see one of my favorites, Mr. Silla, twice! They played at Undercurrent, blowing off the cobwebs and snow from Samaris's dreamtime set and then the following night at Bakkus. Love these guys. Like I had reported earlier this year, Mr. Silla is a mix of Cowboy Junkies and PJ Harvey, fabulous!

Mr. Silla at Harpa's Undercurrent

Mr. Silla at Bakkus

newspaper article from Saturday 12/10/11 about Kit showing up at the Mammut show

Here is the 120 Minutes Mtv Birthday video that ensnared me as a teen back in Iowa

góða nótt

full moon over Hallgrimskirkja

sunday

Sunday afternoon
along Ægissiða by the Skerjafjörður