Iceland - our living, breathing planet

I've always loved nature.  To me there's nothing better than the change of seasons, I don't even mind the rain, hail, snow, cold frosty mornings - bring it on!  These are all things that demonstrate we reside on a living, breathing, planet.  And nowhere was this more evident than when I went to Iceland a couple of years ago.  The Icelandic people are incredibly proud of their beautiful country.  They have a saying that in Iceland, if you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes and it will change.  That was certainly true when we found this snowy scene greeting us the coming out of a shop which we entered two minutes before in glorious sunshine!

We visited the volcanic crater lake Kerid which is beautifully frozen in winter and a gorgeous peacock blue in summer - I hope to go back one summer to see that...

The incredible power of the Gullfoss waterfall was apparent before we could even see it as the noise was deafening!  The water is glacial which makes you think of it as clean and fresh but in fact glacial water is full of sediment as it has stripped the landscape on its way down.

Finally we saw the geothermal area west of Reykjavik with the incredible geyser Strokkur in the centre - I hope this picture gives you some idea of the power and force of the water forced out at high speed.  It took me around 20 minutes to get a picture of the water as within seconds it turns into vapour and dissipates.  Despite the extreme cold and snow you can see the heat produced from the stunning hot mud and algae pools.  

The main thing I took away from Iceland (apart from some fabulous duty-free!) was how alive and active our planet is and how beautiful and dramatic the consequences of this activity is.  Whilst we were there we also had two small earthquakes, which were enough to wake us up but not worry us too much.  

It may seem a tenuous link to crafting, but I do feel very inspired by the countryside, the animals, my surroundings - if you look in any shop at the moment badgers, birds, foxes, leaves, butterflies - all of these things of beautiful nature are being crafted and brought from the outside into our own homes.  

Thinking back to Iceland, I am now working on a range of hot water bottles which may be useful should I get the chance to visit again!

Lou x