Welcome to the working week

Here's another sunrise.

I took this from the hotel I stayed in last week, where the rooms were compact, but there were views of the river and I saw tugs and ferries and cruise ships sailing by.

This, unfortunately, is the view from the hotel I'm in now. At least I'm not spending a lot of time looking out the window.

Sunday bird blogging

A house sparrow, rolling her eyes at the tourists on Broadway this morning.

I have better pictures of birds, but I picked this one because house sparrows made me smile this afternoon when I was sitting at a cafe in Rockefeller Center, in a dangerous mood after a visit to a war zone my apartment.

Okay, there was also a significant amount of chocolate involved in my recovery. But the house sparrows were so charming, hopping under the tables and peeking down from the umbrellas, that I shared the last of my eclair with them, and it was a very good eclair.

Saturday reflections

A different kind of skyline altogether -- sunrise reflected on the towers of Manhattan, taken earlier this week.

My apartment is still uninhabitable, and yesterday I moved into the fourth hotel I've stayed in since coming back from Iceland. I've also been sick for most of this time, so even though I try to kid myself  about First World Problems -- Oh boo hoo I'm living in hotels because my renovation's taking too loooong! -- it's so dispiriting I can't even write about it. Maybe tomorrow.

Last look

Here's a last look at the curvy spires of Reykjavik.

More urban poetry

Yesterday the chairs, today the tables. A Sunday evening after the rain, in Reykjavik.

Urban poetry

Cafe chairs stacked outside a restaurant in Reykjavik.

Astronomy Tuesday

Another of our neighbors in the so-called Local Group, M33, also known as the Triangulum Galaxy.

Image credit and copyright: Giovanni Benintende

Random things I saw in Reykjavik

Reykjavik street art

Viking ship

This stunning sculpture, by Jón Gunnar Árnason, is called Sun Voyager (Solfar.) It's on the esplanade along Reykjavik harbor, one of many public art pieces there.

Also, that hair just slays me

Horses

On our way back to Reykjavik on the last day of the tour, Gunnar asked if we'd like to stop and see some horses.

Since everything we had seen that day was cold and very very wet, and the horses were dry and inside, the response was very enthusiastic.

Icelandic horses are a very pure breed, descended from the horses brought by the early settlers a thousand years ago. They're small -- not much bigger than ponies -- but extremely strong. So although they can easily carry an adult man, human legs dangling off those little bodies can be very comical.

We saw a short film and then got to wander through the stables making friends with the inhabitants. They're gentle and curious, snuffling sweet horsey breath at our outstretched hands and allowing themselves to be petted and gushed over with calm dignity.