I was wandering the halls of dKos, watching comments about today's French parliamentary 2nd round, when it hit me that today (June 17) is Icelandic Independence Day. I have very fond memories of my visits there in 1972, and so I thought I'd put up a Happy Birthday Diary, hoping to invite any and all into an open thread for sharing memories of Iceland, of being Icelandic (I'm not, but it's way cool), and of this unique island nation's history and current role as a leader in alternative energy paths.
Þjóðhátíðardagurinn
is the Icelandic word for this anniversary of their modern Independence. You can go to wikipedia, of course, to read about the occasion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
You can google the heck out of Iceland, and find many interesting things, but this is a diary, and diaries should be personal, so:
How did I come to love Iceland? It was 1971. I was a student intern minister in the Unitarian Church of Bellingham, WA. We had an annual tradition of getting together around Memorial Day for a picnic with the Icelandic Free Church - Unitarian, in Blaine, WA. There I met Elias Breidford, a Candian of Icelandic origins who, around 65 at the time, had just made his first pilgrimage to the land of his ancestors. We invited him to come down to Bellingham and share his slide show. I was hooked. The next year, I spent about five weeks in Iceland, in February, June, July and September. Since then, I've kept an eye on Iceland as it elected President Vigdis (several times) and has moved towards a post-petroleum economy. And there was this Bjork individual....
Anyway, this diary is not an encyclopedic revelation, just a sympathetic and sentimental nod in the direction of a wonderful nation. Please use it as a celebratory sharing of Icelandophilia in open thread style!