A book about volcanoes

 You might not know it, unless you have been reading this blog for a while. Anyway, a long, long time ago, my brothers and me, particularly PJ, were kind of obsessed about volcanoes. Well, it seems that Wolfie is following on our footsteps: this is the book he picked up at school to read this week. I will try to pick it up and give it a read before he has to hand it back.

The Book of Volcanoes

I don't know why, I thought about an old book my family had. Something my father bought, but I think my brothers and I spent more time reading it and especially watching the very impressive pictures than he ever did. Especially PJ, who got so fascinated by volcanoes he wanted to become a vulcanologist. He even did a few science displays on it at school. Nowadays, Wolfie is also curious about volcanoes (read this post). I might show him this book when we visit his grandparents, see what he thinks of it.

Vesuvio Souvenir

For our wedding anniversary, my wife and I went to Avanti, a little Italian restaurant in the little town of Wallingford. It was a lovely evening and Avanti was the perfect place to celebrate. Like many Italian restaurants, it had many little things that were used as part of the décor. Such as this bottle of what I assume was limoncello, in the shape of Italy and of a booth, called "Vesuvio Souvenir", so probably bought somewhere near Mount Vesuvius. I thought it was funny, this delicate carved bottle associated with a volcano. Anyway, we didn't drink limoncello after the meal, I'm not a big fan of it anyway, but for a moment I almost felt like I was back in Italy. My wife and I agree that we ought to visit it one day.

Falling into Mount Vesuvius

 Here's a bit of silly news that I heard about recently which discouraged me about mankind. You may not know about it, but I kinda like volcanoes, as long as they don't erupt and that we keep at a safe distance. My brothers and I were fascinated by them as children, PJ was borderline obsessed about volcanoes. So I have always been curious about seeing the legendary ones, such as Mount Vesuvius. Is there a volcano more famous than this one? Well, recently, an American tourist fell into it trying to take a selfie. I mean, really? That's all some people can think about? Taking a selfie next to nature's most terrible creation? Part of me thinks if Mount Vesuvius had to erupt again, now would be a good time. If you are superstitious, forget what I just said.

The Lava Game

Wolfie has a new game he plays when he's outside, generally walking back from school: the Lava Game. Basically, he does as if every crack in the ground or pavement, any patch of asphalt is red hot lava. As if there was a volcano nearby and it was erupting. I don't know where he got that from, maybe one of the videos he watched, but in any case, now we must avoid lava when we walk outside. It's actually quite fun, when you are not in a hurry.

Volcano Mash

Sometimes, we want Wolfie to eat something else than pasta, which is his main diet. And it has proven to be quite hard. He used to like mashed potatoes in the past, so my wife had a great idea: turn the meal into a display. So she bought some Quorn Roarsone Vegan Dinosaur Nuggets (something Wolfie was quite curious about). I made a mash with it, then I created an image just like on the box: nugget for the dinosaur, brocoli and green peas for the prehistoric jungle and in the centre a potato mash in the shape (sort of) of a volcano, with lots of keptchup for lava. Wolfie really liked it. He ate  about half the nugget and most of the mash. I suspect it was because of the ketchup. And of course the next day, it did not work out so well: Wolfie didn't want that meal anymore.

Fireball Island

I had wanted to write about this topic for a while and my brother PJ gave me today the little piece of news that gave me the excuse to do so. Some of you who were children growing up in the 80s may remember a board game called Fireball Island. It was a huge, 3D board game that represented an island (duh!), at the center of which there was a volcano which mouth was also an idol, named Vul-Kar, which had a demonic face that threw fireballs (I guess bombs of lava, "personified" by red marbles). Next to this sinister figure was a jewel that our players were supposed to retrieve. It was not a very smart game: too much was due to chance, there was close to no strategy involved and there was so many pieces of material that everything quickly got lost. But all the same, we adored it.

What made this very flawed board game so compelling? What it lacked in game complexity, it made up in atmosphere and its imagery. Look at the box image for instance (on the top left). It's excessive, action-packed, dramatic. There was nothing in the rulebook about the island's history, who had built Vul-Kar (if he had been built at all), what was the jewel meant to represent and why our characters wanted it, but our wild imagination and our knowledge of Indiana Jones and King Kong (among other sources) could easily fill the many blanks. My brothers and I even ended up make belief games based on Fireball Island, when we fought evil cultists, pythons and other wild animals, while trying to dodge fireballs from Vul-Kar's mouth. It was that inspiring. And anyway, PJ told me today that they made a remake of the game. A more complex and intelligent version, where there is more strategy involved. It is modernized, but I am confident it has at least some of the timeless charm of the original. And I am very tempted to buy it just for kicks. Or maybe ask for it for Christmas.

The Age of Dinosaurs

My parents, who are visiting us for their grandson's birthday, had the chance to be with little Wolfie in his art/creativity class recently. The class is organized by a young woman in her twenties who adores Wolfie. Like a lot. Her face lights up every time she sees him. Anyway, it was a fitting time for a creativity class: they were doing dinosaurs displays. Our son loves dinosaurs, it is one of his few obsession. Maybe he finds a kinship with them. Being in his terrible twos, he is, in effect, going through the Age of Dinosaurs. So he "made" this, or at least his mother did and he chose the dinosaurs. He was meant to choose only one big dino, but he decided to go for more than one, because he loves dinosaurs and because he knows he can get away with taking such liberties. My wife did not dare to ask for a second eye for the blue dinosaur. Wolfie is very proud of it and with good reasons. It looks very dramatic, with the volcano in the background. I had to share it. I hope he likes his birthday presents just as much.

Nostalgie volcanique

Petit billet aléatoire ce soir, j'ai pensé bloguer sur les volcans. Pas ma spécialité, mais sujet néanmoins fascinant. Il y avait une section du National Museum de Cardiff qui portait sur les volcans et leurs manifestations. Ça m'a replongé dans des souvenirs d'enfance. Enfant, c'est mon frère PJ qui en avait fait son sujet de prédilection, pour les exposés oraux en classe entre autres, mais ça a quand même alimenté notre imagination et nos jeux. Le volcan, c'est le lieu de tous les dangers et des manifestations épiques de colère de la Nature. C'est aussi souvent situé dans un lieu exotique. Je sais qu'il est la source de bien des tragédies, mais je ne peux m'empêcher de me rappeler que le volcan a été pour nous une source d'inspiration.

Volcanic displays

I took this picture at the National History Museum and I thought it would suit this post. I am late in the news, but I wanted to blog about it: Mount Etna has erupted recently. And? Mount Etna is one of these volcanoes that have this huge reputation and mythology about them, that every volcanic eruption brings back. There is just something about burning lava. It is kind of ironic that cold lava looks so much like mud, ugly and nonthreatening in the slightest. But looking at it, even on displays like this one, I always feel a slight shiver.

The smiling volcano

Sometimes, I blog about some odd/strange things happening in the world. I am not original, not in this instance anyway, as the news got viral, but here it is: in Hawaii, a smiling face appeared in an erupted volcano. And? And nothing. It is odd and fun/funny. And kind of ironic, this benign smile being created a potentially very dangerous situation. And the smiley face reminds me of the acid party sign. Am I the only one to have such twisted mind? Anyway, so we had a smiling volcano erupting in Hawaii today.

A Volcanic Memory

I took this picture at the Natural History Museum, because it illustrates this post's topic. It is, of course, lava, as it says on the label. I am a few days late to commemorate the anniversary, but Facebook reminded me that six years ago (on the 15th of April), I was stranded in Montreal because of the volcanic eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. It is an Icelandic volcano, hence the mouthful. This is what I said on Facebook that day: "I am stranded in Montreal because of a volcanic eruption in Iceland, The existentialists were right: life is absurd." Now, looking back, I find the event just as absurd. And what I said then deserves to be a great unknown line.

Dreaming of a volcanic holiday

This picture was taken in the Natural History Museum of London. "A Londra, è vero". But it is of Italy I am thinking about. My wife and her friend (the mother of the girl who has Buffy) are planning to go on holidays and they are seriously considering Italy, maybe Naples. This is where of course Mount Vesuvius is and thus where the ruins of Pompeii are, where these remains have been taken (I think). My wife and I are planning to go on another holiday in a different place, but I have been wanting to go back to Italy in ages and I'd love to try Naples, for many reasons. Because I want to exercise my Italian and improve it, and Naples would be fitting, as I have been told at least once that I have a Neapolitan accent. But it is because of the ruins especially. Because it would be nice to go there before the Vesuvius bursts again (hey, it will happen one day). Because once in my life I want to be near a volcano. There is something beautiful about them that the aura of menace only enhances. And I think it enhances as well, or makes us more conscious of, the beauty of the place itself, of Naples and Italy itself. Even in the above picture, which my wife didn't like one bit and thought it was both scary and sad, there is something like a sinister aesthetic to it. Anyway, I'd love to spend some time near Mount Vesuvius, while it is still sleeping. So I hope they pick up another place.

I discovered Vanuatu

Well, not really, I mean it existed way before me and I did not physically discover it... But I first learned about it today, this very morning, out of total random. Never mind the details, it would be a bit long and boring to explain, but it was at work. So I discovered about Vanuatu, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, southern of the hemisphere, relatively near Australia, if it has to be near anywhere. In fact, it is far from everywhere. Which gives it, in my eyes at least, a certain aura of mystery. There are plenty of fascinating tidbits to learn about Vanuatu, my favorite one is that it is a volcanic island. Now that makes it even more exotic and mysterious. Like the setting of some cheesy adventure movie. Being originally from the middle of nowhere myself, I feel a sort of kinship from remote places and this one fits the bill. And it is a volcanic island. A volcanic island. So now I know about Vanuatu. And even the name is cool.

Pele's Hair

I took this picture in my recent visit at the National History Museum. This is Pele's Hair, named after the Hawaiian goddess Pele. But in fact, it is a product of a volcano, volcanic glass to be precise. It is absolutely beautiful, looking like hair made of still fire. I am not the volcano buff in the family, the one who really had a fascination about them is my brother PJ. He made a presentation about them in primary school. That said, I do find the subject very interesting and I love the influence volcanoes had on mythologies around the world. I did not stay very long in this section of the museum, I was more interested about animal life than geology, but I am glad I took time to read about it and take a picture of Pele's hair.

Un volcan et un certain air de déjà vu

Je lis les nouvelles aujourd'hui, et je ne peux pas m'empêcher de penser à l'année dernière. À peine plus d'un an plus tard et un autre volcan islandais se met à faire des siennes. Ce sont grosso modo les mêmes nouvelles, les mêmes images, les mêmes chambardements... Mais ça n'arrive pas à moi. Pour faire changement, ce malheur-là arrive à d'autres voyageurs. Encore heureux que je n'aie pas pas choisi de prendre des vacances en mai!  

Quand même, quand j'étais enfant, mes frères et moi (surtout PJ) étions fascinés par les volcans. Comme par pleins d'autres trucs, mais les volcans ont fait l'objet d'une attention particulière. Ils étaient les lieux terrifiants de bien des jeux enfantins. Maintenant, ils font annuler les vols. Il n'y a pas à dire, ça les rend déjà plus banals.

Eyjafjallajokull, or The Beauty of the Beast

Sorry for this upcoming, unvoluntary and pretty lazy Biblical reference and for stressing my current situation again, but the Eyjafjallajokull is the name of the beast. I am of course talking about the nasty volcano that is keeping us here. A mouthful, which I don't think I could pronounce it actually (copy/paste is useful in many ways). Not so long ago, I was reading (or rereading) Viking mythology, which I blogged about. According to Vikings, the world had been created when fire and ice met. I think I know now where the idea came from, and also how a culture that had a Hell that was artic cold and full of ice had nevertheless fire giants among the enemies of the gods. Surtr and the others must have been born from chance encounters of Vikings with volcanoes. Well, I am not the first one who thought of that. Of course, other civilisations might have come up with their own development into myths of volcanic activities. For the Vikings, such display of fire and ashes in their cold climate must have been even more terrifying.

I have to say, however, that from the pictures and videos I saw of Eyjafjallajokull, it is quite impressive, even beautiful. Volcanoes, like cats, have the grace and nobility of predatorial beasts.

No Journey Into Apocalypse

I think I got this title from Ian Fleming, "Journey into Apocalypse" was the title of one of the chapters of one of his Bond novels, but I can't remember which book exactly. Anyway, today I was supposed to leave Montreal for England. Well, something happened that changed our plans. A volcano got temperamental. So as I said earlier in a French post, we are stranded here because of a volcanic eruption. In Iceland, of all places. One would assume that volcanoes erupt only in the tropics, today's events reminded us that

My wife and I spent the day in a daze, being not quite here but not quite there, and also of course because of the spectacular way nature asserted its power over us. People call such an event an "act of God". As a Godless man of the existentialist kind, I consider such event as absurd, showing a blind but overwhelming force that shatters human plans with violence, yet without rhyme or reason. Still, they are utterly terrifying.

So we will miss England for a few more days. We will also miss the colours of sunset, which the volcano was supposed to make particularly bright. Like Hellfire? The comparison comes automatically to my mind. But I will not see it. I often miss displays of Apocalypse. By that I mean that I witness them from afar, but I am never part of it. I missed 9/11 by then days or so and when I travelled to England later, it was in a plane empty and silent like a graveyard. my wife and I were in Montreal when 7/7 happened. This time will be the same, although we are experiencing the strength of the volcano, even as far as here.

Sur le plancher des vaches...

Alors que l'on s'apprêtait à quitter Montréal avec regret, des circonstances de force majeure nous forcent à rester un peu plus longtemps ici. Nous prolongeons donc nos vacances, même si nous ne sommes plus dans un esprit vacancier. C'est ce qui me frustre le plus dans toute cette aventure (enfin, "aventure", elle se caractérise par une certaine inaction): lorsqu'on a l'esprit à retourner au quotidien, lorsqu'on se résigne à la fin de nos vacances, le congé prolongé n'a rien de plaisant.

Tout de même, se faire annuler un vol à cause d'un volcan, ça donne le vertige. Toute frustration mise à part, il faut admettre qu'on se sent bien impuissant face à pareille manifestation de l'absurdité des forces naturelles. Quand j'aurai digéré le contretemps, j'essaierai de pondre un billet existentialiste là dessus.

Petite anecdote en guise de conclusion: mon petit frère a déjà eu une fascination toute geekesque pour les volcans.