February 1997 Fálkinn, the ICCT Newsletter

37th Year, Number 3

VISIT TO ICELAND

8:00 p.m. Wednesday, February 19th Unitarian Hall, 175 St. Clair Ave. W.
Join us on a visit to Iceland....

• John and Ellen (Sigurdson) Gilmore share memories of a family voyage of discovery. Their three daughters, along with her brother and his wife, joined them on their first-time exploration of their roots. They voyaged to the north and through the centre, as well as seeking out long-lost relatives.
• Michael O'Brien, Literary Manager of the Young People's Theatre, journeyed to Iceland to do research for a play about the Norse settlement of North America in the year 1000 ... hear his unique perspective of the country and see it in his fascinating video.
• Jon Asgeirsson, past president of the Icelandic International League, will be on hand with information about tourism in Iceland, including prices and types of accommodation available.

Videos - we have a video of the recent Vatnajokull eruption, as well as the latest tourist video, Iceland in a Nutshell.

Members $4.00; Non-Members $5.00    Coffee and refreshments to follow

BY TTC: Yonge subway to St. Clair Station; St. Clair West #512 bus to Avenue Rd., walk west 1/4 block
FROM 401: Avenue Rd. south from 401 (take Oriole Parkway to get around UCC); turn right on St. Clair
FROM GARDINER EXPRESSWAY: York north to University; Queen's Park Circle, Avenue Road, turn left at St. Clair.
PARKING: Lot across the street; small lot on east side of church; also street parking on adjacent streets.

Thorrablot is coming ...

Saturday, April 12th
Location: North York Memorial Hall,
5110 Yonge St.
Time: Drinks 6:30 p.m., Dinner 7:30 p.m.

Hey kids! Wanna go to camp IN SUNNY MANITOBA?
Ask your mom or dad to fill out the application form in the Newsletter

Happy New Year to one and all!

After a very successful 1996, the members of the executive of the ICCT are looking forward to an even more exciting 1997.

This is the year that we have many visitors from Iceland as part of the Northern Encounters arts festival (see Page 8 for more details). We also have many interesting events in the planning stages including our Thorrablot on April 12th - a chance for us all to get together in a party atmosphere.

In addition, this is the year for elections - both Federal AND in the ICCT. A new slate of officers will take over in May, and it isn't too early for you to begin thinking about whether you might like to be included in their number.

During the last two years, we have not had a representative of the later arrivals - those who have come from Iceland recently - and we hope that someone from that community will step forward to fill that particular gap. So, during these long cold winter nights, give some thought to your future in the Icelandic community and whether one of the challenges you would like to take on this year is making a difference in your club.

PROFILE-ELLEN & JOHN GILMORE, DIRECTORS-AT-LARGE

Husband and wife teams have traditionally brought many skills and interests to the ICCT executive and the newest pair, John and Ellen Gilmore of Thornhill, are no exception. They met at the University of Manitoba, were married in the Icelandic Lutheran Church in Winnipeg, and are both recently retired professionals; Ellen as an operating nurse with the Shouldice Hospital and John as Director and Chief Engineer, North York Hydro. They have five children and eleven grandchildren.

Ellen, nee Sigurdson, has vivid memories of an Icelandic childhood on the family farm Bergstodum in the Minerva district near Gimli. Both sets of grandparents emigrated to Manitoba around the turn of the century; the Sigurdsons and her maternal grand-parents, Bjorg and Sveinbjorn Vigfusson Holm, all came from the northeastern part of Iceland, and settled near Husavick, Manitoba. Ellen is the daughter of Hilda and Bjorn Sigurdson of Husavick, her birthplace. In her childhood, her Amma Sigurdson showed her how to spin the beautiful soft Icelandic wool and her Afi taught her how to knit with it.

Ellen's interest in becoming active in the ICCT was stimulated about 2 years ago when her sister Irene Chanin met Don Gislason at an INL meeting in Selkirk. Irene was already involved as a past president of the Hekla Club of Minneapolis. The Gilmores' interest in her Icelandic roots developed further when they, with their three daughters and her brother Raymond Sigurdson and his wife Alma of Gimli, visited Iceland last June. It was a happy trip with many highlights including gatherings with relatives, a visit to Light Nights, an Icelandic Theatre production where sagas were performed in English, and the purchase of a print for their home by the Icelandic artist Kjarval.

Such a lovingly remembered background will bring dedication from this couple and we welcome them.

COMING EVENTS:

• Wednesday, February 19th - 8:00 p.m. Unitarian Hall
  Iceland from a tourist point of view (see front page)
• Wednesday, March 19th - 8:00 p.m. Unitarian Hall
  Our heritage in words and music - a potpourri of poetry, play readings and music. Call Eric at 762-8627 if you would like to be part of the program.
• Saturday, April 12th - 6:30 p.m. North York Memorial Hall
  Thorrablot - our annual Dinner-Dance featuring Icelandic foods. Be sure to mark this on your calendar!
• April 25, 26, 27 INL Annual Convention - in Calgary this year.
• Tuesday, May 20th - 8:00 p.m. Annual General Meeting
  Includes Election of Officers - your chance to get involved!
• Whole month of June
  Northern Encounters features a whole range of events with artists from Iceland as well as other northern countries (See article P.8)

OTHER EVENTS OF INTEREST:

• March 9 Scandinavian Club Spring/Easter Craft Decorations
  3:00 p.m. Call Gunilla at 422-2666 for more information.
• April "Iceland - Europe's Wild Gem" to be screened with live commentary by film-makers John and Denice Wilkins at various locations in Ontario - watch for details of dates and places.

THANKS TO...

The whole executive for their efforts to make the recital by Nina-Margret Grimsdottir such a financial and artistic success. Special thanks to Leah Salt and her friend Gabe for the beautiful poster design, and to J. Baldur Steen for the great program design, and to Lynn Nicolai who did a great job on promotion. And we must mention all the club members who contributed treats to the reception - well done!

Jo-Ann Brignoly, Helga Torsteinsdottir and Leah Salt for the marvellous organization of the Christmas party. Our gratitude to Don Matheson, who filled in at short notice as our accompanist, and to SANTA CLAUS (Paul White), who arrived just in time to take notes of everyone's Christmas wishes, as well as to Carol Karlsdottir McGirr, who once again did a great job on the Jolisveinner story. . John and Ellen Gilmore, who filled in as Treasurers while Irene and Jim Gibson took a well-deserved holiday. .
Larry & Coleen Sigmundson, who hosted a combined Mailing/Newcomers Party in Oakville for this issue.

WELCOME TO:

NEW MEMBERS:

Doug Crawford of Thunder Bay.

Christopher Morden of Toronto.

Nicholas and Christopher Sidlar of St. Catharines.

Elise and Erica Davidson of Kitchener.

Kelly Carson of Brockville.

Sal and Rakel Birgisdottir Calabrese and sons Stefan (almost 3) Conrad (6 months).

Peter Fox of Weston

WELCOME BACK TO:

Tom and Adrienne Einarson who have returned from a 6 month sabbatical in Sweden. Tom, who is a Past President of the club, reported that it was a very interesting time, except for the record-setting month of January 1996 when they only got 4 hours of sunshine!

MOVES:

David and Sandra Scarth are pulling up stakes and moving to Victoria, where they will be in semi-retirement, continuing to do some consulting work. David, a recent Past President of the club, has been our Ontario INL Representative this past year. Thanks, David - we wish you well.

Ken and Joanne Ahronson have relocated from Pembroke to the Ottawa area. He has been transferred by Algonquin College to their Woodroffe Campus as a Professor of Social Science.

MILESTONES:

Douglas Laxdal and Nancy Campbell tied the knot September 20th at their home in Toronto, followed by a reception at a favourite restaurant. Earlier, they had a large party in Winnipeg - it included a reunion of ten members of his dad's family who are spread throughout the west, especially in small towns in Saskatchewan. Doug runs Graphic Art Services for a Better Tomorrow, (The GAS Company) which contributed all the picture scanning for this issue of the newsletter.(paper version)

Lauren Kayla Bell was an impatient baby, and arrived prematurely on August 13th, weighing only 1 lb. 7 1/2 oz. She is doing well, after having a feeding tube inserted into her tummy in January. She is a first child for Jamie and Tara (Gingrich) Bell of Aurora, and a first great-grandchild for Isabel (Einarson) Gordon, originally from Rosseau.

Lauren's cousin, Kelly Dale Gingrich, arrived just after she did, on August 29th, weighing 6 lbs. 3 oz. Also a first child, her parents are Scott and Jennifer Gingrich of Waterloo.

Jonathon Glenn joined the club on November 4th, weighing in at 10 lbs. 1 oz. Proud parents are Glen and Norma (Dietrich) Akerley; Jonathon's sister Christine (3 1/2) is very pleased with the new addition to the family.

Katherine Elizabeth made her appearance on October 30th, a first child for Leslie White and Ed Cass. This 7 lb. wonder is the fourth grandchild for Marilyn (Hurst) and Paul White, and is keeping Amma very busy!

PASSINGS:

ELSA ÞORDARDOTTIR(TEITSSON)FIORINI-HAMILTON
(Reykjavik Feb. 3/49 - Southampton, ON Aug. 28/96)

Elsa was the daughter of Ingibjorg Eliasdottir and Þordur Teitsson, who moved to Vancouver in 1957 with four of their children. She is survived by her daughters Elisa and Juli Fiorini, her second husband Robert Hamilton, and her brothers and sisters, Oli, Anna, Ingo, Helga, and Gunnar Þor.

IRENE (EINARSON) COOLEY
Sylvia was born in 1920 in Hekla, Ontario to Florence and Einar Einarson. She went to school at Hekla and Rosseau, and married Cliff Cooley in 1938; they lived in North Bay. They had eight children, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She passed away on Boxing Day, 1996. Club members will remember her from last year's Þorrablot, when she bought her brother Ben Einarson's beautiful blanket box. Another connection to the club is her niece, Past President Pat Stephens.

NEW DONATIONS TO THE LIBRARY:

From Joe Martin:
A History of the Old Icelandic Commonwealth
Book of Settlements Icelanders in Canada
Saskatchewan Icelanders
Iceland and its Manuscripts (booklet)

From Sigga Moore:
Gentle Sinners
The Girl With the Botticelli Face
Bloodflowers In the Gutting Shed (all these by W.D. Valgardson)

From Marilyn (Frederickson):
Peppiatt Islensk List Fra Fyrri Oldum Eldjarn, Kristjan
The Northward Course of Empire Stefansson, Vilhjalmur
The Icelanders in Canada Lindal, Walter J.
Saga Islendinga i Vesturheimi Þorsteinsson, Þorsteinn P.
Island vid Aldahvorf Mayer, Auguste
Surtsey - Eyjan Nyja i Atlantshafi Þorarinsson, Sigurdur

Records:
78 rpm  Upp Til Fjalla og Mansongur - M.A. Kvartettinn & Bjarni Þordarson
78 rpm Heimir og Mamma - Gudmundur Jonsson & Fritz Weisshappel
78 rpm Bi, Bi og Blaka og Sava tid Hana Systur Mina
78 rpm Kirkjuhvoll og Amma Raulari Rokkrinu - Stefan Island & Fritz Weisshappel
33 1/3 rpm More Folk Songs from Iceland - Savanna Trio

From Emil Bjarnason:
Eirik's Saga Rauda og Granlendinga Saga Translated by Emil Bjarnason

OUR THANKS TO ALL THESE DONORS!
To borrow any books from the library, call Kathleen at 449-6737

GEMINI AWARD NOMINATIONS INCLUDE STURLA GUNNARSSON'S TV MOVIE

Diana Kilmury - Teamster has garnered a Gemini Award nomination as best TV Movie of 1996 for club member Sturla Gunnarsson, who directed the film. It tells the story of a feisty female truck driver who became the Vice President of the Teamster's Union against all odds, and was telecast on CBC-TV. The movie's writer, male lead and female lead are also nominees in their categories.

My Life as a Dog, the TV series which was shot in Gimli (we screened two episodes last year),is also in the running. Callum Keith Rennie was nominated as Best Performer in a Children's or Youth Program or Series.

FALKINN LOGO:

In earlier editions, we mentioned that Tom Bjarnason designed our Falkinn logo - well, it turns out that Tom did not in fact design it - he simply adapted it for use on posters, T-shirts, Honorary Member Citations and other items. He wonders who did in fact design it, and so do we. Does anyone in the club know?
Call Gail at (416) 762-8627 if you do.

VINARTERTA LYRICS CONTEST

Those of you who were at Thorrablot last year may remember that we introduced a new custom - the bringing in of the Vinarterta to appropriate music. All we are lacking are lyrics - and we are challenging our members to come up with them! The music we used last year was Handel's Messiah - the Hallelujah Chorus - but we are open to other suggestions for music. We have found something very appropriate as a prize - a print of one of artist Katrina Anderson Koven's "Vinarterta Ladies" (a series of original works of art, each of which reflects some aspect of vinarterta). The deadline for submissions is March 15th - so let's hear from you!
Send to: Gail Einarson-McCleery, 84 Morningside Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M6S 1C9.

ICELANDIC CLASSES - WINTER SESSION

We have a new Beginner's class starting - and a new teacher! Katrin Jonsdottir is a student who has just arrived from Iceland to study languages here - she is starting with Spanish and also wants to practice her French and learn German. In the meantime, she is going to help us out with Beginners classes -

Wednesdays, starting February 26th, 7:30 p.m., location TBA. Intermediate classes continue - Katrin has also take over Brandur Olafsson's class, as Brandur's work load is too heavy, and they now meet alternate Tuesdays at 7:30p.m. Gudrun Girgis' class is meeting Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.

Cost for all classes (6 sessions) is $25 for members; $30 for non-members.

Call Gail at (416) 762-8627 if you are interested in learning the language. If you would like to learn, but are unable to get to class, we also have language tapes and books available.

EARTHQUAKE SHAKES THE REYKJANES RIDGE

An earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale shook an area of coastal shelf known as the Reykjanes Ridge, 250 km off the southwest tip of southwest Iceland on January 7, 1997. Scientists detected the tremor between 11 am - 12 noon. One expert said that it is a long time since a quake as large as the one measured yesterday had occurred in this region.

As of January 19, there has been no further activity to report. This is leaving scientists to believe this larger than usual activity to be isolated, and posing no immediate threat.

MISCELLANY

If you would like, the weather forecast for Reykjavik the weekend of January 18-19 was Saturday 0, Sunday -1, degrees Celsius. (in Toronto it was Saturday -20, Sunday -9).

The current bank exchange rate as of Friday, January 17, was 49.5 Kroner per Canadian Dollar.

LINKS WITH ICELAND - INTERNET & RADIO

The Icelandic Embassy in Washington has passed on information about how to get news from Iceland.

INTERNET NEWSCASTS:

The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service sends out newscasts in Icelandic. You must download Real Audio software and your computer must have sound capability. The address is http://this.is/ruv/.
Iceland Review has news and other information in English at http://www.centrum.is/icerev

E-MAIL NEWS:

A daily summary of the news from the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service in Icelandic is available by subscription through e-mail by contacting help.desk@skima.is
They also have a home page. The URL address for it is: http://www.ruv.is/english/index.html

SHORT WAVE RADIO BROADCASTS (In Icelandic):

Winter (EST)         Summer (EDT)       Frequencies:
9:10-9:40 AM       10:10-10:40 AM    11.400 kHz & 13.860 kHz
2:35-3:10 PM        3:35-4:10 PM        11.400 kHz & 13.860 kHz
6:00-6:35 PM        7:00-7:35 PM        11.400 kHz & 9.275 kHz

The higher frequencies are better for long distances and during daytime, but the lower frequencies are better for shorter distances and during the evening. It may be necessary to use an outdoor antenna, such as a simple wire, 20 - 25 feet long.

If you can hear the broadcasts in your location, the Embassy would appreciate you letting them know - their e-mail address is icemb.wash@utn.stjr.is. Their URL is http://www.iceland.org

ICELANDIC CANADIAN HOME PAGES

The Icelandic National League web site is located at: http://www.helix.net/~rasgeirs/
The Icelandic Canadian Club of B.C. is at: http://www.helix.net/~rasgeirs/ICCBC/Welcome.html
Our ICCT Website is at: http://www.inforamp.net/~siggy Now: icct.info

All these websites have links to other Icelandic and North American Icelandic sites of interest. Happy surfing!!

BILL EGGERTSON MENSA CANADA NEW PRESIDENT

Bill Eggertson, Mensa Canada's new president, is one of the smartest people in Ontario according a recent article by Ruth Dunley for Southam Newspapers. In her article, Dunley reports that Mensa is a world-wide organization and has a membership policy that is based on IQ level. To be a member the applicant must write an IQ test. Successful candidates have an intelligence quotient found only in the top 2% of the world's population. There are about 100,000 members world wide at this time.

The Southam report further revealed a modest side to Bill Eggertson, now 44. He was very good at concealing his exceptional IQ level. Apparently, his wife did not know that he was one of Ontario's smartest men. He did not want to be branded as some sort of "geekhead", as he puts it.

Eggertson is a very Icelandic name and no mention was made in the article about him being of Icelandic background. When asked if he had Icelandic roots, his reply was as follows:

As the new president of Mensa Canada, Mr. Eggertson has some fine visions for its future. In the Southam article he reveals that he wants "to see Mensa changed into something of a more positive thing for Canadians. We want to bring in as many of the intelligent people of Canada as possible and start doing something intelligent. To have all that collective IQ in a room and not do anything with it is a cardinal sin, as far as I'm concerned."

(Bill Eggertson's parents, Ed and Margaret Eggertson of Burlington, are members of the ICCT. Bill lives in Ottawa)

LOGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA

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