Lögberg-Heimskringla - 20.05.1994, Blaðsíða 1

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neimsKringia
The lcelandic Weekly
Lögberg Stofnað 14. janúar 1888 Heimskringla Stofnaö 9. september 1886
ln$ide this week:
Farewell to the Leslie elevators.......2
Einar's Anecdotes......................3
In Response to the Unitarian Split..4, 5
ísafjorður avalanche brings death.......6
Children's Corner......................7
108. Árgangur Föstudagur 20. maí 1994
108th Year_________Publications Mail Registration No. 1667_____________Friday, 20 May 1994
Númer 18
Number 18
lcelandic
News
Trees for export:
■ A tree farm in Hveragerði is about to
ship 11,000 young trees to the Faroe
Islands. According to Jóhann ísleifsson,
the owner of the tree farm, it is mainly birch
and fir whích the Faroe Islanders are inter-
ested in. The farm also exports some spe-
cially grown trees to the Faroe Islands, such
as varíeties from the southem tip of Chile
which have done well in the Faroe Islands.
Thís venture has been very successful and
has become an annual spring event for the
last fouryears at the tree farm.
Prince Charles
Honours
Orri Vigfússon:
■ Britain’s Prince Charles (right) has
honoured salmon-preservation activist, Orri
Vigfússon (left), and the' North Atlantic
Salmon Trust, for their conservation efforts
at an honourary reception in St. James's
Palace. The Prínce of Wales cited Vigfússon
for his inítiative in establishing the trust,
which over the past five years has success-
fully put a halt to at-sea fishing of salmon
by purchasing quotas from the Faroe
Islanders and Greenlanders and helped
bring about a ban on such activity by ves-
sels flying flags of convenience in intema-
tional waters. The Prince presented Orri
with an honorary statue on behalf of the
UK's Salmon and Trout Association and the
Atlantic Salmon Trust. The Prince is an avid
salmon angler and has spent considerable
time fishing ín lceland. About I00 people
connected to the trust's efforts were invited
to the reception at St. James's Palace from
countries such as Canada, Britain, Ireland,
Russia and the Scandinavian countries.
Sources at the lcelandic embassy in
London said the Prince's decision to hold
the reception in his private palace was a
rare honour reserved {or individuals or
groups whose activities were particularly
nearanddeartohim.
OUNNU/t ISFELD
—
mmmmz
liiiii
.
■

I
By Gunnur Isfeld
It was Tuesday, May 10, 3
pm. My husband Ingthor
dashed in through the
door and said it was time to
saddle up and go to Lang-
ruth. We had an invitation to
visit with Guðrún and Gor-
don Mclnnes for a couple of
days on their hobby farm by
Lake Manitoba, east of
Langruth, and he could not
tum down such an offer.
This was the day of the
solar eclipse, but with a
cloudy sky there was no dan-
ger of eye damage. The temp-
erature was perfect for trav-
elling and with Sigrún
Eðvaldsdóttir and the
Icelandic male voice choir
“Heimir” on the tape, it
couldn’t have been better.
Langmth is a village locat-
ed a few miles west of Lake
Manitoba. What makes it
special to us is that this is
where we first lived after
emigrating from Iceland
umpteen years ago. We have
always counted ourselves
fortunate to come to such a
good place as Langruth.
When we arrived there in the
50’s, the town was bigger
than it is today. The highway
ran through town and was
lined with a number of busi-
nesses such as, two grocery
stores, a hardware store, an
impliment dealer, a bank, a
hairdresser, hotel, bus stop
and café and a dress shop
(open on request). Bonnie
Bjarnason was the local
nurse who gave me advice
on childcare in Icelandic,
drove patients to the hospi-
tal, and delivered babies in
her own home. It seemed to
me at that time, that Lang-
ruth had an abundance of
strong minded women, who
could have mn an army, but
somehow ended up there
instead and ran a town, with
all respect for the men who
were no slouches either.
Langruth also had two
churches, a Lutheran and a
United Church.
n added convenience
for an immigrant
from Iceland was the
fact that there was an
Icelandic speaking person in
almost every business. We
enjoyed thoroughly convers-
ing with the decendants of
the Icelandic settlers, who
spoke surprisingly good
Icelandic. At times we could
even tell from their accent
from which part of Iceland
their parents had come. As
could be expected they had
added English words where
no Icelandic words existed
when their ancestors left
Iceland. At times this sound-
ed veiy funny to us, such as
when they spoke of “að fara
á sjó” (to go to a show),
while in Eastern Icelandic
that means to “go fishing” or
“go out to sea”.
owever, it was diffi-
cult for us to under-
stand why Icelanders
had settled on the prairie,
where there is nothing which
reminds you of the old coun-
try. One of our greatest
amazements was that here
people drove around in large
American cars to fetch water
from the well. We were used
to lots of mnning water but
no laige American cars.
But today there are fewer
businesses in town, however,
they have new waterworks in
town. This was a controver-
sial project like eveiy big and
costly project tends to be.
We arrived at Guðrún and
Gordon’s just before supper.
Guðrún had a roast in the
oven and the old farmhouse
smelled deliciously. We had
a wonderful time reminiscing
about old days and catching
up on new happenings. A big
upcomming event is the cen-
tennial of the Big Point set-
tlement. A celebration is
planned for July 2nd, just
east of Langruth at the Big
Point monument, with dedi-
cation of the monument and
other events. On July 3rd the
Lutheran Church will cele-
brate 65 years in the present
church with a special ser-
vice.
n Wednesday morn-
ing we drove around
Langmth and visited
with friends. Archie and
Sveina Johnson now live in a
roomy trailer in town, sur-
rounded by pictures of blond
and blue eyed grandchildren
and great grandchildren. It is
always nice to visit Sveina
and Archie and have a chat
with them, mostly in Ice-
landic, and with coffee and
ástarbollur on the table. We
also visited with Phillip
Thordarson and his wife and
their beautiful children.
Phillip farms on his family’s
homestead and was an
enthusiastic spokesman for
the waterworks. He took a
leading role in bringing this
progress to the town of
Langmth.
After driving to two of the
neighbouring towns, Ama-
ranth and Gladstone we
drove to the Big Point grave-
yard, where many of our for-
mer friends and church
members now rest. The sun
shone and the birds chirped.
It was a perfect end to a good
visit to Langmth, from where
we have so many bright
memories.
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