Iceland is a strange and wonderful and slightly scary place. The author John McPhee, in his fascinating book The Control of Nature, wrote that “…as in much of Iceland, it is not easy to differentiate between bad weather and a natural disaster.” A few years ago my husband and I went there for a big birthday trip, and McPhee’s insight was borne out…many times. Between the volcanoes and the glaciers and the wind and the rain, at times it felt perilous, but always exhilarating. It’s beautiful in a way that is unique to the place. We spent two weeks driving around in, what I liked to call, our abbreviated SUV. We traveled the ring road which, as one might guess, runs the circumference of the island. I have never seen such an incredible landscape, and we didn’t even make it into the interior. That’s really a whole different endeavor. All this to say that these photos by Marcel Musil really caught my eye. They have happily made the rounds online, I first saw them on Flavorwire and just recently on Daily Icon, so if you’ve already seen them, please enjoy again.

Only a little bit of familiar information here to indicate what these are. I thought I was looking at photographs of newly discovered planets. Nope, these are Christopher Jonassen’s images of…worn out frying pans. He made a choice to edit out the rim and the handle, further removing them from context. From the insanely wonderful blog Feasting Never Stops.

I don’t remember any longer where I found these images. But, if I had to guess, I would say they were from Bibliodyssey. Regardless, I think everyone should pay them a visit.