Homebound Walks, Gardening & Schoolwork

2020-04-15Us Standard

[Photos from 15 -30 April 2020, posted online 18 October 2020. Bjarki and I spent all of last week at house #2, in quarantine, as a teacher at his school got Covid. On Friday he tested negative, along with all his teachers, so he’ll be returning to school on Monday. We’re knee-deep in Covid-wave #3, two weeks of rather strict restrictions are behind us (20 people max in a room, 2 m apart, salons, gyms, bars, etc closed) and have 2-4 weeks to go still.]

The second half of April was a mixed bag. Emma kept going to school and aftercare, which made our lives easier. The rest of us worked and learnt from home, and aside from that all I did was go on walks and garden apparently. As the days got longer, the kids began going out to play with other kids and Anna got her practice driver’s license, and we tried to remember to let her drive. (80 images total)

Wednesday 15 April 2020

Bjarki by the duck pond in our town. His photo school assignment for the day was to take pictures of three different types of birds. We got two types by putting food in our backyard, but when no more came, I drove Bjarki to the pond to complete the assignment.
One of the birds that visited our back yard, a redwing (skógarþröstur).
Also tempted by the food, a blackbird (svartþröstur) popped up.
The food in question… apple bits.
Anna taking a study break downstairs.
After dinner, I popped out for a quick walk, and saw Bjarki and a few friends playing football. Covid was on a clear downswing, but the older kids were still distance learning, and hardly meeting anybody.
Walking past the freshly completed and still under construction.
Almost murky, but bright considering it was after dinner.
Up by the Stupa.
Proof it was me.

Thursday 16 April 2020

I finally caved in, and agreed to install Java Minecraft on my computer, the only operational Windows machine in the house. Yes, those two still watch hours and hours of Minecraft videos on YouTube.
There was much rejoicing.
I went on a quick pre-dinner walk.
Officially sanctioned underpass art.
Walking past a school I passed a group of adults using the obstacle course there for gym practice, as all the usual gyms were closed.

Friday 17 April 2020

Anna had passed all the requirements needed for her practice drivers license so…
… off we went on a short drive!

Saturday 18 April 2020

It rained a bunch that day, but there was some GPS phone game event, so I went out for a bit of a walk.
The church that sits on the hill over our house. What are all those old parking meters doing there?!?
Thank goodness for a good raincoat!
I was still missing a thing or two from that GPS game, so I went out again later that night for a short circle around the neighborhood.
I really like these tree-like street-lights.
A Pokestop that I submitted to the mighty Niantic database.

Sunday 19 April 2020

I probably spent the day gardening, but when I got back inside, I found a bluetooth speaker in an unexpected spot.
Apparently, Anna was doing exercises and she wanted the music to come down from above. This kid is very clearly related to me. 😉
Emma posing.
Gaping at how much the tomato plants had grown. We killed them soon afterwards, they have such a strong smell, and we weren’t sure how big they’d get as Anna just threw some seeds into the pots.
Facedown Emma.

Monday 20 April 2020

Poor Anna, clinging on to the last shreds of her sanity as she listens to yet another distanced lecture. I’d give her the Ikea chair I bought for myself, since I didn’t find it very comfortable, and she was thrilled to be able to lean back.
Bjarki’s gymnastics trainers were pretty good about putting up exercises online, but getting Bjarki to actually do them was a bit of a challenge. So they offered a zoom practice or two which were slightly more motivating.
Yet another post-work-walk up the hill. Spring was definitely in the air!
A path amongst the small trees.
No lines.
A little further on I came upon a heap of tree cuttings.
Proof it was me and quite warm outside.

Tuesday 21 April 2020

Anna about to slide off the chair at 3pm, as school was finally ending for the day.
For a little pick-us-up we went on a drive to say hello through the windows to the grandparents.
Friendly window faces at the west end of town.
Since we were right by Nökkvi and Jóhanna’s place, we waved at them tool
Everybody and their uncle out and about.
Finnur bought himself a new gadget, a deep frying pot.
Fish and chips, baby!
Mmmm… yummy!

Wednesday 22 April 2020

The day’s photo project for Bjarki’s class was to walk up the “Stairway to Heaven” (Himnastiginn) and count the steps.
It’s a lot of steps!
207 (I think) steps later.
Bjarki got to work hard that day, later on it was hand-stand time!

Thursday 23 April 2020

Oh look, another walk.
Found some green trees!
Approaching our house, I was reminded of the weedy outer-side of our fence. I made a mental note to try and not forget that side like every single year since we’d moved in.
We spring firmly in control of the weather, we deemed it safe to take the studded tires off of the bikes.
Bjarki’s bike is somehow the easiest to work on.

Friday 24 April 2020

Anna’d clearly gotten infected with an attack of Green Fingers, and was all gung-ho for planting things.
Our backyard has looked a bit barren since I had a nasty stringy brush removed, so we bought a plant to fill a hole.
Here’s hoping it’ll thrive.
Proving just how hardy the Icelandic birch is, almost all the little younglings that got left outside over the winter survived!

Saturday 25 April 2020

Spring blooms!
The social calendar was completely empty, so there was nothing better to do in the lovely weather than work on the garden.
Most of the leaves gone. I always feel bad for removing the food for the plants, but ugh, it just becomes a mess.
Finnur was a champ and took bags, new and old, to the recycling center.
Bjarki excavated a kite from the garage, and after scratching our heads for a bit, they got it to fly.
Anna’s bread, from a recipe by Sarah. So good!
I decided to attack the roses in the yard, and cut away a ridiculous number of dead branches.

Sunday 26 April 2020

By the end of April, covid cases had dropped dramatically, and we were on a clear downward path. People began feeling more free to be out and about, and the spring weather helped. Here’s a covid-distanced cafe.
The walking/biking path along the seaside in Hafnarfjörður is a big success.
The other direction.
The back yard looking relatively tidy. I am miffed thought that the last time I got a firm to cut the bushes, they didn’t listen and cut them way down, so now they’re all tiny. It’ll take a while to get them growing again.
A lovely day indeed!
My home-lunch for oh so many days.
Anna feeling adventurous!
Making smores!
Oh look, another rose in need of a dead-branch removal!
Brandishing home made water-guns.
Finnur’s big achievement was tidying up the random-crap area next to our house.
The hot tub is useful after a long day working in the yard. Finnur commissioned this photo to send to his colleagues as an example of his home working conditions. 😉

Monday 27 April 2020

Bjarki loooves sugar with every fiber of his being. He was thrilled there was still a marshmallow left.
The kite still going strong.

Tuesday 28 April 2020

One of Bjarki’s homework assignments was to decipher washing instructions.
Another assignment was to go out and take photos of bugs.
Finnur decided it was time to clean old stuff out of the deep-freezer. He found a bunch of lobsters!

Wednesday 29 April 2020

Sun still pretty high in the sky at 20 minutes past 8 in the evening.
Emma playing with random kids.
Teams being picked for soccer. I’m pretty sure that by that time, and head epidemiologist had started hinting that the kids weren’t spreading covid so much amongst themselves. Adults were infecting kids, but kids didn’t seem to be infecting adults.

Thursday 30 April 2020

On a darker note, we spotted a hovering helicopter close by, and the call went out on Facebook that the police were searching for an unknown attacker that had attacked a kid a little higher up the hill. Not much later the search was called off when it transpired that a second kid had attacked the first (with a knife?) but had made up a story of an unknown attacker. Yes, sadly, carrying knifes apparently became a bit of a fad that winter, and they got stupidly used. We’re hoping the kids in question both got all the help they needed.

… and thus ended April 2020.