Vacation End, Regular Life Resumes

2020-08-15Uncategorized Standard

[Photos taken 15 – 31 August 2020, posted online 07 February 2021. Starting to notice daylight is stretching longer. Still no precipitation.]

We met up with friends at house #2 for the last weekend of the summer vacation, and then “returned” to work. Well Finnur did, but my desk got shut down due as it was closer than 2 m to the next person, so back to the front room I went, and tried to turn my brain back on…

Besides trying to boot up the brain, we finally caved in and got some wood staining done. Sport practices also began in earnest, while Covid simmered. (90-ish images total)

Saturday 15 August 2020

Back by house #2. There was a most impressive cloud bank sitting on top of the mountains.
Anna drove my car up there, so I could take a photo in the tunnels under Hvalfjörður. Since then, they’ve added reflectors to either side of the road, which is so much better.
Looking over the fjord.
Borgarnes town off in the distance.
Driving past Hafnarfjall-mountian shrouded in clouds.
Somebody from continental Europe once told me it was disorienting that our mountains don’t have trees, because in his mind that meant you were at great elevation… not basically at sea level.
Ominous.
The view when you take a right instead of going into Borgarnes town.
Rocks, rocks, everywhere.
I hopped out by the gate to take a picture of the random football field.
People with horses went by!
House #2 in HDR.
Tea-time with waffles!

Sunday 16 August 2020

More food!
The weather was set to “gorgeous” again, and the boys hung out on the trampoline for a bit.
Boomerang gif… the backflip is the true jump 🙂
The berries were beginning to look very good!
The older girls at departure time.
Raggi.
Agnes.
Bjarki.
Bjarki posing.
Attempt at sibling photo.
It went swimmingly!
My brother Bjarni was hanging out on the other side of the lake with Spori the dog and his girlfriend. We stopped by with a few things that had gotten left behind.
Goodbye country-side!

Monday 17 August 2020

It seems to be written in the clouds that Finnur’s dad’s birthday always has excellent weather! They held a small gathering to celebrate!

Tuesday 18 August 2020

Anna found the puppy-punctures in the watering hose. We ended up with two shorter hoses.
Inspired by our neighbor, I decided there was no avoiding staining the woodwork any more, so I hauled out the gear.
Half-way done with the balcony front.

Wednesday 19 August 2020

After suffering on this too-small Ikea chair for too long, I finally caved in and bought a decent office chair.
Well, hello there! Thank you for saving my behind!
Random photo of a project Bjarki made at school years ago.
Anna helping to make dinner. I’ve not been nearly good enough about hauling her into the kitchen to cook, and it doesn’t help that she’s wildly sensitive to cut onions.
She keeps baking up a storm though!
Post-dinner walk around the hood.

Thursday 20 August 2020

We went to the store so Anna could by her textbooks for school. Due to covid you took a number, showed the assistant your list, and picked the books up at a another table. Usually this area is crawling with people.
Waiting patiently.
At this point in time, only workers in “close proximity” to their clients were being asked to wear masks. I managed to get a hair cut.

Friday 21 August 2020

The veggies were still going quite strong.
We finally had some broccoli buds. If only we’d managed to plant them a little earlier…
As this looked like the last weekend for wood-staining, we split forces… I stayed home with the kids while Finnur went to house #2 to get some staining done there. This is the cleared deck, as I needed to wash it before staining.

Saturday 22 August 2020

Driving downtown to visit the library, we saw this cruise ship lounging outside the harbor. It stayed there for a few days.
It’s called Le Bellot, and it looked pretty nice!
I dragged Anna into the art museum next door to the library where a showing of Gilbert & George had recently opened.
Wondering what to make of the slight madness. I’ll spare you the butt-hole images.
I don’t know how they installed this but several walls were covered with lines that had the word “fuck” in them.
Charmingly coarse.
Yes, several walls.
I believe that’s called attention to detail.
We made a quick pit-stop at Pétur’s and Signý’s to say hi to their new kitten. The no-pet family is suddenly pets-everywhere!
Tiny, but gorgeous.
At home I could await my fate no longer, and got going on my task. The balcony floor was in dire need of staining, but the last time we did it, the entire white wall ended splashed with gunk. I really like these plastic paint covers, with paint-tape on one side.
Off we go…
All done at 9:30 in the evening.

Sunday 23 August 2020

I got going well before noon, as apparently it’s not a great idea to stain in direct sunlight.
All done (in mirror selfie land) by 2 pm. Freedom!

Monday 24 August 2020

I went out for a jog after sitting on my butt for work the whole day.
Kópavogur on the left, Reykjavik on the right.
Veggie survey.

Tuesday 25 August 2020

Emma’s first day of school as a second grader. I walked her there, watched her walk into the building, and then headed home, as no parents were allowed in the building due to Covid. It was a bit weird.
Always a good sign, not.
I decided to clean the underside of the BBQ, it needed it.
Oh look, you can see the bottom!

Wednesday 26 August 2020

The gyms remained open, but only just. That’s me post rowing 1500 m.
Emma requested to try attending ice-skating practices. She there on the bleachers warming up.
Walking with a subset of the sewing club after having dinner at a restaurant. Gasp!

Thursday 27 Agust 2020

The day’s big project was getting my hands on a bunch of 500 kr bills to use as birthday presents for Emma’s classroom birthdays, as agreed to by all the parents.
She was invited to a 11-fold birthday party, as no party had been held in eons.
The party was super cool!
I made it to the gym again, which was overflowing in sanitizers.

Friday 28 August 2020

Another jogging session.
Finnur had things to do up at house #2, but the kids weren’t interested in going, so I remained in town with them. Sushi for dinner!
They cleverly also serve decadent desserts.

Saturday 29 August 2020

Emma went to her first formal ice-skating practice, and I was surprised by how many parents were hanging out inside the building. It was quite a crowd.
With Anna going to and from her school 1-2 times per day as classes were being held on site and remotely we decided to buy an electric bike with her. We went to a few stores to see what they had on stock.
After a library-stop, Anna waited for Emma to put her shoes on outside the library at the Kringlan mall.
The light was nice so I grabbed the nice camera for a bit.
Never a dull moment! That afternoon I decided to drive up to house #2 to join Finnur and some friends, while Anna held up the fort.

Sunday 30 August 2020

Adults only day at house #2.
There are a ton of roses behind the house!
The shrubbery out front was in bloom.
I decided it was now or never to pick the berries to make jam.
Juicy!

Monday 31 Augustu 2020

Yay, the new bike was ready!!
I took Emma to gymnastics practice, and again the house was crawling with parents. Not long after, parents were banned from entering with the children.
The covid-19 situation at the end of August was “cautiously optimistic” but two weeks later 2-3 super-spreader events plunged us into wave #3.