November Walks, Workouts, & Bakes

2020-11-01Us Standard

[Photos taken 01 – 13 November 2020, posted online 25 April 2021. Spring and Covid wave #4 (still mild) are upon us, as a small fraction of travelers from abroad continue to disregard quarantine instructions. It’s enough a problem that parliament just passed laws to force travelers from certain areas into quarantine-hotels for 5 days. Thankfully vaccinations are ongoing, with 97.5% of 80+ year olds fully vaccinated, almost all 70+ year old have at least one shot, and we’re on to the 60000 people with ‘underlying health issues’.]

November began with covid restrictions tuned up pretty high, as wave #3 stubbornly stuck around, and big spreading events kept popping up. It was yet another month where almost all the photos I took were from a walk or a jog. Pretty depressing in retrospect but at least the weather co-operated. (65-ish images)

Sunday 01 November 2020

November was very much this, paths and tunnels to nowhere.
Icelanders are getting more and more into the Halloween spirit.
The authorities had banned all sports, including golf, as people touch the same spots, so a walk through the golf course on the other side of our hill was in order. It has a pretty pond.
Surveying. The walkway was borderline frozen in spots, which made walking a little bit more exciting than anticipated.
November-Hrefna.
A nice circuit.
There’s been so much Covid-baking that the stores have repeatedly sold out of the consumer-sized vanilla extract, and have begun selling the bakery-sized vanilla-extract! I think we’re about half way down the bottle some 6 months later.
Anna tried out a new palette. 🙂

Monday 02 November 2020

Outside again, the raven taking a quick break atop a light.
There were still some leaves left on the plants.
I was dispatched to go buy the best naan-bread, at an unfamiliar store. Took me a ridiculously long time to find.
Finnur kept valiantly sorting through the random pile from the garage. I think this is a pretty accurate count of how many Ikea things we have bought in years past.
Masks became mandatory, but the requirement was lifted for children born after 2011 probably because it wasn’t enforceable.

Tuesday 03 November 2020

Wave #3 got bigger/fatter than wave #1, and it didn’t look quite so text-book, but by early November, the worst was over.
The occasional home-practice occurred, and was duly photographed.
My ‘best buds’.
Sweating achieved.
The older kids had music school late on Tuesdays, and sometimes I would go on walks while I waited. That pond is heated, probably with run-off water from the houses above it. The birds like it.
Nice view of a local church.

Wednesday 04 November 2020

The US elections were reaching a fever pitch, contaminating news-streams world-wide. I thought this comic in our paper was pretty apt. (Bíó Paradís is an art-house movie theater, a “Modern, 4-screen venue for independent films, local documentaries & shorts, with a cafe & bar.”)
There were pretty harsh max-people-in-a-store limits, so Elko yet again had a permanent line outside.
On a jog during Emma’s piano lesson. That river is always pretty.
Anna making bread, lots of bread!
Good stuff! The original recipe is from Sarah.

Thursday 05 November 2020

Finnur cleverly kept asking me to drive him a ways away from home so he would be forced to run all the way home (he hates non-soccer-running so much that if he’d start out at home, the run would be much shorter). After looking at a map I realized there was a path through a wooded area I could try. Lo and behold, there’s a teenage forest now close to my youth-stomping grounds!
Those blocks of flats were/are mostly council apartments, and were/are to be avoided.
Nature being lovely.
At my turning-around-point I noticed an unpaved path going back the way I came. Curiosity won out.
Wooden tunnels are the best!
Can you spot the cat?
So many conifers! This forest is really just a skinny long strip that surrounds the hill I used to live on as a kid.
Alas, soon I was back to civilization, but vowed to return soon, as the woods just smelled so nice!
Back when I lived in these parts, there were zero trees. How things have changed in 30-ish years!
At home, Anna was busy making bagels! She was between terms, as she’s on a quarter system (without the summer quarter).
Emma’s football club sent out a fidget spinner and an encouragement to keep moving.

Friday 06 November 2020

The first whispering of snow fell.
Anna chopped down the greens to feed the next generation.
Ms. Gardener!

Saturday 07 November 2020

Ms. Baker made her own granola.
Bjarki gymnastics coaches posted a week-end challenge where they could complete tasks to win points.
I spent the day putting studded tires on all the active bikes. (Which reminds me, it’s time to put the summer tires back on.)
Bjarki post-breaking an egg on his head and dumping water on himself, all for gymnastics!
Meanwhile, Emma and Finnur hung out at house #2, making sure it was doing ok as winter crawled closer.

Sunday 08 November 2020

I was back by the dodgy apartment buildings (ok, they’re not so dodgy, but if there’s a poor part of town, that’s it) to jog around the hill of Breiðholt.
Be still my heart!
That’s the river I walk past during the kids’ music lessons.
The unpaved path lies close to where the houses begin. Some of them are in need of repairs.
Just lovely.
Baby trees beginning to assert themselves.
Over in the US, things took a turn for the even-more-farcical, if that was even possible.

Monday 09 November 2020

More indoor-sweating achived.
Huh, the kettle bells are Iceland-marked!

Tuesday 10 November 2020

Anna’s piano lesson got moved to Tuesday-noon, so I jogged the river route.
I used by new-found what-lies-in-the-forest-above-the-river knowledge to enjoy a bit of woodiness.
Then, stupidly, when it was Bjarki’s turn for guitar, I briskly walked a similar route. It turned out to be too much, and got shin splints for my troubles.
River in the dark.

Wednesday 11 November 2020

The next day was wintery. Again, I went out on a music lesson walk. This time I walked down to the river itself.
Podcasts are amazing.
At the river, I noticed a path going alongside it, as revealed by the snow. I decided to follow.
Idyllic.
Plants standing watch.
Pretty.
The outside temperature had been very pumpkin-kind, so they still stood, mostly fine.

Friday 13 November 2020

The world was mildly frozen, but tempting enough to go out jogging.
November means long shadows at 1 pm.
Emma wrote a story.
I also stumbled upon the lost Lego bricks from her ship, which were hiding in a bowl behind some books in her shelf. So ship-building resumed!