Friends! Dinners! Increased Daylight!

2021-01-15Friends, Us Standard

[Photos taken 15-31 January 2021, posted online 05 June 2021. Vaccinations continue, and everybody born on or after 1975 has gotten a summons for at least one shot, as well as various priority groups. This is posted from an ice-skating rink, where the practice-year-end show is about to commence, and Emma is participating.]

Having seemingly dodged a post-holiday Covid-19 explosion, we began meeting friends again. My sewing club actually went out to dinner together (!), we went with friends to house #2(!), us old ones went out to dinner(!), we had someone over for dinner(!), etc… (60-ish images total)

Friday 15 January 2021

That is an actual restaurant, which I actually entered, and ate in. With other people.
This is me a little earlier, walking towards a friend’s house to meet up with the sewing club members.
Much to my surprise, there seems to be a (work)shop in a garage on the way to my friend’s place. There were customers inside.
Our table, out in the corner of the room. There was some division of tables/servers in the room, and when you went to the toilet, they were marked area A, B, etc…
Restaurant dessert, it had been so loooong!

Sunday 17 January 2021

I managed to go out on a jog on this low-key weekend, where I got snowed on! What is this, Iceland or something?!

Monday 18 January 2021

The gym reopened! And no, I did not lift that. I was woefully out of shape after all the gym closures.
A new type of bird appeared on our backyard nature TV, but I don’t think they ever came back.
I took to dropping food around the bushes, in the hopes that the bird poop would serve as plant nutrition. Now some of the seeds are germinating, and I fear some of them are grasses!
The feeder turns out to be only for small birds, maybe I’ll try modifying it for bigger ones for next winter…?
Some days our fence was popular.

Tuesday 19 January 2021

Emma wrote a story about Spori the dog.
Days getting longer, slowly but surely. This is at 17:50 (5:50 pm).

Wednesday 20 January 2021

This was the day Ikea broke my heart. I’d been waiting for almost a whole month for 40×60 cm shelves, but not heard a thing. Then I get a mysterious sms, go to the website and it says “almost sold out”. So I SPED to Ikea, entered straight into the warehouse, saw this pile in the 40x60cm slot, jumped with joy, ran to get a trolley, took out the first shelf, and realized it wasn’t 40×60 cm, but 40x80 cm. They all were. A discussion with a staff member confirmed that they were indeed all sold out of the 40×60 cm shelves, and none were on order, so they would not be arriving in the next four weeks. Oh, noes!
Feeling desperate, I ended up contacting dad in the UK, and he ended up buying them there, and shipping them all the way to Iceland. It tripled the cost (gulp!) but at least the shelves were ready before Emma’s birthday! Meanwhile, Emma’s room continued to be “a bit of a mess”…
The ground was white-ish during my Wednesday walk.
Yup, I watched a good portion of Biden’s inauguration as US president. Finally, no more constant shouting on the news. Never knew how deeply I’d missed the Calm of Competency.

Thursday 21 January 2021

Just confirm my sprectrum-y-ness, this has become my lunch when I work from home. That’s it. No need for changes, although the exact type of bread varies. (Salt on the egg is required.)
January and February are my absolute least favorite months, and I struggled mightily with trying to keep working during work-hours. Grabbed this book from the library, by Sarah’s recommendation. Still haven’t finished it, but it’s got some solid points.
The first page, courtesy of Amazon kindle previews.
Waiting at a cafe downtown for Bjarki’s confirmation class to finish. There were people there!
Grandma Ásdís came for a visit so the younger ones took the opportunity to show their skills.
The remnants of a fishy meal.
Leftovers to go!
Quick good-night hug.

Friday 22 January 2021

The music school is now in this shopping/company area.
Coooold wind blowing.
Tempting path revealed by the frost/snow.
The church, check.
Finnur packing for a trip to house #2. He prefers driving up there on late Friday afternoons, while I prefer driving up on Saturdays. I’m just too tired most Fridays. Emma usually goes with him, she gets lots of special treats.
Meanwhile, it’s not uncommon for us to go to the sushi-train place. They weren’t as strict about seating arrangement as they have been in the past, we managed to hide in the corner.
It was perhaps not the most clever thing to wash the car the day before heading out of town, but it was frankly disgusting. Also, the best time to visit the no-touch automatic station by our exit is in the evening.

Saturday 23 January 2021

Finnur sent me on a “can you buy this specialty thing” errand, and lo and behold, the specialty shop was closed as they were counting the inventory! Thankfully I found what I was looking for in the non-specialty store next door.
Good to get out of town for a bit. This is mount Esja.
Pretty colors.
It was VERY HEAD-WINDY that day, so windy that the car was spending a lot of extra energy to move forward. Thankfully we came upon this trailer car which broke the wind for us under Hafnarfjall-mountain. We made it to Borgarnes with 10-15 km left on the tank, and a slightly anxious me.
We hung out in Borgarnes for half an hour, charging the car so that it would certainly make it to house #2, and back to Borgarnes in one go. The sky was very pretty when we resumed our trip.
Dinner, with friends!
Relaxing in the sofa.

Sunday 24 January 2021

Bjarki practicing Blackbird for his confirmation party, and Nirvana songs for his music-school band-practice.
We’d gotten a new hot-tub lid, but hadn’t managed to fasten it down properly, so we used a rope. It worked, but it took a bit of work to set up.
I said goodbye to everyone, and resumed painting the wall in the master bedroom.
Three hours later the walls were a single color, and I could pack up and leave.
Home sweet home!

Monday 25 January 2021

The changing rooms at the gym were closed due to Covid, so we had to used these small lockers in the lobby to store things. I have quite a few photos of various locker numbers on my phone, because I wasn’t sure I’d remember where I’d put my car-keys…!
Bjarki in his natural habitat.

Tuesday 26 January 2021

I went into the office!! This is the entrance to the cafeteria, mind those 2 meters!
Good stuff!

Wednesday 27 January 2021

Muggy day, but good for a jog.
Rivers are good for the soul.

Thursday 28 January 2021

Whoa, two days in one week at the office!
So. Much. Food. I think I needed a nap afterwards.
Enjoying the lights downtown while Bjarki contemplated ethics.
The sky not quite dark yet at 18:30! Increased daylight, I can smell you!

Friday 29 January 2021

Dried-tea art.
More riverside jogging, twice in three days probably got the shin splints going…
As I went past the birds in the warmed-up pond, I stopped to take a photo and they all came swimming, expecting food. Sorry all!
Date night! Taking the bus straight to a restaurant that’s right by the music school, in the middle of an industrial area.
The place was as packed as it was allowed to be, the food was very good, and the waiters commented that it was as if cows were being let out after a long winter.
I was there!

Saturday 30 January 2021

With the new shelves on their way from the UK, I emptied out the old ones, and prepared for departure.
The other side, ahemm!
Goodbye trusty old Ikea shelves, we hope you like your next life. Many of these are from our days in California!

Sunday 31 January 2021

Emma got to participate in a friendly soccer-meet!
Mom, you realize it’s quite cold outside?!
My task for the day… assemble these!
One hour later!
Almost four hours after that…! Alignment, wall fastening, and drawers take time!
Victory!!