[Photos taken 17 – 28 February 2022, posted online 16 July 2022. I’m finally on vacation and celebrated by staying up until 4 am binge-speed-watching a whole season of a show on Netflix.]
With Covid-19 exploding around us, we didn’t make any grand plans for the two day winter-holiday, as I fully expected us to be sick in bed. Instead, we tried to do a few things locally with the kids: I was in charge of Thursday, and Finnur took Friday.
That weekend, three of us went to house #2 to hang out with friends (who’s children are also getting too old to want to tag along), but then Covid-19 caught up with Emma according to a home test, so I drove her to town for a formal test. She was all better the next day.
Two and three days later, both Finnur and I got Covid-19. Finnur was basically panting and horizontal for 3 days, while I experienced a slow decline, bottoming out at day 3 or 4 before starting to get better. All in all, every one of us had a different covid-course, go figure.
At this point in time the official PCR testing apparatus had gotten completely overwhelmed by the number of people needing tests, even as the authorities stopped asking people to test out of quarantine. Therefore it now took 3-4 days to get the result, instead of same-day.
This confused the whole health-system, because there had been a dedicated covid-center which had done telemonitoring and advice, but you only got into their system via the official test. Now it was taking so long to get results that the local health centers had to start taking on covid cases with what felt like very little preparation, and mid-week the covid-center essentially got disbanded. We muddled through somehow.
In addition, it. Just. Kept. Snowing. (75-ish images total)
Thursday 17 February 2022
It just kept snowing! On school-winter-break day #1, Emma went outside to play for a bit.
Bird-food dutifully distributed.
Snow-house in the making.
Bjarki decided this was the perfect amount to snow to fall back into. If only he’d thought to dress up properly…
The first group activity of the day was to finally go see what that book-o-rama exhibition at the library in Gerðuberg was all about. Turns out it was a storied treasure-hunt. We signed up for a slot, and got a package with envelopes, a map, and a puzzle. This was the first location… somebody’s mad lab hidden off to the side downstairs.
Looking for clues in the mess.
3-digit number of book. Hmmm… in a library, you say?
We found the book, and then there was a new puzzle. Solved that and went to a new place etc. Here, Bjarki is fiddling with the combination lock of a treasure trunk which contained a fun puzzle.
There were three different adventures/treasure hunts, and we weren’t the only ones playing. I kept meaning to come back and play the other two, but time got away from me.
Rummaging for more clues.
One of the final tasks was to find a specific book on this wall of books!
We found the missing girl in the room where we started! Clever to have black-light paint to reveal the ending.
Somebody had a lot of fun building the set!
Test-tubes with fluorescent gels.
Your friendly mad scientist left a few things.
Activity #2 was bowling.
This was not Bjarki’s day, but he’s definitely making progress!
A motherly crushing.
Back home, Emma kept working on her snow-house for a bit.
Snug!
Friday 18 February 2022
On this second day of winter break, Finnur took the kids to the ice-skating rink and then they went swimming. Since he’s not me, he took zero photos! Meanwhile, I worked and then ended the day at the gym.
Finnur, Emma and myself drove up to house #2. I managed to get the big car stuck while attempting to park by the house, oops! Yes, the road to the house had been cleared, but that had thrown a considerable amount of snow up besides the road, blocking the parking lot. It took a bit of shoveling to lessen the snow under the car, and then it happily drove onwards. Also, future note to self: Don’t suspension-raise the car before driving into a snow-pile, that way you don’t have any wiggle room to get out!
The parking lot after I shoveled away the snow-hump between then road and the parking lot. Happily our friends were arriving in a another big-ish car.
Emma brought her magna tiles. Right before bedtime, it sure sounded like she was coming down with a cold…
Saturday 19 February 2022
It was a lovely day, and I was happy to see that a bunch of small birds had found the food I’d left out the last time, and were helping themselves.
Shortly before lunch Emma’s precautionary covid test came out as instantaneously and brightly positive.
What to do, what to do? After a conference it was decided that I would drive Emma into town for a formal PCR test, as the one in Borgarnes was closed over the weekend (it was still easy to get appointments, but results were beginning to lag). The others contemplated also returning to town, but ended up staying another night.
The shrubbery and the snow.
There was way too much snow to get the BBQ out on the back porch, so out front it went, and Halli sheltered in the car while BBQing.
Their upcoming lunch, as Emma and I were departing.
Emma wasn’t feeling too bad, but her nerves were frayed. It’s shocking to get something you’ve been actively avoiding for a long time, but we comforted her by telling her she was now fully vaccinated, and that she would almost certainly be just fine, which was exactly what happened.
On the way there I saw on a sign that the tunnel was closed. It turned out there was an accident on the road on the other side, so the tunnel was closed so that cars weren’t idling inside for a long time.
The line of cars waiting to enter the tunnel. On the other side of the fjord, you could see snow billowing down over the road from the mountain above it due to the heavy winds. It was exactly zero fun to drive through that some 20 minutes later. We made it to the test-center before they closed, and Emma got her nose and throat swabbed. Then I think she got ice-cream before I packed her into bed at home.
The wind was blowing, the cars stayed still… (animated gif, wait for it to load).
Being fully vaccinated and boosted, I had house-leaving privileges, so I went to pick up sushi for dinner. I was a little surprised by just how many take-away bags with sushi were just sitting on the uncooled counter…!
Sunday 20 February 2022
It was a quiet day. I decided to try and make future-life a little easier by pushing all the loose snow over to the other side of the road. We like to reverse into our parking lot, but when there is a lot of loose snow on top of the solid ice, it becomes a little bit tricky. Emma thoroughly enjoyed all her copious amounts of screen time.
Monday 21 February 2022
Emma was up and about enough to model ski pants to lend to a cousin. Sadly, the ski trip got canceled, like so many other things.
The street kept being a challenge, now we were swamped with melt-water.
We know approximately where the drains are, but they were completely covered by thick ice, and it was nigh-impossible to find where the actual edge of the road was. But, in cooperation with two other neighbors we cracked through!
For future reference, the lower drain is about mid-way between the two pillars on the other side, slightly closer to the left one.
Keeping an eye on the drain situation, and enjoying the longer daylight. This was at 17:40.
Tuesday 22 February 2022
More fresh snow?! The drains were again clogged up.
Drain clearage at 8:20 in the morning is good for the soul.
And boom! Finnur had succumbed the afternoon before, as verified by a home-test.
I duty-fully went in for official testing, it was a bit of a party atmosphere.
I sent the girls out to deal with the drains, and they came upon a lost doggy. Thankfully it had a phone number on its collar, and the owner came from one street over to collect him.
Offspring at work.
Wednesday 23 February 2022
%!$&”%! More snow! This was at 07:45, and I had to drive Bjarki to the swimming pool for school swimming.
As I swung out of the parking lot (in the big car), a small car had gotten stuck, and there was no way around it. I awkwardly went out and helped push with a neighbor for a push or three (mask on), but then awkwardly excused myself when the car obviously needed a lot more help to get going. Three or four guys and two shovels later, the car was freed, and we could continue on our merry way to the swimming pool… albeit a little late.
The photo I sent our town asking them to please clear our snow-clogged street.
9 am bird-feeding time. I wasn’t feeling very ill, but I was a bit woozy. I then had to drive Anna to her school, and AGAIN a car was stuck in front of us, this time close to the top of the hill. I sent Anna out, and then I myself came out (public about my covid status) and the two of us managed to get the car free. There was no one else around because everybody had already gone to work.
By 10:40, possibly spurred by the avalanche of complaints from our street, the scraper came. One of the neighbors was a hero, and talked the operator into also clearing the public parking lot opposite our house, as parking in the street was becoming an issue.
Emma, feeling fine, during a remote piano lesson.
Thursday 24 February 2022
Finnur vertical for the first time since Monday afternoon. He was very proud to have managed to take a shower! His breathing had been so panting/loud that I transplanted myself to Bjarki’s big bed so that I could sleep.
Meanwhile, I felt properly drained, and spent the day reading, happy not to have to drive anybody anywhere.
Friday 25 February 2022
Anna tending to the never ending drain-story. We were grateful for the clearing of the parking lot, it made finding the drains a lot easier.
Saturday 26 February 2022
The snow began melting in the sleet/rain, and more and more bird-food was revealed.
Emma really likes baking… or more accurately, really likes eating the end result of baking.
Anna decided she wanted pretzels, so that’s what they made. And yes, that’s Emma with a pulse-oximeter.
Looking good!
Looking even better! Yum!
Sunday 27 February 2022
Bjarki is now a certified teenager.
Oh look, more snow!
Emma enjoying some cross-stitching she got for her birthday.
The following day was cream-puff day. As usual, I made the dough, making sure to cool it down plenty before adding the eggs.
Emma wanted in on the baking action, so she made yeast balls.
Puffy puffs, ready for cream-pudding and chocolate (the extras are not my department).
Surprisingly, a big machine showed up, and started scraping up ice around the gazillion ice-pot-holes.
That evening I tried to read mom’s old book for Emma’s bedtime, but the wording and sentiments didn’t speak to Emma.
Johanna Spyri also wrote Heidi. The titular hero in this book was having a rather shitty life, and Emma was having none of it!
Monday 28 February 2022
Cream-puff & tea-break, while working from home.
To my massive surprise, the big machine from the day before came back, and the operator spent the day scraping solid ice off of the street and transferring it onto a lorry, who drove it … somewhere. It was magical!!
Finally, the street was easily traversable, but a big hump of solid ice remained between our parking lot and the street. I tried keeping the fresh snow off of it to keep it from growing… And thus end-eth February 2022!!
