[Photos taken 11 – 18 March 2022, posted online 19 July 2022. Still working on the living room, the white wall has now got five coats of paint, six if you count the wrong white. This was not supposed to take four days!! Meanwhile, Finnur & Emma are in Laugarvatn, he’s helping his dad build a new deck.]
Slowly but surely, the covid-postponed events started actually happening, and life in general got busier!
First up was a Damon Albarn concert in Harpa. I’d bought two tickets in January 2020 for a June 2020 concert with a gift card I got from work on my 5th work anniversary, but hadn’t really decided on who to take with me (Finnur is not a concert-enthusiast). Not surprisingly, the concert got postponed to March 2021, and then 2022.
Happily, my cousin Ríkey was up for a cultural outing, and we even tried the new restaurant Hnoss, on the first floor of Harpa, which is run by people that were/are in charge of the cafeteria at work (Marel)!
Then it was time for a non-masked team-gym meet, there was a bit of shopping and gymming, Bjarki’s hair got cut, I went for a hike by the sea, Anna got dressed up for an outing with friends, snow kept falling, but at least the days were getting noticeably longer. (50-ish images total)
Friday 11 March 2022
Yours truly, with her yummy food.
Cousin Ríkey, and the very high ceiling!
Rhubarb creme brulee… yum!
People milling about.
The schedule.
Mask-less sitting in a crowded hall. What is this weird new world?
The concert was following up his album “The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows“. I’d given it a quick listen before the concert, and wasn’t super excited, but in a concert setting it really blew up. It felt very much like alternatively being outside in Iceland listening to seagulls, or being submerged in the ocean with whales and other beings. Side-note: Damon Albarn is now an Icelandic citizen, and lives in the capital area!
The biggest drawback during the concert was the girl sitting in front of us, who just had to take a photo on her phone EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. the lighting scheme changed (which was often). I restrained myself from poking her, especially since in between taking photos, she and her boyfriend were busy kissing!
All smiles after a very enjoyable show.
Saturday 12 March 2022
Hair newly braided at 7:20 in the morning!
The sports-hall where Emma would be comping in team-gym later that morning.
The view from the hill is nice.
Warm-ups in progress.
A hall full of people!
Emma doing an “arabian jump” (arabastökk). (Animated gif, wait for it to load)
Forward somersault? She wasn’t super excited about competing, and didn’t feel like she knew the floor routine well enough, so she stood on the sideline while the others did the dancing. (Animated gif, wait for it to load.)
The top five teams. There were a lot more teams competing.
Emma’s team won their group!
Every girl got to lift the cup for a photo, here it was Emma’s turn!
Coach giving parting words.
Yay, shiny things!
The text on the medal.
Afterwards there was an open house in another gym-hall, so I camped out at a nearby cafe while I waited for Emma to be done.
Sunday 13 March 2022
Ugh.
Emma finished a whole cross-stitch picture! Now what should we do with it?!? (Ah, the purple frame was missing, I think that’s done now.)
Rainy-season was upon us, but Emma had outgrown all her clothes, so to the mall we went. Happily there was a weekend-sales-event going on.
Nutrition (plentiful blood sugar) is very important during mall runs.
Contemplating her carrot cake.
Monday 14 March 2022
I am an obedient sheep, and I do what my brother tells me to do.
Tuesday 15 March 2022
Side-effect of the spring freeze-and-thaw-see-saw: potholes.
There’s some rule, that if you damage your car driving into a pothole, you can get paid from insurance if the town knew about the hole, but left it unfixed. Thus I now report these willy-nilly.
Wednesday 16 March 2022
Still actually showing up to work! Oh, and more snow. Ugh.
Bjarki’s hair was in need of a cut, so to the barber we went.
The last customer of the day!
That evening my hiking group went for a walk in the lava field a hop and a skip from where we live.
It was a little tricky to stay on the trail, but happily the guide had a gps unit.
The president and his family live in one of those houses with the red roof.
Hanging-cliffs.
The clouds all around looked ominous.
Sure enough, soon we got snowed on.
Getting darker at 8 pm.
That was Gálgahraun.
Walking back towards civilization and our cars.
Thursday 17 March 2022
Oh great, another snowstormy-day!
A bird seeking a bit of shelter.
Ran into Bjarki and a friend at the mall.
Waiting for the end of a music school lesson. I don’t trust hotels that can’t keep their letters in check.
Emma doing her 5-times-per-week home-reading. She’s not in love with reading, and hates 90% of all the books she’s gotten. Sigh.
Anna’s school finally held an “annual ball”, but Anna and her friends weren’t interested in being in a crowded hall, so they all got dressed up, and went to a restaurant instead.
It’s hard to take photos with snowy wind present!
Friday 18 March 2022
I’m on the school parental association board, and we decided to give the school 200 reusable bingo-cards. They arrived in two days from the US!
Emma taking inspiration from online videos changing clothes. This is nominally a sleeveless dress. 🙂
