[Photos taken 15 – 30 April 2023, posted online 27 December 2023. The calm between the storms, as Christmas is done, and New Year’s Eve looms. No work until the new year.]
The last confirmation party came and went, with a bit of photography on my part. Then I caved in at a sale, upgraded my e-bike to something properly powerful, and signed for with an e-biking group. The biking schedule was pretty packed, and there were three outings in a short span of time.
Various spring tasks continued, I visited a school with Bjarki, we had dinner with friends, and one of the cousins got a year older!
Saturday 15 April 2023
The five of us at the final confirmation party of the season.
Three generations, two sisters.
Cousins, all confirmed but one.
Such a cool venue!
So cozy!
Much fun was had writing things on the wall…
… and the door.
Fun decorations. These seemed to be shoe-making things.
Such a photogenic family!
Sunday 16 April 2023
There was an e-bike sale, and this one became mine.
Apparently I went swimming, and needed an ice-cream afterwards?
Monday 17 April 2023
Some birds began trying to build a nest on a beam above the patio, and the wind kept blowing the nest down.
Sewing club!
Tuesday 18 April 2023
8 am sledding.
No snow outside, yay!
Bjarki had his head-banged-nose follow-up, and was deemed fine, although his nose was still a bit achy.
Next up was yet another visit to a potential school, located downtown, but first we had to get something to eat. There’s no school-browsing on an empty stomach.
The cafe we went to had a resident cat.
Soooo coooozy!
Adorable display case!
We then walked up to the hill to the Technical College, and lucked into a presentation being given by the brilliant school-master, who happens to be good friend of ours.
Finnur had picked up my new bike, and I took it out for a spin. It was indeed considerably more powerful than the old bike, meaning the fierce headwind had little effect.
My hand after getting passed two friendly cards, and passing two back. What a massive hand!
Thursday 20 April 2023
The “first day of summer” is a public holiday, and so to “my” cafe I went.
They bake bread-goods there!
With my new bike, I’d signed up for the e-biking group again. The first trip was that afternoon.
We biked into Heiðmörk, on the roads only, as the paths were still too fragile to bike on.
By a mossy lava field.
Muddy vista point.
There were some birds out and about.
By lake Elliðavatn.
At 8 pm it was time to ride home. As luck would have it, I ran out of battery on the way home, as I’d neglected to charge the bike beforehand, and I’d biked all the way to the rendezvous point. I discovered the new bike is quite heavy, but thankfully I only had to get up one hill, then it was level or down the rest of the way home.
The Strava recording (with part of the journey home).
Saturday 22 April 2023
The birds kept trying to build a nest, until Finnur put a small broom in the place they were trying to use, and that seemed to put a stop to the madness.
With the rising sun, energy returned to keep playing the Pandemic Legacy game. The next image contains some spoilers, look at your own risk!
We weren’t doing all that well in our evaluations… being labeled “erratic, evasive and unpredictable”!
Mmmm, lovely dinner!
I readied the car that evening for a bike-trip the following morning.
Sunday 22 April 2023
In the small town of Þorlákshöfn at 9 am with the e-biking group. The weather could have been better, and also worse.
We headed out of the town, and towards the country side.
Arnarker is a hole in the ground, and the opening to a tunnel.
Going down.
A tunnel lies beyond.
The snow hanging on where the sun don’t shine.
One of our guides tried biking towards these peaks, but decided the ground was still too soft to tolerate all of the bikes.
We rode on, and found a tiny hill that gave a bit of shelter from the wind, and refueled.
The last bit of the country road.
The edge of Iceland in the distance.
We rode for about half an hour on the paved road back to Þorlákshöfn, with the wind in our face. I kept changing how much the e-biked helped as I alternated between tired and cold.
The edge of Þorlákshöfn.
We rode to a bike-fun-area!
Lots of ups and downs, and trying not to faceplant!
Next up, the local lighthouse.
Cool artwork!
Brutal architecture.
Looking eastwards.
Yours truly.
Another lookout point, surrounded by concrete ankers.
The end!
The stats, and map.
My late lunch.
Tuesday 25 April 2023
The coffee machine at work flooded. Later when the fix-it-man arrived, he told me about a design flaw, where a whole coffee bean can fall into an uncovered intake, and clog the whole thing. Tsk, tsk!
Wednesday 26 April 2023
I chased away a cat hunting birds.
%$”%!&” snow. Go away!
Gym time! I had injured something so I just used baby-sized weights.
Happily, the ground was too warm for the snow to really stick…?
Thursday 27 April 2023
Seriously!?!??!
The backyard.
The thickness of the snow at 7 am!
By 6 pm the snow was basically gone, and I met up with the e-biking group again.
We rode the road to-and-past Keilir (a conical mount, off photo to the right). The road alternated between ok, and terrible, with lots of sharp lava-remains sticking out.
Nice views.
By Eldborg. I’d also been there with my hiking group.
Biking up the side.
We then hiked up to the peak.
At the top, the views were pretty!
Yes, that’s steam coming out of the ground.
Proof I was there.
Rusty rocks.
Refueling before heading back.
Mount Keilir (the conical), and steam coming out of the ground.
I was blinded by the sun biking back and hit a rock badly, busting my tire. Happily, there are multiple very good tire-fixers in the group.
We made it back to the cars!
The Strava recording.
Saturday 29 April 2023
Spring-cleaning!
Birthday-party time!
One year older!
Super-relaxed!
The plants planting themselves.
Dinner with friends.
Brothers. Three guesses what profession the older one is studying towards!
Lovely chatting.
Sunday 30 April 2023
We managed to give the old roller-blades to another family.
After much mulling, I got some patio-couch-parts from Ikea…
More dinnering with friends! And thus endeth April 2023!
