[Photos taken 01 – 13 March 2024, posted online 25 July 2024. The weather continues being wet, wet, wet. The plant-life is loving it, but the humans are getting a bit miserable…]
March 2024 would turn out to be a very busy month. It kicked off with birthday parties, a confirmation, a mild eruption threat, wild weather changes, a new pizza oven, a programming competition for Bjarki, a hike, and work-wonderings. Phew!
Friday 01 March 2024
Two women with freshly updated ages! Since our birthdays are just a few days apart, we often go out to dinner to celebrate!
Sadly, one spouse was sick, so Finnur was all by his lonesome self on the other side of the table.
The restaurant of choice was OTO, and the food was scrumptious! This is a very thinly sliced smoked (?) fish.
Super tasty scallop-dish served on a shell.
At home, we had a fresh delivery of fruit!
Saturday 02 March 2024
I found myself out on the Reykjanes peninsula on a gorgeous day, first to take confirmation photos, and then to enjoy really good food, as we celebrated the milestone. This is looking towards the capital area.
He was a little determined to present a stoic adult face, but I did manage to get him to crack a smile or two. Success!
Getting the parents involved…
After taking All. The. Photos. the party got going, and the rest of my gang arrived.
Bjarki in a shirt!
Anna was unfortunately feeling poorly, so it was just the four of us.
We drove back home past the eruption zone, and kept a close lookout, as shake-meters indicated magma was on the move! However, as the day passed, it became clear it wouldn’t be exploding out of the ground, this time around.
Then it was on to the next party!! Finnur’s youngest sister had turned 40 the day before (Do we share a birthday? Yes!!) and being the champion she is, she hosted a big party to celebrate!
Final touches as the guests started pouring in! We had a lovely time!
The earthquake squirt that happened during the confirmation party (green arrow) died down without any magma exiting the ground.
Sunday 03 March 2024
A 24-year wedding anniversary means snuggling up on the sofa together, toes and all!
Bjarki tried biking again, to test if his wrist was strong enough after the October wrist surgery to handle it. It was close, but not good enough, so we kept driving him to school for a while longer.
The now-living-in-Sweden cousin came over to visit Iceland during his winter-break, and there was a West-end pizza-party to say hi.
Mostly-growns vs the still-to-grow-s.
Monday 04 March 2024
Enjoying the view while waiting for lunch to arrive.
Tuesday 05 March 2024
Same view, different day. The weather tends to go from one extreme to another during that time of the year.
Taking a photo of the dashboard, while waiting for a friend to go attend parkour practice, as Bjarki kept practicing driving.
Wednesday 06 March 2024
Doing physical therapy exercises, in an attempt to “turn on” a few lazy muscles.
Thursday 07 March 2024
Glass-replacement-action in the parking lot outside work.
A pile of snow that still hadn’t melted. Very classic for this time of year.
At home, Finnur had purchased a dedicated gas-driven pizza oven. It’s all the rage!
Finnur and Anna tending to the oven outside the kitchen.
They quickly discovered they didn’t have a proper pizza-spade, which made turning the pizza very hard, and so the first few came out a bit… singed.
Friday 08 March 2024
Visiting the “nicest” offices of my company. That floor has a fancy 3D version of the company logo outside!
It was “International Women’s Day” and somebody (almost certainly a woman or two) had organized a nice party and a talk from one of our own wonderful women.
Picking Bjarki up from Reykjavik University. He’d shown up to get the particulars for the programming competition he’d signed up for the following day.
Still daylight at 19:00!!
Saturday 09 March 2024
Dropping Bjarki off at 09:20 outside Reykjavik University for the programming competition.
I went hunting for a new bed for Emma’s room. It could not be wider than 120 cm, and needed to be a self-contained bedframe, which turned out to be weirdly hard to find in Iceland.
Nine (!!?) hours after dropping Bjarki off for the programming competition, I was back to pick him up. He did well, as his team placed fourth in the beginner’s category, and the organizers were impressed enough (they were short a team-member) to invite him and most of the cohort coming from his school to attend weekly practices at the University!
Sunday 10 March 2024
I happily joined a few friends to walk around mount Helgafell. It was a beautiful day!
A lot of hard working people have gotten a forest to grow in places!
Mmmm, trees!
We were lucky in that most of the ground was quite frozen, so it wasn’t a terribly muddy as it could have been.
About to go over a ridge that leads to the mount.
The ridge top.
Strava helped us find a road.
Helgafell in front of us.
Only the north-western side is forested. The rest is all very rocky.
Walking under cliffs is a little unnerving knowing the amount of earthquakes in the area.
Walking past rocks that probably fell a while ago.
More boulders.
Sharp edges in the distance.
Excellent lava-rope example.
How desolate to you like your walks? At least there was visible moisture!
It’s not hard to imagine this as freshly flown lava.
Nearing the start of the path, and people streaming in the distance towards the peak of Helgafell itself.
The start is fenced off, there is a water protection area there.
The hike was presented to me as an “easy 5 km” circle, but we missed a turn, it was closer to 10 km. Thankfully, I overpacked water as usual!
The Strava recording.
Slightly toasted after the day!
Tuesday 12 March 2024
A few photos from work as a nagging feeling that it was time for me to quit started really rearing its ugly head.
One of the then-departed execs had been an interior-designer by heart, and filled the office with things that are nice to look at.
Nature is crazy.
Lunch!
Wednesday 13 March 2024
More piles of ice, still hanging on for dear life, as the sun blazed down.
Hilariously, one of the curtains in the gym had broken, and was substituted with a gym-mat, as the sun shone straight in and blinded us while bench-pressing!
