[Photos taken 18 – 31 March 2023, posted online 02 December 2023. Frozen days ahead of us, but little snow predicted, hardly any snow this season so far.]
We actually went on an outing to the lavafield-waterfalls (Hraunfossar) from the summer house with friends who like sight-seeing. The rest of the month passed in a blur of confirmation-related events, junior college school visits with Bjarki, hosting dad & Shirley for an evening, Anna’s school project, and gymming.
Saturday 18 March 2023
Kiddos in front of part of the lavafield-waterfalls (Hraunfossar) that are a 40 minute drive from the summer house.
Earlier that day, we’d been treated to practice flights of this rather large drone, as our friend needed to practice using it out and about for his work.
Size comparison. This is not a toy.
The weather was pretty but cold as we drove inland shortly after lunch.
This sunbleached map may have been the inspiration for Google Maps’ new color scheme?!
The waterfalls come straight out of cracks in the old lava-field, there’s no water visible leading to them.
Satellite image courtesy of Google Maps to show that no obvious waterway goes to the waterfalls.
An attempted close-up.
Walking further.
People visible on top of the cliff further up, and the bridge leading to it.
Kids on the bridge.
The non-trivial glacial river, probably from Langjökull.
From the cliff where the tiny people were before.
Lava-ropes!
Group photo fun on top of more lava-ropes.
Spotted the men practicing with the not-toy. It was a good thing we did this outing as the resulting videos were overlit, so our friend had to find out what setting was off.
Always a good sign when a bridge is marked with “first built 1891”.
The matriarchs, and a better view of the arch that remains. The top arch was demolished after two children were believed to have drowned trying to cross it in the olden days.
A river runs under it.
Improvised hat out of a jacket to fend off the cold wind.
Family photo! (Anna is taller than I am.)
Photo confirmation that we did in fact have one not-ours offspring in our car.
Back to our valley.
Yes chef, I’d like “The Usual”!
Sunday 19 March 2023
Trying out new Ikea pillows, to fit the needs of more people.
Driving past the dam that forms the lake in our valley. The water is harnessed to make 8MW of electrical power, but the Andakílsárvirkjun power-station is further downhill.
The sides of the fjord were frozen! Brrr!
Later that day I set up my travel-photo-studio at my cousin’s place to take confirmation photos of her younger one. How time flies!
I’ve yet to pretty-please my brother into photoshopping a selection of these, but I was made acutely aware that taking photos with a moving basketball is non-trivial. I also learned the hard way to check if all the flashes are truly turned on, ahemm!
Smiles all around of this wonderful group of people!
We also went outside for a bit! Brrr, it was still cold!
Monday 20 March 2023
I’d started showing up to my brother’s weight-lifting class pretty regularly since November, and by March I was up to 3 x 130 kg deadlifts. (For those counting, I have 4 brothers total, three on my mom’s side, and one on my dad’s side.) I have evidence of lifting 6 x 100 kg in June of 2018, but that exposed a mountain of I-sit-too-much hip-muscle problems, which had to be worked on before progressing. Then there was covid and blah-blah-blah. Current status is an injured shoulder, probably due to misfiring muscles in my back, so I’m trying to be patient and sensible while I coax the little ones back to life.
Tuesday 21 March 2023
It was time to start touring the junior colleges, as Bjarki was about to graduate 10th grade. The first school with an open house was Borgó, where my oldest brother teaches. We got a speedy tour from him, as Bjarki had a guitar class to get to.
Frost gave way to snow… we were getting pretty tired of the white stuff by that point in time.
Wednesday 22 March 2023
The next school on the agenda was MH, which is the arty-crossed-with-high-academics one. It’s where you find the colorful people. The last time I visited it, with Anna, it had looked rather gray and dreary, but they’d worked hard to liven the place up with art on the walls, and as bizarre as it seems, a renovated all-genders-friendly toilet area. (Anna and I both noticed how run-down the toilets were four years ago!)
Snack shop, run by students.
MH is famous for its choir. They did not disappoint.
Whoa! Dad and Shirley made an mini-appearance all the way from the UK! Thanks to Icelandic authorities, dad needed to show up in person for some paperwork, and we finally got to invite them for dinner!
Three generations, and Finnur’s famous fish soup.
The other side of the table.
Emma not too excited about the fish soup, but glad there was bread on the menu.
Thursday 23 March 2023
The coffee machine had Too. Much. Coffee!!
Anna needed plastic spoons for a school project, and I dug out this box that moved with us from the US in 2010…
Sunset in progress shortly before 8 pm. Yay for being past the spring equinox!
Friday 24 March 2023
Anna’s spoon-windmill for her windmill generator.
Sanding a circular part. There would be hand-wound spools!
Saturday 25 March 2023
At my usual spot, where I’m sitting right now.
About to enter a confirmation party, and ran into grandma Hrefna and my aunt in the parking lot.
Cousins.
More cousins, plus mom and spouses.
The customary thank-you-for-coming, please-eat-now speech by the newly confirmed one.
Three generations.
The youngest one meets the oldest one.
Mini-sibling-conference.
I wonder what happens if I bite this?
Documenting current cousin height-difference. My prediction is that it will not last for very much longer.
Sunday 26 March 2023
Emma attempting to make slime.
View from the living room.
Another confirmation-party time!
Yum!!
Action shot!
Cousins, their great-grandparents on their mothers’ side were siblings.
Experienced party hosts know to have a coloring table for the kiddos!
Monday 27 March 2023
Sweaty time.
Aaargh, there was water in the fridge where there should not be water.
Ugh, something fell in the drain-hole and clogged it. What a terrible design!
Tuesday 28 March 2023
Next school on the visiting agenda was FB, where we met our cousins again!
FB hosts a fab-lab that is also open to the public.
Fancy printers.
We stumbled upon a history teacher that had put up a display with real toy-soldiers on a map to show how events of one of the wars. He also showed us a “Timeline” card game that he’d made himself! We came away extremely impressed, and Bjarki ended up applying to this school.
It was time to start learning how to puzzle through schedules like these.
Wednesday 29 March 2023
Birthday party at Finnur’s sister’s place. The kids are getting big!
Thursday 30 March 2023
It was my turn to show up with every-other-Friday-breakfast at work.
No snow!
I ended the day by setting up my travel-photo-studio in the basement of the building next to the US Embassy in Iceland. The third confirmation party of the season would be the following day, and I was planning on catching the newly confirmed one before the party started for a quick photo shoot. By the way, the US Embassy is nearly embarrassing in its paranoia, not a single Icelandic government building, besides maybe the prisons, has such an obnoxious fence around it. Like, you can walk up to all the other buildings, and knock on the front door. But, it is in keeping with the paranoid person that was installed as US ambassador to Iceland by the administration before Joe Biden’s.
Checking that the big camera was functional, for yet another outing. And thus endeth March 2023!
