[Photos taken 07 – 31 October 2023, posted online 10 June 2024. Summer has arrived!!]
The outside temperatures started dipping below freezing point, but we continued working on the garbage bin shed. Thus the build turned into a bit of race against the weather and darkness as the days passed. By the end of the month the shed had three sides (there would not be doors), and we were very close to adding a roof!
Other than that we went to the summer house, attended a birthday, harvested veggies, procured winter clothes, had dinner with friends, I kept documenting my gymming, and there was a sewing club. I participated in the 2023 women’s strike, visited the old-houses-museum with Emma, and we carved pumpkins for Halloween.
Also, I did try to split this post into two parts when I realized just how ridiculously long it was, but copying and pasting turned out to be not as simple as that. So, you’ve been warned, this is long!
Saturday 07 October 2023
We woke up to a frost-covered world.
Some of the shrubs still had flowers on them… now flash-frozen!
We’d gotten to putting in supports for the shed-roof, which meant deciding its slope. We decided to copy the slope of roof of the main building, but then had to figure out what it was…
We found a drawing that said 15 degrees, which we then confirmed by using the built-in leveler/tilt-meter in the photo app in the phone. I therefore have a bunch of photos from under the roof, as I measured in a few places…
During some tidying I found artwork from Emma from the past summer.
The frost gave up as the day wore on.
Anna quite happy with how the broccoli turned out this year!
Close-up!
Sunday 08 October 2023
Always nice to start the day with a trip to the recycling center…
Perfect angle-cut for the roof support! Finnur seems to quite enjoy figuring these things out, which is great because I don’t really have the patience for it!
Blood sugar replenishment-time after finding new outer-wear for Bjarki.
Happy new owner of warm clothes for the winter.
Sadder participant that did not find anything that worked.
What is that I see, the birth of a side?!
Monday 09 October 2023
Blah-weather-view from the 6th floor, while waiting for lunch to arrive.
My partner in trying to increase muscle activity and strength in my left back. Physical therapy exercises are weirdly hard, but also very isolated, and not great for whole body stress release.
Tuesday 10 October 2023
From the outfit it looks like it was darn cold outside.
Snow in the mountains…
Wednesday 11 October 2023
Outside after work, yet again.
Pretty colors! Maybe I should have gotten out the fancy camera?
My tools. It was threatening to start raining…
Another side magically appearing.
Thursday 12 October 2023
Snow on the ground!
More snow?! Thankfully the ground was still fairly warm, so it wasn’t sticking very long.
Friday 13 October 2023
Lazy dinner at Ikea as Finnur had hopped on over to the summer house to prep for guests.
Saturday 14 October 2023
The garbage bin shed status. Thankfully the weather forecast promised less snowy conditions in the future.
Afternoon drive up to the summer house. I’ve taken to guarding my Saturday-morning-mental-recharge-at-a-coffee-house quite seriously.
Hafnarfjall, the mount that looms over Borgarnes, there on the left.
Cloud-blurs.
It was time to strip the trampoline for the oncoming winter.
Ready for winter!
Fire-y sunset in progress at 18:15.
It cast a strong reflection in the windows too.
Fancy potatoes for dinner.
Sunday 15 October 2023
We arrived into town in time for a birthday party in Finnur’s family. The crush of boys on and by the couch was pretty funny.
Anna had asked me to get a tool for weeding like she had at her weeding-job… so I found everything that could possibly match her description, and sent her this photo.
The winner!
One of the benefits offered by my (now ex-) employer was a subsidized home-cleaning service, that you could order through a scheduling website at work. It was wonderfully effective in forcing me to finally clear out (or hide in a stack of boxes, see the far wall!) the stuff that had been ejected from Emma’s room.
Monday 16 October 2023
Mild disaster struck! Finnur mis-read some number on the mechanical saw, and cut the wrong angle!
We pondered how to recover, and in the meantime more siding went up. This is shortly before 5 in the afternoon.
Two hours later the whole side was done! Woop!!
Tuesday 17 October 2023
Exiting the gym at shortly post 8 in the morning… Time for a new day at work! By posting evidence of having ‘moved my body’ for at least 20 minutes, three times a week, for three months, to a channel at work, I entered a drawing for a free massage.
Wednesday 18 October 2023
Another subscription fruit-box appeared. Sadly, the apples were a bit of a disappointment.
Sneaky clementines!
Thursday 19 October 2023
Trying to make sense of the fire-alarm readout as the system went off yet again.
I’m sure it’s possible to do a better job arranging these labels in numerical order!?!
For some bizarre reason there was a period of time where we had a really hard time figuring out how to get this kettle at work to turn on. It felt like a failure in user interface design.
As an immuno-suppressed person, I happily showed up for my flu-and-covid shot. I discovered the health clinic was still using the blurry-by-design (i.e. super zoomed-in) laminated numbers!
Sewing-club time!
Friday 20 October 2023
Breast-cancer awareness day, with pink-candy at work.
I bailed from work shortly after lunch, and by evening I’d spiked a fewer, just like the last few times I’d gotten a covid shot. I was fine the following morning.
Saturday 21 October 2023
Finnur finally figured out how he wanted the fix the wrong-angle-issue, and then he fixed it.
Gorgeous mango being gorgeous while being consumed.
Sunday 22 October 2023
Trying out reading glasses, as my eyes had started to fail up close. Since then I’ve taken to wearing a too-weak contact lens in one eye, so I can use that eye to read with.
Some insane part of me decided that it was time to finish Bjarki’s Confirmation photo-book, as well as make other books to give as Christmas presents. These are the well-wishes/advice-cards Bjarki got from the guests at his confirmation parties.
Work-clothes on, lets go saw, drill, and screw stuff!
All the spacers.
All three sides completed! (We’d decided against doors, because they could be such a pain to open if there was a lot of snow.
Cutting the deck-edge.
I guess I was feeling antsy, because out I went for a jog.
Lava formations.
Pretty shadows in the distance.
A stubborn little tree.
A sight for sore eyes, and a stressed system.
Tuesday 24 October 2023
It was women’s strike day! After politely leaving in mid-afternoon for the past few years (proportionally at what time women stop being paid compared to males) this year organizers drummed up support for a repeat of the infamous Icelandic Women’s Strike Day in 1975. This of course shut down a bunch of businesses, but I found a cafe that morning that promised to be staffed with men only.
People were asked to show their support by going downtown for a demonstration starting at 14.
The area in front of parliament (on my left) looked a bit busy.
The cafes downtown were crowded with women!
Approaching the hill where public events are held downtown (Arnarhóll). People just kept coming! This is at 13:47.
I managed to find a few friends in the crowd. With so many people around, the internet/mobile phone system struggled a bit so finding people was tricky.
A portion of the crowd.
The whole hill was covered with people, all the way to the surrounding houses.
About an hour and a half later, after speeches, songs, and chanting, the crowd peacefully dispersed itself.
It helped that the weather played along. Here people are walking home.
I’d parked under city hall, that grey building on the left.
Lovely view over the pond (Tjörnin).
I sort of didn’t want to go home, as I would probably be tempted to “do” something, so I ended up parking by this church, and walking around to find another open cafe.
It was just a little past six in the afternoon when I exited the cafe. Somewhat predictably there were women working there. The general rule seemed to be that the younger generation and the foreigners weren’t as gung-ho, or in as good a position to demand time off, as the older natives.
Wednesday 25 October 2023
Somebody at work trying to give me a heart-attack…!
Random stuff you find when you finally clear out certain little-loved areas…
Thursday 26 October 2023
Just as a public service announcement: If you can jump your body off the ground, then you can always leg-press your own body-weight and a little extra!
It was Halloween dress-up day at work!
Just for posterity, the four company core values by my demonic self!
Mom installed in her lazy-boy after returning from Sweden!
Saturday 28 October 2023
Tidying up the deck-edges.
We’re lucky to have a friend who got the carpentry-bug big-time, and has some of the big equipment. Thus Finnur got this beam cut at an angle!
Cabbage and carrots doing quite fine.
We decided we’re earned ourselves a nice dinner with friends!
The kitchen at the new fancy Edition hotel downtown.
Afterwards we played a bit of pinochle. I got this juicy hand at one point!
Sunday 29 October 2023
Picking out photos for a photo book!
Emma was on a winter break, and bored to tears, so I took her on a phone-based treasure-hunt at the old-houses-museum.
In the old church.
It’s a tiny church!
We looked into this room and were like… what’s going on?!?! Turns out they’d Halloweened the museum up!
Quite poltergeist-y.
Spiderwebs!
The buildings of old weren’t very tall…!
Freaky!
Emma a bit freaked out.
It’s always hard to wrap your head around how SMALL people were in the old days.
A book-binding display.
It was a gorgeous day!
Mechanic-mannequin down!
We took a quick tour around the “stuff from the past” display.
Since we were close by, we stopped by the library in that part of town, but didn’t find anything interesting.
Monday 30 October 2023
Pumpkins, to be carved!
The first step is always to clear them out.
Concentration.
Happy. Emma did most of the carving, but helped with the tricky bits.
Emma and her pumpkin.
With the fancy camera.
Anna also carved a pumpkin.
Finnur still at it when I gave up and went to bed!
Tuesday 31 October 2023
It was again time to work on the shed.
Emma waiting for some friends to go trick-or-treating with.
I didn’t feel like opening the door every two seconds, so I just left the bowl outside with instructions that everyone could get 1 piece, or the ghost would get them!
Finnur lighting some candles.
There were a bunch of kids roaming around in the twilight.
The proud papa.
Ooooh, a dragon!
Emma’s candy collection (plus her phone)! And thus endeth October 2023!
