[Photos taken 01 – 19 May 2024, posted online 10 September 2024. I have sent in my first job application in since I quit my job in the spring, as I finally stumbled upon a job posting that spoke to me.]
After the weirdly high number of trips abroad in March and April, there was finally a bit of peace and quiet to start on “spring tasks”. Branches got trimmed, planks were screwed, music was listened to.
I also struggled with how long I would stay on at my job, as my brain toggled between “really need a break” and “really want to finish these tasks”. As the month passed, my stress levels increased (quitting is hard!), and I tried to compensate by going to the gym, which helped a bit.
Finnur had a lot of errands to do at the summer house (new fire-place!), before departing for California on a work-trip, so I ended up cooking a lot more dinners than usual. We also started apartment hunting for mom, as her old apartment was no longer a good fit.
Labor Day – Wednesday 01 May 2024
A little late to the game, with buds already forming, but once I got going it didn’t take too long.
Slightly more tidy shrubbery.
The birds objected to some leftover food-stuffs I’d found, and just shoveled everything onto the ground. They relented in the end and cleared it up.
Our subscription fruit box arrived, with some unusual things.
Bjarki kept practicing how to drive. My (!!!) goal was for him to have his driver’s license before the start of the following school year. So done with driving him around!
Thursday 02 May 2024
Getting some of the stress out before work at the gym.
The cafeteria for the office tower is on the 19th floor, and the views are lovely.
House spotting.
The phallic-shaped mall, Smáralind.
Bjarki’s music school band performed four songs for their spring recital.
It went well!
Friday 03 May 2024
The eternal battle to have teenagers tidy up after themselves. Now I send photos to the offending party.
It was a rainy day. The tower’s windows are being replaced, to try to combat the relentless sunshine on cloudless days, and stop leaks during storms (there have been some mold-problems). Again, there is no central air-conditioning present, just windows. Also, due to the shape of the top, it’s weirdly hard to get a “level” photo!?
Bathroom decorations at work. Unfortunately the logger was almost out of battery and so did not report the temperature in the room.
Saturday 04 May 2024
The garbage shed we built the previous fall needed a bit of sanding, Finnur got right on it!
Ugh! This sleeping sofa now spends most of its time fully extended, as a lounger for Bjarki and his friend. Scary things appear when it is rolled together again…
A good idea that’s hard to maintain: posting the weekly menu inside the elevators. This one was more than a month out of date…
The hot water was being turned off and on again at the summer house, so Finnur went there to monitor. Thus I was responsible for dinner. Very brown and yellow!
Tuesday 07 May 2024
My 12 year old writing tablet came home from work… I was starting to tidy up.
Wednesday 08 May 2024
The view from the small kitchenette on the 7th floor of the tower. Note the unhappy-moist window on the left.
With the frost gone (mostly) it was time to finish screwing the deck and garbage bin shed planks fully into place, by the master screwer (me!).
Every other hole was empty!
Jesus Goes to Heaven Day (Public Holiday) Thursday 09 May 2024
Bjarki’s become more interested in practicing life skills, such as scrambling eggs. It was easier than he thought.
Back at my screwing-gig.
Before…
… After. All done!
More plants showing signs of life.
The dude.
Playing with my macro lens. I should have brought out the tripod.
Mood.
Grow my pretty, grow!
That evening, only myself and Bjarki were “at home” so we went to the local Indian place for dinner.
Friday 10 May 2024
Friday’s post-work sanity help. That 115 in the last line is a typo!
Saturday 11 May 2024
The local libraries are friendly places.
Up at the summer house, the temperature was weirdly high considering it was still early May.
Emma’s birdhouse finally getting placed outside.
The previous owners were huge bird-people, but some of their houses have disintegrated, leaving just a platform.
Trampoline, now with birdhouse.
It was warm enough to sit outside, without overcoats!
A typical Hrefna-made-this dinner. It harks from a time where I pre-cut all the ingredients so I wouldn’t have to cut up the food for the kids when we were eating.
Touched the rowing machine for the first time in ages. Not a terrible time.
Apartment-hunting for mom. After the last offspring moved out, the old apartment stopped making sense for her, much too big, and no elevator. And so, we started looking…
Arriving at a nearby church after dinner for a choir-concert.
The view from my seat.
There were three supporting players.
Some familiar faces.
Marveling at the “notes” the piano player had. I can assure you, she did not just play straight-up chords.
A full sing-along for the last song. It was a lovely concert!
Wednesday 15 May 2024
Who puts the laptop-fan-output on the right side of the laptop? (Lenovo, that’s who!) It’s sooo hot, it singes your thumb if you happen to be working on a small surface with a mouse! And yes, those last few days at work were fueled in large part by 85% dark chocolate.
An accurate representation of my mental state at the time. I’d gotten a no on a position from Reykjavik University, which was probably for the best. With my chaos-batteries long depleted, and my brain quickly running out of general work-gas, it was decided that my last day at work would be Friday 24 May.
Thursday 16 May 2024
I did a 100 meter rowing sprint at a 1:33 mins/500 m rate. That’s pretty darn good.
All those years of rowing while my feet were injured mean my technique is pretty good. Rowing is a lot more technical than I realized when I started.
All the leftovers combined for dinner!
Friday 17 May 2024
Prices from the team’s cocktail-making competition that week. As I was leaving, I’d demurred.
My very last every-two-weeks-Friday-breakfast at this job. Such mixed emotions!
Saturday 18 May 2024
At Keflavik airport, having just dropped Finnur off for his work-trip to the mother-ship in California.
Giving the car a wash…
A sad plant I’d decided needed to be decimated. I decided to give a bit more time to show signs of life before getting the shears out.
Dinner was a cooperative affair.
The view from my bedroom window at 11 in the evening. I think my office floor is just below what I can see.
Sunday 19 May 2024
Tip-jars do exist in Iceland, but they’re only used by tourists. The locals know staff is paid a livable wage.
Checking out another apartment for mom. This one got immediately disqualified for having these “murder-stairs” out front (imagine going down them in frost and snow), and no elevator, even though the listing said there was an elevator. Tsk, tsk, bad real-estate agent!
Why is it so hard to use rust-free materials when building houses?!
Repeat of a low stress dinner.
Opening our papaya, probably a few days too late, as we’d never handled such a fruit before. It was… ok….?
