[Photos taken 01 – 12 September 2024, posted online 11 December 2024. My existence lately has been defined by gift-finding/buying/tracking/packing, and cheerleading kids through last weeks of school.]
The month of September began with us in the summer house, where there were berries ripe for picking, and wood to be cut/stacked/burnt.
School/music/practices/gym-stuff fell into a rhythm, and I attended a lunch-symposium. One of those practices ended with a trip to the ER, that thankfully had a positive resolution.
I jumped on the lets-knit-a-sweater/jumper bandwagon that got going in my sewing club, fulfilling a life-long I-want-to-do-that dream. I didn’t really stop to think if I wanted to own and use said jumper though…
Sunday 01 September 2024
The redcurrant bushes outside the summer house were laden with berries!
I picked a chunk of them, but left quite a few for the birds.
The grass that never got mowed. For some reason, mowed lawns irked me this year.
There was severe wind in the forecast, so I tied down the loungers, so they wouldn’t start sliding along the deck.
Evidence of recent wind damage: The lid on the garbage collecting container for the area had blown open, and was cracked.
A rainbow as we drove into Borgarnes.
Finnur’s a fan of “regular bakeries” so we stopped at one for a bite before driving to town. It’s conveniently located right at the entrance to the town.
Some of the offerings.
We were about to go drive that way, on the left side.
Nice stuff on the BBQ for dinner.
Monday 02 September 2024
The tops of the veggie-boxes kept spouting holes.
We went to pick up Bjarki’s physical driver’s license, and stumbled straight upon this new waiting area for people about to civilly wed, electric candle and all!
With his fresh piece of pink-and-blue-ish plastic!
My eye-sight is now crappy enough that taking a photo on the phone is the way to read tiny print. These numbers are standardized so they mean the same in every European country.
Aside from the 6 victory points (2 for marriage in spades, and 4 for the single pinochle of jack-of-diamonds and queen-of-spades), this is among the most terrible hands I think I’ve ever gotten dealt in Pinochle!
Tuesday 03 September 2024
Bjarki about to bike to school on our e-bike, as us old folks were about to walk to Emma’s school to meet the teachers and get a run-down of things we’d need to know.
Wednesday 04 September 2024
At lunchtime, I arrived at Harpa for a lunch-time symposium on “Inclusive Content Design”.
I’m a part of the Ský association, and for a fee you get lunch and access to the talks.
Not terrible!
Time to go find a seat.
As a person that’s tried to make not-terrible user interfaces, I quite enjoyed a lot of these presentations. Many dealt with issues that I’d not thought much about.
People exiting, as it was time for most to return to work!
The view out the window.
This trash-can-collection caught my eye on the way out…
Leave your umbrellas at home, people!! Iceland’s wind eats them for breakfast!!
Emma warming up at tennis practice.
Dumb-bell bench-press 5-repititions maximum day. I did 5 x 25 kg per hand, not bad for a woman.
Newest fruit box, yum!
Thursday 05 September 2024
In May/June, Anna picked up a bucket of compost, that stank so much that we left it outside. Then it rained all summer, and the bucket filled with water, so we were at a loss how to deal with it. I sent Anna this photo in the hopes she’d take decisive action. She did not.
Finnur headed into his actual office that day, so as a joke I made a sad face to signify the sadness of the sofa with Finnur missing from his usual spot!
Friday 06 September 2024
I wonder how the parking-lot-line-painters manage to cordon off such a large space for a lot that’s usually full of cars? They didn’t luck out with three that stubbornly remained.
Dinner pick-up from the Noodle station for the older kids.
There is just one soup, and then you add to it.
Pretty good!
A photo of Emma’s own screen-time plan for her sick-day earlier that week.
I decided I was all morning-cafe’d out, so that evening I drove to the summer house to meet up with folks. I probably would have delayed the journey to the following day if I’d checked the weather forecast, as it rained cats and dogs the entire way!
Saturday 07 September 2024
“Indian summer” Iceland-style? 12 C is 54 F.
It was lovely outside.
Finnur, the woodchopper.
Where shall we put this?!
Found a spot.
Emma practicing her away-vision.
With a freshly made paper shuttle.
Standard summer-house dinner at this point in time.
A fire-starter in training.
Waiting for action.
Happy flames!
Sunday 08 September 2024
The berries were mostly gone!
I want to get new ceiling lights for this space, these don’t make sense with the layout as it is.
More random lights here and there. I desire more cohesiveness but have yet to allocate actual energy to getting there.
The view from the couch is also quite chaotic.
Finnur hunting down unwanted plants before they spread.
Emma sad-puppy-eyed me into getting a Belgian waffle for her at the cafe.
Sadly, the darling cafe-dog got hit by a car this fall, and is no longer with us.
I think the kid’s feet have finally stopped growing, which should mean I’ll be throwing out a lot fewer shoes from now on?! I tried a couple of people to ask if they could use these, but sadly no.
Monday 09 September 2024
Remains of teenage boys, photo sent to Bjarki as a reminder to clean up after themselves!
Hello early morning frozen windshield.
“I own the street”-level parking.
My sewing club went all ga-ga for knitting a jumper, and as I’ve had “knit a jumper” on my life-to-do-list for a long time, I jumped on the knitting bandwagon.
Shoes in large sizes (up to 45) appeared at the local shoe store!!
The large-size-selection.
Knitting a test-swatch. I promptly ignored the results!
Tuesday 10 September 2024
That morning, at my regular cafe, a somewhat known person recorded videos for social media.
Ooops, the broccoli is ready! The other plant is a carrot from the year before which we let grow out of curiosity.
Making redcurrant jelly!
Avoiding burnt fingers.
The result! I need to find a way to keep some of the gunk in the jelly, to make it more interesting.
Bjarki practicing his car-maintenance-skills.
Here is a sweater-neck!
Stuck in traffic driving Emma to a piano lesson. Ugh, I should have taken the other way!
Finnur’s parents got our old TV. This was before I fixed the picture setting.
Does this look right?
That evening Bjarki returned from parkour practice with a busted shoulder. I decided to take him to the ER to get an x-ray to make sure nothing was cracked. This was at 9 in the evening, and there were quite a few people already waiting upstairs in the “something’s possibly broken”-line.
An hour later, at 10 in the evening, everybody that was already waiting up on the 2nd floor had been called in for examination. I would learn later that night that they technically shut that part down at 23:30, and then you have to wait in the randomness that is the first-floor line.
Waiting to be called into x-ray at 23:30. As we were the last ones before that floor shut down, we only had to wait a couple of minutes.
Trying to relax a bit.
At 26 minutes past midnight we walked out with the good news that nothing was broken, the shoulder was just badly sprained. He got a sling to help hold the hand up, and instructions to go find a physical therapist for follow up.
Wednesday 11 September 2024
Emma started music theory class once per week, at the incredibly inconvenient time of 14:30!?
Our “summer” finally arrived in September.
That afternoon I found a large crack, and then a lot of tiny cracks, in my windshield, which I’m certain was due to the fiber-optic-cable people making a mistake and shooting rocks at my car as they were sawing concrete in front of it.
Where they’d sawed concrete. I’m guessing they hit the rocky part with the flywheel. We’re still trying to figure out the insurance.
Long enough?
Finnur’s craft lamp coming in handy.
Making sure my head can make it through the hole!
Thursday 12 September 2024
At 8 in the morning…
… at 13:30.
It was knitting or doom-scrolling!
Book-keeping. It turns out to be the key to not mucking up too badly!
