Bjarki Turns 14 Years Old!
[Photos taken 28 June – 01 July 2021, posted online 26 September 2021. Elections yesterday, for the first time in Iceland, women hold more than half the seats in parliament.]
Bjarki’s long awaited birthday finally appeared and he’s now officially 14 years old, and busy checking ever more boxes on the “stereotypical-teen checklist”.
We again held two parties, one for each family, a few days apart, in between life as usual. (25-ish images total)
Monday 28 June 2021
Country Easter Break
[Photos taken 01-05 April 2021, posted online 26 July 2021. Current domestic regulations stipulate max 200 people per area, so all merchant-holiday-festivals this coming weekend are cancelled. Minimum distance is at 1 m, and people are being asked to mask up again, although, unfortunately, the wording of the mask-rules is muddy.]
House #2 came in surprisingly handy over the Easter break and beyond, as we were all sick and tired of home-home.
Some friends of our asked if they could join us, and arrived late the day they cleared quarantine as a kid at their kid’s school had been diagnosed with covid-19 the week before. We chilled, baked, played games, walked, ate, and chilled some more. (55-ish images total)
Thursday 01 April 2021
Bjarki’s Confirmation Day
[Photos taken 21-22 March 2021, posted online 22 July 2021. Covid-19 cases are again climbing rapidly in Iceland. Border regulations are being tightened, but no news on domestic regulations (there are currently no restrictions). Authorities are waiting a bit to see the effect of lots of vaccinations, our main concern continues to be not overwhelming the health system, and keeping deaths to a minimum.]
After a nerve-wracking few weeks, as we kept a close eye on new covid-19 cases, while last-minute organizing and ordering contamination-minimizing food for the day, Bjarki’s civil confirmation actually happened as planned!
Domestic regulations stipulated no more than 50 adults in the same room (200 in big auditoriums), so we ended up having two celebrations, first at 3pm for close family friends, and another at 6 pm for our families. The ceremony itself was at noon, so it was a long and busy day, but Bjarki thoroughly enjoyed being the center of attention, so we deemed it well worth it.
Unfortunately, covid-19 cases began skyrocketing the week after, and the following Wednesday, authorities again tightened domestic regulations, and all upcoming confirmations (we were invited to two on 28 March) were postponed! (80-ish images total)
Sunday 21 March 2021
Emma’s Birthday #2, Earthquakes Swarm
[Photos taken 24 – 28 February 2021, posted online 26 June 2021. As of today, Icelandic authorities have revoked all domestic Covid-19 restrictions, but border restrictions remain in place. The reason is high vaccination rates, with about 80% of 16+ year-olds having at least begun vaccinations, and 50% being fully vaccinated.]
After our fun ski trip, it was mostly back to life as normal, except for hosting Emma’s birthday party #2, going out to dinner, aaaand a sudden rise in earthquake activity close by (that would culminate in an actual volcanic eruption a month later!). (25-ish images)
Wednesday 24 February 2021
Emma’s 8th Birthday!!!
[Photos taken 12 – 17 February 2021, posted online 18 June 2021. It’s been a rather cold June so far, but thankfully a little wet along with the dryness. Also, Finnur and I have been a couple for twenty-seven years now, eeek!]
At long last, Emma’s 8th birthday arrived! She requested breakfast in bed with a little bit of chocolate, and I obliged. With Covid-19 momentarily mostly under control, we invited people over and had a proper birthday party (part 1)! Then we moved on to cream-puff-day, eat-till-you-explode-day, and ash-Wednesday-aka-second-Halloween, while preparing for an actual ski trip (with more people!) to the north of Iceland. (30-ish images total)
Friday 12 February 2021
Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021!!!
[Photos taken 31 December 2002, posted online 22 May 2021. Attended an actual gymnastics competition this morning, there were people there. Yes, masked and sitting far apart, but still, people!]
As per instructions from the Icelandic authorities, the new year’s eve party at Finnur’s parents was a lot smaller than in past years, but good fun was had nonetheless!
We were all excited to say goodbye to the general shit-show that had been 2020, and the annual comedy hour that evening (see youtube with English subtitles, recommend 11:57, and I identified so hard with 33:52) was the best it’s been in years, in my humble opinion. (35-ish images total)
Thursday 31 December 2020
Yule 2020, Anna’s 17th Birthday & Gingerbread House
[Photos taken 24-30 December 2020, posted online 16 May 2021. The weather is stationary, but we set up two new veggie-gardens for Anna yesterday.]
Icelandic authorities encouraged everyone to plan the festivities in “max ten 16+ year-olds yule-bubbles”. This meant the usual yuletide parties were canceled, so it was a super quiet holiday season. Furthermore, the bubbles implied separation in time, so my mom and doggy came over for yule, then a week later we went to Finnur’s parents’ place for New Year’s Eve, along with one of his sisters and her family.
Anna turned 17 years old on Christmas Day, and much of the day was spent in the kitchen. We took the week between yule and new year’s off from work, and there was much chilling, at least one jog, a library visit, a few cafe-visits, more kitchen activities, a little bit of furniture and Lego building, and just before the new year, I finally worked up the mental energy to make the annual ginger-bread house. (80-ish images total)
Thursday 24 December 2020
Covid-19 Wave #3 Begins
[Photos taken 16 – 30 September 2020, posted online 06 March 2021. Spring weather in February, as a volcanic eruption is possible/imminent. Zero active Covid-19 cases found outside of quarantine since 01 February 2021. ]
Mid-September, the percolating Covid-19 infection rate suddenly exploded on the heels of a few super-spreader events in bars, and at least one combat-gym. When it became clear we were heading into exponential-growth territory, restrictions began tightening.
In retrospect, they probably tightened too slow, as wave #3 ended up being long and vicious.
We participated in a few people-meetings (confirmation party! out to lunch! visiting cafes!), but mostly we began hunkering down, observing the autumn colors taking over the world. I painted yet another wall, the last of the veggie harvest was brought indoors, and we began prepping for winter. (55-ish images total)
Wednesday 16 September 2020
Bjarki Turns Thir-TEEN Years Old
[Photos taken 28 – 30 June 2020, posted online 28 December 2020. I’m on vacation until the new year, with no plans. First Covid-19 vaccine boxes landed in Iceland this morning. ]
Bjarki is now officially a teenager. We celebrated by hosting two parties, one for each family, a day apart. Thankfully the weather cooperated. (30-ish images total)
Sunday 28 June 2020
Jogging, Planting, & Dog-Sitting
[Photos taken 01 – 14 June 2020, posted online 23 December 2020. Yule is just around the corner, Covid refuses to leave, rainy storm predicted tomorrow.]
Finnur began going out for keep-in-shape runs when his old-boys football practices got shut down. I mostly did home-exercises and walks, but one day I decided to see if I actually could do a bit of jogging… and it turns out I did!
My history with jogging has been littered with injury. It was only in my “old age” that I started actually enjoying going outside for a jog with a good podcast, but since then there’s been plantar fasciitis, ankle breakage, shin splints, Achilles tendinitis, and iffy hips. Physical therapy has helped with some of that, but lifting weights has strengthened the whole system, and so… jogging is again a possibility.
We also finally finished making veggie growing boxes for Anna, but the plants went in a bit late, so the fall harvest was not super. Anna also spent a a lot of time with Spori the puppy, as her summer job only began on 9 June. (60-ish images total)
Monday 01 June 2020
