Birthday Celebrations / Wood Staining / Homemade Macarons
[Photos taken 13 – 20 June 2025, posted online 15 May 2026. As of today, Bjarki has unofficially finished junior college, which means he can attend university in the fall. Well done him, finishing degrees is not to be taken for granted!]
Anna’s B.Sc. graduation from Reykjavik University loomed, and we planned to host a small celebratory party at home (which would still fill the house to breaking point). She’d decided to make home-made macarons both to give her fellow graduating friends, and to have at the graduation party, so she spent a lot of time in the kitchen. Others helped tidy the garden.
The week saw three (!) birthday celebrations, among them Finnur’s own very belated 50th birthday celebration at our summer house. We tried to make the most of the glorious dry weather by staining So. Much. Wood. Ironically, the weather gods decided to throw rain and wind at the Independence Day celebrations, so that became a cozy-indoors-day.
Friday 13 June 2025
Gardening Near & Far / Endless To-Do Lists
[Photos taken 01 – 11 June 2025, posted online 09 May 2026. Am I almost a full year behind myself? Yes, yes, I am. Most of my free time and mental energy has been eaten up by a voluntary treasurer position, but I can glimpse calmer seas ahead…]
June reverted back to normal-ish weather, after the insane heatwave in May. We kept prepping the backyard at home for Anna’s upcoming graduation party, and Finnur was very motivated to get the summer house into good shape as he’d invited his parents and siblings there to belatedly celebrate his fiftieth birthday (just in time for his fifty-first birthday!).
We managed to actually go on a date-night (we seem to need a booking far in advance, or we’ll just not go because it’s easier), and I kept gymming, in spite of my pinky finger leaking joint-gel again (yucky photo below). I managed to go frisbee golfing with Emma, and somehow convinced Anna that making dinner would be good practice before she moved out of the house!
Sunday 01 June 2025
Hiking “The Mosfellian Alps”/ Hafnarfjörður Sailing
[Photos taken 25 – 31 May 2025, posted online 11 April 2026. Most of the snow is gone, the sun is high in the sky, and gosh-darn-it spring may be in the air?!]
I’d signed up for a spring hiking-group, but ended up missing a lot of hikes because a) my Achilles tendons were super sore and fragile, b) I’d already hiked the same place in much better weather. But, finally all the stars aligned, and I made it to a hike, and had a lovely time.
The week that followed included a photo session, matching my deadlift PR of 1×140 kg without injury, making sushi at home (and nobody got sick afterwards), dinner-and-a-walk meet-up with a cousin, seeing signs of spring/summer for real, playing the Blue Prince computer game, buying a new watch, lots of garden work, a junior college graduation party, and going sailing!
Sunday 25 May 2025
Sporhelludalir Hike / Wood Staining / Heatwave Ends
[Photos taken 20 – 24 May 2025, posted online 06 April 2026. Stormy day outside.]
The heatwave continued on, and I joined a few friends for a free guided evening hike close to the capital area. Apparently some of Game of Thrones was filmed around there.
As the weather just kept being awesome, we began sanding and staining various wooden surfaces which needed it, at seemingly all hours of the long days. I got a spring-haircut, we became unwitting hosts to a few mice (which Finnur excitedly removed), and attended a graduation party. The kids are growing up!
Tuesday 20 May 2025
Heatwave in May / Annual Ball / Wood Chips Galore
[Photos taken 13 – 19 May 2025, posted online 21 March 06 April 2026. Winter has actually arrived, spring equinox brought with it a blizzard! Since starting to write this post we’ve spent a week in the UK (!), and returned to Iceland, to yet another incoming storm.]
In May, when the weather is usually both gorgeous and absolutely freezing cold due to artic winds, Iceland was the happy recipient of a highly unusual heatwave.
The southwestern corner got broiled (by local standards) for multiple days, as very warm air came at us from southern lands. It coincided with my company’s annual ball, the Eurovision song contest, and made for very enjoyable gardening, even if the tasks were quite brutal on the hands.
Tuesday 13 May 2025
Weeding Day 1 / Búrfellsgjá Hike
[Photos taken 10 – 11 May 2025, posted online 01 March 2026. Currently celebrating my birthday from Munich Airport, en route home.]
Anna wanted to have her university graduation at home, so I was inspired to make the backyard a bit tidier. The first issue was that the grass had crawled over a pebble-filled separator-area to the garden edges, making it impossible to mow properly.
The day after, we went on a hike I’ve wanted to do in daylight for a long time!
Saturday 10 May 2025
Leaves Appear / New Bridges Unlocked / Yard-Work
[Photos taken 01 – 09 May 2025, posted online 28 February 2026. Sitting at a cafe in Munich, Germany!]
The month started with a sewing-club, then it was more tasks in the backyard, some knitting happened, we attended a birthday party, I took a walk by the music school, and attempted to clean the shower drain.
All in all a relatively low-key start to the month, which was a nice change to the usual madness.
Thursday 01 May 2025
Frame-Staining / Confirmation / Spring-y Choir
[Photos taken 22 April 2025, posted online 8 14 February 2026. Still no precipitation, but it’s freezing cold outside. Brrrr…]
With Easter holiday all done and dusted, it was time for more spring tasks, as the sun kept staying up in the sky for longer and longer.
There were walks, some biking, gymming, a confirmation party, and a lot of wood-staining. I attended a spring-y choral performance, and we went out to dinner with friends.
Tuesday 22 April 2025
Easter Break: Summer House / Feasting / Yard Work
[Photos taken 17 – 21 April 2025, posted online 07 February 2026. The multi-week draught got temporarily halted yesterday when we finally had a bit of rain, which promptly froze on the freezing ground, and had people slipping all over. The weather systems have been locked in a strange configuration for a while, and the UK and mainland Europe have been getting all the tumultuous weather that usually hammers Iceland in winter…]
The five-day Easter holiday weekend went by in a blur of activity! After an epic printer-battle, we went up to the summer house with some friends, and used the lovely weather to put the trampoline together again, in between lounging and playing games.
Easter day was by-the-book, with easter-egg hunts galore, good food, good company, and social whist. The second day of Easter was spent in the yard, as spring was very much in the air!
Thursday 17 April 2025
HP Confirmation Party / Swedes Leave / Lake Walk-Jog
[Photos taken 13 – 16 April 2025, posted online 01 February 2026. At this rate I’ll soon end up a whole year “behind” myself…]
We had the pleasure of attending my niece’s Harry Potter themed confirmation party on a lovely afternoon. The Swedes returned to their home a couple of days later, and then it was just “waiting for easter holiday”-time!
Sunday 13 April 2025
