Faxi Campsite / Flúðir Folf / Finnur’s 50th
[Photos taken 25 – 31 July 2024, posted online 14 October 2024. It’s chilly but beautiful out there.]
One day, Emma noted that she’d never slept in a tent, and we decided that was something we should probably fix. A few days later, we lucked out in getting invited to join some friends at a campsite by the waterfall Faxi.
We arrived just as the most recent rain-storm was passing, stayed for a couple of nights, and managed to pack up the tent just before the next rain-storm arrived. We tried Frisbee golfing (folfing) for the first time, and it was a resounding success for all.
We returned home in the rain, caught out breaths for a few moments before attending a multi-Christening/Confirmation, and then it was Finnur’s 50th birthday!
Thursday 25 July 2024
Projects Galore / Bjarki’s 17th Birthday
[Photos taken 23 – 30 June 2024, posted online 25 September 2024. The mornings are getting quite chilly!]
Following a quick summer house chill, it was time to get to work on mom’s new apartment, while she was away in Sweden.
In between bursts of activity on that front, I kept building the veggie-box enclosures, although at that point it was clear they wouldn’t really be useful until the following summer. Oh well.
Aside from working on projects, I had a game-night, met a friend for lunch, finally met up with my physio for some solid guidance on fixing my back (use those glutes!), Emma started a new camp, and Bjarki turned a whopping 17 years old!!
Sunday 23 June 2024
Apartment Clearance / Jacob Collier / Hvammsvík / Woodworking
[Photos taken 15 – 22 June 2024, posted online 24 September 2024. Fall colors are everywhere.]
With mom in good hands in Sweden, it was time to finish the big mom-move, as in fully clear and clean the old apartment. It was a good thing I was out of a job, as I needed a few days to recover after each session.
There were a few big events, such as a Jacob Collier concert, visiting the Hvammsvík hot springs, an MBA graduation, and Stanford alumni get-together.
As we were feeling pretty happy with the prototype veggie-box enclosure Anna and I had designed and built, we got Finnur to source more wood, and then I used dry days to build more.
In between it all, I tried to visit the gym on weekdays, and slowly nudge myself back to health.
Saturday 15 June 2024
Moving Mom / Physio Gymming
[Photos taken 01 – 14 June 2024, posted online 20 September 2024. One job interview completed this week, just got notified I’d made it to round two, but lots of unemployed fish in the sea.]
June kicked off with a presidential election in Iceland, and for the second time ever a woman, Halla Tómasdóttir, was elected. The position is mostly ceremonial, with lots of meets and greets, but holds (very-rarely-used) veto power over new laws.
Then it was prepping stuff, followed by moving it, to mom’s new abode, interspersed with a few “adulting” tasks around the house like cleaning the garbage bins, and taking care of a leaky car tire.
My sprained back kept being fragile, such as when I re-injured myself bending down slightly to wash my hands. I was therefore banned from carrying stuff, and instead reverted to my old physio exercises to claw my way back to good back health.
We leaned hard on the kindness of friends to feed us, which kept us in good spirits.
Saturday 01 June 2024
Garden Build / Goodbye Controlant / Hello Back Sprain
[Photos taken 20 – 31 May 2024, posted online 11 September 2024. Bjarki sprained his shoulder at parkour practice yesterday, we spent a lovely few hours at the ER to get a diagnosis.]
In a fit of activity, I dismantled the old veggie-box lids Finnur assembled a few years ago, that had sadly collapsed. Anna wanted a more accessible design, so we we went about designing, and building version two of the veggie-box lids.
In that spirit, I spent the last week at Controlant burning through a lot of energy, to finish what I’d decided I should finish. This was mostly fueled by eating ridiculous amounts of 85% dark chocolate.
After my last day, energy was still running high, one could even say there was a bit of a disconnect between body and mind, which promptly translated into lifting too much at the gym, spraining my back. In retrospect it was good that I essentially got sent into mandatory rest, I might have crashed and burned even worse if I hadn’t. Oh, and there was yet another eruption, and we secured a new home for mom!
Second Whit Sunday (Public Holiday) – Monday 20 May 2024
Spring Tasks / Concerts / Work-Wind-Down
[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
Post-Move Deep-Clean / Sarah Millican Show
[Photos taken 01 – 06 April 2024, posted online 23 August 2024. The elementary school doled out the schedule today, and the weather played along with blustery chilly autumn winds.]
After the last of my siblings moved out from mom’s place, a lot of space opened up, and the opportunity to deep-clean in “peace and quiet” before mom returned from Sweden was too good to pass up. (Mom’s health isn’t quite up to deep-cleaning any more, and she’s done more than her share of cleaning in life so far!)
My sister-in-law and myself showed up, ready to remove some dust-bunnies, and move some furniture, leaving the children with their fathers. (For jobs like this, it’s easier just to get on with things, rather than rope other people into it, if they need to be instructed what to do. Instructions take mental energy!!)
Aside from getting dusty, there was a birthday party, gymming, my workplace decided to move the offices to a new building, a Sarah Millican show, picking mom up from the airport, and dinner with friends!
Second Day of Easter – Monday 01 April 2024
Sweden / Paradox & Vasa Museums / To Iceland
[Photos taken 29 – 30 March 2024, posted online 18 August 2024. Last night was decidedly chilly, fall is approaching.]
Black Friday is a public holiday in Sweden so everybody was available for a trip into Stockholm. We found a fun museum to visit, and once that was done, I dragged the kids and my brother to the Vasa museum, just because it’s cool.
The following day, we cleared out of our AirBnb, drove to the airport, and flew back to Iceland.
Friday 29 March 2024
Sweden / Technology Museum / Viewing-Farm
[Photos taken 27 – 28 March 2024, posted online 17 August 2024. It’s my father-in-law’s birthday, which means the weather will be good!]
One of the staples of our city-trips, is visiting technology museums. We’d visited the same museum eight years before, but it had changed a whole lot in the intervening years. There was really just one area that I recognized!
The following day we explored a bit around where we were staying, which included visiting a “viewing-farm”.
Wednesday 27 March 2024
Sweden / Mini-Golf / Uppsala / Electric Go-Kart
[Photos taken 25 – 26 March 2024, posted online 16 August 2024. Seems like we’re in for a lovely day after heaps of rain. School starts next week.]
Our first day in Sweden was a quiet one. I hadn’t really given myself time to formally organize the trip much before we arrived, much to the consternation of some of my “we like a schedule” offspring.
Looking around, it became apparent that the Swedes are fairly “mall-oriented”. Weird entertainment things lurk in the basements of malls, so on our first day we went shopping and mini-golfing! My brother and his wife were both working while we were there, so we mostly met them in the afternoons/evenings.
Monday 25 March 2024
