Mom’s Birthday, Hiking & E-Biking by Grindavík
[Photos taken 20 – 23 June 2022, posted online 18 February 2023. We have a thin stubborn layer of snow covering the ground, with a yet another storm predicted tomorrow.]
The incredibly busy weekend (hiking! e-biking! concert!) was followed by a rather busy week, as the hiking and e-biking groups finished their scheduled excursions of the season, back-to-back, of course!
But, I did manage to scrounge together enough brain-cells to give mom flowers on her birthday, and keep showing up to work! (60-ish images total)
Monday 20 June 2022
Anna’s FG Graduation & e-Biking Njarðvíkurheiði
[Photos taken 28 – 31 May 2022, posted online 18 December 2022. After endless frosty days, we finally have snow… all the snow!]
After three years at FG (Fjölbrautaskólinn í Garðabæ), Anna graduated/matriculated with her “student’s diploma”, allowing her to enter university. She did a really good job, especially in light of the whole covid-situation, and months and month of remote learning and zero socialization.
We attended the graduation ceremony, and then we received family and friends in one of the houses at Árbæjarsafn, aka the “old houses museum. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and almost capped off one of the most insanely busy months in recent memory!
The last ‘event’ of this May-Mayhem was an e-bike ride out on Njarðvíkurheiði, by the international airport. And with that, May finally came to a close! (80-ish images total)
Saturday 28 May 2022
May-Mayhem: Sunny Days, Party-Prep & e-Biking Norðurárdalur
[Photos taken 21 – 27 May 2022, posted online 11 December 2022. Finnur’s on his way to the UK for a work-trip, I’m in charge of the fort.]
The weather took a turn for the absolutely gorgeous, and I kept not using it to oil all the wood. Other garden work happened, an injured Emma cheered on her team at a gymnastics meet, we attended a graduation party, while preparing for our own graduation party, and I went on a 42 km e-bike ride up by Mount Baula. (70-ish images total)
Saturday 21 May 2022
Hikes, Work-Outings & Biking
[Photos taken 27 – 30 April 2022, posted online 24 September 2022. My last Marel Annual Ball (for now) is tonight!]
The busiest week in a long while continued (!), with an evening-hike, a work-trip and a team-building party, an evening-bike ride, and then a day-hike.
As a pleasant non-sarcastic bonus, my knee got progressively better as time and activates piled up, go figure! I was frankly quite relieved once this week was over and done with, and patted myself on the back for getting through it in one piece. Also, it was fun! (70-ish images total!)
Wednesday 27 April 2022
Social Life Catch-up Begins
[Photos taken 23 – 25 April 2022, posted online 18 September 2022. Two weeks left of my current job. Got two flat tires out in the country after a hike yesterday.]
Iceland had declared Covid-19 done and over with. Thus, in a fit of optimism mixed with blissful ignorance, I signed up for an e-biking group that would go on 1-2 rides per week for 9 weeks. It caused a bit of a scheduling mess, as in one week I was due to go on two hikes, and two e-bike rides… also known as couch-to-insanity.
The weekend before the first bike-outing set the tone with a lunch, a reunion, and a birthday-party! (25-ish images total)
Saturday 23 April 2022
Comedy, Spring, Birthday #2 & Denmark!
[Photos taken 01 – 10 April 2022, posted online 25 July 2022. The weather is calm.]
We took the big kids to see a year-end-themed comedy show that had been scheduled for late December. It was interesting that the audience-appetite for covid jokes was low, it seems like we kind of just want to be done with the whole thing.
Then spring began to really spring forward, and it was time for some gardening. Just before departing for Denmark, we managed to host the 2nd birthday party for Emma for my side of the family. Then we departed for Denmark as the Easter holiday was up on us! (50-ish images total)
Friday 01 April 2022
Bjarki Plays @Nótan, Ion Hotel & Visits
[Photos taken 19 – 25 March 2022, posted online 20 July 2022. The two living room walls are now painted, but I’m thinking the new white border around the little windows needs to go… Waiting for Finnur to opine. Have moved my focus to painting parts of the kitchen, and touched off by a broken dimmer knob, am replacing all the black electrical fronts with white ones.]
Every spring the music schools in the country host a series of concerts, dubbed Nótan (The Note), and each school sends an act to perform at one concert. This year, Bjarki’s school asked him and his play-together group (that had met like 5-6 times) to play. He was super nervous, but got through it in one piece.
Straight afterwards, Finnur and I drove out to the country to stay at a hotel out in the boondoggles, to make use of a gift-card I’d given Finnur for Christmas. It looked like 75% of the other guest were also there redeeming the same gift-card, hehe.
We managed to visit grandma on her birthday (very rare occurrence), there was some exercising, Emma got her classroom laser-tag birthday wish, Anna got started on summer plants, and people came for dinner, in our house!! (50-ish images total)
Saturday 19 March 2022
Snowy Calm Between Covids
[Photos taken 01 – 11 February 2022, posted online 09 July 2022. Five working days left until summer holiday starts… to survive I’ve taken to re-reading trashy novels…]
I kept not getting Covid, while Bjarki and Anna recovered. Dad said hi from the parking lot for five minutes before dashing to the airport, and at long last, after I got the final negative PCR result releasing me from the ‘be-careful/quarantine-lite’, Finnur and Emma moved back home.
I went on walks in the cold while waiting on music school lessons to be over, we went to restaurants, but the biggest drama was my car not handling the copious amounts of snow that kept getting dumped on us. In the end I caved in and bought actual winter tires (not all-years), which transformed the car from useless to useable. Phew!
The hiking group resumed operations after the December-January hiatus, and I went on a nice walk in the dark. (75-ish images total)
Tuesday 01 February 2022
Yule 2021, Anna’s 18th Birthday & Self-Quarantine
[Photos taken 24 – 30 December 2021, posted online 01 May 2022. The past week included two 20+ km e-bike rides and two hikes, and I’m still mostly standing, if a bit stiffly.]
Finally, finally (!!!) yule arrived! To lessen tensions while waiting for the clock to strike 6 pm, and the formal start of Christmas, I took Emma out on a walk up to the observation point on a nearby hill. It was a little colder out than we expected, but it was a nice walk.
Mom and baby-bro Bjarni joined us for Christmas dinner, and opening of presents.
The following day we met Finnur’s extended family at his parents’ place for a yule day feast, and celebrated Anna’s 18th birthday! Late the following day one of the guests tested positive for covid, so we went on a self-imposed quarantine, with Finnur and Emma hunkering down at house #2, while the big kids and I whiled away the days in town. (85-ish images total)
Friday 24 December 2021
Regular Life Rhythm Restart
[Photos taken 16 – 31 August 2021, posted online 23 December 2021. Record number of Covid-19 infections yesterday, restrictions have been moved down to 20 persons per room, 200 max and masked at organized seated events with official negative rapid-test, and 2 m distancing instead of 1 m. Zero snow on the ground, and the officially-no-longer-erupting volcano is shaking again. Never a dull moment!]
With summer vacation from work officially over, life began resuming some sort of a rhythm.
In the spring, Emma had managed to squeeze out of me a week of half-days at a “petting-zoo” in Mosfellsbær (a 20 minute drive from our house) so this first week back at work involved a lot of driving. Thankfully, Anna now has a driving license, so we split up driving duties.
With covid-19 levels running rather high, but waning, Finnur and I worked mostly from home. Walks were taken, the garden was harvested, parties were attended (!), we filled house #2 to the rafters with people one night, Bjarki got vaccinated, schools restarted, and I caught some cold or other that was not covid. (45-ish images total)
Monday 16 August 2021
