Emma’s 9th Birthday, Skis & Bagels
[Photos taken 12 – 14 February 2022, posted online 10 July 2022. Sitting in rainy Borgarnes, on my way home after some house #2 time. Trying to get over feeling like a parental failure.]
Emma’s last single-digit birthday was super-legit, with a party and everything. Mindful of covid, we first had a party with just Finnur’s family, and then had some health-hiccups before we could get to mine.
The day after I went and bought cross-country skis for myself. It’s a thing middle-aged women do apparently. I even went out for a bit!
Snow kept falling in copious amounts, and Anna made bagels while on a school-break. (30-ish images total)
Saturday 12 February 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
Covid-19’s First Visit
[Photos taken 24 – 31 January 2022, posted online 02 Jule 2022. Two weeks until summer vacation begins. I can hardly wait.]
It had to happen eventually: covid-19 gave us a personal visit. At the time, anybody who spent extended time with Bjarki the Friday before the onset of his symptoms on Saturday, was required to quarantine for 5 days, and then exit quarantine via a negative PCR test. To make life a little easier, authorities did allow adults that were fully vaccinated and boosted to be infection-“cautious” instead of fully quarantining, which meant that I was allowed to go to the grocery store etc, but not into the office. Masks were still in general use and required in stores.
As it happened, Bjarki spent almost no time with Emma or Finnur on the Friday (they’d gone to house #2 early), so keeping in mind that Emma was only a week away from her second covid vaccination shot, we decided to split up: I would stay at home with Bjarki and Anna, while Finnur and Emma would move in with Finnur’s parents – yes, into the apartment on their first floor where we’d lived for five years a lifetime ago! They had their bags from house #2, and I packed an additional bag and Emma’s school stuff and left it outside for them to pick up.
On the Sunday evening following Bjarki’s positive test result, I had to navigate a flood of official emails and questionnaires, from the tracing team, and the health monitoring service, as well as a call from the school principal. She asked Bjarki which kids he’d mostly hung out with on Friday, and so 2-3 of his buddies got sent into quarantine.
But, as omicron was turning out to be relatively ‘mild’ in our highly vaccinated population (read: not a lot of people ended up in hospital), the rules began relaxing quickly in late January. This led to an explosion in case numbers, and by the end of the week, schools were ordered stop tracking exposures.
Bjarki’s brush with covid wasn’t too terrible, he was knocked out for about 24 hours, and then spent the rest of the week slowly getting his energy back. I somehow convinced him to attend a remote music theory class on Wednesday, but when I went to check in on how it was going, I felt a little guilty as he was clearly still low on energy.
Anna was the one who was physically closest when Bjarki’s symptoms were blooming, so it wasn’t very surprising when she too got covid a few days later. She got quite winded, but didn’t quite get knocked out. I tried to control my exposure to both of them, as I kind of wanted to get mildly infected, but not overwhelmed by viruses. Thus I ventured into their rooms occasionally, and we sometimes all ate dinner together.
On the Thursday I was certain I was falling ill, got really tired, napped for a couple of hours midday, but no: According to the PCR tests I took Thursday and Friday and Sunday (!) covid didn’t get a foothold. Outside of those tired hours, I ran on adrenaline, not sure how things would turn out. This I channeled into finishing a list of odd jobs, some of which I’d tried to pawn off on Finnur for months, but he hadn’t taken the bait. Sensible man.
Be warned, there will be dust! (50-ish images total)
Monday 24 January 2022
Hello 2022!
[Photos taken 01 – 23 January 2022, posted online 17 June 2022. May disappeared into a whirlwind of activity! So far in June, Anna has been on a graduation trip to Mexico via NYC, and Finnur is off in the UK on a work-trip! Today marks 28 years of togetherness for Finnur and myself!]
My goodness how time has flown since 2022 began! Covid-19-Omicron put a bit of a damper on things in the beginning, but when the excellent vaccination rate was coupled with lowered hospitalization rates, authorities gave Covid free reign, almost everyone got it, and now the herd immunity is pretty good. (Buuut, it’s not gone, as the hospital system begun requiring masks again yesterday, as infections and hospitalizations are again on the rise.)
As a result, social activities exploded, and there has been precious little time for blogging. But here goes anyway…
January was spent recuperating after the annual Christmas stress. We ate the ginger-house, I went to the gym, Emma got her first shot, little tasks got worked on, and we visited house #2 twice with friends, because we’d all been vaccinated, and kind of didn’t care as much any more, but … then I had to cut visit #2 short as covid-19 came knocking…! (70-ish images total)
Saturday 01 January 2022
Goodbye 2021!!
[Photos taken 31 December 2021, posted online 07 May 2022. Went to see Trevor Noah last night in a packed auditorium. Been a while since I laughed so hard!]
We all tested negative on PCR tests for Covid, so the New Year’s Eve party at Finnur’s parent’s place was ON!
However, as the day wore on, I began feeling more and more poorly, and in the end I decided to stay home, reading a book in bed, only venturing out at shortly before midnight to join with the others for a few photos and some fireworks.
And thus endeth 2021, may it never come back! (30-ish images)
Friday 31 December 2021
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
Annual Photos, Birthdays & Gingerbread Time
[Photos taken 18 – 23 December 2021, posted online 24 April 2022. Attended a 25 year (1+covid year) reunion last night and am sincerely hoping I didn’t make too much of a fool of myself.]
Out of some weird compulsion, the annual photo-shoot of the kids happened again. This time I experimented with a light from below, with mixed results. As usual, patience ran thin with some (most) of the participants, but a few decent images emerged.
Gift distribution was made super easy by birthday parties in both our families, I managed to keep gymming, the tree got decorated, and the annual ginger bread baking took place just in time for Christmas. (40-ish images total)
Saturday 18 December 2021
Bird Feeding, Forest Visiting & Sewing Club Hosting
[Photos taken 08 – 17 December 2021, posted online 23 April 2022. Our first family trip abroad in three years has come and gone! Copenhagen was niiiice!]
December is always busy, busy, busy. Covid-19 reared it’s annoying head again, so we worked from home a bit, but then I got fed up with that and returned to the office for a bit. Schools remained open.
The days passed doing work, feeding the birds, hosting a sewing club, going on a Christmas forest-adventure, and running Christmas related errands. (40-ish images total)
Wednesday 08 December 2021
Long Stóri-Bolli Hike & Haircuts
[Photos taken 20 – 26 November 2021, posted online 05 March 2022. All five of us have now had Covid-19 and are in varying states of recovery. All covid regulations in Iceland have been struck down. Oh, and there’s now a totally unnecessary war going on a little too close to us for comfort.]
My hiking group assembled a short distance away from the capital area to hike up to The Big Cup (Stóri-Bolli). The hike was a little weird because a road closure meant we had to begin walking on the road for 4 km before stepping off into the wilderness. The weather was cold but gorgeous, and it was a great day overall!
Then life kept chugging onwards, with the added wrinkle that I was preparing for a week-long trip to Tenerife with two friends (I basically invited myself to join them, as I was in desperate need to leave our rock in the ocean for a different rock in the ocean!). The preparations mostly entailed pre-yule haircuts, and scouting for yule-presents, along with buying a few items of clothing. (55-ish images total)
Saturday 20 November 2021
Bits & Bobs in November
[Photos taken 01 – 19 November 2021, posted online 13 February 2022. Quite a bit of snow on the ground, and restrictions being lifted as covid blazes through.]
November saw more home-improvements, trips to the gym and into nature, a vaccination booster, living room re-arrangements, some social outings, a moon-eclipse, and a sadly dysfunctional car. (45-ish images total)
Monday 01 November 2021
