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
Longest Hike Yet, Concert & Quiet Halloween
[Photos taken 17-31 October 2021, posted online 30 January 2022. Snow on the ground, it keeps coming and going, just a little here and there.]
The latter part of October was dominated by the first the thought of, then the doing of, and then the recovery from, the longest hike (16 km) of the hiking group yet, which just happened to end up quite close to house #2. Rarely has a hot tub soak been more welcomed!
There was bowling, Anna and I went to an actual concert, Emma went in for dental surgery, our internet was upgraded to fiber, shopping happened, farm animals were visited, we went ice-skating, and Anna discovered the power of driving her sister around to collect candy for Halloween (85-ish images total)
Sunday 17 October 2021
An Autumn Wedding & Outdoors-ing
[Photos taken 01 – 16 October 2021, posted online 29 January 2022. Covid is in the house, but the timing of human interactions was such that it made sense for Finnur & Emma to move and hide from the rest of us in our old apartment at Finnur’s parents’ place, while I held down the covid home-fort with Bjarki & Anna who by this point have both contracted it.]
October’s social highlight was without a doubt a long-planned wedding in Finnur’s family (photographed by yours truly), which happily fit snugly in between covid-waves, and nobody got infected!
There was also a birthday party on my side of the family, autumn colors became all the rage, the sun got less and less inclined to shine on us, work hosted a clean-up day, some gardening happened, the gym was visited repeatedly, I went on an evening hike which I really need to repeat in brighter times, and then we hung out with some friends in the country. (35-ish images total)
Friday 01 October 2021
Hikes, Hail & Housework
[Photos taken 15 – 30 September 2021, posted online 16 January 2022. A little bit of snow outside, brightening up the sullenly dark sky. About a month to go until daylight really gets going.]
My organized walking group met up twice in the latter part of September. First was an evening walk out in Hvalfjörður, and the second was a whole-day excursion up and down Kvígindisfell.
Meanwhile, daily life plodded ahead. House #2 got visits, school hobbled along (I can’t even remember if and what kind of restrictions were in place), the first hail came and went, I tried aqua-zumba, kept visiting the gym now and again, and even went to the theater! (85-ish images total)
Wednesday 15 September 2021
New Roof, Swimming & Socializing
[Photos taken 01 – 14 September 2021, posted online 15 January 2022. The screen of my personal laptop has died, and is too crazy expensive to fix. Covid-19 regulations have been tightened yet again (now at 10 people max gatherings, but with numerous exceptions) as daily cases hover in the 1200 range, and the hospital system is slowly but surely being submerged.]
The month of September began with our roof being replaced, as the roof on the other side of our duplex kept leaking.
I began visiting the local swimming pool again to try and release the tension from my back and shoulders after sometimes working at the actual office (the two different work-setups seemed too much to handle). I met with both sewing clubs, and made it out for a couple of jogs. Bjarki got his second shot, the garden started sleeping, and the weather became less fun. (50-ish images total)
Wednesday 01 September 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
