Waterfalls, School Visits & Confirmation Parties
[Photos taken 18 – 31 March 2023, posted online 02 December 2023. Frozen days ahead of us, but little snow predicted, hardly any snow this season so far.]
We actually went on an outing to the lavafield-waterfalls (Hraunfossar) from the summer house with friends who like sight-seeing. The rest of the month passed in a blur of confirmation-related events, junior college school visits with Bjarki, hosting dad & Shirley for an evening, Anna’s school project, and gymming.
Saturday 18 March 2023
Cross-Country Ski Lessons, Socials & Gymming
[Photos taken 14 January – 01 February 2023, posted online 16 September 2023. Low pressure area spreading rain and wind this weekend.]
I managed to squeeze myself into beginner’s cross-country-skiing lessons on short notice (somebody dropped out). Three of the lessons happened on time, before the weather turned, and I missed the later two when the finally happened.
Aside from that, we attended a fun sewing-club new-year’s-party, there was baking, gymming, more gymming, a date night, a birthday cafe, a minor eye operation, and a trip to the summer house, among other things. There was also snow, rain, wind, aka the usual.
Saturday 14 January 2023
Do. All. The. Things. Part. Halloween.
[Photos taken 27 – 31 October 2022, posted online 02 July 2023. Seems like we’re about to get a whole week of no rain!]
Learning from last year’s fiasco of no-pumpkins-left-on-the-day-before-Halloween, I went out and got some a few days earlier. Finnur returned from the UK, Hannah Gadsby’s show finally happened, we went to the summer house with guests, and then had a lot of fun cutting designs into our pumpkins.
My upcoming new workplace sent a message asking for a profile photo, and I got to set up my work account a few days early and start poking around. I quite liked that.
Sadly, the Do. All. The. Things. mania petered out with a whimper, and I found myself returning a chunk of stuff back into the closet with the doors, having exhausted my decision muscle. But, some stuff got done, and I could finally cross it off my chronically ridiculously-long to-do list.
Thursday 27 October 2022
79th Birthday & Active Volcano Visit
[Photos taken 15 – 18 August 2022, posted online on 01 May 2023, yet another gorgeous and cold day.]
After our vacation in the US, the adults returned to work, Emma tried out a nearby tennis camp (wasn’t great), Bjarki roamed free with friends, and Anna began studying biomedical engineering at Reykjavik University.
Later that first week back, I lucked out and got to tag along with some hiking buddies to the active volcano that had started erupting at the beginning of August in Meradalir.
We were just in time, because just the next day the volcano quieted down at lot, and the day after that no fresh lava was visible, and that was the end of that eruption!
USA 2022 – Colorado Lounging, Climbing & Splashing
[Photos taken 07-10 August 2022, posted online 22 April 2023. I’m officially ridiculously far behind on my blogging!]
We flew from Spokane, Washington, to Denver, Colorado, picked up our rental car and made our way to Sarah and Augusto’s place. En route we were given a glimpse of the mad downpour that can happen in the area, with multiple cars simply driving to the side of the road and waiting the rain out rather than continue onwards almost blind.
Our Colorado days were calm in comparison to the first week of our US stay. We literally spent the first whole day lounging, although I did manage to get our travel insurance to OK Anna getting an x-ray of her ankle (not broken). The following day, most of us drove into the mountains to play in an elevated obstacle course, splash in some fresh river water, and check out flood remnants.
The following day we split up, with some of us shopping ’till we dropped, and others doing more relaxing things!
Sunday 07 August 2022
Summer-Vacation-2022 Count-Down
[Photos taken 01 – 15 July 2022, posted online 04 March 2023. We’ve had our first spring this past week, but there are frozen days ahead.]
After the mad-dash that was June, July was very low energy. I had to get through two weeks of work before starting my summer vacation, but was sadly not really enjoying work very much, so it was a pain. I therefore found myself working from cafes a lot, especially since I was often on the hook for driving Emma to her afternoon horse/art-&-animals camps.
Meanwhile, I tried to tackle a few long-standing home-improvement projects like getting a new sofa and chair, getting rid of the old furniture, prepping future paint-jobs, weeding, oiling wood, and making it out on the occasional jog.
Happily, we got a brand new nephew for a visit, and I managed to meet up with an old friend! We also did make it up to the summer house, but the biting midget-flies started coming out in droves, so staying there was a little anxiety inducing (60-ish images).
Friday 01 July 2022
Graduation Trip, Mr. Weeding & Gorgeous Days
[Photos taken 01 – 07 June 2022, posted online 21 January 2023. After multiple weeks of an unusually deep freeze, with multiple days in a row at -12C/10F, this weekend is The Big Thaw.]
With Anna on a graduation trip in Mexico, the house was a little emptier than usual. The days were filled with weeding (aka Bjarki’s hunt for money), I attended a choral performance, the kids’ school closed for the summer, we visited the house in Skorradal for a long weekend (where an epic mowing job awaited in glorious weather), and I socialized with the people at work. (60-ish images total)
Wednesday 01 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: Gardening, e-Biking, Trevor Noah, Music & Friends!
[Photos taken 01 – 07 May 2022, posted online 13 November 2022. I see that there have been no posts since September! Well, October was do-all-the-things-at-home while I was between jobs, and my photo-time was spent assembling the annual photo-calendar. I’ve now started my new job at Controlant, and life’s settling into a more regular rhythm. Also, quite frankly, May was insane, and there have been a lot of photos to plough through…!]
May was very, very busy! In this first week we got some gardening done, I joined an e-bike trip around Reykjavik, there was an event at work, two kids saw the dentist, nature got a quick visit, I went to see Trevor Noah, attended an orchestra concert, and then had dinner with friends!
Yes, the rest of May pretty much kept up that pace! Eeek! (40-ish images total)
Sunday 01 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
