Dagbók Hrefnu og Finns

Gardening Near & Far / Endless To-Do Lists

2025-06-01Hrefna's family, Us Standard

[Photos taken 01 – 11 June 2025, posted online 09 May 2026. Am I almost a full year behind myself? Yes, yes, I am. Most of my free time and mental energy has been eaten up by a voluntary treasurer position, but I can glimpse calmer seas ahead…]

June reverted back to normal-ish weather, after the insane heatwave in May. We kept prepping the backyard at home for Anna’s upcoming graduation party, and Finnur was very motivated to get the summer house into good shape as he’d invited his parents and siblings there to belatedly celebrate his fiftieth birthday (just in time for his fifty-first birthday!).

We managed to actually go on a date-night (we seem to need a booking far in advance, or we’ll just not go because it’s easier), and I kept gymming, in spite of my pinky finger leaking joint-gel again (yucky photo below). I managed to go frisbee golfing with Emma, and somehow convinced Anna that making dinner would be good practice before she moved out of the house!

Sunday 01 June 2025

Anna took pity on me, and attacked the enthusiastic growths under the bird-feeding tree, much of them being tiny sunflowers (that would never amount to anything) from all the sunflower seeds.

Hiking “The Mosfellian Alps”/ Hafnarfjörður Sailing

2025-05-25Friends, Hiking, Us Standard

[Photos taken 25 – 31 May 2025, posted online 11 April 2026. Most of the snow is gone, the sun is high in the sky, and gosh-darn-it spring may be in the air?!]

I’d signed up for a spring hiking-group, but ended up missing a lot of hikes because a) my Achilles tendons were super sore and fragile, b) I’d already hiked the same place in much better weather. But, finally all the stars aligned, and I made it to a hike, and had a lovely time.

The week that followed included a photo session, matching my deadlift PR of 1×140 kg without injury, making sushi at home (and nobody got sick afterwards), dinner-and-a-walk meet-up with a cousin, seeing signs of spring/summer for real, playing the Blue Prince computer game, buying a new watch, lots of garden work, a junior college graduation party, and going sailing!

Sunday 25 May 2025

Standing up on a “high-point” with the capital area behind me.

Sporhelludalir Hike / Wood Staining / Heatwave Ends

2025-05-20Hiking, Us Standard

[Photos taken 20 – 24 May 2025, posted online 06 April 2026. Stormy day outside.]

The heatwave continued on, and I joined a few friends for a free guided evening hike close to the capital area. Apparently some of Game of Thrones was filmed around there.

As the weather just kept being awesome, we began sanding and staining various wooden surfaces which needed it, at seemingly all hours of the long days. I got a spring-haircut, we became unwitting hosts to a few mice (which Finnur excitedly removed), and attended a graduation party. The kids are growing up!

Tuesday 20 May 2025

With the insane temperatures still reigning, I biked to work, and had to stop to photograph this beautiful view on the way.

Heatwave in May / Annual Ball / Wood Chips Galore

2025-05-13Friends, Us, Weather Standard

[Photos taken 13 – 19 May 2025, posted online ~~21 March~~ 06 April 2026. Winter has actually arrived, spring equinox brought with it a blizzard! Since starting to write this post we’ve spent a week in the UK (!), and returned to Iceland, to yet another incoming storm.]

In May, when the weather is usually both gorgeous and absolutely freezing cold due to artic winds, Iceland was the happy recipient of a highly unusual heatwave.

The southwestern corner got broiled (by local standards) for multiple days, as very warm air came at us from southern lands. It coincided with my company’s annual ball, the Eurovision song contest, and made for very enjoyable gardening, even if the tasks were quite brutal on the hands.

Tuesday 13 May 2025

The weather was so good that I decided to bike to and from work. It only takes a few minutes longer than driving. The bike-path winds alongside a lush valley, and to my utter surprise on the way home I stumbled upon kids playing IN the water by the waterfall, jumping off the ledge! That water is not warm!

Weeding Day 1 / Búrfellsgjá Hike

2025-05-10Friends, Hiking, Us Standard

[Photos taken 10 – 11 May 2025, posted online 01 March 2026. Currently celebrating my birthday from Munich Airport, en route home.]

Anna wanted to have her university graduation at home, so I was inspired to make the backyard a bit tidier. The first issue was that the grass had crawled over a pebble-filled separator-area to the garden edges, making it impossible to mow properly.

The day after, we went on a hike I’ve wanted to do in daylight for a long time!

Saturday 10 May 2025

Trying to keep the grass from going too close to the big rocks.

Leaves Appear / New Bridges Unlocked / Yard-Work

2025-05-01Us Standard

[Photos taken 01 – 09 May 2025, posted online 28 February 2026. Sitting at a cafe in Munich, Germany!]

The month started with a sewing-club, then it was more tasks in the backyard, some knitting happened, we attended a birthday party, I took a walk by the music school, and attempted to clean the shower drain.

All in all a relatively low-key start to the month, which was a nice change to the usual madness.

Thursday 01 May 2025

The evening’s sewing-club host owns a proper paella pan, and knows how to use it!

Frame-Staining / Confirmation / Spring-y Choir

2025-04-22Confirmation, Friends, Hrefna's family, Us Standard

[Photos taken 22 April 2025, posted online 8 14 February 2026. Still no precipitation, but it’s freezing cold outside. Brrrr…]

With Easter holiday all done and dusted, it was time for more spring tasks, as the sun kept staying up in the sky for longer and longer.

There were walks, some biking, gymming, a confirmation party, and a lot of wood-staining. I attended a spring-y choral performance, and we went out to dinner with friends.

Tuesday 22 April 2025

The priming and staining of the veggie-box-tops continued. Here are 2 out of the 4, all set up to be stripped of staples and acrylic fabric by helping hands.

Easter Break: Summer House / Feasting / Yard Work

2025-04-17Easter, Finnur's family, Friends, Us Standard

[Photos taken 17 – 21 April 2025, posted online 07 February 2026. The multi-week draught got temporarily halted yesterday when we finally had a bit of rain, which promptly froze on the freezing ground, and had people slipping all over. The weather systems have been locked in a strange configuration for a while, and the UK and mainland Europe have been getting all the tumultuous weather that usually hammers Iceland in winter…]

The five-day Easter holiday weekend went by in a blur of activity! After an epic printer-battle, we went up to the summer house with some friends, and used the lovely weather to put the trampoline together again, in between lounging and playing games.

Easter day was by-the-book, with easter-egg hunts galore, good food, good company, and social whist. The second day of Easter was spent in the yard, as spring was very much in the air!

Thursday 17 April 2025

Driving to the summer house as the five-day-long Easter weekend began.

HP Confirmation Party / Swedes Leave / Lake Walk-Jog

2025-04-13Confirmation, Hrefna's family Standard

[Photos taken 13 – 16 April 2025, posted online 01 February 2026. At this rate I’ll soon end up a whole year “behind” myself…]

We had the pleasure of attending my niece’s Harry Potter themed confirmation party on a lovely afternoon. The Swedes returned to their home a couple of days later, and then it was just “waiting for easter holiday”-time!

Sunday 13 April 2025

The location of the confirmation party, it the community “hall” of the nearby Free Church (Fríkirkjan).

On a Red Light Show/ The Swedes / Family Time

2025-04-08Hrefna's family, Us Standard

[Photos taken 08 – 12 April 2025, posted online 31 January 2026. Still almost no precipitation on our shores, while the UK is getting drenched.]

The Swedish contingent arrived for an Easter visit, which was fun for us! I was cultural and went to a show (of the one-woman-kind), and almost peed my pants laughing. Us, the siblings, managed to book ourselves and mom for a lunch, and the weather kept oscillating between spring and winter.