Dagbók Hrefnu og Finns

Fall Falls With Walks & Bakes

2020-10-18Us Standard

[Photos taken 18-31 October 2020, posted online 02 April 2021. Eloped to a cafe in Borgarnes for a bit of peace and quiet.]

Having escaped quarantine, but avoiding cafes still, I kept going out on walks just to escape the house. Anna’s final exams loomed (her school is unusual in that there are 3 semesters, each is 10 weeks long) and she began stress baking.

Halloween snuck up on us, but we did manage to grab a few pumpkins from Costco, and carve them. There was no trick or treating, although one household pinned candy to an outside wall! (70-ish photos)

Sunday 18 October 2020

Country Quarantining

2020-10-12Uncategorized Standard

[Photos taken 12 – 17 October 2020, posted online 30 March 2021. Sitting at a cafe being run as a restaurant, with servers. Every guest has to give their name, social ID, and phone number for possible contact tracing.]

A 8-10th grade teacher in Bjarki’s school was diagnosed with Covid-19. As the teacher had been in the cafeteria with the students, all of the 8-10th graders along with their teachers got sent into a week-long quarantine, ending with a covid-19 test.

We are ridiculously privileged in having access to house #2, so I could whisk Bjarki away from the rest of the family, meaning their life could go on as before, while the two of us holed up out in the country. (50-ish images total)

Monday 12 October 2020

The view from an afternoon walk out in the country.

Last Hurrahs Before Clampdowns

2020-10-01Uncategorized Standard

[Photos taken 01 – 11 October 2020, posted online 29 March 2021. Covid wave #4 is percolating, 10-people-max and school shut-downs restrictions were reinstated this past Thursday.]

After two weeks of a seemingly steady flow of 30-new-Covid-cases-per-day at the start of wave #3, the beginning of October brought a sharp uptick which flirted with exponential growth, and authorities finally clamped down hard: Junior colleges went back to distance teaching, and 20 people max were allowed per space in general. Masks also slowly became the general rule.

Right before the clampdown, there were two birthday parties! But as the clampdowns began I managed to go out on walks/jogs for a bit to make up for my now-stopped cafe-excursions. One week into October, we go the news one teacher at Bjarki’s level had Covid, which landed him (and me by extension) in quarantine. But that’s another post. (55-ish images total)

Thursday 01 October 2020

The view from my morning cafe-window. As the max number of patrons was set to 10, I had to give up my morning-cafe-habit, which was probably a good thing overall.

Covid-19 Wave #3 Begins

2020-09-16Confirmation, Friends, Us Standard

[Photos taken 16 – 30 September 2020, posted online 06 March 2021. Spring weather in February, as a volcanic eruption is possible/imminent. Zero active Covid-19 cases found outside of quarantine since 01 February 2021. ]

Mid-September, the percolating Covid-19 infection rate suddenly exploded on the heels of a few super-spreader events in bars, and at least one combat-gym. When it became clear we were heading into exponential-growth territory, restrictions began tightening.

In retrospect, they probably tightened too slow, as wave #3 ended up being long and vicious.

We participated in a few people-meetings (confirmation party! out to lunch! visiting cafes!), but mostly we began hunkering down, observing the autumn colors taking over the world. I painted yet another wall, the last of the veggie harvest was brought indoors, and we began prepping for winter. (55-ish images total)

Wednesday 16 September 2020

Screenshot from https://www.covid.is/data of the active diagnosed domestic Covid-19 cases per day in Iceland until 03 March 2021.

Green Walls, Doggy-School & Kitchen Time

2020-09-01Us Standard

[Photos taken 01 – 15 September 2020, posted online 28 February 2021. A little bit of snow on the ground today, but it won’t last. No new local Covid-19 cases diagnosed outside of quarantine since 01 Feb 2021. Currently living through an earthquake-o-rama, more quakes felt in the past week than in many years prior.]

September is always a month of adjustments back to regular schedule.

Unfortunately, scheduling conflicts and poor health meant that Finnur ended up taking the puppy to doggy school instead of the primary caretakers, and Anna tagged along a lot.

My usual September-redecoration-madness returned on schedule, and I spent a fair bit of time painting walls. Anna was finally freed of her braces, and she did a fair amount of baking to celebrate. Covid-19 cases kept coming at steady pace and authorities began pushing mildly on the societal brakes, and we remained cautiously optimistic. Some jogging happened, as the weather was mostly amazing. (80-ish images)

Tuesday 01 September 2020

Finnur and Anna with Spori the puppy on the lawn outside the puppy school.

Vacation End, Regular Life Resumes

2020-08-15Uncategorized Standard

[Photos taken 15 – 31 August 2020, posted online 07 February 2021. Starting to notice daylight is stretching longer. Still no precipitation.]

We met up with friends at house #2 for the last weekend of the summer vacation, and then “returned” to work. Well Finnur did, but my desk got shut down due as it was closer than 2 m to the next person, so back to the front room I went, and tried to turn my brain back on…

Besides trying to boot up the brain, we finally caved in and got some wood staining done. Sport practices also began in earnest, while Covid simmered. (90-ish images total)

Saturday 15 August 2020

Back by house #2. There was a most impressive cloud bank sitting on top of the mountains.

Dog-Sitting-Days

2020-08-06Us Standard

[Photos taken 06 – 14 August 2020, posted online 06 February 2021. Still no snow in the capital area, the weather has been weirdly calm all 2021, and very few covid cases detected.]

My mother had some health issues which did not mesh well with a super-hyper-excited-sometimes-biting puppy so we agreed to host said puppy for 10 or so days while she recovered.

It coincided with the start of Covid-19 wave #2 in Iceland, so any plans to visit touristy sites during our vacation went out the window anyway, and our lives shrunk back to home-base. (50-ish images total)

Thursday 06 August 2020

Emma with Spori on one of our many walks. He was still young enough to frantically go after random mushrooms, and even poops left by other doggies.

Hiding at House #2

2020-08-01Friends, Us Standard

[Photos taken 01 – 05 August 2020, posted online 31 January 2021. It’s been a snowless cold month on our side of the country, the other side is drowning in snow. Very few Covid-19 cases found these past few days.]

We visited house #2 with Adda and Halli and spent a few calms days there. Right about that time, Covid-19 wave #2 began, which meant we mostly stayed put to avoid crowds, which was restful in and of itself (80-ish images total)

Saturday 01 August 2020

Geysir, Horses, Sun & Birthday

2020-07-26Finnur's family, Friends, Us Standard

[Photos taken 26 – 31 July 2020, posted online 17 January 2021. Zero domestic covid-19 cases found yesterday for the first time in four months, the border is seeing an increase in cases though. It’s a bit scary.]

Anna kept reminding me of my promise of more than one horse riding tour, so we found an operator close to the Geysir area, and booked a tour. Afterwards we took a peak at the bubbling waters, while the car charged.

Finnur joined us, and we frolicked in the sun and even visited Fontana, the spa on the edge of Laugarvatn lake. Then we drove back into town, and celebrated Finnur’s 46th (!) birthday. (65-ish images total)

Sunday 26 July 2020

Myself and Emma on horse back at Geysir Horses.

Horse Riding & House #2

2020-07-21Finnur's family, Us Standard

[Photos taken 21 – 25 July 2020, posted online 16 January 2021. I went out to dinner last night, gasp!]

High on Anna’s list of things to do was going horse riding. As a result we visited a horse rental in neighboring Mosfellsbær (Finnur’s old town). The day after that we drove to house #2, where a number of tasks awaited.

The following weekend, Finnur drove back to town where he had planned some fun with his friends, while Anna (!!) drove the rest of us eastwards to Finnur’s parents’ summer house. (65-ish images)