[Photos taken on 03-11 February, posted on 8 September 2018. It’s getting a bit chilly out there.]
Snapshots from the run-up to Emma’s 5th birthday. There were dinner parties galore, some board-game playing, and crazy weather. How very February! (15 images total)
Saturday 03 February 2018
Pretty clouds as we made our way to Hafnarfjörður. I vaguely recall us going to the swimming pool there.
[Photos taken on 01-02 February, posted on 8 September 2018. Spent the morning hunting the Pokemon Moltres with Finnur!]
My flight home to Iceland didn’t leave until around dinner time, so I spent the day walking around Toronto, visiting Ingress stops to try and get a medal in the game that I needed. (26 images total)
(Now, yes, in case my friends who live in Toronto see that I came by without saying hi, I apologize, but I was so tired after the long work-trip, that human interactions were beyond my capabilities at the time. I’ll be sure to say hi next time!)
Thursday 01 February 2018
It was a nice cool day.
[Photos taken on 23 – 31 January 2018, posted on 15 20 August 2018. Today Five days ago marks the first day I notice the leaves beginning to change color. Fall is coming!]
Some photos from my time in the town where our project was underway. (48 images total)
Tuesday 23 January 2018
After a late lunch, my colleagues showed me the outdoors skating circle, that circles a small park.
[Photos taken on 20-21 January 2018, posted on 11 13 August 2018. Norðurbakkinn is today’s hideout, yet agin. Started working again after the summer holiday.]
Icelandair suspended their 6-hour long direct flights to Edmonton from January to March just as myself and my colleagues needed them the most due to a large project that was ongoing all past winter.
Instead we ended up flying to either Vancouver or Toronto, and then “hopping” over to Edmonton. This particular outbound trip took me to Vancouver for the first time, and I was very grateful to have a layover there, as the 8-hour long flight over left me nauseous and exhausted.
Due to the time-difference, I woke up at 4 am the morning after, had an early breakfast, and then went on a walkabout, largely dictated by missions in the GPS game Ingress. (56 images total)
Saturday 20 January 2018
Flying over the east coast of Greenland. It’s always spectacular… and somewhat freaky.
Photos taken on 12 January 2018 – 15 January 2018, posted on 08 August 2018. Sitting at Kruðerí, gathering courage to tidy up the garage some more.]
One September day, in an apparent fit of insanity, I booked a cabin in the north of Iceland, that belongs to the employee association at my work, to stay in over a January weekend. The hope was to go skiing, and visiting our good friends Kata and Jói, whom we hadn’t seen in very long time.
As it happens, the weather over the weekend was very poor, and the ski slopes remained closed. We therefore ended up going swimming a couple of times, and generally hanging out with our friends, which was fun. Then our Sunday flight home got cancelled, so we ended up staying an extra day, but nerves got a little thin as the kids were unhappy about the no-ski situation, Bjarki’s shoes got stolen, and it was unclear when our Monday flight home would actually get off the ground.
I think next time I’ll just wait and see what the weather situation is like… (31 images total)
Friday 12 January 2018
The plane that flew us north. It’s a 30 minute flight.
[Photos taken on 01 January 2018 – 08 January 2018, posted on 07 August 2018. Sitting at Súfistinn, after tidying up the garage today.]
The first eight days of January 2018 included no fewer than four food-included get-together-s with friends and family galore! (22 images total)
Monday 01 January 2018
Photo of the smog still sitting on top of Reykjavik (that grayness by the bottom of the mountain) after the massive fireworks the evening before. Yes, I ventured to the only open coffee house I knew of to work on photos. I thought it was a good way to start the new year!
[Photos taken on 31 December 2017 – 01 January 2018, posted on 31 July 2018. Back at Norðurbakkinn, and it’s rainy outside.]
This past New Year’s Eve was special, in that it was announced beforehand that this would be the last grand family party hosted by Finnur’s uncle and his wife. (The party hosting has alternated between the two brothers through the years). As a result I think pretty much everybody showed up, and had a great time as always. (49 images total and 1 video)
Welcome to 2018!!! (Many thanks to Anna for being patient and writing into thin air more than once as we tuned the camera settings!)
[Photos taken on 27-30 December 2017, posted on 31 July 2018. This post was actually written at home, as I’m feeling I need to wrap up 2017 before returning to work!]
The whole family was on holiday between Yule and New Year’s Eve. We hung out with family and friends, went to the movies, to a show, and tried to generally relax a bit. (12 images total)
Wednesday 27 December 2017
Among relaxing activities (for me) was hanging out at the Norðurbakkinn cafe. It’s weirdly difficult to get a symmetric photo of those buildings!
[Photos taken on 25-26 December 2017, posted on 30 July 2018 from Nauthóll. The view is gorgeous, with the clouds rolling by, sun shining on the sea, and chatter all around. Finnur keeps building the wall in our backyard…]
This years Yule-tide celebrations didn’t stray much from the regular formula. On Christmas Day #1 we headed to Finnur’s parents’ place for a feast and social whist, bringing desserts to sing Happy Birthday to Anna over, while on Christmas Day #2 we got invited to my uncle’s for a small get-together with even more good food! (37 images total)
Much food was eaten, many words were spoken, games were played, and general well-being remained high.
Monday 25 December 2017
Anna, formally 14 years old, by the cheesecake she made herself, from scratch!
[Photos taken on 24 December 2017, posted on 29 July 2018. Finnur’s 44 years old today, it’s 22C/72F outside, and cloudy right now (!!!), and I’m at Norðurbakkinn cafe.]
The Big Yule Day finally arrived! Finnur as usual took care of all things kitchen related, while I took care of the gift-side of things. Anna helped with tidying up, and uh, it was a pretty fine day overall. (21 images total)
Kiddos in front of the tree right before dinner started (and they’d gotten permission to open one present each, on condition they posed for a photo!).