Behind Again. Ugh.
2014-04-13Uncategorized Standard
It looks like I took a mental blogging break. So now I’m behind again. Be warned that random stuff may appear in a random order. Or not appear in case my mental blockade keeps going. Ugh.Read more
Emma’s First Steps
2014-04-11Uncategorized Standard
[Written 14 April 2014] Emma hasn’t been all that interested in walking, probably because she’s an expert crawler. Recently I’ve been holding her hands and having her walk with me, and lately she’s even gotten pretty good at walking if I only hold one of her hands. This post is just to mark the occasionRead more
The Civil Confirmation of Hilmir
2014-04-06Uncategorized Standard
[Written 14 April 2014]
Finnur’s nephew, Hilmir, was civilly confirmed (as opposed to religiously confirmed) a couple of weekends ago. The ceremony was performed by Siðmennt (translation: The Secular Humanist Society?) and was apparently fantastic, as told by those in attendance.
Hilmir’s family invited a bunch of people to celebrate at the clubhouse of the the Seltjarnarnes golf club, and I was asked to take photos, which I did.
I won’t bore you with ALL THE PHOTOS (click if you’re curious), but here are a few samples (8 images total)
A family photo.
FFF #10 – Volcano House
2014-04-05FFF Standard
Soooo… The FFF had to take a couple of weekends off because I was limping along with an injured heel, and two-hour walking-fests weren’t really high up on the want-to-do list.
My heel is slowly getting better, although I did a stupid thing at gym again, and probably made it slightly worse (again), but that’s just the nature of plantar faciitis. It’ll take a while…
But I was getting antsy again, so I decided to finally visit a low-walking venue that I’d both seen on the TripAdvisor to-do list for Reykjavik, and driven past a few times, sparking my curiosity.
It’s called Volcano House (#20 on the TripAdvisor list), and is basically a tourist trap/cafe/restaurant/rock display/tiny cinema. I really doubt they get a lot of Icelanders through their doors, so I figured I’d fall on the figurative sword and see what the touristy fuss was about.
The short story is that the meat soup was filling, but on the salty side, the rocks were mostly pretty, and the videos made me wonder why the heck anybody would live in Iceland. Ever. And that the people that do are therefore nuts and/or ridiculously stubborn. Which, incidentally, isn’t very far from the truth. (41 images total)
The Volcano House lives on the ground floor in that house on the left. Unseen, left-ishly behind me, is the Reykjavik Main Library, previously visited here.
Our Little Bookworm and Garden Elf
2014-03-21Uncategorized Standard
[Written 22 March 2014]
Emma eats books. Literally. (12 images total)
Om, nom, nom…
FFF #9 – Geysir Bistro, The Settlement Exhibition, and Stofan Cafe
2014-03-15FFF Standard
[Written 21-22 March 2014]
Again, the timing of this weekend’s FFF outing was constrained by a very busy weekend schedule, so yet again I had to find something to do around lunchtime.
After perusing the TripAdvisor listing for stuff to do in Reykjavik (Gullfoss is #1?!?! That’s like an hour and a half away!), I decided to check out the Settlement Exhibition (click here for the official multimedia site).
It didn’t hurt that the admission was included in the Culture Card I got in January.
First though, I had to get food, and had my sights set on almost-next-door Fiskmarkaðurinn (The Fish Market). As it turned out, that restaurant is closed for lunchtime on the weekends, so I ended up at Geysir Bistro a few houses away. After the exhibition, I still had a few minutes to spare and a grumbling stomach, so I walked a few steps to the Stofan Cafe for a pick-me-up, before heading home.
The Settlement Exhibition was cool, surprisingly cool. I’ll have to take the kids (at least Anna) there one day soon. (52 images total)
I was early enough that parking was a breeze! That gray stone building is the parliament building, and behind it you can see the Reykjavik cathedral.
Cutie and a Cute Waterfall
2014-03-13Uncategorized Standard
[Written 21 March 2014] Finnur’s fancy electric bike broke after he biked through a big puddle while getting home on the Great Melt Day. A transportation conundrum ensued the following Thursday when we needed to a) take the bike to the repair shop, b) drive me and Emma to and from the gym, c) ensureRead more
The Great Melt
2014-03-10Uncategorized Standard
[Written 21 March 2014] Finally, FINALLY, we got a ‘warm’ day (temperature slightly over freezing point) coupled with tons of RAIN! The result was a LOT of melt-water, that needed some help getting to a drain. Enter the manly men of the street: As of today, our street is finally 95% clear of ice! Yay!Read more
FFF #8 – Gerðarsafn (Myndir ársins 2013), Cafe Dix, and Archery
2014-03-09FFF Standard
[Written 13 March 2014]
Yet again, our busy weekend schedule meant that my only opening for a FFF outing was from 11 am on a Sunday morning, to about 2 pm.
I was feeling ‘sporty’ so I was initially just going to go shoot arrows at paper targets, but discovered just in time that the Archery Range opens at noon.
To pad out the outing, I therefore decided to visit Gerðarsafn (Museum of Gerður) first, where they were showing the Icelandic Photojournalism Association’s Pictures of the Year. (Ironically, I decided not to bring my ‘big’ camera, all the following images are from my phone.)
The photo show was pretty much as expected, except that I learned that almost all Icelandic Photojournalists are male. And it showed. (11 images total)
Back at Gerðarsafn. (See also FFF #4.)
Emma on The Patio in The Snow
2014-03-07Uncategorized Standard
[Written 13 March 2014]
Emma’s been pretty curious about the snow, so I decided to dress her up and set her free on the patio.
She was pretty ambivalent about being cast outside. She poked at the snow a bit, decided fairly quickly that it was no fun, and demanded to be let back inside! (2 images total)
Smirking at being outside.