Dagbók Hrefnu og Finns

Accidental Brussels Grand Place / To Iceland

2024-03-16Belgium Standard

[Photos taken 16 – 17 March 2024, posted online 02 August 2024. It’s a new month!]

The day after the concert I decided to hunt down a clothing store that I often get lucky in, and accidentally stumbled upon a whole shopping district, and the Grand Place (Grand Square)!

Dinner was quite French, and the following day I took the bus & train to the airport. The flight back to Iceland was uneventful, and the weather welcomed me home with wind and rain…

Saturday 16 March 2024

Nicely unflattering photo of me with the big town-hall-tower at the Grand Place, that I accidentally stumbled upon in a totally unplanned wander.

Brussels / Natural Sciences Museum / The Smile

2024-03-15Belgium, Concert Standard

[Photos taken 15 March 2024, posted online 30 July 2024. The rain continues… at least the plants are happy?]

It was the day of The Smile concert, but I still needed to pass the time somehow, and hanging out on the computer all day wouldn’t do. After some perusing of options, I decided to walk to the Natural Sciences Museum, to check out some impressive dinosaur-fossils.

I got to the concert venue a bit later than I’d planned to, but got a decent spot on the floor (probably about optimal sound quality wise, but I find I’ve been spoiled by the lovely acoustics of our local Harpa venue), and thoroughly enjoyed the concert.

(However, one lesson learnt: Perhaps next time that I plan on standing for a concert, don’t go on a 3 hour walking tour beforehand…)

Friday 15 March 2024

Enthusiastic and appreciative crowd at The Smile concert in Forest National.

To Brussels / Royal Quarter Walkabout

2024-03-14Belgium Standard

[Photos taken 14 March 2024, posted online 29 July 2024. Finnur’s fifty years old today!!]

Back in Covid-times a “small English indie band” (as per Nick Cave) named Radiohead released a bunch of live concert recordings to entertain the bored masses. I’d never been much of a fan, but a few of the concerts grabbed my brain, and to this day I have about four of them “on call” depending on the type of project and energy I need at work.

Also in Covid-times, out of boredom it seems, two Radiohead members (Messieurs T. Yorke and J. Greenwood) got together with a jazzy drummer (Mr. T. Skinner) and formed The Smile.

In late 2023 they announced a tour, and on Black Friday, I decided to take advantage of low airfares and hotel discounts, and booked myself a solo-trip to Brussels to go see The Smile!

Being a “sensible person” I’d planned to fly out on a Friday morning, go see the concert that evening, before flying back early Sunday, but Icelandair had other ideas! They cancelled the Friday flight, and moved me to the Thursday flight instead, which in retrospect, was a lot more sensible!

Thursday 14 March 2024

Just a typical middle-aged-woman about to travel solo to see a concert in Brussels!

Celebrations / Wacky-Weather / Helgafell Circled

2024-03-01Birthday, Confirmation, Finnur's family, Hiking, Us Standard

[Photos taken 01 – 13 March 2024, posted online 25 July 2024. The weather continues being wet, wet, wet. The plant-life is loving it, but the humans are getting a bit miserable…]

March 2024 would turn out to be a very busy month. It kicked off with birthday parties, a confirmation, a mild eruption threat, wild weather changes, a new pizza oven, a programming competition for Bjarki, a hike, and work-wonderings. Phew!

Friday 01 March 2024

Two women with freshly updated ages! Since our birthdays are just a few days apart, we often go out to dinner to celebrate!

Emma’s 11th Birthday / Summer House / Krauma

2024-02-11Friends, Us Standard

[Photos taken 11 – 28 February 2024, posted online 03 July 2024. The rain keeps raining, but at least the weather is mostly mild.]

Emma’s actual 11th birthday was on a Monday, so we had a small family party the day before. So many people were away that we combined both families into one party, which hasn’t happened in a long time. The celebrations continued with a dinner at a restaurant, and then a classroom party at an ice-rink.

We visited the summer house repeatedly, and in one such journey I ended up being sent to Krauma with a girlfriend to relax, as it was “women’s day”.

The days got longer, and the outside temperature started swinging wildly, as thaws and frost battled for dominance.

Sunday 11 February 2024

Jogging Resumes / UT Messan / Endless Snow

2024-02-01Friends, Us Standard

[Photos taken 01 – 10 February 2024, posted online 02 July 2024. The weather could be nicer.]

Two weeks after seriously straining my calf “dance-jumping”, I showed up for the last session of the nature running course. It was a leisurely jog through one of the small forested areas.

I made it to a couple of other runs, but was clearly playing chicken with my calf muscle. An appointment with a physical therapist would reveal that one of my left butt muscles was essentially on strike, causing all sorts of havoc down below.

I also got to attend an annual IT conference in town on behalf of my company, which was a nice change of scenery. Aside from that, I seemed to shovel a lot of snow?

Thursday 01 February 2024

What a difference in daylight a couple of weeks make in the January – February window! This was at 17:42, which two weeks ago was solidly sunset time.

January Eruption / Company-Event / Fancy Party

2024-01-14Friends, Us Standard

[Photos taken 14 – 31 January 2024, posted online 28 June 2024. Bjarki is now 17 years old!!]

Yet another eruption started shortly before 8 in the morning, and this time around I decided to drive to Kópavogskirkja, where I knew I’d have a bit of a view, and take a few photos. Unfortunately I didn’t realize just how freezing cold it was, and was severely underdressed.

Hilariously, some photographer there sold a photo to the Getty Images that had me and my tripod in it. There went my 15 seconds of fame!

Preparations for the much anticipated fancy-annual-sewing-club-party-with-spouses took up a lot of energy, as we rarely host those kinds of parties. But, the party was a success, and we could relax a bit!

In between all that there was a lot of snow, and snow-shoveling, as well as three whole days spent at a hotel on a whole-company event. There was also a bit of gymming, jogging, and dancing, where I completely busted a calf muscle. Ouch.

Sunday 14 January 2024

There was a *freezing* cold wind blowing… brrr.

Nature Running Course / Party Prepping

2024-01-01Finnur's family, Guitar, Us Standard

[Photos taken 01 – 13 January 2024, posted online 26 June 2024. Hopefully the last wet day for a few days today… oh, and the eruption is over.]

January is typically a slow month, with energy restored after lounging over the holidays. This time around I’d signed up for a nature-running course (!!!), and began prepping for a fancy party that we were hosting at the end of January. Life could have been calmer.

We also bought an “adult” guitar for Bjarki, I resumed gymming, and we put all the yule stuff away. We even managed a dinner or two with friends!

Monday 01 January 2024 – New Year’s Day

Fancy dinner table, for a new year’s feast. Lucky us!

Goodbye 2023 / Hello 2024!

2023-12-31Finnur's family, New Year's Eve, Us Standard

[Photos taken 31 December 2024 (and just after midnight…), posted online 21 June 2024. The lava from the current eruption has toppled over one of the lead-walls keeping it from the Svartsengi power/hot-water station. Crews are onsite pushing up a second lead-wall. Thankfully the eruption seems to be dying down…]

Finnur’s youngest sister repeated hosting the new year’s eve party, much to everyone’s delight.

Sunday 31 December 2023

Ginger Bread House / Yule 2023 / Anna’s 20th Birthday!

2023-12-23Anna, Birthday, Christmas, Finnur's family, Friends, Hrefna's family, Us Standard

[Photos taken 23 – 30 December 2023, posted online 20 June 2024. I now have a 67 year old mom!?!]

This yule went pretty much by the book. No surprises.

We managed to organize ourselves enough to make the annual ginger-bread-house, and some cookies. Then it was on to Christmas itself, which we celebrated on Christmas Eve as is the Icelandic custom, hosting my mom and one of my brothers. We spent Christmas Day at Finnur’s parents’ place, eating and playing social whist. That was also the day that Anna turned 20 years old!

My work gave us the days between Christmas and New Year’s off, so the days were calm and restorative. We ended the week by going with friends to the “summer” house, as the temperatures plunged outside.