{"id":43663,"date":"2025-06-13T12:12:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T12:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/?p=43663"},"modified":"2026-05-15T12:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T12:38:15","slug":"birthday-celebrations-wood-staining-homemade-macarons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/birthday-celebrations-wood-staining-homemade-macarons\/","title":{"rendered":"Birthday Celebrations \/ Wood Staining \/ Homemade Macarons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[Photos taken 13 – 20 June 2025, posted online 15 May 2026. As of today, Bjarki has unofficially finished junior college, which means he can attend university in the fall. Well done him, finishing degrees is not to be taken for granted!<\/em>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anna’s B.Sc. graduation from Reykjavik University<\/a> loomed, and we planned to host a small celebratory party at home (which would still fill the house to breaking point). She’d decided to make home-made macarons both to give her fellow graduating friends, and to have at the graduation party, so she spent a lot of time in the kitchen. Others helped tidy the garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The week saw three (!) birthday celebrations, among them Finnur’s own very belated 50th birthday celebration at our summer house. We tried to make the most of the glorious dry weather by staining So. Much. Wood. Ironically, the weather gods decided to throw rain and wind at the Independence Day celebrations, so that became a cozy-indoors-day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday 13 June 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Being mid-June, we finally deemed it safe to plant Anna’s fabulously fabulous summer flowers in the planters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The master gardener, I just do the weeding.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Veggie-experimenting in the oven.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
A small birthday dinner about to commence!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Cheers to the birthday lady (on the right)!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Saturday 14 June 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The midnight sun at 00:24.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
A short rest after a busy morning, before driving to the summer house.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
I arrived at the summer house at 16, along with Finnur’s parents, his siblings, and all the significant others that could make it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The belated-50th-birthday-boy in the kitchen, starting to prep his big party.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The weather was absolutely amazing, and the sun blazed so hard that we had to put the sunbrella up.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Soup under construction.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
A professional at work!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The only flag that matters!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Smiles all around!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Perfection!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The aperitif.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The main course: fish soup.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Finnur got a sunflower!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
We spotted a nest in one of the rose-bushes!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Eggs!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Very wow at 22:32.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Sunday 15 June 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The AI-did-it poem to Finnur on his birthday celebration!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Our guests departed, but Finnur stayed behind to keep working on the outside of the house while the weather stayed dry.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Such a nice view!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The sunflower en route to town.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The weather was so good we just had to stop and get some ice-cream in Borgarnes!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Oh yeah!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Bjarki mowed the lawn at home.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The weeds had staged a comeback!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Quite satisfying!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The sunflower survived the trip!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Watering, as the sky was utterly cloudless.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
At 20:30 I decided to get going on the deck that desperately needed another coat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
This old thing sadly didn’t survive long. I guess the internal glue had reached its end of life.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Trying to not leave too much residue…. while also attempting to fix the “every other board had gotten extra stain last year, ooops” pattern.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
That was the end of the stain…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Monday 16 June 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Mom’s new gate got a fancy lock, so people couldn’t just wander on to her patio and take things.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The new gate at 18:20. Technically we should have left it to “air” for a whole year, but it was an eyesore as it was, so I decided to stain it somewhat prematurely.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
All done an hour and a half later. It was not terrible, but probably more yellow than it would have been if I’d waited a year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
In June, going out to stain something at 21:30 is fantastic because the sun is so low in the sky it doesn’t fry the paint.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
All done with the deck!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Next up: the roof of the garbage shed, at the totally normal time of 22:30.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
It took about half an hour, and then I headed inside, happy with all the progress!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Tuesday 17 June 2025 – Iceland’s Independence Day<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Flags at the morning cafe to celebrate the day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Sadly, the weather had turned windy and rainy…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
People still went out to have a good time (yours truly excluded).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Anna practiced her kitchen skills.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
My sweater slowly got bigger, row by knitted row…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Wednesday 18 June 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
I ventured downtown to meet-up with some ex-Stanford-people. It was a small gathering, but nice to bump into familiar faces. The weather had returned to “nice”.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Thursday 19 June 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Walking to a birthday celebration at a hotel in downtown. These adorable wooden houses are everywhere.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
There are a lot of smallish houses there, and quite a few have art on them. The weather flirted with “ominous clouds”.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Smiles all around! Such a lovely family!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Passed this Guardian of the Neighborhood on the way back to my car.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Anna kept making macarons for her graduation party.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
All handmade from scratch!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Get in my tummy!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Just checking that my arm fit through the arm-hole.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Friday 20 June 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
There was a substitute teacher at the gym that day, my brother had augmented her photo somewhat using AI… We all had a good laugh!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
More macarons!!! And just in time, as Anna’s graduation was the following day!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Bjarki had signed himself up for summer-school, so that he could comfortably finish junior college in 3 years. He got a well-deserved sugar-boost from big sister.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Photos taken 13 – 20 June 2025, posted online 15 May 2026. As of today, Bjarki has unofficially finished junior college, which means he can attend university in the fall. Well done him, finishing degrees is not to be taken for granted!<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Anna’s B.Sc. graduation from Reykjavik University<\/a> loomed, and we planned to host a small celebratory party at home (which would still fill the house to breaking point). She’d decided to make home-made macarons both to give her fellow graduating friends, and to have at the graduation party, so she spent a lot of time in the kitchen. Others helped tidy the garden.<\/p>\n

The week saw three (!) birthday celebrations, among them Finnur’s own very belated 50th birthday celebration at our summer house. We tried to make the most of the glorious dry weather by staining So. Much. Wood. Ironically, the weather gods decided to throw rain and wind at the Independence Day celebrations, so that became a cozy-indoors-day. <\/p>\n

Friday 13 June 2025<\/h2>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Being mid-June, we finally deemed it safe to plant Anna’s fabulously fabulous summer flowers in the planters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[142,16,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birthday","category-finnurs-family","category-us","post-container col-md-12"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43663"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43727,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43663\/revisions\/43727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}