Great food is like great sex. The more you have the more you want. ~Gael Greene

Last weekend was the local agricultural show, not like the Royal Show in Perth or other country fairs that I have been to. No rides, no sideshow alley, no country womens associations comps... but they did have sales stalls for local folk to check out the latest in dairy technology, equine fashions, fertilizer and feed. The school being semi ag and equine and having the centre for history of the Icelandic horse, we felt we should be there. In order to encourage people to visit our little booth we also served up some local delicacies, such as arctic charr pate and súrmjólk fromage. Súrmjólk is sort of a mix between buttermilk and yoghurt... anyway by the time our cook Óli had done his thing this dessert was magic, and along with the fish pate went down a treat.

This is María Gréta, she helped me out on the Saturday morning, she also works for me in the office at Hólar.

Here he is the main man - the cook at Hólar - Óli frá Hellulandi, he is amazing, see the plates on the table - almost empty, it seemed like as soon as we put one platefull down it disappeared.

There were ofcourse some animals on show. Absolutely amazing weather....

Here is a four horned sheep - we have a few of these here - my uncle used to breed them. It was a pretty good weekend - but tiring - standing around smiling handing out food. Which ofcourse meant that the lawn did not get mowed.

Three weeks ... and it is almost knee high - looks green though!

Great news today, Olga and Ross are arriving on the 29th - and bonus - they are flying direct to Akureyri! Am so looking forward to seeing them. Hope the weather holds and stay as nice as it has. The berries are amazing and hey - Olga can go and do the sheep round up - I wonder if Ross will be keen too.....

To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace. ~Milan Kundera

The end has come to a fantastic weekend which began on Saturday with mum and I accompanying Guðný - archaeologist extraordinaire to a dig that she has been working on last week. She is currently registering all graveyards in the Skagafjörður area. In order to register a cemetary - she first needs to verify that that is exactly what it is - hence the search for bones is on... The bones and graves would then give an indication of the time that the cemetaries were in use. Often these sites are located on farms... The one we went to was just north of S´krók.

Freyja enjoying the freedom of being out in the country side... Now after many test trenches Guðný had finally found a grave and was here to take photos and register details about the site and also try and work out exactly when the grave was dug. Apparently the only clue so far is that it was after the 1104 eruption. If any of the technical details or information that I have written is wrong then my sincere apologies - I am sure Guðný will set me straight and then I will make changes. We had fantastic weather and on a day like that I really envy her her job, however, knowing that more often than not the weather can be abissmal I do realise that the reality of her work is actually a lot worse... Still I want to be an archaeologist when I grow up

This is the grave a a woman - perhaps in her twenties, her head rests on a pillow of turf - to make it easier for her to see the east on the day of resurection... It is so beautiful.

a closer look at her head. She will stay in her resting place as the bones are not in a condition that would be suitable for removal - you can see the vegetation / roots that are growing out of her head.

Whilst Guðný and I were at the gravesite, mum was busy picking berries, Freyja spent her time running between the two of us - just to make sure we were all where we should be. She managed to get her rope stuck under a rock on the other side of the river, total panic ensued.. However, by the time I had made my way to cross the river she had managed to work her way loose. Just as well, I was feeling particularly heroic and she was on a rocky hillside...

In order to get a better indication of age Guðný removed the lower mandible to get a closer look at her teeth, Freyja also wanted a sniff - don´t worry no licking or biting or other animal contact took place. Her teeth looked really quite good, however it seemed that she had a bit of a protruding jaw...

Mandible back in place. She will be covered up tomorrow and allowed to remain in her resting place, having provided all the information that she can about life or rather death here in Skagafjörður.

The final shot of us - mæðgurnar - a great Icelandic word for mothers and daughters. Freyja not happy about losing the freedom that she had been enjoying.

After this I headed off to Askaffi to help out with the afternoon shift, served over 30 hot chocolates, sold lots of cakes, coffees and teas at the best little coffee shop in the fjord - located at the best open air museum in Iceland - Glaumbæ.

That night I cooked rauðspretta whole in the oven - a first for me and even if I say so myself it was excellent. Dessert was ofcourse fresh berries and cream.

My eldest brother - as you can see he seems quite happy with the meal!

Later that night my nephew, Guðný and I hit the only night spot in S´krók, and it actually had more that 5 people present... amazing...
Today, Guðný the dog and I went up to the top of Tindastóll - finally. The view was fantastic - but i did not take my camera so have to wait to post pictures until after I get some from G. Mum came along too - we dropped her of at the base of the mountain to pick more berries, we picked her up ten feet from where we dropped her off 3 hours earlier - there were plenty of berries, aðalbláber and krækiber... yummm guess what will be for dessert all of august and september... I so love this time of year.

Next week, we will walk up Mölduxi - the little mound above the town. I have walked it once before but never reached the top - I apparently tried to go up to the very top on the wrong side... (you can actually drive nearly all the way up - but I think we should walk it - especially if the weather is good). Work tomorrow, not looking forward to it, still it´s a living.

Some people say a man's best friend is the dog. Mine is Nature. ~Ward Elliot Hour

Went for a little drive up above the town to check out the berries. They are not quite ready - but almost there.

Mum was loving it - this is by far her most favourite time of year.

I promised my sister that I would take some pictures of mums garden for her. She has this really lovely little flower bed around the flag pole.

Mum checking out the "wilderness" patch, she has transplanted Icelandic wild flowers here and they have really taken off.

Freyja enjoying the sun and the freedom of berry picking area.

Me trying to soak up a few rays and trying to talk the dog...

Not much happening at the moment, work is in full swing - far too many things to do and I really am not on top of things as I should be, however, things will hopefully be on the improve. The weather as can be seen from the above photos, has been excellent. It´s a little cooler at the moment but still quite nice.
Well, the dog is whining at me and giving me the "look" so I reckon it may be time for a little walkies. She probably has a "need" - she ate the lamb curry that we were having for dinner.