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Sunday, February 20, 2011

A clean house is the sign of a boring person. ~Author Unknown

I think the title says it all.

I have been so slack on the cleaning side of things for quite a while now - probably since before Christmas and I had basically come to the point where I just did not know where to start - particularly in the bathroom.  The floors were absolutely disgusting, the bath being the tub that it is makes it very difficult to clean around, then as the floor is still basically rough cement - still waiting for final "decking" project. the dirt /dust /dog hairs were filling in all the crevices ... so what else was there to do:

I painted the bathroom floor.


I think it is a significant improvement... A bit too much blue at the moment - but hey - the theme is maritime-ish... Hopefully I will be a little bit more diligent in cleaning the floor in the future - I am not holding my breath over this.

In other news, Olga took over from me in the sheep book keeping department - another job I had been procrastinating over... Now it is done and Andrés can figure out which rams are duds.  The ewes were ultra-sounded on saturday to see how many lambs were due each ewe, and it seems that the fertility rates were not up to expectation.

What else, now is the busiest time at work, value added tax returns for farmers followed by general tax returns followed by company tax returns, plus company annual general meetings etc etc etc... so dull and boring - but is what makes the bread and butter of my life.

On a political front the president has sent the Icesave bill to referendum - which is a good thing.  The people of Iceland got to vote on the last agreement and it is only right that they vote on this one.  To me this one is far better than the previous, but each and every person has to decide whether they are willing to risk the European court to decide as to the final outcome - I am pleased to be able to have my say and at this stage I feel inclined to agree to the current agreement - although I do not feel that the general Icelandic public should have to pay for a handful of people who thought that they could "beat the system", I just know that the Brits and Dutch will not remain patient forever.... then again, maybe we should test the legal system and then live with the outcome.  Either way I will be satisfied with the vote result.  This is really what democracy should be about and not a constitutional committee parliament set up to discuss the constitution...  It's the practical here and now not the philosophical maybes and what ifs that count.

So my friends - heres to another wonderful week in your lives.  Whatever happens good or bad - it is sooo good to be alive and to see the sun rise - in my case - earlier and earlier every day!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. ~William James

The wine master at work.  This batch is rather good, possibly a little too good.  A few bottles were consumed last night at a combined family Þorrablót.

 This time my cousins Jóhanna and Herdís combined forces and invited the families to join us in a feast of salted and smoked meat, rotten shark, sheeps heads and dried fish.  Jóhanna is my cousin on my father's side (dads eldest brothers daughter) and Herdís is my cousin on my mum's side (the daughter of one of my mums younger sisters)
 The food table with mum and Jóhanna in deep discussion...
 The Akrar family - somehow managed to cut Sirrí in two... sorry....
 Vicki put on a brave face and came to meet the people rather than eat the food!
 Maggi and Olga.  Maggi is probably the only one in the family that actually really really likes this food!
 And ofcourse once the food was eaten, drinks drunk, songs sung, someone has to tidy up - they did such and amazing job - a great night and I think the start of a new tradition.
Maggi having a good sniff of the rotten shark - as you can see there was quite a bit left....
This week is the last week of Þorri - then the month of Góa starts with Konu dagur - the day of women.... I like Góa.  It also means that winter is on it's way out.


Have a great week everyone!

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

There are short-cuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them. ~Vicki Baum

Dancing will be my theme for the month.  


There has been a lot going on here in the fjord - it's rotten food time so we have been to two Þorrablót and another will be happening this weekend.


As you gathered I fell off the bus after the first Þorrablót - where I danced and danced and danced.  Two weeks later we had the town fest and although I was walking like an old lady with a very bad hip problem I still managed to dance and dance and dance - and had a wonderful time... So strange, that I can dance - but I can't walk.  Maybe I should just try to dance to work - then it might not hurt so much.


I am going to let this blog entry be a bit of a ramble...


 I am wondering about how others feel about dancing - I know that Vicki likes to dance at home - but not in public... I know my mum loves to dance - but the opportunities for 83 year olds to go dancing are limited, as are the opportunities for 48 year olds... we need to get a team together to head out into the public arena... Dancing at home is fine - but not the same (well for me anyway).  


When looking for a quote for injury the dance quote came up and with them a number of quotes from Nietzsche - never would I have associated him as a dance man - wasn't he the one that said that God was dead...


I will leave you with what he said:


I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance.  ~Friedrich Nietzsche


Dancing in all its forms cannot be excluded from the curriculum of all noble education; dancing with the feet, with ideas, with words, and, need I add that one must also be able to dance with the pen?  ~Friedrich Nietzsche


And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.  ~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche


I do not know what the spirit of a philosopher could more wish to be than a good dancer.  For the dance is his ideal.  ~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche


I think that I need to read some Nietzsche... a man that knows.....