I think housework is the reason most women go to the office. ~Heloise Cruse

Been a while I know.  What can I say - busy, busy, busy....

My most favourite person in the world had to go home, but before she left we had plenty of quality time, together, with the family and and with the main man.... Henry Þór (Thor - for those not with Icelandic spelling knowledge.... ) He is by far the cutest thing ever...... 

 Yes, great aunt Sigga has even picked him up... the number of children aged under 2 months that I have held can be counted on one hand....

 In other news we took the van for a drive to Akrir... am I perhaps repeating myself?, no  matter - these photos are all stolen from Unnur....  mum giving Freyja some water... this was our initial parking spot - but then we moved... to be closer to the amenities provided by my cousin and also - mum decided to sleep in the house and not the van... Piker.

 We had a lot of technical difficulties in this trip, one of which was the portable grill that had yet to be assembled, then the gas ran out, then the other gas ran out, the gas in the van didn't work, nor did the water.... but never mind... we were on the farm so all was sorted.. 

 See even a table cloth!  It was so good, the weather was fine, not too cold - not brilliant - but that meant no flies.... we were all very happy.

 My beautiful sister and her beautiful grandson.... such an amazing young man.

 Before Unnur left, my brother Jon came - he, his wife, brother in law and his wife and child all arrived in the Krók.... So no better excuse could be found to have a bit of a family gathering at my place - So good to be with family, especially when that family is made up of true friends!

A little cold for outdoor dining - but heck, this is Iceland - just put on another layer and all will be well!

Before Unnur left we did our pilgrimage up to the cemetary - one of the most peaceful and in my opinion beautiful places in the fjord.

 Here you will find the graves of my father, grandparents and great grandparents, aunts, uncles and great aunts.

 This is the resting place of my great grandparents in the male lineage.  Björn Björnsson and Guðbjörg Guðjónsdóttir.

 These are my great grandparents via my dad's mother... Magnús Benediktsson and Guðný Jónsdóttir.   The names are all familiar - I have lots of Guðný cousins, Magnús was my fathers name and is the name that two of my nephews have.  Björn is everywhere in the family as either a first or middle name, Guðbjörg, there is only one.... long story behind that one....


Dad would have been 86 tomorrow had he lived.... I still miss him...


In other news - I did my yearly churning of the butter - twas excellent fun - as always!!!! This time, as the sun was out and the weather so brilliant I asked to do my thing outside!


What a setting!

 The final outcome - yummy yummy creamy butter!

 I had a few days off last week, what did I do? relax, hmm a little, sleep, hmm yeh more than usual ----- but what was most important was that I actually did some housework - the reason - I had to make myself a home office!

 The spare room... it still has a bed that can be folded out.... but moving the fold up bed (that yellow seat on the left)... freed up a heap of space in the lounge!

 Not really see-able in this .... but believe me - there is so much more room in here!  Am quite pleased with myself...  Now I am back at work, but as I am there on my own I am that much more productive.... hopefully this means I will be able to take a couple of days off later in the week.


What a dull and boring post... but it's an update... 


Life is good - hope it's good with you too!

You need special shoes for hiking - and a bit of a special soul as well. ~Terri Guillemets

 For some reason Blogger has decided to upload my photos totally out of order so this blog will be the same!  Luckily the first photo is chronologically correct..  Lummudagar were a weekend or two ago... time has flown and I have totally lost contact with it... It was a cold weekend but grill we did - on both the Friday and Saturday nights.  The above photo was from the Friday - take a look at mums face... she doesn't look happy does she - but from what I remember of the night she was in good spirits... so sometimes the picture may tell a thousand words but then they may all be lies.

 This should have been the last photo - the waterfall at Foss on Skaga - just north of Sauðárkrók.   When I took this photo I was totally exchausted.  Amazing that I actually had enough brain power to stop - look - and take the photo.  This was at the end of a 25km walk - some 7 hours after we headed off.  

 This was two thirds through the walk - twin waterfalls that feed the river Fossá (which means waterfall river)  I didn't join our intrepid hiker colleagues as by this time I was knackered and realised that I would require all my energy and will power to keep my legs moving towards the end.

 This is a photo of the summer house where the bus was waiting to pick us up... I was a very happy girl when the farmhouse first came into view... Wouldn't it be great to have this as your summer home... the view out of the window is Drangey the Island that is in the centre of the fjord and in a way is an icon as well as a logo for the district.

Back to Lummudagar... this time the Saturday night... a tad colder, I put up some extra "decoration" to keep the wind down a little bit..  Still it was a nice night... it's always good when the extended family gets together...

 The weather on Saturday got too cold so we moved indoors.... 

 Ah last weekend, it's all coming back... Lummudagar was two weekends ago, last weekend was Landsmót hestamanna.  The lands meeting of horsemen.... very literal translation.  The event is held bi-annually with horse riders, breeders and others interested in the sport coming together to celebrate the horse, compete and also honour the best... This was from an awards ceremony for a stallion that has progeny that have won or are considered "among the best".

 Then there is Henry, the cutest boy ever born... this photo is to commemorate four generations.... ma, unnur, olga and her little one Henry Thor... (the only one to actually  be capitalised)  yep, I know, I will spoil him whilst he is in my vicinity... he is just such a sweetie..

 See, I am totally mesmerized.   Poor Freyja, she knows she can't compete.

 And in other news, summer arrived in Sauðárkrók - finally!!!!

 Mum contemplating life whilst I took Freyja for a little walk... 

 The start of the hiking trip - realise now that we should have taken a photo at the end to see if we were all just as happy!

 Early on in the trip - I think around the 6km mark... a lovely little lake in the middle of the highland area we were walking in.

 A view to where we were heading.... can't see the sea.. our end point.

Another view of the little lake.... if you went in this direction you would end up on the west coast of Skaga whose east side makes the west side of Skagafjordur.  I am sooo tired, but it was sooo worth it... This is a beautiful country and to think that this nature is just on my door step.... I really need to go out and walk more often... maybe not 25km in a day...