So the dog is in charge: December 2013

Sunday, December 22, 2013

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~Burton Hillis

I had to start the blog with a picture of Freyja, she is starting to feel the effects of old age, has developed a bit of a limp when she has been resting for too long.
Well, it's almost Christmas - the years are flying by and I don't seem to be able to get anything done, I figure it's because I have a attained a high level of procrastination.

Unnur, Jóhanna, Guðný and I had a weekend in Akureyri at the summer house that Jóhanna can rent through the pilots association - this is the third time that we have gone (or is it four), it's such a nice weekend of relaxing, eating, shopping and them knitting or doing other crafty things whilst I drink red wine....

The Yule tide lads have arrived again..... Mum, Unnur, Olga, Ross, Henry and Vicki will be spending Christmas with me. At the moment Árni is perhaps going to keep up tradition and go to his ex to spend the evening with her and the kids. I had to go to a meeting in Reykjavík last week, so I convinced Árni to come with me and drive the hire car. It was great that he did as I do not enjoy driving in winter conditions - however, we really couldn't complain about the weather, it was so nice.

The view over to Skagaströnd the sun seemed to be hiding behind the mountains.

The view to the west fjords... so still so clear - so cold.

Yesterday was mid winter soltice - the shortest day..... of the year - which ofcourse means that the days are slowly getting longer... just a few minutes each day.

The moon was full and was shining in the eastern sky as we drove south.

In other news, there is a big storm forecasted for Christmas, arriving on Christmas Eve and probably not departing till after boxing day. Maybe being stuck inside the house will inspire me to write a blog and post pictures from the festivities.

Love and hugs to you all this Christmas - twas extremely slack and wrote few cards.... Thank goodness Unnur is here to write the ones that did get sent.

xoxoxox

Wednesday, December 04, 2013

I like the word "indolence." It makes my laziness seem classy. ~Bern Williams

Was about to state the obvious about not having written here for a while...

It's not as if nothing has been happening, or that life hasn't been good or bad or indifferent... Sometimes it's just hard to find the inspiration to say something or share something about what is in fact the day to day existence of a not so interesting person.

Having said that, I realise that each of us has a different life experience, and I know too that the majority of folk that visit this site are my family and friends and all they want to know is how things are. Once, not so long ago, we wrote letters - in long hand- to one another. Now, when I use a pen I get a pain in my wrist and find it hard to find inspiration to write to anyone about anything, it all seems so pointless, the news that I send via snail mail is 2 weeks old... and yet when I get a snail mail letter I am so happy and it goes into my mail drawer - to be kept till I die and some poor relative has to throw it all out...

I often wonder about how much this technological age of ours is losing for future generations.. it's all electronic and snap chat, tweet texting, sms... I remember seeing the time machine for the first time (takk Jómbi) when he went into the future and the books became dust.... something about that really really touched me and has always been a worry for me.

I hate how reliant we are on electricity and now even more how reliant we are on digital technology. Who has a radio that works on batteries in their house? I know I am starting to sound like a mad case bunker builder... but still, I sort of still want to think that I could cope with a power cut that lasts longer than a day or two.... but I would not have a phone, nor radio, nor television... fridge and freezer depends on the time of year, even my natural hot water heating is dependent on electricity to pump the water up from the ground.

Goodness me, this blog post went to places I never intended it to go, but this has been on my mind for a while now so maybe I needed to vent it.

In other news, mum and Unnur are off to Paris ... they leave the Krók tomorrow, and off to Paris on Thursday back to Iceland on Sunday.

Freyja is getting old and probably arthritic, she limps every now and then - but doesn't seem to be in pain. She is still the most indulged dog in the hood.

Christmas is coming and so we are allowed to indulge in lights all over the place..... The tree was lit last saturday, so so cold - but no snow - still twas nice to see so many down in the old town square.

Will put photos on that have probably nothing to do with the post - but hey - it's been months.......