So the dog is in charge

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. ~Scott Adams

2012-01-22T22:40:00.001Z

My dog loves my sister A LOT, here she is showing ownership of her! I also love my sister A LOT and am going to miss her so much when she goes..... Still, we are used to this - the hellos and goodbyes are nothing new to us. I know I will see her again soon, and that whilst we are apart we are still together, technology lets us talk to each other whenever we want. A part of our sister bonding was a course in book binding - run by Vicki, Henry's other grandmother.... what fun it has been!

But before that... we had a family Þorrablót - (libations to Thor), which marks the beginning of the end of winter... rotten food to all of you non Icelanders! This time we kept it small... just us cousins. Was a really good night! We actually had this on Wednesday night - Þorri didn't actually start till Friday - but hey, sometimes it's good to have a head start. Friday - the start of Þorri - is called Bónda dagur - According to the Icelandic on line dictionary

Icelandic-English bóndadagur
	Husband's Day; Husband's Day; Farmers' Day

The men at work decided to do something special for Bóndadag and all brought in their saddle sacks... Is that what they are called???? with Þorra food and bottles kept in socks.... twas an interesting sight when I came back to work after lunch, they with their saddle bags... thats the word... on the table, bottles of vodka hidden in socks... we also had whiskey during the morning coffee break. We girls at work felt that we should do something so the boys got a red rose each from us. Þorri lasts for about a month, then Góa begins... with Konudagur - ladies day..... look forward to seeing what happens then...

Saturday was day one of the book binding course, a great bunch of people brought together by a wonderful artist and excellent teacher - Vicki.... Here we are checking out other books that Vicki had made and getting ideas for making our covers.

I do not have an artistic bone in my body - but still managed to make 3 sheets of paper with some stuff on them that would be my cover for my very own hand bound book.

Unnur and I are the rip, tear, bust sisters, we do most things quickly and with very little attention to detail. Unnur made a lovely sheet with this piece of plastic table cloth.... really pretty.

Day 2 - today, was assembly day.... I was not at my best - having been to a Þorrablót last night and did not get to bed till around 6am, then up at 1pm... however, I am so pleased with the result!

Shining up my covers.

Not bad hey!

The finished product.... my new guestbook!

The products of our adventure into art.... I think we were all pretty proud of our bits of handiwork!

Another person Freyja has taken ownership of... Notice who has the better chair...

Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together. ~Vista M. Kelly

2012-01-11T22:52:00.000Z

We've had a little bit of weather here on the rock in the last two days, two days that I spent in bed with a cold/flu thingy happening - I think I chose the right two days of the year to stay indoors.

The snow provides me with natural curtains and an added sense of cosyness.

I still had a dog that needed walking so I donned snow pants and big down jacket over my pyjamas and took her out to see what nature was doing.

Snowy walls, this was on the first night, which was followed by a full day of storms and snow, the whole country came to a standstill. Unnur was stuck in Rvk as no buses or flights were going anywhere inland.

She doesn't care though, and as I write this she is sitting on the chair next to me giving me the occasional nudge and whinge about having another walk (she has been outside three times today, once with mum, once with Unnur and once with me.... obviously not enough!)

Still it really is a beautiful thing, I love winter, I hate being sick, but when the two happen to happen at the same time - then good.

Hope 2012 is being good for you all!

Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life! ~Albert Einstein

2012-01-09T23:44:00.000Z

Just a photo update this week. All is back to normal, work has begun - slowly and the meetings are about to start, first one was tonight after work. Again, just want to give thanks for the beautiful people that are my family....

I just missed the moment when Freyja had the adoration look towards Maggi.

the lovely amma and her Henry.... both the cutest and nicest and most huggable people I know.

The lovely Anna, who has now departed back to southern shores.

Yes lady, I can walk and give me a couple of weeks and I will be dancing!

Just love 'em both.

Totally has everyone enthralled!

My wonderful nephew and nieces.... What's on the back of my head...??

The thirteenth night after Christmas - the last chance to blow things up....

Oh yeh, lets make fire in the snow!

Dogs never lie about love. Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

2012-01-03T23:28:00.001Z

I was looking for a quote about dogs and the new year and found nothing, but in my search found a site that gives a dog quote for every day of the year - this was the one for January 2nd... the one for Jan 1 was one that I had used before and is so wonderfully found in my book of the dog that Vicki made for me.... so it was unlikely that I would repeat it here again....and this one was quite apt as the beginning for this blog... for those that watch QI you will know what I mean.

Happy New Year people - hope that 2012 is a great year for you! I know that it will be an amazing one for me... I turn 50 - it's a milestone that I thought I would never reach - ever...so I figure if I reach 50 then maybe, maybe, I will have left a fingerprint of myself on someones life.

During this last year I have been following an amazing woman in her journey in meeting all her facebook friends - she managed 90% which I think is amazing... I will try now and give her link... .http://arlynnpresser.wordpress.com/ I know I should learn to embed and all that -I obviously need lessons.... anywho.. check her out... amazing! now she has sent out the challenge to her "followers" to make a new years resolution that is challenging - like right out there - not the usual - lose weight, stop smoking, stop drinking..... stuff that you know you won't do - but something more challenging that makes you want to do it... I can not for the life of me think of anything.... other than lose weight, stop smoking, stop drinking.... One that is a possibility though and one that I have definitely put off for over 11 years is to return to Australia..... umm...I'll think about it... go back and face what I left behind... could it be that bad.. nah - would actually be quite good... who knows. maybe that is my thing for 2012?

But... can't leave you without photos... so will put on here the ones I took at New Years....

My sister - the amazing one - taught me everything I know about cooking

My bestest friend in Iceland Guðný.... who can resist that smile?

Yeh, I know - need to get a better camera... bonfire and fireworks at the other end of town.

The Australian contingent checking out the fireworks

Maggi and Guðný relaxing whilst waiting for the Icelanders new years review... a comic spoof of what has happened over the last 12 months... This years was good, twas very very good and cut close to the bone, almost too close for many of our politicians.

Maggi being the clever man that he is - brought fireworks with him.... hours of fun and enjoyment....

As Guðný demonstrated with the internal ones.. ie the ones that could be used indoors...

Maggi glassed up to take on the role of fireworks demonstrator... Guðný probably pissed off 'cos we couldn't find the other safety goggles...(Maggi did buy three sets... he knew how useless me and Guðný would be......)

Let's light the fire..

Sorry no fireworks picks... crappy camera remember - so instead there are shots from new years day dinner.

All rather relaxed and sedate.... so nice

My sister having quality Henry time... it is going to be hard for her to leave....

The blokes, Maggi - my nephew and bestest friend and the other one... Árni - the one you never lie about.

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love! ~Hamilton Wright Mabie

2011-12-25T23:49:00.000Z

I am sure that I have used this quote before... but hey.. it embraces what I think of this time of year - a time of love - being with loved ones - being relaxed and well fed.

I have been so super slack with this blogging business so am going to try and give a run down in words and pictures of the events of the last month. My cousin Guðný invited us over for a family dinner.... so good, always nice to be with the extended family here in S'krók... Check out Ross' jumper - from the red cross here in S'krók - Aussie cricket! Oi Oi Oi

Maggi continues to be the best of the best and is seen here bonding with the latest greatest treasure in our family.

Henry was a hit with everyone - well, how could he not be! Ingvi and Þórdís enjoying a bit of his company.

Christmas snow came and stayed - so lovely, this little almost lame fern is my Christmas tree, I will need to consult with the town council's gardener to see if there is some way that I can make this little tree's life happier and make it a little more respectable for next Christmas - not that it doesn't look alright - sort of...

I know you all know that I love my little house, but at this time of year I think I love it that little bit more... so cute, small, cosy and warm.

Here's ma having a chat with her great grandson... see how he is totally engrossed - there is a mutual love appreciation society thing happening there... It is so good to see how they have connected. After this weekends bonding I feel the need to say that I love my mum so much... like all of us - she has her faults, but basically - she is the best!

My gorgeous cousin Herdís is coming to a cross roads this new year. She has decided to sell / close down her handicrafts shop. This shop has been a part of this town for over 10 years, it's a big step, but it was time. She is making the right decision in that she is quitting the business at the top, the business is going well, but she now wants to dedicate more time to Áskaffi - the best little coffee shop in the fjord. So if any of you out there want to buy a business plus apartment (so nice!) it's up for sale only 300.000 AUD all up... (including stock).

More of the beautiful people in my life, Árni - never thought this would happen, am still a bit reluctant to state too much, but hey I love him. Rúna Birna - my cousin Jóhanna's daughter - a beautiful person through and through.. and her most wonderful partner Helgi Páll... - they are all looking rather serious on this photo... I am blessed with the people in my life.

Then there is my beautiful little house... again, so blessed to have had the opportunity to buy it when I did and to have had the ways and means of fixing it up to make it the wonderful little home that it is. I am so happy... (oh my god - this post is becoming so sweet that people will be in need of insulin - sorry)

Then came Christmas eve... again.. so lucky was I that the family of Ross was willing to come and spend the evening with us. The meal was actually pretty plain and traditional. We made them eat the rice pudding first... this way ensuring that someone gets the almond and therefore the first present of the night. The main was back of lamb - one fresh and one lightly smoked, with the usual condiments, Ora peas, red cabbage, beetroot, jam, caramelised potatoes, gravy and ofcourse salad...

My niece Anna with her nephew Henry Þór, so cute - love them both so much.

Mum in full present swing... she got spoiled - as she should be... as did I - note the amazing tardis decoration!!! that was Anna's present for me... next to it is an amazing home made bath salt/scrub that Olga made for me - they are so clever!

As I said it was so nice that the extended family of Ross' came and spent Christmas Eve with us - as you can see from the above Henry Þór was the main attraction - as he should be. It was a lovely evening with lovely lovely people.

And the star of the night - Mr Henry Þór

His dad's not bad either...

The bestest bestest thing was the present that Vicky gave me... She made me a book.... yep..handbound, with the quotes from this blog and the most amazing well thought out pictures to go with each. Am hoping I can capture at least one for this blog.

Hand sewn and bound, in Icelandic lamb skin...

Vicky took the quotes from this blog and added images to them, some from the blog and others off the net (which didn't have copyright - well done Vicky! - we may actually find a market for this amongst dog lovers....)

and yes... I was close to tears when I opened this present - so much thought - so much work... these are the types of presents that last forever....

Just the work that has gone into this is amazing... searching my blog for the quotes, then searching the net for the appropriate image... so amazing, Vicky, I will never be able to thank you enough.

And that you included my bestest bestest friend in the world ever....

Lust is easy. Love is hard. Like is most important. ~Carl Reiner

2011-12-04T18:11:00.001Z

What a weekend! But first, last week - was excellent - Maja and Jason are here with us and we have so enjoyed having them here - Maja is pregnant so not feeling all that good all the time, but being an absolute trooper, mum is so enjoying having them stay with her! So good! It has also been incredibly cold.... it's like winter just decided to happen all of a sudden, it snowed and then the frost came - it got down to -17°C one day last week... rather cold - even for me. Today was a balmy minus 11. Maggi has been amazing as always and taken the week off in order to be with Maja and Jason and take them wherever they want to go - they even managed a trip to Myvatn and the baths there - with only one dodgy bit where Maggi's car was bogged in the snow near the geothermal power station. Am sure that Maja will blog about this at some stage.

Now for the weekend, it started on Friday night with the "couples ball" - hjónaball in Akrahrepp. My cousin Sirrí (the one on the right) invited me and ma to come, this is a yearly event where the people of the Akra municipality get together and have a dinner dance and entertain each other with reminisces of the events of the past year. This used to be a yearly event in all the old districts before unification. (into one municipality Skagafjörður), but Akrahrepp did not unify and is now known as the free state within the fjord. So in that vein they also tend to keep a lot of the older traditions that the rest have let lapse.

There were 16 of us with Sirrí (she was also the foreman of the entertainment committee), excellent little group of family and friends..., 103 people attended - most from the municipality but also others like us that were "invited in". The food was good as was the entertainment.

You can just about count all the teeth in my mouth - I really need to learn some sort of "photo" smile. Normally I would attend the couples dinner dance with my good friend Guðný - but this year she is in a summer house in the south, with her sister, writing her Phd. I took the other half.... I think he enjoyed himself....

Mum and I certainly did.... I

Last night Maja invited us to Lay Low - a great band headed by Lay Low herself - Lovísa Sigrúnardóttir.... really good, but I drank too much and am feeling a little fragile today... but, the weather makes up for it - clear skies and cold..... Christmas approaches.

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

2011-11-27T23:01:00.000Z

The big new of the week is that Maja and Jason arrived in the fjord and the tree was lit on the town square...

Olga and mum heading down towards the tree celebration... it was a very cold day. My toes were totally numb by the time I came home.

Our Mayor Ásta Pálmadóttir doing the speech thing before turning the tree on.

Not the best of photos of any of them....but the next one makes up for it...

Such lovely people.

Most of the town turned out for it - which was nice.... this is my cousin Þórdís wearing the most amazing hat... seal and fox - bought in Greenland... so nice, so warm.

After the tree thing we had a roast lamb dinner at mine... so nice... Freyja so happy being pampered.

Henry was ofcourse the centre of attention - such a sweetie.

Love him to bits.

Shoulda done something about the red eye... oh well.... his cuteness makes up for it.

Tonight we had cod for dinner and again I was lucky enough to have them all over.... Henry getting all readied up to go home!

Is he not the cutest thing ever.

Yep, this post was for my sister... I know she misses not being here with him....

No matter how carefully you stored the lights last year, they will be snarled again this Christmas. ~Robert Kirby

2011-11-22T01:14:00.000Z

The first of the lights went up on the weekend.... yep, Christmas is approaching, the first week of advent starts this weekend.... the town is starting to change, lights are being put up in windows and on balconies. At this time of year it is so amazing what this addition of light in life makes.

Candles are an important part of Christmas tradition in Iceland, in the days when money was tight you could at least expect to get something new to wear (thanks to the tradition of the Christmas cat) or candles and cards. Something to light up the darkness.

So tonight mum, my cousin Herdis and Maggi were over for dinner and as I was clearing up I noticed my cupboard was leaning to the right, which had to be fixed... as you do ... which lead to cleaning and bringing out the Christmas stuff, so here they are:

The "bad guys" of Christmas, leppa lúði, Grýla and the jóla köttur, leppa lúði is the husband of Grýla - she takes the bad kids in a sack and eats them (according to tradition) the cat comes to get you if you don't have any new clothes (he was created long before materialism took over the Christmas spirit). I kind of like the fact that he was there - he ensured that even the poorest of the poor tried to make sure that kids got something new to wear, whether it be socks, jocks, or mittens.

Meanwhile in Europe St Nicholas became the symbol of Christmas.

He took on other forms, usually with a white bushy beard and a nice jolly face.

But for me Christmas is still about the "birthday" of a very special person, if only we actually all truly lived according to his teachings. Love thy neighbor as thyself, don't judge others, be thankful for what you have and if the wine runs out at the wedding, make sure you can provide the necessary...

In other words, live life, enjoy, love all you can for as long as you can and basically - be nice!

The only difference between men and boys is the cost of their toys. ~Author Unknown

2011-11-13T17:18:00.000Z

Went for a walk with the dog on the beach today.... twas another great day in the fjord...

She was really really happy with this as I had been a bit slack yesterday - had other things to do

She so loves being out and about.... So what was I doing on Saturday... something that if you had told me a few years ago - I would have scoffed..... Well yesterday I was the designated driver for some men that needed to check out other mens toys. This weekend in the equestrian centre they had a showing of the toys that belong to the men of the fjord.

There were cars... lots of modified 4 x 4 vehicles. They even had a mini theatre showing a dvd of their adventures in the mountains and on glaciers... looked like there was a little bit too much adrenalin for me (by the way I borrowed these photos from a facebook friend - who remembered to have her camera with her.... thanks Sædís)

Then there's the snowmobiles or ski-doos...... these were of the racing variety..... also watched a video of some extreme ski-dooers that jumped off the side of cliffs on their ski-doos and managed to survive.... the bottom of me feet were tingling - my fear of heights is getting rather uncontrollable.

In the foyer we had the gun collections - this is apparently only a small small percentage of the guns owned in the fjord.... so I reckon if we get invaded there is not a problem to arm the natives..... my goodness me.....

Yesterday I proved how patient and loving a person I can be - I spent five hours (yes 5 hours) at the show.... wandering around - but at least these days I know enough people that I can stop and have a chat with just about everyone. Then I continued on in my role as driver and went to a house just outside of town where I ate svið (sheeps head) - as I hadn't eaten anything all day - it really hit the spot and tasted quite yum... Still don't eat the eye though...

After dinner more and more folk arrived and a typical Icelandic party ensued - lots and lots of landi (thanks to moi driving back into town to pick up some more) lots of singing and general frivolity. Twas a good night - and knowing that I can be a designated driver and still enjoy myself amongst the drunk, very drunk and very very very drunk was an added bonus. It was also good to see that Icelanders still do the old traditional thing and party at home and sing and talk and sing and talk....

The week that was, was a good one, I have moved desks and there are no longer 50 files on the floor - they are now in shelves and the whole office looks so much better.... I had created a pit of paper work all around me. In EXCELLENT news my cousin Beta had a baby girl this morning. Today was her first wedding anniversary and the birthday of her grandmother Beta, whom she loved dearly - good all round! My niece Anna has booked her ticket and is coming in December - and my niece Maja is expected here in less than two weeks.....

Love my life, love my family...... yep folks... life is brilliant as usual

What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner. ~Colette

2011-11-09T22:38:00.000Z

OK so my sister said that I would be better off not posting if I didn't post the boy... so here he is!

and again...

He really is an amazing little man... am extremely impressed in this genetic combination.. I would say that he is all from the maternal side.. but I think that this bloke had something to do with it...

I think that this is what is technically called his silly face... such a nice person. My niece did well in her choice!

In other news life is good, lots to do both at work and in the local politics - meetings, meetings, meeting. But, it's all good. This is the difficult time of the year - doing next years budget, knowing that there is little money to do the things that you really want to do.. However, I did have a great day last week walking along the Sauðá canal that we want to try and re-invent as a natural river - by doing this we might be able to increase the life in the river, had one of the politicians with us - who happens to be an expert in river ecology in Iceland, so I think that working together we will be able to make a great new environment for fish and sticklebacks as well as for the folk that will walk along the footpath near the river course... All good - well that's what I hope anyway. This makes the politics worth while.

Looking forward to the visit of Maja and Jason at the end of this month. So glad that they are going to be parents too. Life is good.... hope yours is too.

Babies are such a nice way to start people. ~Don Herrold

2011-11-01T23:49:00.000Z

Am not going to do a big blog today - no photos no added bits and pieces... just lots of happiness!

My niece Maja announced that she and Jason are going to introduce a new member to the family next year. I also know of another on it's way - not officially announced as yet - more distantly related, but just as close in the family sense here in Iceland.

Life is so good at the moment, personally I have not been happier. Work, politics and personal life all seem to be in a fairly good balance. 7 9 13 as we say in Iceland.. or touch wood according to the English.

In other news, it snowed tonight..... Winter is here.

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive. ~Anäis Nin

2011-10-17T00:16:00.000Z

Finally back in Blog land.... it's been a while - but there has been a lot to do. End of September to the beginning of October was all about finalising VAT returns and getting back into the local politics gig. Then on the Friday an old friend was coming for a weekend visit. Sara and I went to High School together - way back in the dim dark ages, we weren't in the same social group at school, but were in classes together and became friends again on facebook a few months back. Well, Sara has decided to take life on and grab opportunities that come her way. As we all should do.... so she decided to come visit. As her time was so short here, I decided to drive down to Reykjavik and pick her up from Keflavik airport.... As can be seen from the photo - this required a change of tires.. Winter is on it's way.

Sara also had a long journey - driving down from Dudley - near Birmingham - leaving at 6am and arriving in Iceland at around 5pm..... We went to the hotel, checked in - walked down into town, had a bit of dinner and then decided to veg at the hotel... twas a nice evening, getting to know each other again and trying to work out what memories we actually had of one another.... afterall it was over 30 years ago!

The next day was supposed to be an action packed touristy day - the weather decided differently. So, we went to the fake Geysir near the hot water towers in Rvk..... it wasn't blowing! Reason - the winds were too strong.

I did drive out to Thingvellir though and the autumn colours were amazing! However, getting out of the car and having a wander around was not really in the deal - so much rain - so much wind. So off we drove - this time on a inner road which on the positive side meant we weren't back tracking - but on the negative - it was a lot longer and the road wasn't bitumised... just an old country track...

After two hours we arrived back on the bitumen... and what was there to greet us - this amazing rainbow....

As we didn't do the normal "golden circle" Gullfoss, Geysir, Thingvellir - I took her on the Sunday, to our local smaller foss (foss means waterfall) this one is called Reykjarfoss, which means smoking falls.... why smoking... - there is a hot water on that bit of land just above the falls.

It is not as big as Gullfoss, but certainly just as beautiful, so many layers - like a Sara Lee danish...

This is Sara next to the hot spring... had it been a little bit warmer I am sure that we would have had a dip...

Later that day Sara boarded an internal flight back to Rvk in order to catch her plane on the Monday..... little did she realise as she boarded that her passport was still at my house, in the duty free bag that contained my cigarettes and the bottle of wine that we couldn't open in Rvk on day one due to lack of cork screw.... Not to worry - she got home and after an hours interogation at Heathrow they figured that she really was British and wasn't trying to smuggle herself into the country...

The week that followed was hectic, meetings, meetings. work, then a conference in Reykjavik...yes twice in two weeks... so my birthday was spent in the company of local councillors and politicians... it was ok... but not what I would usually choose to do. I got a lift back to life (ie home and the dog) with my brother and sister in law - like me they were going to partake in the Horse Libations the following night. Yes, it's that time of year - a night of horse, foal, horse, foal.... yumm

The evening began with a foal tartar..... and boy was is good.... raw meat never tasted so good...

The next dish was horse sausage... I think that my nephew in law Ross could give them some hints in terms of spices - but even so - it was yummy......

Next was smoked foals tongue - oh my goodness me - this was really really really good.

The red stuff on top is deep fried beetroot.... crispy For mains it was horse and foal fillet, you could breath it in - no chewing required, so tender, so moist and so so tasty.

Finally for dessert, mousse, white and dark chocolate... I don't think that they were able to get the mares milk for it.. not to worry - it was yummy - in fact so yummy and I so greedy - I forgot to take a photo....

I used the fact that it was my b day last week to convince mum that we should stay the night at the hotel... It´s not far from home - but at the time I booked I figured that I would want my red wine with the meal and didn't want to encumber others to be drivers... Mum was quite happy with the set up so we spent a pleasant night in the hotel and had a lovely breakfast this morning with the hotel owner...... she is married to a cousin (yeh, we are all related)..... Another great Horse feast over for another year - would you believe I can't wait till next year!
In other news, today, I finally got around to building the platform required for the installation of my new old stove.

I am quite impressed with my carpentry skills.... I made this out of the old side posts from my old bed and the two remaining bits of parketry that I had left over from doing the floors when I arrived.

I did think though that it would be best to get an electrician to do the connection..... my brother did what I shoulda and coulda done.... but am so happy he did it instead... mind you he couldn't have done it without me there as the TA (trades assistant for those not in the know)

And here it is in it's full glory.... and tonight I cooked a "back" of lamb and it was yummy!!!

According to Ingi - one of tonights dinner guests (and the electrician that was going to connect it for me), this is one of the original versions of this truly authentic Icelandic made cooker..... I love it!

Göngur - roundup - from the word ganga = labba = walk.... but it means so much more

2011-09-18T20:28:00.000Z

borrowed from ordabok.is

Ganga

1.  labba   walk; tread; stroll; hike; pad; gang; foot it;
2.  ganga upp   work; work out; do (það gengur ekki: that won't do);
3.  um smitsjúkdóma   go around (er flensa að ganga?: is there a flu going around?);
4.  um árangur   do (hvernig gekk þeim?: how did they do?); go (framleiðslan gengur vel: production is going fine); get along; fare;
5.  vera í gangi   operate; run;
6.  um klukku   advance;
fara gangandi um: hike;
veikindi   ganga að: ail, be wrong with;
ganga af göflunum: go crazy, rampage;
ganga aftur til liðs við: rejoin;
ganga á: deplete, draw on, encroach on (eða upon);
ganga á bak orða sinna: renege;
ganga á milli: intercede, interpose between;
ganga á mis: fault;
ganga á rétt einhvers: infringe on somebody (eða upon somebody);
ganga á víxl: crisscross;
ganga álútur: slouch;
ganga berserksgang: go berserk;
ganga ekki á einhverju: keep off something;
ganga fram af: appall, knock out, scandalise, shock;
ganga fram úr: jut;
ganga framhjá: pass over;
ganga frá: dispatch, do for, do up, exhaust, finalise, finalize, put away, put down, round off, (meiða) (UK) do over;
ljúka   ganga frá: close (ganga frá sölu: close a sale);
ganga frá einhverjum: break somebody down;
ganga fylktu liði: parade;
miða   ganga fyrir sig: come along (verkið gengur vel fyrir sig: the work is coming along fine);
virka   ganga fyrir sig: work;
vera knúinn   ganga fyrir einhverju: run off something, run on something, be driven by something (ganga fyrir rafhlöðu: be driven by a battery);
ganga gegn: defy;
ganga gæsagang: goosestep;
ganga hart eftir: stick out for;
ganga í: enter for, join;
ganga í (eða á) milli: intervene;
ganga í bylgjum: fluctuate, undulate;
ganga í garð: set in, (UK) come in;
ganga í her: enlist, join up;
ganga í hópgöngu: process;
ganga í hraðmarsi: double-time;
ganga í hröðum takti: double-quick;
ganga í hægðum sínum: saunter;
ganga í kringum: circumambulate;
ganga í röð: file;
ganga inn: stave in;
ganga klunnalega: clump;
ganga mann fram af manni: pass down, come down to;
ganga með: come along (hvernig gengur með það: how is it coming along);
ganga með skellum: chug;
ganga niður úr: scuff;
ganga nær: walk up;
ganga nærri: impoverish;
ganga of langt: get carried away, step out of line, overshoot;
ganga saman: telescope;
ganga sér til skemmtunar: promenade;
ganga svo langt: get to the point;
ganga til: pass to;
ganga til liðs við: team up with;
ganga tryggilega frá: secure;
ganga um: ambulate, perambulate;
ganga um gólf: pace, pace up and down;
standast   ganga upp: make sense, add up, compute;
blessast   ganga upp: work out;
labba upp   ganga upp: mount, walk up;
ganga úr: secede;
ganga úr sér: stale;
ganga úr skugga um: ascertain, make sure, ensure, establish;
ganga út frá: presume, postulate, presuppose;
ganga vel: be successful;
ganga við hliðina á: flank;
ganga yfir: blow over, pass off;
ganga yfir á rauðu ljósi: jaywalk;
ganga þvert á: cut across;
gengin í: past (tuttugu mínútur gengin í fimm: twenty minutes past four);
knýja   láta eitthvað ganga fyrir einhverju: run something off something, run something on something;
láta eitthvað yfir sig ganga: suffer through something;
láta ganga upp: realize;
maður á göngu: stroller;
úr sér genginn: antiquated, threadbare, timeworn, worm-eaten;
þar sem gengur á ýmsu: rocky
7.  walk; walking; perambulation; march;
8.  íþróttir   race walking;
9.  fiskifr.   run;
hefja göngu sína: be launched;
þátttakandi í göngu: marcher

So I joined in with the second göngur this year. The first as I had previously posted were extremely tough with snow on the ground making it very difficult going for all those involved.

Ross my nephew in law came with us - there were 5 of us in our team, Andrés, his wife's brother in law Agnar and a girl that worked for him from Germany - Jolanta.

The weather was absolutely amazing. I didn't take my camera so there will be no photos.... sorry for that.

So a blow by blow by description:

We headed to Tunga at 6:30 am and went and saddled the horses and took off for our meeting point some 6kms away at around 7:05. We were first to arrive there. The scheduled meeting time was 8am. I didn't see what the time was when we left for our designated roundup area....we head up over the hill and over to the next valley. This where we start to split up - to "hold the line" so one person is at the top of the range of hills, another a little further down the slope, then another.... etc with Andres at the bottom of the valley following the river. We then head south collecting along the way any sheep that were left over from the roundup the previous weekend.

For me this was a pleasant riding trip - I was right in the middle of the group and had no sheep anywhere near me, hence no problems, I had a great horse - a 22 year old mare called Ara. Who knew the mountain and valley better than me.... she knew where the muddy, sinky areas were, where it was best to cross streams and crevaces.... such a joy to be on a horse that knew what it was doing. She did give me a bit of a problem when I was trying to remount - ie I fell off..... and then when she was getting enthusiastic about getting towards the end, she had a bit of a miss step and I fell over the top of her head... but all was well and I think she was ok with me.

For the first time ever we made it to Kálfadalur early enough to take a break and have a coffee, problem was we were a bit too relaxed, some of the sheep that we herded turned back... got a call from Andres to get off my butt and go get them - We went off started to chase them, it wasn't pretty, Ross, however was a hero and helped Andres get them over the river onto the road, Yolanta and I tried to get the other two going in the right direction - she had to do the running I held the horses and tried to drag them along behind me. For the first time ever I was on the northern side of the river on the home run..... which meant that we had to cross the river - the river has two very steep slopes on either side... going down was a bit of a hairy experience - but by this stage Ara had started to trust my judgement as I hers - Yolanta followed on her horse and we made it up to the other side and back to the rétt by 4pm.... thats 10 hours in the saddle folks..... pretty amazing.

It was a great day - it was so good to feel physically exhausted.

The best of it all was Olga made pizza for dinner with the home made salami that Ross and his dad and aunt made last week... Yummmmmm

Again, good times all round.

An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language. ~Martin Buber

2011-09-14T20:50:00.000Z

This post is all about sheep, yep the four legged variety - not the human form that follows and absorbs all that is fed to them. Last weekend was the first of the sheep round ups for the season.

There were many tired horses and tired men coming down off the mountain - in fact I wasn´t there to meet them - I left the coral at 5:30pm and the main flock and men on horseback arrived at 6:30pm.... very tired, very sore and probably very pissed off.

You see there was snow in them there mountains.... half the herding was done in a metre of snow - not good - for men, horses and sheep - but it made the sheep that much cleaner and prettier.

See all squished together waiting to be collected by their owners and herded off home.

To be weighed for slaughter..... That was today's agenda - I am so good at slacking off at work. Today I went to my uncle Andre's place to help with the weighing of the lambs and sorting the lot that will go to the abattoir tomorrow. They were so cute. Clean, and almost happy with their lot.

This one I liked a lot... I just love the colour such a golden tawny brown.

This is the weighing device. My office desk is on the left of the photo... It went really well today - we sorted and weighed 295 sheep. This process will be repeated around the 20th. I may be heading for the mountain on Saturday to collect the sheep that were left behind after the last roundup. Am sort of looking forward to it - then I remind myself of my age and the amount of time I have spent in the saddle in the last twelve months... not many minutes there...

Ah, if I didn't love the taste of lamb so much I might even consider becoming a vegetarian - then I remind myself of the other fact - farmers have to live too. Also, these lambs have had a damn fine existence thus far.

I don't believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at. ~Maya Angelou

2011-09-07T21:51:00.001Z

It's been a while, so much happening! We went for a drive to Áskaffi to get a bit of a summer feeling. This will be the first year that I haven't at least spent one day there in the role of waitress. Definitely missed it! Will make sure that this does not happen next year!

The food, as usual was excellent, some smoked salmon on soð brauð (fried bread), sooo good.

Hot chocolate, pancake and randalína... The best!

Herdís got to know her little frændi. Icelandic is so much easier than English, frændi basically means relation... we don´t go into the cousins grandchild as an explanation - a relation is a relation - no matter how far removed.

My big but the youngest of the brothers Hilmar came to visit - he's the one on the right. My big brother Helgi is on the left. They are almost like peas in a pod - so similar in so many ways and what is more wonderful - they are the bestest of friends, even though they were apart for over 30 years before seeing each other again. Having him here has been excellent... Such a good man, I am very blessed with all my siblings - they are all really really good people...

Politics has begun with a frenzy... including a meeting of the councils in the north west. A part of the two day meeting thingy was a trip to Hvammstangi to see the seal centre. Where we were given fine wine and good food and could see what our neighbours were doing in terms of tourism and giving visitors both Icelandic and those foreign to our shores an understanding of the role of the seal in Icelandic life on the coast.

That evening included a meal, where basically folk let their hair down. I had a good night - lots of dancing, some fine red wine and yeh, basically not thinking too much about the political side of life.....

After the conference it was back home to S´Krók where more political shenanigans were happening, my party was having it's annual feast. One of the entertainers of the night was the former minister for Agriculture.... a bizarre but extremely amusing man and a fine speaker. the guy on the left is the "earl" of Drangey... He went to the same country home schools as ma. They are all getting so old.

Himmi got a cold whilst here, which he kindly shared with me. His cure was to eat shark with a shot of vodka. I haven´t tried that yet and think I will probably give it a miss - I admire him for his willingness to try anything....

As you can imagine mum was pretty pleased with having her son here. She loves all her sons - but I think we can all agree that Himmi has a special place in her heart, and well deserved too. Am taking mum to Akureyri tomorrow where she will undergo surgery on her arm that she broke, apparently one of the nerves/tendons/muscles to her thumb got split and retracted up her arm - so she can´t move her thumb as she should. There is a specialist there at the moment that had a cancellation so she got in immediately... Which is good... the bad bit is that it started to snow today and I am still on summer tyres... Still the forecast is for milder weather tomorrow, still frost on the mountain pass but no new snow.

I can't finish this post without a picture of Henry - the main man...

Then I thought - poor Nina, now that Henry is here she is being totally ignored, so here she is looking forlorne... she basically just wants food.... but she is sooo cute!

Oh and if you go to flickr you can see some videos from last weekends trip through tunnels to the east of us. Had a lovely weekend in the fog and rain and visiting Ólafsfjörður.

A churn is a device for making butter

2011-08-21T14:16:00.000Z

Yesterday was the county fair, held in the equestrian centre just outside of town. My contribution on the day was to churn butter in the traditional way using a replica of a butter churn used in Iceland from Viking times to the early part of the 20th century. Next to me was Ásdís who was demonstrating the art of making skyr.

Our little set up, Eirikur and Eyþór getting ready for the days events. Brynja from the office baked rye bread the night before so that people could taste the butter on fresh home made bread. Needless to say this was much appreciated.

Ásdís starting the separation process. First you warm the raw milk then put it in the separator and turn...

On one side you get cream and on the other skimmed milk.

The day before she had made 8kg of skyr from 30 litres of milk. It´s a fairly simple process but time consuming.

Serious discussion regarding sheep and farming. Eyþór (on the left) was the mc for the day and walked around with a head set letting everyone know what would be happening next. As we were busy churning butter and cutting bread, we didn´t get to see too much.

However, I did manage to snap some shots for the ram judging competition.

This one is called Ostur (cheese) and he is from my Uncle's farm at Tunga.... such a sweety.

This one belongs to Fjóla - my work colleague..... he apparently scored well for being well behaved.

Eirikur (another work colleague) with his favourite ram.

Hrefna and Jón with their ram.... He wasn´t that keen on the walk to the judging area.

It was a great day. I churned 8 litres of cream into about 3kgs of butter. The cream was given to us from the local dairy - it was so good, very thick and probably had a higher fat % than the cream that I am used to using. This meant that towards the end of the churning process things got a tad hard. Had to enlist the help of fit and strong looking men as they walked past. It was quite amusing to see their faces when they realised how hard it really was. But, it was a hit, the butter tasted excellent and I had a great time - can't wait till next year!

Now that it's all over, what did you really do yesterday that's worth mentioning? ~Coleman Cox

2011-08-14T21:27:00.000Z

Another week over, last week was full of work and a start to the meeting season, but the weekend brought with it Gæran - a local music festival. I scored some free tickets from my lovely neighbour across the way as she is one of the festivals organisers. Before going though I invited folk for dinner. Guðný and Heiðdís as well as Olga and Ross and ofcourse mum. Guðný is ofcourse related to Henry Thor.... so she took great delight in getting to know him better.

Have I mentioned recently what a lovely little man he is...

Nina, got to come as well.... She was quite impressed.... she looks at me and sees food. I tend to be a bit lax about removing Freyja's food bowl before she comes.

Unlike most days after a big night out, Saturday was all about painting.... Maggi had bought paint and cement filler to touch up the concrete base on mums house and also paint to paint the steps. A job I have neglected for far too many years..... It was actually quite beneficial, rather than lie in bed or be super lazy around the house, we were out in the cold wind making ma's place look all shiny.

There was a little bit of sun shining from the west, but as I was mainly working on the west side I felt the first feelings of autumn. It got sooo cold.

See shiny stairs and me lying underneath touching up the concrete below.
We ofcourse rewarded ourselves with a beer or two.

Have a great week folks.

No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does. ~Christopher Morley

2011-08-10T22:31:00.000Z

Another busy week, another good week, so hard to remember what I did yesterday let alone last weekend... However, it is slowly coming back to me... I should take my camera everywhere with a date and time stamp just to remind me... Anywhooo. Sigga sister in law and Helgi big brother came for a surprise visit. Helping Maggi change the gutters on his house, Sigga took the opportunity to check the main man... such a cutie.

My nephew Gunni, his wife and two boys also journeyed north... This is Aron, showing that he is the BOSS... nah, sweet boy, getting worried that so far all the greats are nephews... no great nieces as yet. Still, there are a few to go in the procreation stakes within the Jonsson family. Jacqui, Maja, .... the rest of you..... we await a balance in the gender scales.....

My contribution is ofcourse the ultra female Freyja, pity she's a dog, which means according to English nouns, she is a bitch..... hey, she's mine! She is currently malting... I think that I have mentioned this before on my blog... I hate it, I hate it soooo much, but this is what happens twice a year, the whole surface area of my house is covered in fine - very fine - dog hair. I am trying my best this year in doing a daily sweep, and brush down of the sofa, but still they persist..... Still she is the most beautiful little bitch in the world.

She is also very well aware of this and will only rest her head on pillows.... two at least but not bad to have a selection..
In other news this weekend is Gæran, a local music fest that started last year and is held in the tannery in our small light industrial area. I scored some free tickets and will be checking it out. Might even try to remember to take my camera and take a few photos and videos of the event. Pity it's not smellavision as that would make it even better, but you can do it at home - wet your dog or if you have one a sheep... you will know what I mean.
In other news, my brother Jon has taken the Freyjamobile for a spin, so far they are in Hólmavík in the western region of Iceland.... now I have no more excuses... I will be taking mum out of the fjord at some stage.
And finally... the main man, Olga and Sigga..... so adorable.

Between the great things we cannot do and the small things we will not do, the danger is that we shall do nothing. ~Adolph Monod

2011-08-01T21:13:00.000Z

Been another busy week, another good week, another week in a life that is blessed with so many good things. My sister told me that I have a new readership - her class at Roleystone Primary or is it called a Junior school. Anyway - a big hi to the kids in Mrs H's class. She used this to demonstrate what having a diary was all about. Kind of makes me a little worried about self editing.. about diction... about appropriate punctuation... Then, I remind myself - this is a diary. Not a work of literature, it's for me, my family and my friends and now if they want the kids in the class. The above photo is of my aunt Sigga, she is my dad's younger sister, to us in the fam she is known as Sigga stór frænka (which literally means Sigga the big relative - big as in "great" as is "strong" as in the one that rules the roost. She hates having her photo taken - as can be seen by the expression she is giving. I love her to death, she is so formidable, can have such a scathing way... but underneath she is as soft as the rest of us. She loves her family and she loves her husband Þórð.

My wonderful brother Jon Bjorn is here on the rock at the moment with his lovely wife Lóa, they too are a couple that love and respect each other. It's good to know that these sorts of relationships, like all those my sibling have, my parents had and my aunt Sigga has exist. Makes you believe that it is possible to marry for love and to live and learn with your best friend. Soppy, I know - but inspirational.

Here is Sigga trying to avoid the camera, pretending to be deep in conversation with me - the conversation was about how much she hates having her picture taken.
Then you have three people that are not at all averse to being photographed - and just as well. Ross, Henry and Freyja - so beautiful.

Mum got to sit with great grandson H and Freyja showed that she could be non jealous for the little one.

Such a great little man is my great nephew... I know my sister misses him so much, but she can now start to plan and look forward to her next visit. It will be even more exciting.

The little family from up the street.... so great.

In other news, we took the Freyjamobile for a drive on Sunday - were planning to camp in Hofsós on the other side of the fjord. We were going to have dinner there in the one and only restaurant in Hofsós. So, we took no provisions, thinking that all would be well.. Anywho, the restaurant was fully booked, no room for me and ma. Which meant that we drove right on home again. Still, we did spend a couple of hours at the camp site, got the gas and water working in the car and basically know that all will be well for our next excursion. It was just as well, as we had to do a bit of a dash half way to Akureyri and I needed the sleep. I have to do something to my bed in the van to make it a little less hard and lumpy. Freyja was also extremely happy to be home.

Today was the 18th anniversary of my fathers passing. I still miss him so much......

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

2011-07-26T22:13:00.000Z

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

2011-07-09T23:09:00.000Z

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...

Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same. ~Francesca Reigler

2011-06-23T22:37:00.000Z

Shortly after the last post I decided to go for a walk (ie an hour later), I was so wound up - as all could gather... I couldn't sleep and it was solstice night... so for the first time in my life I decided to check out the midnight sun on the fjord. I was not disappointed.... I will let the photos tell the tale..

My wonderful nephew Dorian Magnús Jónsson youngest son of Hilmar has been here in the last week with his adorable wife Jacqueline. We had a bit of a family get together... so good.

Tonight was the start of lummudagar... our towns little festival... so at least for the next couple of days there will be nice positive posts....

And also, to be fair... I got an apology for what happened at the last council meeting. Am a forgiving sort so accepted the apology... but now I need to put on my emotional armor, learn to be tough and give as good as I get... but not lower myself to their standards. Think before you speak, words once spoken can never be taken back.

The only exercise some people get is jumping to conclusions, running down their friends, side-stepping responsibility, and pushing their luck! ~Author Unknown

2011-06-22T01:31:00.000Z

There are good days and there are bad days and some days contain the quality of both.

Today was a good day because Jacqueline and Dorian went to Drangey and saw the Puffins.... it was probably also a bad day for them 'cos it was cold and windy... but I am sure that they enjoyed it anyway. Also, it was a good day, as we all went out to dinner at Ólafshús and had a very fine meal...

BUT it was also a very bad day as I felt the first repercussions of going into politics and being questioned about my integrity. It was based, in my opinion, on political grandstanding, nevertheless, I am a person of that nature that takes these things to heart. I went into this thing with a positive view on that it would be possible for all to work together for the good of the community.

The crux of todays debacle was the production of a series of books about Skagafjordur. There will be in all 7 books published, each takes a certain section of the rural community that makes up Skagafjordur and tells the history of each farm (whether currently inhabited or not). It is a major project that began in 1996, so far 5 volumes have been published, the 6th will be available by Christmas this year and in total 9 will be produced (given funding).

Todays crisis was the fact that there had been an agreement with the local council to pay for the costs associated with one of the main writers/researchers of this book. The last agreement ran out at the end of last year... ie 31 december 2010, we have made an allowance in the council budget for his wages and costs in 2011. Also, no one wants this project to stop mid way... so what was the problem???? I can only think that political grandstanding ... this was an opportunity to be painful, arrogant and also to find the weakest link in the chain - ie... me... I did not go into politics to make a name for myself, stupid me... this makes me the weakest link in the political chain therefore the easiest to attack. Apparently I have some personal investment in this matter... hmm.. yes the company I work for donates my time in order to do the accounts for the publication... me personally - I just think it's a wonderful publication, as it tells the history of the farms from as far back as records allow. My own personal gain is zero... still... some feel that this may be a bone of contention.

Also, there is a matter of a debt to the council that sits on the balance sheet of the publication and as an asset with the council... at some stage this needs to be sorted out... did anyone do any homework on this today... no... they just wanted to know if the council would sit with the debt... seeing as though the council decided to put this on their balance sheet ten years ago and not into their profit and statement way back when... (I know I am talking accounts talk)... thing is the book began in 1996, the guy working on it has been on the councils payroll... instead of just making his wages an expense they decided to make it a debt on the publication.... the publication then became an entity of its own so the costs accumulated to that date became a debt of the publication to the council... So at some stage someone has to account for a write off in their books.... Did anyone understand this, - seems not... and instead, I am accused of being an interested party (in terms of my employers who give my book keeping for nada).....

I should probably not be venting like this - but I am so annoyed, so disappointed and so so fucked by this sort of petty mindedness. Again, I should have stuck by my view of politics way back in the 80's that no good would come of me ever being involved... no matter how ideological I am....

In other news tonight is the solstice... I am awake at 1.30 am and it is still light outside.

People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy. ~Anton Chekhov

2011-06-18T13:37:00.002Z

What a couple of weeks I have had....

I am now trying to remember what happened and for the life of me I can't remember everything. However, the highlights were:

My great nephew Henry Thor came into the world on Wednesday morning, 8th of June, gorgeous ofcourse, with parents like his it would have been hard to be otherwise! They came home on Thursday so the week was very much all about the boy!

Margy - a friend of Maja's arrived on Sunday, she had been travelling around the country in a hire car and was under instructions from Maja to come to Sauðárkrókur and check out where she lived whilst in Iceland. Luckily, Monday was a public holiday so I was able to do "stuff", first we went horse riding, I forgot my camera ofcourse so there is no proof of this - although I do know that Margy got a few shots. The route we took was up to the hill above town, I had not gone this way before so it was all quite new and exciting for me too. We also had fairly good horses that were willing and were Töltarar, so the ride was smooth and well paced.

We then went to Glaumbæ to see the turf house and to have hot chocolate, breads and cakes at Áskaffi, the best little café in the Northern periphery... After this we went to a mink farm.... well, it's not everyday a girl gets to see where a fur coat comes from.

As Margy is a geo and enjoys talking geology I invited Rúna Birna's partner, Helgi Páll, to dinner - I think Margy appreciated this - to be able to talk geo speak with another rock nerd. It was great fun listening to them and most informative. Helgi is really so knowledgable about the geology of Iceland and because he loves it so much he makes it interesting for those of us who know nothing (or very little). For dinner that night we had foal... I think Margy not only likes to ride our four footed friends she quite enjoyed eating it to.

Margy really wanted to see puffins, Viggó called and said she could join a trip that was going at 1pm the next day. On the Tuesday I flew down to Reykjavik for a meeting at the Environmental agency to discuss the proposed extention of a national park south of the glacier Hofsjökull. I am included in this committee because a part of this glacier is in our municipality. It was a good meeting, and was finished by 2pm, which meant I had till 8pm to do something - so I called the brother and asked if my sister in law would like to go shopping with me. So, Sigga and I went and spent (well she came with and I spent) got some black jeans, work trousers, gym trousers (- for Zoomba) and a jacket.... was very pleased with myself. My nephew Gunni took me to the airport (with his two sons - Ari and Aron) on the way we went a had a look at this new house - really nice!

I was knackered by the time I got home, mum and Margy had been at Olga and Ross' for dinner, her trip to the island had been cold and wet - but really really worth it! Which was good to hear. I trundled off home and got myself organised for the next work day. Margy stayed with Thor and co and polished off a bottle of scotch - well done Margy!

Wednesday, started with a meeting and trying to do some work for my official employer, I left early to join the "twin town" meeting at Miðgarð in Varmahlíð. The day was spent eating and listening to presentations on what each town is doing in terms of "drop out" prevention, twas quite interesting - although sometimes quite difficult and the speakers spoke either in English, Danish, Norwegian or Swedish.... my knowledge of Nordic languages is limited to Icelandic and so at times it was quite hard to follow. This finished just after four so I went home and got myself ready for my 2nd Zoomba class, my God, I was knackered the week before and I wasn't much better this week. Also, I thought that I had rhythm I was WRONG. I have three left feet that keep getting in each others way - I do not know my right from my left nor can I shake my bum like I thought I could... Still it is great fun. I left a little earlier as there was a dinner that night with our Nordic friends.

My God, this post is getting long..... am writing this all down now so that in years to come I can remember that once upon a time I was a woman on the go....

Dinner was just across the street at Kaffi Krók so I got there just in time for entré - smoked puffin salad.... YUMMMMM so nice, am ordering some for my brothers to have when they get here - may even get some sooner so Unnur and Thor can have some too..... so nice.

Main was the best lamb I have had in a very very long time and desert Skyr terta. so good, also helped that the wine was a lovely Rosemount.

The next day I showed up at work for 2 hours before rejoining the Nordic folk here at the local college to look at the apprenticeship school and the fab lab area. Then lunch - more great food from Skagafjordur - lightly salted cod, smoked arctic char and game paté.....

Then we all went on the bus:

First to a dairy in Hjaltadalur - Garðakot where Ása and Pálmi were our hosts, here we had the new beer from Skagafjörður as well as cheeses made here from local milk in the KS production facility in Sauðárkrókur.

This is an ultra modern dairy farm, the cows are indoors but able to move around freely between areas, they also choose when to be milked and head over to the milking station where they wait patiently in line for their turn.

The milking is done by a "robot" that has sensors to find the teats, hook on and milk, each cow has a necklace on with a computer chip so the system knows when it was last milked etc. so if it comes too soon to be milked it gets rejected and sent back into the open space.

Next we headed to Hofsós where our Nordic friends could go and swim in our new pool.... it really is lovely. A pity though that it was so overcast - you can barely see Drangey out there in the distance.

The day ended with a big dinner at Miðgarð, the meal was grafin gæs.... grav goose on a bed of salad, followed by foal.... yummm, and then a skyr panacota. So good, oh and ofcourse more local cheese and lots and lots of red wine. Lots of speeches were made, a lot of back slapping and how great everything had been, the entertainment was the local mens choir and a young kid from the area who totally rocked the house. Everyone went home very pleased....

Then.... yesterday - our National Day the 17th of June, birth day of our "new" nations "father" Jón Sigurðsson. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3n_Sigur%C3%B0sson He devoted his life to attaining nationhood again for his home country. Iceland had been established as an independent nation but gave it up in 1262 to the Norwegian crown. After this we were swapped between the Nordic nations - according to who was more powerful, ending up with the Danes as our rulers, then in 1944, Iceland took the final step and became independent again. The Danes were not that happy that we took this opportunity whilst they were occupied by the Germans, but hey it had to be done.

The main celebrations take place in and around our football/athletics oval. Here the Mayor is trying to read a speech... it was so windy ....
and soo cold..

Then we had a little light entertainment....

Twas a good day...

Ending with dinner - lamb ofcourse!

Olga and Ross bought little Henry over - such a sweety...

Olga and Ross are such great parents!

Three-fourths of the Earth's surface is water, and one-fourth is land. It is quite clear that the good Lord intended us to spend triple the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn. ~Chuck Clark

2011-06-06T22:21:00.000Z

So Saturday Sauðárkrókur celebrated the day of the men of the sea. I refuse to call it seamans' day.... Anywho, it meant I actually got out of bed before midday and went with Vicki and Unnur on the boat trip on the fjord. Now this is not just any boat but one of the big trawlers belonging to Fish Seafood, the weather was great... well it was a little windy and a tad cold... but it was photo worthy..

Unnur looking windswept at the fore of the boat.... with Tindastóll in the background... lots of people came - a lot of kids and every now and then my heart would drop as I saw a small child hanging in, over or under the railings.... no one else seemed worried.

See, lovely weather - do I look cold... well you can't see my fingers which by this stage had no feelings left in them...

How gorgeous is that!??? You can tell that I love it here, that I love this fjord and I love this life... Happy pills... who needs them?

Vicki, another, who appreciates this fjord and all it has to offer. Looking very relaxed...

In other news there is still no sign of Henry's appearance in the real world, as I told Olga, he is enjoying himself too much in his current place of residence... not to worry, he will make his presence felt very soon. Olga looks so good!

And here is the amma to be - my sister - my best friend. So good having her here and see how content she looks....or is that a look of boredom?....

In other news... I mowed the lawn on Saturday.... it rained on Sunday so Unnur and I went through some of the stuff at mums and did a run to the tip/recycling and red cross.... We were very happy with the results of the day... and then we checked out the new restaurant in town... Asian.. sort of ... very nice... just so good to have a bit of variety - hopefully they will prosper and continue to provide us with another restaurant option.

Can't find an appropriate quote

2011-05-23T22:26:00.000Z

So, Iceland delivered another volcanic eruption.... watching the news has become really really depressing. It is just unbelievable what the farmers in the south have had to go through, last spring and now this spring; yet another volcano spewing it's guts and ash into the air.. They are quite stoical when seen on the tv, still I think that there must come a time when enough is enough. Last week we were worrying about the fact that it looked like there would be snowfall in the North, well, we got that - especially to the east of us. Thankfully, all we have had here in my fjord is a cold northerly winds throughout the last week and a little snow tonight, no ash and no major snow fall.

http://www.visir.is/section/MEDIA99&fileid=CLP4297

this is a clip of the eruption with some sigurrós background music, making it all pretty - but it ain't pretty for the folk living through this.

Every time I watch the news I just get upset, knowing that there is nothing to be done, but we also have to be very grateful in that so far there are no human casualties, unlike in USA with Missouri getting yet another tornado blasting through. We have a lot to be grateful for here in the north. Sometimes you just have to keep reminding yourself of how good life really is and how you I have never really had to face any really really major challenges.

I live in a lovely little village, that sometimes has horribly cold northerly winds, and even snow at the beginning of summer... but that really is something to be thankful for.

Life is good, and all will be well in Iceland, the weather is changing as are the winds and the folk in the south will hopefully get rain to settle the ash. Pollyanna will live in our hearts and minds.... this summer will be excellent!

Tonight at 9pm... not much snow - but enough.... but I am grateful that it is white and not grey ash...

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within. ~Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2011-05-16T21:34:00.000Z

Am trying really hard at the moment to do something I should have done 40 years ago - learning to love myself for who I am. This would have to be one of the toughest things that a person takes on. It is so much easier to love others and do right by others. Why is doing right for oneself and loving oneself so difficult - is it because we think that this is some form of narcissism, conceit or arrogance? Why is self deprecation so much easier? So much easier to make little of oneself, to answer a complement with - what this - it's something I´ve had for ages. Why do we ask - "do I look fat in this?" before we ask "do I look great - or what!?"

So that is my state of mind at the moment - two inner selves fighting to take control - I am hoping that the self confident, self appreciative self wins out.

In other news the most beautiful Olga is looking more and more beautiful with every day. She is amazing. I am so impressed with her and with Ross - he is now becoming a home carpenter - making furniture from pallets - it's going to be sooo good!

The weather here has taken a turn for the worse... North winds are blowing and we have had snow and sleet today. We are looking forward to minus temps in the next couple of days - which is not good for farmers, as they are now putting the newly born lambs to pasture. Lets hope all goes well and that this forecast is not as bad as it looks at the moment.

Those that haven't been following world events - that is to say - Eurovision....
Iceland landed in 20th place, not bad, not great, but ok. we are all quite happy with this. The friends of Sjonni did a good job. if you want to listen then check out this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foI2HlqsWQk

I have refused to learn html and all that so you just have to take the raw link.

I love this song. I can't wait till tomorrow! - is my new motto for life.

Pizza is always really good too. This one is the one mum and I ate last night and had left overs of tonight. (this is before it went into the oven)

We understand death for the first time when he puts his hand upon one whom we love. ~Madame de Stael

2011-05-11T23:34:00.000Z

My dear uncle Bjössi passed away two weeks ago, we said our final farewells last Saturday. (he is the one on the left, dad the dark haired one on the right).

I have so many good memories of my most favourite uncle. He was like a second dad, his family were my family, our family get togethers here in the hook were his family, me, ma and Maggi. We were family, very close, very much a cohesive unit.

I wanted to do a proper tribute - lots of photos and lots of memories... instead this will be a ramble -

My first real memories of Bjössi were when I came here with mum when I was 12. Bjössi looked and reminded me so much of my father that I was missing so much at the time. No major memories come back from this time, I just know that I knew that he was there... solid as a rock. Quiet, supportive and willing to drive mum wherever she needed to go. When I came with Tracy, at the age of 17, it was the same, here was this guy, so much like my dad and yet different.... again, the guy to go to if you needed rock solid advice. Then when I was older 25, mum and dad moved back to the rock. I came north and had the privilege of helping them (or rather being the intermediary) install the new kitchen. I saw my dad in a totally different light - he and his brother were having a great time, both of them making digs at the other - a typical sibbling situation, brothers arguing in jest with one another about which one is a better cabinet maker, electrician, handyman. It was such a hoot.

Since moving back to the rock and after the loss of my father Bjössi had become an even more important part of my life. When I moved into this house he came and had a look, saw that my windows were crap and came with tools and the necessary to ensure that they would at least last the winter. I didn't ask, he didn't offer, he just did. That was the type of man he was - he saw a need and he came and fixed it.

He was also a dog person, his dog Bæsi passed away a few years ago, he had been a gift from the town to him on his retirement. When I got Freyja, Bjössi took me aside to make sure that I knew what I was doing - you do realise she is going to die before you? Are you aware of what you are doing to yourself by getting a dog and becoming attached? He loved my Freyja, and she him. Freyja recognised his car when he drove past, always wanting to go and have a chat with him, if he saw her he would stop and say hi...

We will miss him so much, but we are also grateful that he didn't have to suffer and that he is now at rest. I know that he and dad and their younger brother Kári are together with their parents and I am also sure that the dogs are there too. Dad, Bjössi, Kári, Taffi, Bæsi, Snoddass and Misty... I look forward to walking with you.

There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea. ~Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

2011-04-23T21:15:00.001Z

So, after the mega month of blogging I have been a tad slack.... I can find a thousand excuses - but the main one is - I was mega slack and just could not be bothered, but tonight I felt the need.

So the biggest news is that Olga and Ross got themselves a puppy - Nina is her name - and she is the cutest.... sorry Freyja - second cutest dog in S'krók. Freyja, thankfully, is coping ok with her role as older dog.... she just tries to cope as best she can with the little ball of excitement that is Nina....

In other news this month has been rather hectic - tax deadline at the beginning of the month, local politics going full swing and the annual general meeting of the political party to which I now belong.
The meeting was a three day event in Reykjavik.... so I drove down on the Friday and made it for the leaders speech - which was very patriotic and positive - all about how now is not the time to give up and that we have all we need to survive and prosper - our water, air and fisheries etc etc etc. Was actually really quite good - I am not a big fan of long political speeches - especially ones as long as that one - but it was good and because he concentrated on the positives and not on the negatives of the opponents I was quite pleased with my choice of political allegiance. I decided to rent an apartment in town for the weekend - time to stop using my brothers as a convenient hotel - when I stay with them I want it to be because I am visiting them - not just needing a bed for the night. So I looked on the interwebs (the hotel the meeting was in was fully booked as the sheep farmers were having their annual get together) and the other cheap option was also fully booked - this was the first weekend of the confirmation period (I will blog on that at some other time), so I found a place next door to where I used to live when I lived in Rvk in the 80's - it was so nice to be in the old 'hood.

The view down the street, the blue skip was outside my old apartment, the white house is where the flat was - I love that area..... the hotel of the conference is just 10 mins walk (I walked home after the big dinner on the Saturday night). Will definitely stay there again when I am not visiting with the family.

This Easter weekend has been rather action packed as well. Beginning on Thursday - the first day of our five day Easter weekend.... I went to the most amazing wedding reception.... 220 people - wine flowing and entertainment happening left, right and centre. The people being "polished together" were my colleague from work (the main advisor to fur farmers in Iceland) and his new wife an archeologist who works for the Heritage institute. They are the nicest people - yeh I know I say that a lot - but they really are - they are just such a cute couple... Love 'em and wish them all the best.

Then last night was a "thanksgiving" party held by another work colleague who turned 60 this year - her husband was 60 last year - they also had two new grandchildren during the last 10 months and because of schedules etc only found the time to have a party last night - again a great night - over 120 people, good food, good entertainment and generally a good time had by all. I must get a photo of Brynja - she is AMAZING, no one would believe that she is 60 - has the body of an 18 year old - a very good looking 18 year old... am very very envious - she is also the most perfect housewife and mother and really good at her job as well. Don't know how she does it...

Today, I invited the Zoëga clan over for High Tea.... Guðný is the best friend that I have here in the Krók, she is a rock - we have had a lot of good times together and probably bad - nah - they have never been bad... she has a great family as well and the bonus is that my niece Olga is related to them (yeh, I know we are all related somewhere - but they are actually fairly closely related - I think that Olgas amma Olga is Guðnýs mums second cousin.... or something like that) So, I am leaving you with a pic of the table.....

It's been good to have so much to do - this way I am not thinking too much about my uncle Bjössi who is spending his final days up at the hospital.. His will be a special post - when and if I will be emotionally able to do it. My love and thoughts are with him and the family.

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. ~Douglas Adams

2011-03-31T22:54:00.000Z

I was looking for a quote about finishing something, completion etc... found nothing... and then saw the Douglas Adams quote, now that was a fine and strange mind.

Today was a productive day at work, probably the first all week, I even managed to put in a full day there - no meetings or distractions, even limited time surfing the net.. Amazing. So I was all pepped up when I got home - went and did some shopping and then came home and cooked a lamb curry. All my curries are the same - no recipe - just every spice in the cupboard, chili, ginger, garlic, onions, mushrooms, lamb and potatoes...

I got a surprise guest for dinner - Kristine from Hólar (Swedish head of the tourism studies department), she had to kill some time in S'krók and so decided to come visit - was so happy that she decided to come here - I like the fact that people feel comfortable in coming here and even happier when I can feed them. The curry was good - the company good, a good day overall... The best bit about today though is that I have finished this task of writing a blog everyday. I can't understand how people can do this. But well done them!

So, in other news, this coming weekend I will be all on my lonesome - with the doggy... Olga and Ross are finally having a honeymoon, mum is going to her sisters and Guðný is at her mums... Maggi is coming to dinner tomorrow night so at least I get to feed someone!

Much good work is lost for the lack of a little more. ~Edward H. Harriman

2011-03-30T22:00:00.002Z

This is so descriptive of today, I tried so hard to do some work, but to no effect. A break before ten to go to a meeting which finished at lunch, lunch with mum and then back to work to try and finish some returns, I just couldn't concentrate... not good, hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Wednesday is the day that mum gets a visit from the Jehovah's Witness from Akureyri, I have been sort of tolerant of this, but always worried - as mum says - she is always continually searching for God. I thought she found Him years ago, but for some reason she feels that she is still wanting in some way. I haven't worked out what it is. Tonight just before she left she said that the pressure was on... that she has to give up the state church and be buried from the temple in Akureyri - here at least mum said that she would not agree to that - she wants to be buried from her church here in S'krók. Why do religions have to be so divisive - why can't they accept and just discuss and have discourse - why does one have to be better or more right than the other? I think that this is why I don't practice my religion, although I have never found the Lutheran church to be divisive or telling people what to do and how to live their lives... I don't know... need to find a way to get mum back into the general groove of the local church and perhaps I should go with her more often - but religion is a personal thing and you shouldn't need people with you to me it has always been between the individual and the God/spirit/science or whatever they believe in - the important thing is to be tolerant and to allow different ideas and beliefs and give respect.

AAAHHHHHH ranting - must stop. You can tell this is the second to last day.....

To my siblings reading this DON'T panic, she hasn't turned - well not yet anyway - she is getting older and she needs us all more than ever, just to know that she is a good person and has lived a good life and has done the best that she could. She is by no means perfect, but I think she thinks that she has failed us all in one way or another and perhaps this is why she is always looking for some sort of forgiveness and that she will make it to heaven and to her God. This is just my speculation - and sorry for putting it out their for every man and his dog to read, but this is something I can't deal with on my own. I was thinking about editing this all out - I still can... but I won't.... I just don't know what to do.

Still ranting... must stop... but have verbal diarrhea ....

So tomorrow is the last day of this daily posting thing.... am sure that we are all glad that this month in my life is over............

and to end on a better quote

All religions must be tolerated... for... every man must get to heaven his own way. ~Frederick the Great

Nobody told me there'd be days like these Strange days indeed, strange days indeed... John Lennon

2011-03-29T22:15:00.001Z

So close to finishing this month of blogging.... why did I not do this in February or even April, still, only a couple of days to go.

In todays news, I went to another meeting in the afternoon - with the culture committee.... it was held in Miðgarð which once upon a time was a place where wild dances were held for the 16+ crowd, it is located in the next village - about 20 mins drive from S'krók. Now its a menningarhús - a cultural centre. Which basically means that it has a great stage and sound equipment - can house up to 200 people either for dinners, opera, recitals alls sorts of things. the renovations cost a fortune - but it looks good. Todays meeting was with the person running the place discussing the problems with low utilisation and high cleaning costs. Ah the joys of committee work.

I was going to go back to work after the meeting but it went on for a little longer than we had first allowed for... still it was a very informative get together, we were also informed about the current items on the agenda for our archives and local heritage museum. We really do have great institutions in this little fjord, with directors that work with zeal and enthusiasm. Then, tonight, I met with the party faithful to discuss the forthcoming political conference in Reykjavík - should be an interesting event - and I am actually going - actually volunteered to go. Yep, strange things are happening in my life - I am enjoying meetings, I am enjoying being in a political party and am volunteering to go to Rvk. Strange days indeed......

In thee my soul shall own combined the sister and the friend. ~Catherine Killigrew

2011-03-28T23:27:00.001Z

I had no idea about what to write about tonight, but after a very long and good conversation with my sister it became obvious.

I have written about her before, she is and always will be my best friend in life. We have gone through a lot together. I try to be there for her and she has always been there for me. I feel at times that we are overlapping shapes in life and we share her children. Remember those shapes in math in primary school where bits overlap - well that's me and my sis. I feel that her children are partly mine - I hope she doesn't mind sharing them with me. I know that my life is that much more enhanced because I have been a part of their lives -whether they feel the same is another story.

I think that sisters have a different relationship to brothers and sisters.... why, I don't know.. I love my brothers dearly and I love their children just as much, I figure that it may have basically been through geography, somehow I have always had more access to my sister's kids than to those of my brothers. So the dynamics of the relationships changes because of that. Remember - I bought a house down the road from my sister... I had lived in her house with them before that.... Poor children - they could not get away from me... I was there - a permanent part of their life in their early formative years....

To my sister, brother in law and their children - thank you!!!

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

2011-03-27T21:58:00.002Z

The quote says it all hence, no post yesterday and a major fail in posting everyday for a month... I almost wasn't going to bother tonight - so much easier to fail at things than to continue on after a relapse...

Last night I went to the annual dinner dance of the local gym... I am NOT a member.... I went with my very good friend Guðný - we use each other as the plus one whenever there's the opportunity. Was an interesting evening... Lots of very fit bodies and in amongst them some like me - not so fit. The jokes were a little or rather very much not to my taste, but hey, different strokes... the entertainment was quite amusing though, the instructors made to reach for an ever reducing box of cereal with their mouths. I was a tad worried about some of them making old sports injuries that much worse, the woman that won so deserved it - has a healthy looking sporty physique, not overly thin and extremely flexible. Some of the blokes took me by surprise, the most flexible of them was probably the one that had more padding than the others.

Then came the music, a two man band - in the tradition of dinner music with a few "hits" from the pop world thrown in..... Guðný had choir practice today so she was on her best behaviour... so it was a fairly early night. Even though this was the case. today was a very very slack day - very indolent. I slept late, took the dog for a long walk, made a pie... pies take time..... and am now relaxing and watching the box, with a glass of red... the usual end for the day.

In other news spring has arrived, the snow is melting - we have had two days of plus temps... my tulips are trying to grow... hopefully they survived the snow and will blossom before Easter.

And in further news, I actually went and had a look at Olga, Ross' and Henry's new home... tis really really lovely - so much potential... am looking forward to spending some quality time with them there.

Don't vote, it only encourages them. ~Author Unknown

2011-03-25T23:49:00.001Z

Ok so after yesterdays miserable blog I got some rather tough questions....

From Maja, what my take is on our PM´s gaff in the hiring of the senior person in the prime ministers department. You see what happened was that there were a number of applicant 5 (I think) that were rated equally, only one of these was a woman. In Iceland there is affirmative action legislation which states when in doubt hire the woman (in order to improve on gender equality within the government bureaucracy). They hired a bloke, the woman had recourse through the system to challenge the decision, the high court or whoever (sorry, I find this whole thing so silly I haven't really investigated it completely), came down on her side. That is, according to the law - she should have gotten the job. What makes matters worse for our PM is that she was rather vocal when a similar situation occurred a few years ago (when she was in opposition) and she asked for the minister in questions resignation. Her stance now is that she felt she could not go against the recommendations of the committee that was set up to sort out the applicants and appoint someone to the job. Another thing that makes this rather murky is that the woman in question was previously the assistant to the current PM´s former party leader - so who knows what background these two already have. So, in answer to Maja's question - our PM has yet again proved that she is very good at foot in mouth, seeing the splinter in the other person's eye and also lousy in facing the fact that she fucked up. I have always admired Jóhanna for her determination and will - now I am starting to think that these positives make her life a misery - I often think that she over compensates for what she sees as her weekness ie a woman in politics... she should be a role model to both the men and the women in this country - be tolerant - not go off ranting and raving and take the hits when they come and be strong enough to stand up for what she believes in. If the guy was the best guy for the job then there is something wrong with having affirmative action laws... Maybe these need to be reviewed. But..... as I am libran I can do buts..... there were 4 women in the selection committee - in my books women have always been their own worst enemies - somehow it seems that women in power often don't like other women around them - they see them as threats, why, I don't know... just through my experience it is unfortunately often the case. We want equality - but for us - sorry ME, not the other women, who may come in to our area of influence and somehow undermine us.... sorry ME... well thats my rant on that one.

ICESAVE. hmmmm have been pondering this one a lot. Over the past months I have often felt that it is my heart that is saying no and my head is saying yes. My head says yes, because by signing the agreement we are going into the known. We will know almost (but not really) how much we have to pay and for how many years. The crux is though - is there any obligation for the Icesave debt to become a sovereign debt. According to all my very basic and really quite useless knowledge of law (well UK law - which we inherited in Aus) there was always a thing call Buyer Beware or caveat emptor. This has largely been overriden in consumer law with warranties and consumer protection - so that some shafty salesman can't sell you something useless, however it still exists in business transactions, that it is the duty of the buyer in a business to business transaction to investigate the company from which he is buying from. Icesave was a bank that promised interest rates many points higher than those of normal high street banks and so attracted a lot of investors with money that wanted to see high returns on their investments.... I again, go back to another common saying - if it seems to good to be true then..... I again, can only go back to my own experience, shortly after arriving in Iceland I decided to take out extra superannuation... there were a number of options being offered by the bank ranging from low risk internal investments based on government bonds or very high yielding returns with investments in foreign and local shares... my choice, the low risk govt bonds... why - because I did not trust the banking infrastructure in Iceland... on paper they looked brilliant - but rub the surface and you could see that there were a lot of "slight of hand" movements on the balance sheet - re-evaluation of foreign assets, over valuations of shares in other companies (which happened to somehow be connected - Exxon anyone?) Anyway, getting back to Icesave and my vote, the bank was in a highly risky enterprise - the investments in Britain and Holland were being used to cover debt elsewhere and creating new debt in other places... there was nothing behind it - a child could have seen it - so cavear emptor - you should have bloody known it was dodgy.... anyway, then the banks collapse, Icelandic depositors were covered by government. Icesave in Holland and Britain was an Icelandic bank - it had not changed it's legal home and entity to a UK or Dutch one... However, the dutch and UK governments intervened and said that they would cover the 20.000 euro maximum that is ensured under EU law... they decided this all on their own... they could have let the depositors chase the money to the Icelandic fund, but that fund was pretty much not able to cope with that many and did not have the money to cover all the depositors.... Now they (the UK and Dutch governments) want this money back with interest, understandable... however... is it right that this should become a sovereign debt - ie that the Icelandic government (read the Icelandic people) should be liable for the risks and gambling undertaken by the Icelandic banks. To this my heart says NO. ... and increasingly my head is getting in agreement with my heart. So what happens if we say no.... well two things... or maybe three... we go back to negotiations, the UK and Dutch governments take Iceland to the European or in our case the EFTA courts ..... or..... nothing. So if we go to court what then? A lot of lawyers will be rich, fat and happy (but they already are anyway - and we have a heap of lawyers here... at least three universities that graduate a bundle every year) We may lose, and have to pay the brits and dutch what they paid out and probably with interest (similar to the agreement we are being asked to sign now - or the interest rates may be higher) and if we do lose this means that a precedent has been set for countries taking on the collapse of banks as sovereign debt - is this what the other European countries want??? Governments can not continually be having to bail out banks - Ireland, Portugal, Spain - they are all having problems today - what would have happened in America if the government had bailed out and become liable for the investments in their investment banks???

Yep so I guess I will be voting no and will live with the repercussions.

In other news I am also against Iceland joining the EU, it's broken and we have nothing to add and nothing from them will add to improving my lot here...

And if you are all still with me then I will do a YOU YOU as Jomamma asked...

Judith - list three things that you like about Maja and Maria and me and three things that you think that we should do (in your honest opinion) to make life that much more enjoyable....

Seventy percent of success in life is showing up. ~Woody Allen

2011-03-24T21:13:00.000Z

I can't believe that I am quoting Woody Allen, but honestly I have nothing to write about that I haven't already written about before.

I had another meeting about waste from the slaughter house and from the farms, again, there is no cut and dried solution. We will continue to battle on, find an interim solution.

Again, nothing to write... maybe I should find one of those memememememe thingies

Well, have trolled the meme sites and found nothing - one was interesting - what are three things that people don't know about you? I thought and thought and thought and realised that my life is an open book and I doubt if there is anything that is a secret anymore...

So having done that I realise that this is the dullest post in march... Will need to ask Olga for inspiration - they went to dinner at Vicki's tonight before Ross and Vicki went to Icelandic class, so I can't ask her now.

Life on the other hand is good...... hope it's good for you too.

The most dangerous kind of waste is the waste we do not recognize. ~Shigeo Shingo

2011-03-23T23:09:00.000Z

My life is totally centralised around waste and taxes at the moment... to most not the most riveting of things. To me - a challenge, that I have to face every day.

Today I met with some folk from down south and the vet in charge of the North of Iceland to discuss future waste disposal of category 1, 2 and 3 waste. Yep, I can see you falling asleep. It was an interesting meeting that left us in the same place as we were yesterday, but with a bit of a better feel regarding what future regulations would have in place.

Tomorrow is a meeting with the local health inspector - again to discuss waste management...

In between I will be doing tax returns... Oh joy!

The highlight of the day was that we had foal curry for dinner and cousin Herdís joined us tonight.. Always good to see her as she has so many ideas for increasing options for tourists visiting our area. She is so full of drive and new ideas and I know that she will follow them though. We are lucky here in this fjord to have people like her with drive and foresight to make changes and develop new ideas. We take so much for granted here, for instance the number of birds that come here and nest in the summer is extraordinary, it is a bird watchers paradise - do we advertise this - no - why? because for us the birds are always here every summer and so no big deal... for bird watchers it is a big deal.. The idea of a bird watcher is also something that is not really a known phenomenon in Iceland... why watch birds... they are there - well at least at certain times of year - they are just a part of our normal environment. Yep we have a lot to learn and we do need to grasp the opportunities that are right here, in front of us, so obvious, we just don't see them.

In other news, I am going to the annual fest of the people that go to the local gym... talk about a fish out of water..... Sundays blog may actually be interesting.. till then we still have thursday, friday and saturday.... Thankfully March will end next week...... (actually that is not such a good thing - I have a heap of tax returns to do....)

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can. ~Danny Kaye

2011-03-22T21:43:00.000Z

Today was a busy day, tax return time at work and meetings on the increase in the town council stuff, today was work, lunch time meeting at the council, more work and a council meeting at 4.

I did the tax return for one of my clients today and phoned to say it was ready for him to come and sign. He wasn't home,so I left a message with the guy that answered the phone, just as I was getting ready to leave for my meeting I heard him coming up the stairs. He was there with a younger person I had never seen before - his daughter.

He is a farmer that has worked hard, has a good farm and is one of the nicest of my clients. I know everything about his expenses... he gives me every receipt, so I feel as if I know him well, although I only see him maybe three times a year. Anyway, today when he came in he told me his wife had died yesterday, so she wouldn't be there to sign the return. I felt a blow to my heart, I could see straight away that he was quite distraught. All I could do was give him a hug and offer my condolences and then take the time to listen... I had met his wife as often as I met him - three times a year. She was always quite jolly - they are what you would imagine the "salt of the earth" type people to be. It was so sad, he talked about the fact that he was there when she died and how he held her hand and could feel her press his in return. I was almost blubbering... have tears in my eyes now. To have a love like that is so special, something to be treasured and is so nice to witness - it gives one hope. To him I send all my love and respect. To her I send my greatest respect and admiration for having found and had a love so strong.

The council meeting afterwards was ok, but the reality of life and death makes you realise that the blah blah blah of politics is meaningless if you don't have love and respect for you fellow man as your ultimate priority.

Enjoy life people - you may never know when you don't have it anymore.

"Well, the Ides of March have come", to which the seer replied "Ay, they have come, but they are not gone."

2011-03-21T22:39:00.000Z

Apparently the Ides of March fall on the 15th of the month... so I am few days late.. This quote came to mind when I realised that I had to continue to blog till the end of the month... not easy.

So today was a day of work and meetings, the meetings were not related to work work but the other work - the council stuff. You see we are facing an imminent problem here in the fjord. What to do with animals that die on a farm - in child birth or from other diseases and those bits that come from the abattoir that can not be used in feed for the mink farms... EU regulations are becoming more and more stringent on these matters. Now that most of the rubbish that needs to go to landfill goes across the mountain to the fjord to the west (where they have decided not to allow abattoir refuse and dead animals to be landfilled) we need to find a solution. This morning was a meeting with the abattoir manager and this afternoon with representatives from the farming community. This is a real problem that needs to be solved and solved quickly. Our landfill is losing it license to remain open... to keep it open we will be faced with more stringent regulations... What to do???? Yep, my life is full of challenges. On Wednesday I am having a meeting with representatives from the authority that is in charge of composting - we had a composting station here - now closed down due to debt... the composting station in the next fjord to the east is on the verge of bankruptcy - why? because they can't use any of the produce - or rather they can - but no one can farm the land for 10 years - which basically makes it useless. They charge people for the refuse that comes to them, but it is not enough to cover start up loans and operating costs... It's a right mess.

In other news we had foal for dinner tonight - and as usual it was yummy... Amazing how tender it is.

And I had my photo taken with the t shirt for Napier Marineland. There is a T shirt travelling around the world trying to gain attention and to help keep the Napier (NZ) Marineland open. I donned my ski suit and T shirt and did a snow angel... not good photos... but I figured more politically correct than standing in front of a stuffed polar bear...

Ah another day, another blog...

But before I go - many thanks to Maja and Anna for all the photos on facebook from my nephews marriage on Saturday... I was going to try and load some photos from their fb pages, but am having technical difficulties... not happy...

will try again tomorrow. So many great photos of so many very happy people obviously having a wonderful time! Oh how I wish I had been there....

Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week. ~Joseph Addison

2011-03-20T22:10:00.000Z

Oh boy, now it starts to get hard.

Today like most Sundays, began with me being woken up by the dog - she cries - especially when the weather outside is nice.... so although I managed to get her to stay calm for an extra half hour snooze, she finally got me to get out of bed and start the day.

As like most other days I went to mums to get my coffee fill, this morning - like all weekends, the coffee from breakfast was finished, so I made a fresh pot, managed to get down one cup before the crying started again. As I was having folk for a late lunch early dinner I knew I needed to get some extra stuff for the meal and as the weather was actually quite nice (ie no wind) I decided to walk the dog up to the shop on the hill. In Sauðárkrókur we have two supermarkets, well if you can call them that. One is a department store (of the very small country variety that sells everything - well, if you can´t get it there you don't need it - as the saying goes) and a smaller store up on the hill - which is basically a food store - but it does sell stockings and socks...

So, I made a deal with Olga that I would call her when I got up to the store so that she could pick me and the dog up along with the shopping. The walk was extremely pleasant... nice snowy ground NO wind and sunny. Freyja enjoyed it immensely. Called mum's to talk to Olga... busy signal, called Olga, no answer, called Ross - YES win.. (Olga was on the phone to my brother Hilmar.... again congrats on the wonderful wedding)... Olga showed up just as I was at the counter and off we trundled home.

So, next step get the late lunch/dinner going... and doing basic basic cleaning around the house - afterall I was getting visitors who had never entered my not so clean home.

All went well, guests arrived, food was eaten and enjoyed. Actually must say it was a very pleasant and relaxing way to spend a Sunday - I should do these late lunches / early dinners more often, good food, good wine, good conversation - it's the greatest pleasure in life.

In other news Henry was kicking today and Olga asked if I wanted to have a look - I did, saw some movement, then she asked if I wanted a feel..... I did, still not comfortable with this, I feel it is such an infringement on her personal space - also re-affirmed the fact that I find this all a tad strange, there is a definite reason why I never became a mother... Does this make me un-natural as a female being? I definitely have nothing against "little" people, nor do I have anything against maternity or pregnancy.... hmmm... thoughts to ponder on.

Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time. ~Jean Paul Richter

2011-03-19T20:14:00.000Z

We celebrated my aunt Guja's 90th birthday today. I wasn't as good with the camera as I ought to have been - so you just get a couple of shots of the brothers and sisters...

Here are the brothers and sisters, the eldest brother Egill passed on before I came to live in Iceland, Guja, for those not en famille is the one on the far right... yep she's 90, mum next to her is 83 the sister next to her Maja, is 78 and Disa on the far left is 76 this year. Amazing... is all I can say. The boys in the front row - Andres on the left is the youngest by far - from my granddads second marriage so he comes in at 56 Stebbi next to him is 77, Mundi 85 and Þóri 88....

Today was all about meeting people closely related - but never ever met before... or well not since childhood, this is mum with Gujas eldest daughter Ásdís you can really see Henry here.

A nice photo of my uncles Þóri and Stebbi...

Today was also the day that my wonderful nephew Dorian Magnus married his wonderful Jacqueline... Maja put some photos on facebook - for which we are very grateful! Looks like it was a really beautiful wedding and we really missed out on a good time.... but we were there in spirit and are so looking forward to seeing them in June when they come to spend a week here on the rock.

I am so full... so many cakes, far too much coffee and we had fish curry and sweet and sour fish - ie battered fish with sweet chili sauce... not bad and so I ofcourse ate far too much...

Which as mum says with all the red wine drinking I am probably ruining all my opportunities to be as good looking as she and her sisters when I reach their age.... oh well, we can't all be gordjöss.

My life has a superb cast but I can't figure out the plot. ~Ashleigh Brilliant

2011-03-18T22:05:00.001Z

I was trying to work out what to write about today... then I went to quote garden and found the quote for the day.

This is so true... my life has a superb cast and I really can not figure out the plot. I am sure that there is one there somewhere, maybe one that other folks can see - but me looking from the inside out have no idea.

So, while you have been having to read my daily dribble from my past life, things have been happening here on the rock. My niece and her hubby have put in an offer on a house and will be my neighbours - which is so nice.

Japan has suffered and continues to suffer and one can only pray that they can circumvent further catastrophe in the nuclear power plant... Makes me yet again realise how lucky I am to live in a country with hydro and geothermal power... These too have negative sides, but nothing like nuclear, coal or oil generated power stations. I often wonder whether our "green/environmentalists" that are demonstrating against the building of dams are actually thinking about what the other options are. I do not believe in building power stations and daming every river in the country just so that Alcoa can build another aluminium smelter - that will never ever be anything that I will condone. However, I do realise that we are a power hungry human race and none of us are willing to be without electricity - we are just so used to it. We are so used to having computers, mobile phones, televisions and light bulbs, all our documents and photos are becoming digital... if suddenly there is no power then we have no way of retrieving those things that we have hoarded within the power hungry technology.

This reminds me so much of the original movie based on the book about the time machine by hg wells. Scary stuff. In particular one scene that struck me the most which was based in the future where "our hero" was in what seemed to be a library and the books turned to dust when he touched them. Which means that they weren't being renewed.. they were relics of the past. With kindle and electronic books - there might be the chance that we don´t have real proper paper books anymore.... in the future of HG Wells, the paper books might be as dust - but without power the kindle books would not exist.... I don't like that thought at all.

This has been a bit of a ramble... but hey... my life is superb and has a superb cast and if any of you have figured out the plot - can you let me know - 'twould be nice to know what I am all about.....

Have a great weekend!

Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to. ~John Ed Pearce

2011-03-17T21:23:00.001Z

After I bought the house in Iceland, I knew that that was where I was heading, when was uncertain but it was definitely on the cards.

During visits to Iceland I had met the head of Hólaskóli - a semi university, not yet with uni status but was heading that way. Once I knew I would be going back and the cousins back in the fjord knew as well the networking began. On one of the later visits I met up with Skúli again and told him of my plans, by mid march I was having a telephone interview for a job. He also phoned Bernd, my friend and ex boss.... So, by the time I got on the plane to leave Hamburg I knew I had a job at Hólar. The job description was quite vague - but that did not worry me too much - it was just good to know that I had a job to go to. So I arrived in Sauðárkrókur on the 21st of June - I went North by bus and thought perhaps mum would have come or sent someone to meet me in Varmahlíð - nope no one there. Not to worry took the shuttle bus to Sauðárkrók and got to mums - opened the door - shouted hallo.... no answer, walked in and saw a note on the stairs - the weather was really good - the note said - gone fishing with Jón..... back soon. Ummmm... ok. so no fan fare - no major hey how wonderful to see you and know that you are home.

I laughed. What else was there to do - and Yes the weather was wonderful. So I took my bag up the stairs and got myself settled in in mums house. My house is just behind hers... I could see it out the window... I went over to check things out. My cousin and nephew had pulled another wall down within the house, (under my instructions), and so the place looked like a demolition site. Still I knew that it would all be fine in the end. The plumbing had all been redone. I knew that I needed to pull out the carpets, get rid of more walls, redo the wiring, get supports in the cellar, new parketry or flooring of some sort, a lot of painting and be ready for the container with all my worldly goods.

I started work in the first week of July, so I had just over 10 days to buy a car and start the home renovations... I got the car on the saturday before work started... it took half an hour to buy the car - a grey coloured subaru impressa... good car - still going strong...

I got my cousin to come in and take down some walls and put in supports in the basement and re-do the floor in the house - putting masonite on top of the old floor boards... which would have been really rustic to have - but they had major cracks.... and so would have let in a lot of cold air... the current flooring is also quite cool on those frosty days..

Around the middle of July I got my dog.... my Freyja, my wonderful little companion. So she was there during all the renovation delights, painting walls, putting down the new flooring, her dog hairs are an intricate part of this house.... Somewhere on my flickr are lots of photos of all the renovation stages....

I think I moved in sometime in August... I really can't remember the dates... during all this time I was working full time at Hólar... the job ended up being as an accounts data entry type thing... with added bits including putting together a mission vision statement for the uni, doing the student records and ordering books and doing whatever... the drive to Holar started at 35 minutes, by the time I eventually left I was doing it in around 20.... it was a beautiful drive. Hólar is such an amazing place, but I have blogged on this before.

My sister came to Iceland to celebrate her 50th birthday in the September of my first year - and my house was done so we could have her party here.... So good!

So that was the journey that started on the 1st of March where the question was asked where were you born and where do you live now and how did you get there......

Oh dear - finally something different to blog about - not just me me me moi and myself... yay!!!!

A ship in harbor is safe - but that is not what ships are for. ~John A. Shedd, Salt from My Attic

2011-03-16T21:37:00.000Z

Needless to say that through all these reminiscings I have also left out a lot...... but that is not the point - half the point is to prove to myself that I can blog everyday - the other is to remind myself of all the good things that have happened in my life - with them came some bad things.. but generally it was all well worth it.

As I touched on in my previous post my Sydney years were my worst. I was so close to a breakdown, physically, mentally and spiritually... yet now I can look back and see the good things in the those years. Hey, I lived in Sydney for 2 years in a nice flat in a nice neighborhood, went with mum to the Great Barrier Reef, saw the rehearsals for the opening ceremony, went to the closing ceremony of the para-olympics, saw some track and field events, got to host some excellent people from Iceland (all athletics freaks) drank some excellent Hunter Valley Wine, ah the Aunts Shiraz... brilliant. Imagined myself in love... realised that I was bluffing both myself and the other party... Had a car that I did not have to pay for in any respect... had a well earning job, met some great people and really really really learnt a lot about human nature and all my limitations.

So... from Sydney the direction was heading North. My ex boss from Melbourne (my hero) asked me to come work for him in Hamburg Germany... What an excellent city that is! I joked with them that I was the rent a friend - I kid, well I hope I kid, I hope that he got me to Germany, not only because he knew how unhappy I was but also because I might be an ok employee up there - but I have my doubts. Nepotism exists, I know, and I should not kid myself, but I did try to be a good "controller" and given the fact that he went south after a year and I had two bosses in Germany after him I suspect that I wasn't just there for my good looks and good humour...

I loved my time in Hamburg and seriously thought about accepting the offer to stay there after my "delegation" was over (I was on loan from Australia for 3 years), during my time there I was entitled to one home visit per year (ie home to Aus) I never took them up on this - instead most of my holidays were spent in Iceland - or with Narelle who was in London, or with Bernd and Amanda somewhere in Germany... While there I was also able to play host to my nieces and nephews that were travelling around Europe or living in Iceland. Again, I had a great flat, only six minutes by train to the office, a half hour walk into central Hamburg. I also made a lot of great friends in Hamburg through work.... the Germans are reserved like Icelanders, so it takes time to let them get to know you. They are not "over the top" friendly - but when they do become your friends they remain so. Which reminds me - I really need to get in touch.

On one of my holidays in Iceland, whilst in Hamburg, I heard that the house that I lived in before coming to Australia was for sale.... well, what else was there to do but buy it - and at a bargain price... most of the relatives here thought I was crazy. The house was really badly run down and required a lot of work. But hey, why not..... I sold my house in Australia, finally putting that part of my life to rest, and waited for the future to happen... Next step, closing the circle begun in 1968 and moving back to the house that I lived the first 5 years of my life in.

I miss Hamburg, I miss my friends in Germany - but I know that I will be back again..........

If you're in a bad situation, don't worry it'll change. If you're in a good situation, don't worry it'll change. ~John A. Simone, Sr.

2011-03-15T21:44:00.000Z

So, the Sydney years traumatic, fun, exciting, challenging... all those things plus more.

As previously mentioned I was commuting between Sydney and Melbourne for over 6 months, had my flat in Melbourne with all my stuff and a furnished flat in Sydney. The move meant a pay rise, career rise and extra extra work and stress and pressure. At first it was great and actually it was great for the most part, the problem was one of not being able to be as honest with everyone as I wanted to be. I never want to ever be in that situation again.

But... we shall not talk work - we shall talk about Sydney. It is an amazingly beautiful place, the waterways in and around all of Sydney and its outlying suburbs make it a tourists dream - so many good photo opportunities. The shopping is excellent, the restaurants are excellent, the beaches are almost as good as those in Perth (ok, they might be better - but I have to vote for the home side). It doesn't take a long time to get out of the city feel and into another place... going north to the wine acres takes only a couple of hours - it takes three from Perth to get to Margaret river.... the Hunter Valley - home of Rosemount and oh so many other better wine makers... is a beautiful place - one I went to visit often - often on my own. I did a lot of travel on my own in Sydney - but it was fine - there was so much to see and do. The Blue Mountains - west of Sydney - again only 2 hours drive - is an amazing place, such wilderness and yet not... great restaurants - great views - great wildlife - remember Skippy on TV.... all in the Blue Mountains. South of Sydney is Wollongong and more great beaches.

After the first six months I got a flat of my own, got my stuff moved up from Melbourne and settled into the suburb of Five Dock, half way between Sydney city and my work in Villawood... (have to note here that Villawood is where the main immigration centre was in Australia - most new migrants came here first, went to school and learnt english and had a half way house before entering Australian society - thankfully we didn't come here - we had people to meet us in Perth and get us "into" the society, this "immigration camp" was next to the factory where I was working. When I was in Sydney it was being turned into an internment camp for illegal immigrants. Anywho, Five Dock was up river from the main harbour in Sydney - and was at one stage in the history of the city a fairly important dock area. The next suburb inland was an area of heavy industry - this waste land would become the home of the Olympics. Five Dock was mainly settled by folk of italian origin... hence lots of really great shops and restaurants of the Italian variety - the next suburb towards the city was settled by Greeks, so - lots of great Greek restaurants and shops. Sydney seemed to me to be very much like this - little pockets of groups of people of different ethnic backgrounds. Around Villawood (further inland towards the west) were the "newer" migrants - vietnamese, thai, palistinian communities... all in little pockets.. Quite strange, my experience of Perth was that there were not these concentrations of ethnic communities - they were probably there but did not seem as pronounced.

Like I say - Sydney - great place to visit, but in my experience - not a place I really wanted to live in. I met a lot of people, thought that I had become friends with lots of nice people, found that this friendship, like the beauty of Sydney - is only skin deep and can not take a bump or a bruise. Scratch the surface, and it is a dirty and sad and sorry place - but again. Like everything in this blog - it is only my opinion. I was lucky enough to be in Sydney during the Olympics in 2000, an amazing experience and I did make some good friends - the ones I stay in touch with are from Germany......

So, obviously not being happy with Sydney I started letting folk know that I wasn't happy and basically to tell the absolute truth - I was having a melt down and really really really needed to get out of their to save my sanity.... Who came to the rescue - none other than my wonderful friends in Germany.... my old boss from Melbourne threw me a life raft and asked me if I would like to come to Germany... my then bosses in Melbourne - bless them- gave their seal of approval and let me go....

The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play. ~Arnold Toynbee

2011-03-14T21:49:00.001Z

Ahhhh Melbourne, oh how I miss you. Well, at least miss the Melbourne that I was in from 1995 to 1998...

Melbourne, unlike most cities in Australia seemed to have more of a history, I don't know why this is - maybe because of the architecture, the town planning or the fact that they still had trams as a basic and very important part of the transportation system.

The company that I was working for had it's head office in a suburb on the outskirts of the city centre, so my first accommodation whilst finding permanent housing was in a neighboring suburb... all of ten minutes walk from work. This made it natural that I would also look for permanent accommodation in the area. I found a nice little flat on Caroline st, just up from the Yarra river, which meant that my ten minute walk to work was along the banks of the river, across a bridge and all of two blocks before reaching the office. Magic!

A short walk from my flat were the Botanical gardens - one of the most beautiful pieces of green to be found in any city anywhere in the world. The city centre was a half hour walk along the banks of the Yarra. This was heaven. I love not having a car - I love being in walking distance to all those things that you need to live - shops, restaurants, pubs, green fields, water and wild life. Amazing. I recommend to anyone who has not been there - go to Melbourne - get a self contained apartment in Sth Yarra and just enjoy....

Work was also very good, I had the best of bosses.... I worked hard and I think well - and mostly long hours - but most days were so much fun - I loved the challenge - I loved the quickness of his mind, the fact that times were tough and not all things were going our way made it that much more important to put in more of an effort. I learnt so much doing this job. As I said before this boss and his wife are my closest friends today, I am their sons Godmother, one of many - but hey - still a major honour... and I love him dearly too! Life in Melbourne as I say was good, very good. I had lots of visits from friends and relations - including mum and my niece Anna, I started having dinner parties then too - and boy did I enjoy them - I already knew that I enjoyed having people around me and feeding them... this was my chance to take it to another level. Narelle and I became even firmer friends as well, without her, the boss and his wife these years in Melbourne would not have been half as good.... Again, I am so thankful.

Ofcourse the boss being the bright spark that he was would not stay in Australia forever, bigger and brighter things were awaiting him in Germany. He and Amanda got married (best wedding EVER... well, until Ross and Olga's) and left.... so what was there for me to do... the company was moving offices to the outskirts of Melbourne - I would need to buy a car.... So, I went for a job interview with Siemens in ..... Canada..... what a week that was - I flew off and had an interview - checked out the situation and the fact that I would no longer have 4 weeks holiday per year.... came back and voila - got offered another job with Siemens - but this time in Sydney..... I spent six months commuting between Sydney and Melbourne, had my flat in Sth Yarra and another one near central Sydney - the bonus was that when I was in Melbourne the company got me a hire car.... so I could get to work. My new bosses in Melbourne were also excellent, they gave me the opportunity to try out being a boss...... more on that in the next post.

Ah Melbourne - I do miss you - but it will never be the same.......

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal. ~From a headstone in Ireland

2011-03-13T22:07:00.000Z

The next years are a bit fuzzy, timelines and details have all become blurred, I continued to work for the electrical contractors - during the times that they had lots of work there were lots of people working there, in lean times it went down to six of us in the office plus a core group of around 10 electricians. When the big projects were happening there were over 12 in the office and 100 on the payroll, as electricians or TA's . This company was well known in the contracting game especially in mining, it had contacts. They expanded and grew and moved locations to Fremantle, went into commercial jobs in the city and seemed to be going in the right direction. It was however, a family business... then along came Siemens... they decided that this company would be their chance to get into the electrical field in WA. In many respects they were right - but join a small family "cowboy" company to a large multinational with a "german" mentality then things were really bound to go wrong. I ofcourse, was super happy with this development.

I had started an MBA, thinking that I really could not see myself staying in the highs and lows of the family business - sometimes things were very precarious, often we weren't sure if there would be enough for the payroll - this wasn't my problem to deal with - but you were always aware of the situation.

So with Siemens came the inevitable clash of wills and ways of doing things. I also met one of my closest friends Narelle, she came over to teach me how to do the payroll in the Siemens system... little did we know where we would end up in 15 years time. At the same time it did not help that things weren't going the right way in the head office in Melbourne, so as a result of problems within the big company and the clashes with the small... the company in WA was no more. I, however, survived.... maybe I was a sellout... maybe I was just pragmatic and realised the way things were heading and knew who was paying my salary. Anyway, I ended up in a small space in the Siemens office in another suburb, cleaning up the rest of the projects and generally spending time on my studies.

Then, came the moment when I realised that I am not an island and was not really happy with being in a corner basically doing nothing for my pay other than doing my assignments for Uni. So, I put a bit of pressure on the powers that be in Melbourne, they took me over for a month and were not really sure what to do with me. The new head of the department whom I had met a couple of times in Perth lent me to a guy that was there from Germany to assist with a job in "controlling" - this was a job that was all about having an overview of all the projects and sub sections within the department - semi business analysis. This was my big break.... I was sent back to Perth, but within a few short months I was offered a transfer to Melbourne to work as the controller... Yippee!!!!

The new boss was to become one of the most important people in my life - he and his wife are my best friends - they have had such a huge impact on my life - and as usual I have probably not shown enough gratitude or returned the favours.... Again, on reflection I can only say that I have been truly blessed in my life with the things that have happened - at the time both good and bad - that have all resulted in me getting to know the nicest of people that would remain true friends forever.

So... for the first time in my life removalists came in and packed up all my worldly goods to send them off to Melbourne... I left heaps of things in the house and found someone to rent it - not a good idea to handle your own rental arrangements - yep despite the fact that they got a fridge and furniture and a great house with a pool for a great price - they still didn't pay the rent and went under the cover of darkness - with the fridge and the furniture - but hey... Karma has probably taken care of them.

So as I was heading off to Melbourne - my bestest friend Tracy was coming back to Perth - such is life.... My sister and family had moved out of the street and up to Roleystone - in the hills where they were back in the natural environment that they loved... This was the right thing to do and at the right time.

During those "fuzzy" years my nephew came over from Iceland and stayed with me and saw a lot of Australia - we became friends, mum also came and was there for a year. Cousins came from Iceland and I celebrated my 30th birthday... Friends got married, some had kids, others separated, some had "marriage difficulties" and I remained single.

So next... the Melbourne years.

Dad, your guiding hand on my shoulder will remain with me forever. ~Author Unknown

2011-03-12T23:20:00.001Z

I have to make up for my not posting yesterday.

The year that mum and dad spent in Aus is one that I think we all as siblings will remember. Unnur took most of the brunt of having to face the illness that dad had, she went with him to the doctors and was probably more aware than any of us of how badly he was. I was in total denial.. Until the time that I had to take him to the hospital with a blood nose that would not go away... He ended up at Royal Perth for a few days... I think that this was when I realised that he would not live forever - funny how when you are young you are sure that your parents will always be there for you.

Dad got a little better and after the year they went back home to Iceland - I went with them. That Christmas in Iceland was one of those that is both the best of times and the worst of times. Dad was really really sick. Our Christmas Eve meal was spent at his bedside. Mum and I went to different church services, we did not want to leave him home alone. I really can't remember how long this trip to Iceland was, nor what I did or where I went... I just remember facing the fact that this might be the last time that I would see my dad.

I went back to Aus and life continued as before - news from Iceland was that dad was getting better, friends from Aus visited and noted how good he looked, plans were made for another visit to Australia, tickets were booked.... mum and dad then went on a trip with my brother on the ship he was captaining around Iceland... all photos show a very fit and lively dad... then.. just as they were finishing the trip he suddenly became very ill. Within a month, he was no more. This was the hardest time of my life, but I wasn't alone in my grief... my sister, brothers and mother were all losing a most remarkable man. How do you cope? I had the advantage in that I had said my goodbyes in Iceland - but I had also been looking forward to seeing him and mum in just a few weeks time. What do you do when you live on the other side of the world... what should you do?

I am so thankful for the fact that my brothers were all there with mum. Maybe Unnur and I should have been there too.. Who knows, would it have made any difference - maybe, maybe not - we can all look in hindsight and think that had things been different then things would be different today - but like I always say - you can't undo what is done and there is no need to have regrets. What is done is done. An amazing and wonderful man died too young, but I am forever grateful for the fact that he was my dad and made me the person that I am today...

Enough

Executive ability is deciding quickly and getting somebody else to do the work. ~John G. Pollard

2011-03-12T18:25:00.001Z

Seems quite facile to be writing these blogs when things are happening with Mother Nature... but I set out to do this and finish it I will.

We left Iceland between Christmas and New Year. I was to start school in February... My cousins Herdís and Gýgja came with me on this adventure.... and it was fun!

This time my brother Jon and his wife Lóa filled in the breech and let us stay with them, and loaned us a car so we could get out and about in Perth - I loved that renault! To them I owe more eternal thanks.

We went to Sydney - by bus - to visit with my brother Hilmar and his wife Sandra... they too were super amazing hosts... had a ball.

They (the cousins) left shortly before I started school, I had found a place to live - in Maylands with friends that I worked with at DVA. This was the house from hell, it should have been condemned but we paid extreme rent to share a house with rats in the roof, dead cats under floorboards and a high rise block of flats in the back garden. Tragic.

The school was a fair distance from where we lived - so I got to know the Perth public transport system quite well.... I also worked at the Tenants advice service and for the Alumni at UWA. As a result I stopped receiving benefits from the government and had to pay back the money that I had received.... how you were meant to live off this I will never know... Still the school bit was fine and life was generally good - apart from the house, so I did a very bad thing, when the tenants left my sister's house I moved in.... there were still a few months before Unnur and Thor's return - but was I thinking of their loss of rent - nah..... I just needed to get out and be on my own for a bit. I slept on a mattress on the floor - had no fridge and had to travel for 2 hours to get to uni..... did that matter - nah... as you can tell I was totally self obsessed.

I managed to finish this course with a fairly good result - but finding work was a lot harder - I had my two part time jobs and applied and applied and applied for anything and everything, I had a degree as a super executive assistant... something I wasn´t sure that I wanted to be - all I wanted was a job and to stop being a leech on the family.

After Unnur and Thor came home I stayed on at their place - not asking - just expecting that they would put up with me. On their return from Iceland they had 3 kids... Anna being born in Iceland in the August - with them came cousin Guðný's daughter Magga - so there we were 6 of us living in my childhood home in Maddington, Thor must be one of the most patient men in the world.... it could not have been easy having me and Magga there.

I ended up getting a job, buying a car and moving out - I think all with a couple of months. Mum and Dad helped with the deposit on the house, and where was the house??? four doors down from my sisters..... I bought a house in the street that I was brought up in. A great house - only two bedrooms - enough for a single girl, a huge garden and a swimming pool.... I loved that house and I loved being so close to my sister.

A year later mum and dad came and stayed with me in the house for a year - the best - time to be with dad, who by now was quite ill and we were not sure how long he would be with us. My brother Hilmar moved from the East coast and bought a house in the next suburb. We had some wonderful times that year - I loved having all the family over for dinner on a Sunday. So nice. Such good times.

There's nothing like biting off more than you can chew, and then chewing anyway. ~Mark Burnett

2011-03-10T20:12:00.002Z

So, having decided to quit my "career" in Public Service, I let the relatives know about my impending arrival in Iceland. My cousin Kristín, who had taken me in the last time I was there "fixed" things and had arranged a job for me at the bank where she worked - they needed someone in the international exchange department. On arrival I show up for work - still unsure of the language and gjaldkeri and gjaldeyri sound pretty much the same to me - one means cashier the other means foreign exchange - a bit of a difference.

I start work and then later go and meet the head of HR for the bank - she was NOT impressed with the way in which my recruitment took place (ie she had no say in it). I had a great time at the bank! Such nice people - a great workplace and everyday was different - there were always different people coming to us - foreigners exchanging real money for Icelandic kroners, Icelanders on their way overseas getting their allocated amount (at the time there were heavy restrictions on how much foreign currency people could get). Companies getting bank coverage for the stuff that they were importing etc etc. Was brilliant.

I first stayed with my cousins and shared a room with one of them in the southern municipality of Seltjarnanes... on the coast with a view of the Snæfells glacier - way way in the North. I lived with them for just over six months and then they all got jobs in the north - back home in Skagafjordur... During this time I was in a choir - me the tone deaf one - yeh, they were really really patient with me. I ended up making a lot of changes that Christmas... I applied for a part time position at the British Embassy - and got it - managed to get the bank to give me a full time job that started at 1pm and found a really really small flat in the heart of Rvk... one bedroom/lounge, kitchen and very small toilet - the shower was in the basement where all the other residents had their washing machines. - you had to walk outside and go around the back to get into the shower area. Not ideal - but hey it was my place.

Mum and dad moved to Iceland in 1987 - dad packed up all my stuff from Aus and brought it with their stuff.... such cost... but it was nice to be in my place and have my stuff from Aus.

The job at the British Embassy was as the assistant to the Consul, so I got to write in the registry of births deaths and marriages with an ink pen and ink well.... none of this new fangled stuff - no not for the brits... I met one of my bff's here - Evelyn - brilliant girl from Aberdeen, who was the Ambassadors secretary.... As part of my job I also learnt to use the telex machine..... dot dot dash dash - such fun..

I stayed in my little flat for little over 7 months, then one summer night someone decided to bash in the window... not nice... so the embassy team got together and helped me get a flat in the same building that Evelyn lived in - as I had very little furniture the Ambassador gave me free reign in his basement to take whatever I could use... Sooooo good.

My job at the bank was in the behind the scenes data entry and "reading" cheques... it was fine.. worked from 1 to around 7 most nights - sometimes longer at the end of the month.... was really good, there was a shop across the road that I would often visit on these late shifts to get a coke or a hot dog - so got to know the owner quite well...

So as these things progress I ended up having an extra job at the shop too... worked the late shift and closed up at 11:30 at night... At this time I used to go swimming on the way home as well - after the bank shift I would walk home past the indoor pool so eventually it just made sense to stop in there and swim a kilometre before going home... those were the days when I had so much energy - I can not imagine being able to do this today.

Every weekend was action packed - going out with other expats that were working at the hospital - nurses, radiographers and other medical professionals that came to Iceland as there was plenty of work and the money was good. So much fun - so many good times.

My job at the Embassy ended up being full time. I took over the receptionist duties, the place was closed after lunch so really no need for a receptionist - they just needed someone to answer the phone... so I did the assistant job in the afternoon and was the receptionist in the morning... made just so much sense.

Then, it was time to think about the future - the job at the embassy made me realise that my typing skills were non existent and that it would be a good idea to add some skills to the arts degree and other life skills that I had - I knew of a glorified secretarial degree in Aus where you got a Graduate Diploma in Business - so you had to have a degree - but really it was just a school for secretaries.... learn to type, do shorthand and other stuff... made sense... I applied and got accepted... Two of my cousins were keen on going back with me to Aus, so tickets were booked... I wasn't convinced - so in a last ditch effort I came to S'krók looking for a job - I really wanted to move back home and be close to ma and pa.... I applied at the bank and was rejected... Dad said he would rather that I went back to Aus and studied more.... my sister was living in S'krók then - but she also said that she and the family would be coming back to Aus .... so reluctantly and yet happily I went back home to Perth to go back to school and try and get some skills that would make me employable...........

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers. ~José Narosky

2011-03-09T17:57:00.001Z

During my third year at uni I went and sat the commonwealth public service exam. This exam was used as the recruitment process for future public servants. I must have done ok as I was offered a job before the end of the year - The Department of Veterans' Affairs was growing as a result of the fact that old soldiers don´t always die... they just get old and become eligible for pensions - old age pensions and disability pensions. The department was also bringing in a new benefits computer system and wanted young bright things to help implement it..... So on December 23rd I had my first day at work... we had a 2 week induction - where 14 of us taken into a classroom and taught all there was to know for base level service pension officers.

I was with the Department for 3 and a half years - I met an amazing bunch of people - and made friends that would remain with me till today. I also fell in love, so traumatic.

I started as a base level clerk class 1 quickly got up to a 2/3 and I think that I had become a 4 just before I left.... I had applied for a level 6 job - and didn´t get it - got a tad pissed off.... even though I was told that I should not expect to get such a big promotion in less than three years of working in the PS. Whilst there I was secretary of the social club - boy did I enjoy that! That's when I realised how much I enjoy having fun and helping other people have fun.... as Perth is so remote from the rest of Australia our branch hardly ever took part in the interstate sports carnival.... During my time as secretary we set up a netball team (which was actually an offspring of our mixed team called DV8) we sold nuts and raisins, had quiz nights, bake sales and all sorts of other fund raising activities in order to help us make it to the carnival - which was being held in Adelaide in SA (the state next to ours - please note: for non Australians Adelaide is around 2.000kms away from Perth). What a blast that was!!!!

Other fun things included the job itself - our clientelle ranged from veterans of the first world war (it was 1983) WWII, the korea/malaya conflicts and the vietnam war. As well as having one position which was a liaison officer for the British War Pensions Office - a job that I often got to sub in, whenever the British Pensions officer went on break I took on his job - lots of fun... the Brits really know all there is to know about public service and paper work.... The vietnam vets were a special bunch of people - finally a database was being set up especially for them due to the disability claims that were being lodged - the effects of agent orange were being recognised, IBS - irritable bowel syndrome was a recognised disability related to war stress and so many other conditions that I never knew existed.

The disability payments went from 10% to TPI - totally and permanently incapacitated - these TPI people could be either physically or mentally damaged - all disability pensions were tax free - as were war widow pensions (you became a war widow if on your husbands death he was a TPI) children of TPI and war widows could get special grants and pensions from the department to pay for their education - also tax free. The delegates that handled the claims were non medical - but got advice from doctors - both departmental and external about whether what was being claimed could be attributable to the war service of that particular individual... they had to prove without a reasonable doubt that the injury/condition was not attributable... hence the onus was on the department to prove that the condition could not be attributed to war service - you can imagine that this is a difficult thing to do. I really really liked this system... ofcourse there may have been people milking the system - but as far as I am concerned - if you have to take up arms (the draft was in place for most wars that Australia participated in), you deserve to be paid well - especially if you have something that you think is because of your service.

Sometimes the clients were a tad upset (especially when the assets test came in for the old age pensioners), but most of the time they were really really nice and did appreciate the fact that they were with the DVA and not with the Department of Social Security. Our service was much more personalised and as we kept the same initials in our client base - I think mine was N-T or something like that. So, you started to get to know a few of them quite well. The waiting room was also like a bit of a reunion centre for the diggers.... they would come into the office to fix something or report something about their current situation - meet other mates and then head off down to the pub...

Good times.... I left DVA in July 1986.... I had had enough - (didn't get the promotion I wanted, the lover thing wasn't going in the way I wanted it to and basically I needed a change)... where did I go and what did I do....Go back to Iceland ofcourse - to the loving arms of my cousins and a job in the Agricultural bank of Iceland - Austurbæjarútibú to be exact.......

A liberal-arts education is supposed to provide you with a value system, a standard, a set of ideas, not a job. ~Caroline Bird

2011-03-08T18:45:00.000Z

After returning from Iceland the road led towards university. We arrived in October so I had to find work and make some money until school started in the following february. The mighty Coles took me back and so I worked in the toy department - twas mighty fine fun. If I remember rightly my nieces and nephews got mega presents that Christmas...

So off to University I went - and did an arts degree... Why arts - why politics, sociology and anthropology - well, because I knew that I would get an early offer straight out of high school and that it would be easy to defer the acceptance for a year - I have always been very pragmatic in my choices... never taken too many great risks...

My uni days were both good and bad, lots of fun, quite a bit of work, and as I did not have my drivers license during the first two years - a lot of travelling by bus and walking in sweltering heat.... Yep it was really good for me. I loved studying politics, it made me realise what a bunch of assholes actually decide to make a career out of it. Ideology goes out the window as soon as some power comes to play - no one - no matter how ideological they are, or how great a thinker, idealist, humanist a person is - power does always ultimately corrupt in one way or another... History was fine - but again, I learnt that history is just an interpretation of what happened in the past - we all know that when we write letters or try and document things that we all self edit. History is and always has been edited and usually by men. When women have attempted to make their mark on historical contributions then they are usually labelled as feminists and unfortunately their views discounted by this label. Men are never labelled in the same way - but boy should they be - we are all human - we all have preconceived ideas and hence try and mold our view of the past into something that fits our current values. Anthropology was interesting, always good to know about Homo Habilis and australophithicus africanus and homo sapien as opposed to homo sapien sapien... still there were a lot of gaps, then Australian anthropology, again I learnt a lot about the indigenous people of Australia, however, again interpretations by the various scholars in the field were a reflection of their political mores and values... Sociolinguistics was by far the most interesting of all - the study of language and of whether language is a reflection of the environment or helps shape the ideas of the environment - I think that this subject is probably very closely related to philosophy, what came first the hen or the egg, why do eskimos have so many names for snow, how do children learn language, how do we as adults learn a language, what is language???? So complex, so much fun - twas a pity that I only ever took one unit - it was only available during my final year.... Had I a chance to do it all again I would have majored in linguistics... a fascinating subject. Oh, that reminds me - my major - Sociology.... so diverse, so much to take in - so confusing.... I joined a marxist reading group... oh yeh, I think das Capital has been as well researched and written about as the bible....... at the time it was the definitive theory on capitalism (from the lefts point of view anyway) the other theories were by economists hence were taught in economics... not in sociology.... (that might be a very liberal take on matters.... sorry - but that is how it seemed at the time). I think though that the BA taught me to think if nothing else, it taught me never to take things at face value and never believe an expert just because he is labelled as one. Life is just far to varied and has so many variables.

So after three years of deliberating whether this degree would ever be worth anything or whether I should just quit and join the job market I finished and graduated.... To my graduation I wore the shoes that my brother had bought for my mother on his first ship journey to Holland, they were the best and still are - stilletoes with a slim pointy toe, black suede and leather.... The shoes were 20 years old... great that they got to go on the big stage at the concert hall... they still exist and are awaiting the great granddaughters graduation.. am sure one of them will love to wear them!

Ofcourse during uni I collected more friends - that remain my friends today - well one in particular and with her her best friend - to Iris and Alison - thanks for making uni such a great time and thanks for still being here for me.... To mum and dad thanks for putting up with me during this time, the loans of money, car and other stuff.... too good!

Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. ~Seneca

2011-03-07T22:36:00.000Z

So there we were at the airport Tracy and I and some of our closest friends of the time, today we are still sort of in touch with Ellen on the left and Cilla on the far right... I really need to do a google search for Louise with the stunning yellow pants ensemble... She was on her way to be a model way back then - and was a fairly successful one for a while..

Anywho, to carry on the long and sorry/boring tale that is my life.. nah not really everyones life is interesting - at least to them. So we flew off to London, where we went to the Y hotel and looked for the Icelandic agents that took people to work at fish factories.... Yep, that lasted about the 10 minutes of the interview, the jobs that we could get were in the far reaches of north east Iceland - so far away from anyone I knew.... we then went to Swindon to the arms of friends of the family of Tracy, they were great - we saw Bath, Stonehenge, Somerset, Cheddar, a great heritage village in Wales and the Cotswalds... Absolutely amazing - England really does have green and pleasant lands...

After deciding that we were not cut out for the life of "normal" itinerant Australians and New Zealanders we decided to try our luck just going to Iceland and see what would happen... Here I need to take time out to thank my big brother and his wife for taking us in and for being so patient... It could not have been easy to take on two semi grown up teenage girls into the house ... what with the big B being on a ship most of the time and Sigga already having to deal with two young sons. THANK YOU!!!

But first... the immigration thing. You see, we were only 17, actually not legally responsible according to Icelandic law... also, Tracy was Australian - had no rights to any sort of work permit - but we had sort of wrangled that - I had written to the head police guy who was then in charge of foreigners - aliens - and he sent me a letter to show to immigration on arrival - giving us special "dispensation", so that Tracy could enter the country and apply for work. She had to go and get an xray to prove that she didn´t have tb and also to show up at the Office for foreigners to get a stamp in her passport. We arrived at KEF and the guy in immigration asked as to step aside as he read the letter that I had... he said "this is all very much out of the ordinary.... tell me your story..." so I did, and he smiled and said - "hope it all goes well and really aren't you guys too young to be doing this?"

(this is another reason why I loved this country so much - the red tape was not as red as it is now)

So, big brother and sister in law took us in and were far too good to us... We ended up working in a fish factory in Reykjavik - again thanks to the family network... Dad's cousin was the manager of a factory near the centre of Reykjavik - it now houses one of our banks.. yep ... it did have a really good location. It only took a week for us to get the job and we lived in relative bliss, we spent the summer travelling around Iceland by bus, we even went to the westman Islands - where we had another adventure... our tent was destroyed by locals that were still getting over the festivities from the week before. We again got special dispensation from the police and the local YHA (we were only 17) to stay there while our tent was being repaired... again, an eye opening experience for us. We had the opportunity to stay with my Afi in S´Krók - he still lived in the house that mum lives in now... my amma was up in the olds home at the hospital.. had wonderful moments with her and Sína an old friend of the family that was sort of like an amma for my mum, so she was super nice to me as a result.

My cousins that I had met when I was 13 came to the rescue when Tracy and I needed a place to stay in Rvk. Again, we had the most amazing time and learnt to live in a "communal" type set up.. how to set up a kitty - how to share the chores around the share house - all of that we learnt in Iceland.. They were the best of times, sometimes they were also the worst of times, we missed home a lot - our parents, our friends, but we also realised how important it was to have each other to depend on - and just how nice people can be when they want to be. We learnt how to be hosts and how to accept help when you need it - and also - how lucky we were in our experiences. We came home sometime around my 18th birthday in October.... we were happy to be home - but we were also wondering when we would ever have that same freedom again....

At the airport in Perth on arrival....

Adolescence is a period of rapid changes. Between the ages of 12 and 17, for example, a parent ages as much as 20 years. ~Author Unknown

2011-03-06T21:06:00.002Z

Ah, the teenage years. High School, that time of fun, learning, hormones and uncertainty.

I remember well my first day at High School, Tracy and I with our new uniforms and school bag, photos were taken both at my place and at hers. We were starting on the road towards adulthood - well, we thought so, taking the bus with the other big kids, finding our way around the school, finding each other at lunch time... Our year was the biggest at Thornlie 420 of us - in first year, as a result there had to be two lunch breaks, which meant due to the way that the form classes were set down, Tracy and I did not actually have lunch at the same time. This meant that we quickly had to find ourselves some new "best" friends...

That's not to say that we did not stay BFF - 'cos we were and we would be.... it just meant we had to find other folk to eat lunch with - for the first year at least. Because the school had a fairly large catchment area we met lots of knew people with a variety of backgrounds... All good in my opinion.

The teen years are always full of anxt, getting to know new people - finding a place in a bigger social group, meeting people that I had not seen since grade 2 - amazingly enough Jacky remembered me - it was probably the name and ofcourse my face really hasn't changed all that much.

During the first year of high school I got to go on the first of my long holidays to Iceland. Mum and I went in August and came back in November - I still managed to get ok marks for that first year of school - I think in those days schools and teachers were far more flexible in their approach to time off - especially if it was to see the world - or at least a small part of it. My holiday in Iceland is subject enough for a post of its own so I won't go into it here, nevertheless, it changed me a lot, not only physically - I put on heaps of weight, but also mentally in knowing how much my dad meant to me (he did not come with us and I missed him sooo much), and also in getting to know my eldest brother again. The getting to know one another was limited - but my view of him and our relationship as siblings changed. I also got the chance to get to know cousins that would become my greatest friends, without that trip I doubt that I would have ended up here today. It was the first seed of what would become a need to keep coming back and re-building on those friendships and the love that I have for this country.

The next years of high school were fraught with all the anxieties that a young teenage girl has, the first kiss, the first dance - with a boy - the almost boyfriend and then the friendships that were and are such an important part of my life. All the problems of the girlfriends with their boyfriends - acting as the go-between, trying to help them sort themselves out, the long long phone calls after school every day - as if we hadn't talked long enough during the day! I would hate to think what it is like today with sms and mobile phones, facebook and all the rest. The learning was fine and most of the time fun, apart from English in years 11 and 12, but hey, you couldn't always have the best teachers. I did a fairly heavy maths, chem, physics combo with English and Geography as the fun stuff. Needless to say the test results showed that the fun stuff was the stuff that mattered the most...

During our growing up years Tracy and I made a pact that we would go to Iceland together when we finished High School. Tracy quit after year 10 and went to work in child care. I continued on and finished - and knew that once the finals were done that Tracy and I would get on that plane and go to Iceland. Thinking back on it now I realise how much our parents trusted both us and the world. In February 1980 Tracy and I flew to London......We were 17.....

It takes hands to build a house, but only hearts can build a home. ~Author Unknown

2011-03-05T22:38:00.001Z

Our home in Australia was to be on Banach Street in Maddington, a four bedroom brick home built by Jennings, (or at least I think that is the name of the company), it was one of a standard of 10 variations that were being done at the time, in every street in every new suburb in the late 60's you would find a copy of this house. It had jarrah wood flooring, a fire place a pink bathroom.

My parents did their best to make this the best of homes, a place where we all felt safe and secure and happy.

Our first years were probably extremely difficult - but in my naivety I was blissfully unaware. Unnur secured the smallest room - that way ensuring that she did not have to share with me - my brothers each got a room of their own, so mum and dad had a single bed in the big room where I slept.

Eventually my siblings started to move out one by one. First was Himmi - he joined the army at the age of 16. Unnur and Thor moved out together, first I think to his folks home in Marmion and later to a flat in Claremont. Unnur was doing a teachers degree at Claremont. Lóa who was to become my brother Jon's wife moved in to Hilmars room so it was a few years before a I got a room of my own. Once they all left, got married etc. I had the run of the house - I think that I lived in every room in that house. Ending with the biggest room.... as one does as the youngest of the house hold.

As you can see this rendition of the past is all about me - I won't go into the love and romantics of my siblings - that's their job to do. I can only say that from my point of view I was happy with all their choices... I was ofcourse happiest in knowing that the castle that was our home - was becoming in time - all mine..

My first two years of school in Aus were at Gosnells primary school a full 5k walk from our home. My poor brother Hilmar had to drag me to school in the first year. In the second year - he had a bike and either I got a dinky or was left to make it on my own. I can not say that these were the happiest years of my life. No, I think I can safely say they were the most miserable. I did make some friends there though - one girl in particular - Jacky was quite nice to me and tried to be a friend... but I never fitted in. So, when the time came and the boundaries were changed and I was moved to Maddington I was very very happy... It was a new start - I could start afresh and find my own friends on my own terms... no longer the eskimo from Iceland with the name that no one could pronounce.

My years at Maddington were excellent... I found a friend that would be my friend for ever - Tracy Lee, she lived down the road from me and she also started as a newby in Maddington in that same year. To her and her family I owe a great deal of debt - they were my door to Australian society - to understand or at least get to know Australian culture - so different from ours. Through them I got a better understanding of what it was to be a "digger", both of Tracy's grandfathers had served in the War, one in the Pacific the other in Europe, her Gag was taken prisoner in Crete and her Gramps was on the Kokoda Trail. As an Icelander we had no real understanding of the war nor did we understand Anzac Day - through them I sort of got an understanding of why this day was so important to them, the family and Australians as a whole. I will never pretend that I truely understand it - but I got an idea and I learnt to respect it.

Tracy´s dad had a motor bike shop and he sponsored and helped some up and coming motorcross stars - that was always fun - going away on weekend trips with them in the caravan - to Southern Cross, Manjimup and other places where motorcross rallies were being held - such fun - so different. I never became a petrol head - nor did I ever want to ride a motorcycle - but wow what fun and what an experience.

At Maddington I would also meet the people that would remain my friends for life, Jeff, Dom and Guy, we weren´t the best of friends then, but through the years our friendship would cement into one of those where you know that should you see each other again - it would be just like yesterday.... At Maddington I would also encounter the one person that I would always be disdainful of... a cheat at the age of 12 and would remain so forever. Funny that he would marry the only girl that I had ever bullied - not a happy memory - am still disgusted in myself for what I did to her and yet...

Ah primary school years - when you really shouldn't have worry in the world... yet I did. It was then that I first became aware of the raciscm inherent in our society. I had a number of friends that were Aboriginals, I liked them a lot - but did we stay in touch - nah - did our friendship extend to high school - nah, the system in it's way helped to ensure that we the "white" kids started to look at them as inferior - or trouble makers or something... I still haven't gotten my head around how or what the changes were - they just were.... Not a nice thing to remember..................

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. ~St. Augustine

2011-03-04T21:12:00.001Z

To continue from where I left off....

On the 10th of February 1968, a family of six went off on a journey into the unknown. My parents had decided to try a new life in a country almost as far away as it was possible to get from the small village in the North West of Iceland.

Both my parents had health problems, my mum had been the subject of experimental ear surgery in Denmark when I was two years of age, the result was not good, instead of improving her hearing she was left with a scar that would never heal and would always be infected or having "fungus" growing inside the ear canal. Not nice and Icelands cold weather was not helping things. Dad had an allergy for something, that could not be determined, so he would either get swollen lips, tongue or feet. The doctors had advised (probably quite flippantly) that a change in climate would do them good. Mum was into that - Canada, Norway, Sweden... whatever... but dad - he thought further afield. Australia was advertising for semi skilled labour. If you came they would reimburse the fair. Mum says she didn't take dads suggestion seriously until it was too late to turn around. So, being the resourceful woman that she is - she got in touch with an Icelandic woman already living in Australia - in Perth. This first contact would be extremely important in the future of our family. The woman that she wrote to became my sister's mother in law, my nieces grandmother - whose name she shares.

So on that fateful day we left Sauðárkrók by plane - it was the milk run so we went to Akureyri first before going to Reykjavík, this meant that we were also able to say goodbye to my father´s oldest sister - who still lives in Akureyri... but that's another story... It was snowing alot that night (another of the few memories that I have). We stayed in Reykjavik with mum's youngest sister and I remember my cousin Hrönn taking me down the road to the icecream shop on the corner.. The best icecream I ever had - and this icecream shop was still there in 79 when I worked in a fish factory just around the corner.

Needless to say the family in Iceland was not impressed with what we were doing, my siblings were subjected to all sorts of pressures from the relatives - especially my fraternal grandparents. This move was particularly hard on my sister - she was at the tender age of 14. People I meet now still talk about her confirmation - she was confirmed on her own in the church - some likened it to a funeral... her final farewell.

I think I have already mentioned this before - but Australian immigration required that the family be interviewed by the British consul in Reykjavik - everyone went - but me... the consul had to say that he had seen all the kids and as I wasn´t there had to have some proof that I was ok... ie would not be a burden on Australia... the solution - he knew the local vet in the area and trusted him... so I got a vet certificate to say that there was nothing wrong with me....

So, off we went on a plane to London.... where I saw people of colour for the first time in my life - yet another memory - sitting in the window sill at the hotel counting the people below that weren't white.... Not politically correct - but exactly what a young person would do when faced with something that they had never ever seen before. I remember seeing the queens jewels at the tower of London, I don´t remember the zoo - although I have seen the photos, I remember eating at the YMCA and seeing the Sound of Music at the biggest movie theatre that I have ever ever been in.

We went by train from London to Southampton, where we boarded the Angelina Lauro for our journey to Fremantle in Western Australia... The trip was a nightmare for a 5 year old child, the smell of minestrone still stays with me - it's a soup that reminds me of dread and always always makes me feel ill. It was for dinner almost every day on the ship (for the kids), we also got spaghetti with meat balls (two meat balls if you were lucky - but usually only one), I remember mothers screaming at their children to make them eat their soup.... I also remember that mum made sure that I never had to eat mine. As I was under 12 I was not allowed to eat with the family in the main dining area... so usually I sat crying on the steps outside the window until I got smuggled in and hid under the table. The waiter at our table apparently cried No bambino, no bambino!!! whenever I was spotted.... this became his name... I made no friends on this trip - far too many clever athletic children that could do cartwheels, I could do an apple turnover... pretty pathetic. The boat also had a movie theatre and if I remember an empty swimming pool... it wasn´t nice. However, we were privileged... our family got to stay in a suite rather than in bunk accommodation in the nether regions....

We arrived in Fremantle on the 21st of March, to meet us at the dock were Olga and Kristinn and Tryggvi, Trygg took me and Himmi and bought us a drumstick, Unnur was to meet Thor later.....

We lived our first two weeks in a flat, then moved to our new house at easter.... it was a very cold autumn in Perth, the coldest in a long long time - did we have any of our woollens, eiderdowns or other winter things with us - why no - we were moving to a warmer climate... I don't think any of us have ever felt as cold ever.... I still wonder now what went through my dad's mind those first months in Australia - his job was over 30 kms from where we lived - I walked 5kms to school everyday... my mother had to go out to work. My brother got a job in a factory and had to talk for the whole family - he took on so much responsibility in those early years - including handing over his pay packet to mum every week in order to feed the family... In so many ways I am so happy that I was an ignorant 5 year old, I gave everyone else a hard time - but had the excuse of not knowing any better.... to my parents, my sister and my brothers - I am so so sorry for being the pain that I was in those first difficult months..............................

You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it's all right. ~Maya Angelou

2011-03-03T22:13:00.000Z

This blogging every day thing is going to be a bit problematic... What to write about when every day is almost exactly the same as the day before... I wake up, think about getting up... for a long time... then finally when mum calls drag myself out of bed, get dressed and head to her place for breakfast and that all important first cup of coffee.

A very short walk to work, turn the computer on - wait for it to heat up - so a little bit of work, break for coffee, lunch at mums between 12 and 1, then back to work and depending on the pressures of the day.. back home again usually before 5pm, go and shop, if nothing has been planned the previous night for dinner, cook dinner, watch the news, watch tv, go on the net and then to bed.. ready for another start to the day.. Some of this is ofcourse interspersed with washing, walking the dog, dishes etc - you know the general dull every day sort of stuff...

So given that this is what life is - I asked Olga for inspiration - after all she hinted on the challenge that I decided to accept. Apparently the idea for today on that website that is there to inspire daily webloggers is where were you born, how far away is it from where you live today and how did you get there?.

Well..... I was born on the hospital up on the hill.... It's probably about a kilometre away from my house. How I got to where I am today is a long long long journey, a fun one, and would take far to much time but maybe, bits of it will be the bits that I use to fill up this coming month of what will no doubt be the most boring blog in the world - all about me me me me me... and maybe a few of the people that I have met along the way. So perhaps this will be my March theme. My life in a nutshell... hmmm... yep gonna be dull

So.... on the 13th of October 1962, I was forcefully brought into the world, with the help of induction drugs, forceps and whatever else was available to folk back in those days, in the hospital up on the hill. Apparently I was 2 weeks over due, mum was fed up and begged to be induced. They relented and I was born - a very very large baby, with long black hair and long fingernails. I have a photocopy of the hospital records for my birth - which also show all the drugs that mum was given, but no time of birth - and so all my star charts are always wrong as I am not sure that mum in her drugged out state actually really can remember the time....

I was the tail end of a family that already consisted of three boys and a girl.. the youngest by 6 years... My eldest brother was 12 and probably thought that enough was enough already...

I have very few memories of my first five years of life and I am not sure if the memories are mine or ones I have created from all the stories that I heard growing up.. I know that I had quite a few accidents that resulted in head injuries of one sort or another - most involving lots of blood, stitches and Bjarni Har (from the shop across the road) driving me and mum up to the hospital on the hill for stitches.

I think I was a fairly happy child here in the hood, had my friends that I probably bossed around, I had a cousin that was a dog called Snoddas, elder siblings that had to look after me and family (of the human variety) all around me. I have memories of this house that I live in now, my sister and I shared a room and one distinct memory I have is of her and her best friend eating jarred baby food - banana - and I so wanted some - but did they share with me - nah.... strange the things that stick in your mind. I also remember the róló - the playground that is just behind my house, it's still there - and I look forward to taking Henry there when he grows up. I promise though that when I teach him to swing I won't let go and see him flying off to hit his head on a rock.....(trip number 1 to the hospital)....

I think that this will do for now.... have all of March to bore you with more reminiscing......

Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets. ~Arthur Miller

2011-03-02T22:23:00.000Z

Ok... so lets see how this goes, I have taken up the gauntlet thrown down by Olga and will try to write something everyday in this month of March..... like most of my diaries and calenders I think that it will last - well maybe a week.

So todays quote is the result of a conversation I had with mum after dinner tonight, it's one we have had on and off for over 25 years... why did my parents move to Australia and was it the wrong decision.

I remember the first time that this came up in conversation. I was in the back seat of the car on the way home from my sister and brother in laws' place in Padbury, a place that was then on the farthest NW outskirts of Perth, it was over an hours drive from their place to ours so often there were a lot of philosophical discussions about this that and the other. I used to tune out most of the time - but on this occasion as we were approaching Wanneroo rd I remember dad saying to mum " did I do the wrong thing making us coming here?" I think I was about 14 years of age, this question from dad came as a bit of a surprise, as we never really discussed this - well I hadn't been aware of this being discussed before. I think that mum was like dad - maybe missing Iceland and feeling that life might have been different for us if we had never gone to Perth. One of my brothers was in the army living on the east coast, the other had worked in a factory from the time we arrived and was married, studying and working hard, my sister and her husband were probably struggling to make ends meet... me I was a painful youngest child in the early stages of teenage angst and probably always gave them a hard time with my set ideas about finishing high school and going back to Iceland....

I remember feeling that this was wrong - they should not be having regrets about the move... life was good, my siblings were all happily married - doing their best to make a life for themselves, yeh sure I was a pain and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life (apart from finishing high school and going to Iceland)... so my basic reaction was to say - Well... had we never left Iceland you know that I would be a single teenage mum. Yep, I was convinced that had we stayed in S'krók I would have had a child before the age of 16, why? no idea, it was just the way that I viewed Icelanders of my age and how I would have fitted in. I am so grateful for the fact that my parents were as courageous as they were, moving to the other side of the world, not speaking english and basically going out into the unknown. Mum said that she didn't think it was courage - more stupidity - I don't buy into that.

Tonights conversation ended up revolving around the fact that had they not moved to Australia the beautiful people that are my nieces and nephews may never have existed.. which to me would have been a major tragedy... Life is what life is - one should never have regrets or if you have to have regrets (which, again, I don't believe anyone should) then hope that they are the right regrets.... Maybe I regret not being a teenage mum - but I reckon I make a better aunt than mother.

A person doesn't know how much he has to be thankful for until he has to pay taxes on it. ~Author Unknown

2011-03-02T00:14:00.001Z

No photos, no real news... but felt a need to do a post.

The last week or so has been full, workwise, partywise, lifewise....

Work - it's tax time for farmers. The July to December value added tax returns had to be completed by the 1st of March, now we will be getting into full swing with the tax returns, beginning with individual tax returns, then farmers returns then company returns along with annual reports and other stuff.... Writing this I realise I have become the most boring person in the world - the person that I most dreaded becoming - an accountant... without the degree or the education and with very little interest in the whole thing... - It's all not bad though - I have the greatest of clients that are doing a wonderful job creating food for our tables. The others I deal with are also amazing - a fisherman, a block of flats for the elderly, a small film production company, a book, the historical centre for the Icelandic Horse, an equestrian centre and ofcourse the books for the company that I am working for - an advisory centre for the farmers in our district.... I am blessed in the variety of work that I am involved in.

Party - Friday night my cousin's daughters boyfriend finished his masters in Geology, so she had a family get together at their place - yummy food and great company, I always enjoy spending time with them. His thesis was about the use of volcanic areas as tourism destinations (a rather liberal view of what it was actually about), but I think that his ideas from the thesis are being picked up by our environment minister - heard a quote where she was talking about the potential in geothermal areas for more tourism and eco related activities as well as utilising the energy in the areas. Saturday was the annual get together of the Environmental centre for North West Iceland (I am a glorified chairman of the board), the local museum and the heritage office.... I have attended these every year as the "partner" of my favourite archeologist attached to the museum - this year as glorified chairman.... Was a good night - I made sushi and tempura for entre, the environmental office head (and his wife) made a goulash soup and dessert was provided by the heritage office - a yummy cheesecake... after which we drank more and sang and sang and sang..... This was then followed by me going out with a third cousin - once removed... was a long long night.

Life - is good. With all that has been going on at work I have had to depend on Olga heaps to do the cooking or the shopping or both.... I am so blessed in my life - especially having her and Ross here, they are making life that much easier for me and I don't think that I tell them often enough how much I appreciate them stepping in for me - whether it's for walking the dog, doing the shopping, driving mum, cooking the food, providing me with entertainment and company etc etc etc... thanks guys - I really do appreciate it! Also, to Vicki - the best friend a Freyja could ever have!

It started snowing again tonight and as its not that cold the snow is really slushy and wet - great for making a snowman - if only I had the energy........

Have a great week people .. it's March already!! So much to do, so little time... why oh why does time fly so quickly after 40?

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

2011-02-20T22:00:00.002Z

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!

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

2011-02-13T18:04:00.000Z

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!