True love stories never have endings. ~Richard Bach

The nostalgia continues.....

Before coming to Australia mum had been in touch with an Icelandic couple that had emigrated to Perth in 1967. Mum got the contact through the usual channels in Iceland - a friend of a friend of a friend. This would be extremely significant to our future in Australia. In those days all immigrants were "processed" at Villawood in New South Wales (Sydney), thankfully - as we had this contact in Perth we did not have to go there. Olga and Kristinn were so wonderful - they had organised employment for dad, a place for us to stay as soon as we got there and what was best of all they met us off the boat. Olga and Kristinn had moved to Australia with Olga's two sons Sigurþór and Tryggvi, they then had a child of their own in Australia - Jon Erik.

Olga was to become my nieces grandmother...

This classic 1970's look is taken in our front garden - mum and Olga

Alot of our early years in Australia was spent at the beach - we loved the beach - we just lived a little too far away from it. Nevertheless this did not stop our often daily excursions to the water side. This photo is from Cottesloe beach - I would later live just up the road - see those big trees - my place was just behind them. Mum being a bathing beauty attired in the appropriate attire for the day.

As I said - we spent a lot of time on the beach. Dad made this rig for our "daily" excursions - ie the weekends where we literally spent the whole day on the beach. As you can see the dog was always with us.

I think that I can safely say that these were the best of days.

Well as people do - my siblings started to get married. First my eldest brother who had stayed in Iceland married the love of his life Sigríður (I was very little at the time and was super happy that he married a woman that had the same name as me). We found out by telegram - remember them - they were the fastest type of communication way back then - probably took a day.... Helgi and Sigga are the parents of my best friend nephew - Maggi nephew Gunni (the one that has aged me by making me a "great aunt" and niece Kristín.

Then brother number two got married - he found himself an Icelander in Australia - yes there were a few of us there. Lóas parents had moved to the north of WA to work at the Iron Ore mine Valdimar her father drove one of those huge ore carrying trucks. Jon and Lóa are the parents of Maja and Valdi

Then Unnur married her Thor - the son of Olga, they met almost on arrival - Unnur 14 and Thor 16, they became the best of friends then fell in love and are now still the best of friends - what more can you ask for? They are the parents of Kristinn, Olga and Anna. I don´t have a wedding photo - haven´t raided mum's albums yet - but found this lovely one of them and the first born

The youngest of the brothers - still my big brother - Hilmar (who is my personal hero), did what no parent probably wanted at the time - he joined the army.... I am not even sure if the Vietnam war was finished when he joined up - but he was only 16 and joined as a cadet in high school and then went on into apprenticeship school with the army. He was going to be a carpenter... well alot of water has gone under the bridge since this photo was taken, he became a machinist fitter

and then found his way into air frame fitting and helicopter - plane mechanic... but just take a look at this - how cool was he....???

He still is ofcourse. He found the love of his life in Wagga Wagga... Sandra was in the air force but was also from Perth - well that's where her family lived. She too was an immigrant like us - but from the more exotic Burma - a real beauty and they are the parents of Jon David Albert, Nicholas Mark and Dorian Magnus - all really great names I think... but then i am probably biased - they are the cutest of all my nephews... sorry guys - just got to tell things as they are.

I think though looking at this photo none of the above mentioned folk will be impressed with me - but hey - it was the height of fashion then. The other lady in the photo is I think aunty Barbara - but I am probably wrong and will change this as soon as someone tells me....

Moving to Australia meant that we left alot behind and missed out on a lot of things... Helgi's wedding just being one of them. What I think my parents missed the most though was the family... Number one being their eldest son. Not being there to help and support him during his maritime education, his wedding, his finding a home and starting a family. As I said in my last post mum and I made the trip in 1975 and mum got to see her dad for the last time on his farm. A man that I think she finally managed to reconcile with - in a way...

the photo - full of orbs (thinking of you Maria) is of Helgi Magnusson (my brother), Helgi Jóhannsson (my grandfather) and Magnús Helgason - my nephew with ma.

Later mum and dad went to Iceland together - so they had the chance to see dads mum and dad again. This photo could really have been taken in Australia - given the fence and the trees in the background. Am not sure where it was taken but this is my dad Magnús Jónsson, his father Jón Björnsson and ma.

What was there in Australia - why didn't they move back before 1987 - well one of the reasons was my dad's love of gardening - and by gardening I mean being able to grow your own fruit and veg in the back garden - all year round:

Dad loved his garden and we loved him for it - all of us - I am sure that Valdi and Maja and the other grandchildren have fond memories of going out the back and getting fresh strawberries, mandarins, oranges, apples, almonds, grapes - whatever was is season.
And for me this was home... our house in Banach Street...

You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted. ~Ruth E. Renkl

The following posts will be mostly self indulgent, a time to take stock of my life so far I guess. So I thought I would start with the following image - me and my big sister, whom I love dearly. I think that my childhood was an extremely good one, being the youngest of five I was the one that was spoiled and indulged and obviously took it all for granted. It's what you do when you know no better.

We left Iceland when I was five, so really I should not have had all that many memories of my early childhood, but somehow Iceland was always under my skin. Most of my friends from primary and high school would probably agree with this and I doubt if any of them are overly surprised that I ended up back here. The next picture is one my sister recently gave me - it´s me defending my territory... the house that I now call my home.

Growing up in Australia was a wonderful experience - I loved it. I was blessed with having the very bestests of friends Tracy - who will feature prominently in the forthcoming entries... once I get around to scanning more randomness.

Here she is with me and her younger sister Greer at the front of my home in Perth... See how washed out the colour was - what do you expect in 40° degree heat.... but check out the tan...

I spent my formative years at Maddington Primary school... what a melting pot that was

This was taken during the second half of grade 3 the class had been split and I ended up in this one with a teacher that I really didn´t get on all that well with. Hence the sour look on my face I think... I am fourth from the left in the front row. This class contained what would be the core of friendships that would last so much longer than any of us could have imagined. In the back row, third and sixth from the left are my very good friends Dom and Jeff, the most wonderful male members of the human species that I have the privilege of calling my friend. They too may feature in future instalments.

When I was twelve I went with my mother to Iceland - our first visit to the "old" country after leaving it some 7 years before. Whilst there I got to meet cousins that I knew existed - but didn't "know". This short stay of 3 months was to be the basis of friendships that would grow and be extremely important in my future life. I think this visit also helped solidify my feeling of being "Icelandic Australian" rather than an Australian of Icelandic birth. The country and the feeling of being at home was embedded in my psychy. Iceland became my home away from home, a fixed place in my life.

I sit astride life like a bad rider on a horse. I only owe it to the horse's good nature that I am not thrown off at this very moment. ~Ludwig W

Thought it time for you guys to see something else when you look to see if I have updated the blog, so I thought I might put one of the old Christmas family photos up. Maybe this will be the theme for the countdown to Christmas - who knows. This is taken in the early 80's - I have my princess Di look happening.

I am currently watching wicker man and am not really getting it - like most Nicholas Cage movies it is subject to his amazing over or is it under acting.

The Silly season is about to start and so soon every weekend will be packed with feasting and the like. Tomorrow I was supposed to be going to a buffet of wild food. However, there weren´t sufficient numbers so instead I am going to my cousin Herdís´s - which means even better food.

My lovely uncle Andres came tonight bearing great gifts - one sheep - cut down into edible bits. Mother and I are extremely happy - her freezer is full so we think that we are going to be pretty well right for the winter- I wonder which one of these is is the freezer????

.

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort. ~Jane Austen

Thought I would do a little reminiscing about how far this house has come along.... I think as the dog is whining that it will be a very short post of before and....

after....

There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man. ~Winston Churchills

Well, there is also something good about the body of a horse that is good for the inside of a man....

This time last year I posted about the horse feast... well take 2 was last weekend. I again did not take my camera and I also had no Maggi with a mobile phone camera thingy... so no shots this year

http://freyjadog.blogspot.com/2008/10/lovely-horse-is-always-experience-it-is.html

Needless to say the food was fantastic, the entertainment also very good - very typically Icelandic with my uncle Siggi and Joi frá Stapa reciting Icelandic verse in the old fashion. Jón and Stefán Gísla with their squeeze boxes and Bjarni Marons was the mc. None of this will mean anything to most of you - but it will help me to remember...

I feel I need to post photos of something... so I am "borrowing some from the website of sögusetur íslenska hestsins

http://www.skagafjordur.is/displayer.asp?cat_id=1635&module_id=220&element_id=60862

One of the two entrés - this is Abel the horse re-incarnated as a finely sliced bit of salted/smoked horse meat done according to a North Italian recipe.... twas very tasty..

This is the main - which we received at around 11pm... it was a long night... again. . wonderful, served with a wild mushroom sauce.

This is one of the two desserts.... mares milk gelato and mares milk icecream... with wild berries and pears. again.. very tasty.

Next weekend there will be another thingy happening in Varmahlíð - this time the red cross is the organiser, some sort of world festival of music thing with food from many nations served in the interval. Mum and I have been roped in to provide food from Aus... Now tell me what is typically Australian, well, I have no idea, so I made ANZAC buscuits, yes I baked... I also made sausage rolls - not typically Australian - but near enough is good enough, and then I thought maybe some lamingtons would be ideal. Problem is my sponge fell apart... I am getting mum to do a sponge for me instead - then I will do the cocoa and coconut thing. If you guys have any ideas then I would be most grateful. I think it´s sort of lame as now I have been here for 5 years and away from Aus for 9 so feeling less and less Australian.

Unfortunately there is no roo meat in the KS at the mo.. and I have never seen emu in the freezer area so they are both off the list of potential Australian foods.

So as you can see life is good, very good. Oh, I made fish and chips for dinner - first time ever and it worked. Beer batter is the best batter.

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things. ~Author Unknown

My very very very dear friend Iris came to visit me on the rock last week, she arrived on Friday to gale force winds which forced her to spend a night in Reykjavik. The flight north on the Friday night was cancelled due to wind gusts of 50 metres per second. Her flight was rescheduled for Saturday at 10am... so I picked her up from the airport in semi gale force winds... What a great start to her stay with me.

I had a blast - I am hoping that she did too. We caught up on life - what´s been happening in hers for the last fifteen years and what has been happening in mine. She is the mother of three beautiful children - now adults. The wife of a really great guy David, and the best friend of Al, who is on the left in the photo above and moi. We met on our first day at Uni in 1981, she was the one that changed my english name from Siggy to Sigga - much to my relief. You see Siggi is a male derivation whereas sigga is female.... finally in english I became a female..

It is just so great when you meet up with an old friend and realise - yet again- that true friendship lasts throughout the years and the distance. We found just what it was that made us friends all those years ago. We also realised, yet again, that we could tell each other stuff that we weren´t willing to tell others. The mutual admiration society was reconvened.

She also cleaned my house - for that I love her even more dearly... I am a slob. She knows this, and she also knows that I don´t like living like a slob....

I was not the hostess with the mostest this time round, am feeling a little swine fluish, so although I did take her for a drive around the fjörd that was about it in terms of site seeing. Well I took her on her word that she came here to see me and not necessarily Iceland. I am hoping that she and David will come to visit me one day so that I can be a better host and show her this beautiful and amazing country. Hopefully this visit has wetted the appetite and they will both come for a week or two.

Her birthday is the day after mine, she is one year and one day younger than me, perhaps that is a part of the magic about our connection - I don´t know. I just know that I am very blessed with all the friends that I have.

Thank you Iris for being you!

Snow and cold

-3° on our 5th walk for the day. I have been a very slack person wanting to stay at home, whilst the dog was looking at the sunshine outside the window and thinking I want to be out there!!!! So, 5 times I braved the bitter cold.... and still now she sits on her daybed going, "I am sooo depressed - tried to load a photo of this look of hers but something seems to be wrong in the blog world.

later folks - have a great week!

Laufskálarétt the dance and all the rest

This first picture is "borrowed" from feykir.is The guy riding the horse is Bjarni M. A bloke that I shared office space with and who works for the soil conservation service here in Iceland. Well, this last weekend was Laufskálarétt, the biggest horse roundup in Iceland (in my mind there are more folk than horses) nevertheless, it is a big weekend as lots and lots of people flock north to attend the round up and the entertainment that surrounds this weekend. As you can see the weather was BAD...

We here in the town, know better, so for us it was roasted back of lamb (rack but still attached to the other rack... hence a back) ´twas rather good, even if I say so myself. Our biggest hangup though was finding the appropriate back up music to our game of Trivial Pursuit - this is what one does before heading off to the biggest dance in the country. Our game of triv was Icelands version from 1986... Given that I was the only adult around at this time (ie of a mature age in 1986), I was the "winner"

You can tell from the smug look on my face....

These sweeties were well... the losers... no not really Bryndís the younger was almost there with me and Maggi, just didn't quite have it though.... But they don´t look too unhappy about it do they?

Anywho, after our major triv session we took a taxi to the equestrian centre, proceeded to dance and allow the effects of the red wine we had previously drunk do its thing. There are various accounts and memories of what occurred - but Laufskálarétt is like Vegas - you know the drill. Needless to say a fairly fun night was had by all. A complete Sunday was needed for me to feel like a part of the human race again, but as is every year - I never regret it.. It is a bizarre night but always a good night.

In other news. I was just looking up to see the tv and saw the advert for Kraftur a docco by a guy that I work with about another guy that I once worked with and his horse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOFwXOsImOE is the link to the trailer for the film. The docu maker got me to go over the english subtitles and I cried whilst reading them... needless to say I did not go to the premier - too hard for a sook like me. So I am waiting for the dvd.

hope the link works - if not you need to join the facebook link to Kraftur.

Just to give you a brief outline of the story. Tóti - is a great rider here in Iceland - a teacher at Hólar and a really all round nice guy. He met a horse - Kraftur frá Bringu, that he trained and got to such a high level that all that was left was to take him to the Internationals for the Icelandic horse, but taking a horse outside of Iceland means that he can never come back. No horses are imported to Iceland - both to keep the breed "clean" and also to prevent any diseases from coming here . So for him to take his horse to the championship meant that he had to leave him behind. The only talk in the trailer is him saying "and the question is - was it really worth it?" Needless to say - they won - they really won, came away with all the major trophies - but even so - was it worth it - to leave the horse, the friend behind. Like I say - I get teary thinking about it. Ah, such is life. We all need to sometimes give things up - no matter how hard it seems - maybe it is all for the best.

Another pretty day today - but really bloody cold. 'twas kinda fun though walking through the snow to get to bed early on Sunday morning - wish I had had my camera with....

What to do with the sheep when they come off the mountain - weigh them!!!!

My job today was to control the weighing machine (yeh tough huh). They pushed the sheep through into the weight, they tell me the number of the sheep, I push a button and write down the weight of said sheep. The lamb rams over 40kg were sent to the "death row" part of the sheep shed, whilst the females and skinnier rams were sent out to do some more eating.

My uncles Andres and Þóri, the farmers at Tunga whose sheep we were weighing.

How can you think that these poor little darlings will taste good on a dinner table - trust me they do. But they are sweet aren´t they?

We weighed 725 lambs today in around 6 hours. I think my uncle was pleased, he said I could come back for the next weighing. I really can´t describe how nice it feels for me to be of use to them. The life of a farmer is not an easy one, particularly a sheep farmer, the price they get for the "raw material" is ofcourse nothing compared to what we pay in the supermarket. The cost of production is high, getting higher each year due to the cost of fertiliser and oil, the processing cost is also high because most of the labour in the slaughter house is imported - most of the workers here come from New Zealand (yes all the way from NZ), Poland and Sweden. Icelanders consider the work "beneath" them. Here at the slaughterhouse the Icelandic workers are mainly farmers, like my uncle, who works in the "reception". By the way Maja, I met Eymundur today - he has happy memories of working with you!!! He said "Það var alltaf gaman að vinna með Mæju - fín stelpa"

Well, time to rest my weary bones, I still find it hard to use my leg muscles to stand up, I also discovered a lovely bruise on the back of my leg that I got when one of the horse that I was leading down a hill accidently hit it... well I believe it was an accident!

PS guess what I had for dinner - yep a lamb roast - tonight was my uncle Bjössi's turn to host the family feast - his wife Rúna turned 80 last week so it was a sort of birthday celebration. Again, a great night with a wonderful family.... Have I said how much I love my life here in Iceland????

pps talking of which - families that is - yesterday was my sister Unnurs birthday - whom I blogged about a few weeks back. Her daughter Olga has written a beautiful post about her which sums up how we all feel about her. Read it and weep - I did

Second Roundup

Just some proof, this is as we were riding back to the farm. We started out sometime after 6am this morning and came back to the farm at around 3pm. I still can´t find my camera so no shots this year from the valley that we clear, one day I intend to walk back up into the valley just so that I can appreciate it properly. Usually during round up you are too busy trying to concentrate on staying in the saddle, finding and chasing sheep and generally keeping the adrenalin level up so that you just don´t sit down on the nearest hillock and cry from tiredness.

Guðný took this photo and a heap of others that I am going to put on my flickr. I think that my family in Aus will enjoy trying to spot which folks they know. A lot of these photos are from last weeks sheep sorting session

In other news the jogging group is having its annual get together, this means all the skeletons in town get totally wacked, unfortunately I am in no state to stay up and watch the revelry. In Icelandic the group is called "skok hópurinn" skok = jog hópurinn = group.... The oldies in town call it the fock hóp - you get my jist. (and by oldies I mean 70+). Probably after tonight there will be a number of marriages/relationships being "swapped".

Tomorrow I am going back to the farm to help my uncle and my cousin weigh the lambs that are going to be sent to slaughter. It's the circle of life I guess, and I do love my lamb roast.

Sheep!!!!!

Guðný took this photo of me at the rétt last Saturday and although it is already on fb I thought I would share it with those that don´t go there. Especially for my brother J and sister U... 'cos if they make the picture bigger they will see the blokes in the background, my uncles Þóri and Stebbi, cousin Ásgeir and his son Vikingur.... as well as of course in the foreground all those lovely sheep...

No Camera, no pictures, no fun.....

Yep, the camera has gone awol, have no idea where I left it. So - the run down on the last two weeks.

My most wonderful friends - Bernd, Amanda, Narelle, Matthias (B & A´s son), Amandas folks and her great aunt were all here for a fabulous six days in the north. It was all pretty low key on my part - I did very little whilst they did major major work for mum in the garden, cooked an amazing chinese dinner (that ended up being dinner for two nights). We did manage to squeeze in a little site seeing and berry picking - which is the to do thing here at this time of year.

After they left for the South and the requisite visit to Gullfoss, Geysir and Thingvellir, along with Rvk and the Blue Lagoon. The other autumn activities went into full swing. That is the sheep round up and sorting... just see my blogs for early september in the last few years and you will know what I am talking about.

So, this year instead of collecting the sheep I just went with Guðný to sort sheep in the coral. Twas brilliant fun (as always) and as always came home with an appropriate number of bruises on my upper thighs. You see the thing is with the sheep of my uncle - they are all horned, handy handle thingies. You swing over so they are between your legs face forward, ie horn in thigh, and gently move them to the section of the roundup where uncles sheep are collected together. I also managed to be "bucked" by a lamb (female at that - can´t even say it was a potential huge ram) - lost a bit of cred, but hey I didn´t let go.

Saturday night was scrabble night with Guðný, which ended up being a very late Tarot reading session. The cards had no major news for me.... ah well, just as well I don´t believe in that crap.

Sunday turned out to be a glorious day, mum and I even had a bit of a sun bake in the back yard. Iceland style - bra and jeans.... not a pretty sight... still twas the weather for that (and the fence high enough to protect the young and easily traumatised). It was also the day that we probably used the grill for the last time this year.

Next weekend Andres has said that I can be a part of the second round up - this time we collect the straggler sheep and the horses that have been up in the mountain pastures. It´s a really pleasant ride and hopefully the stragglers won´t be too unwilling to join their mates in the farm paddocks.

This time of year also means slaughter season (this lasts for around 2 months). Which also means that the population of the town has been increased by 15 new zealanders around 20 poles and a few swedes thrown in for good measure.

Too tired too windblown to say anymore...

Sun is back!!!!

Especially posted for those on their way from Australia and the UK.... the sun is shining and it isn´t as horribly cold as it was yesterday.... The forecast is looking good.

I really hope I haven't jinxed this..............................

Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet. ~Roger Miller

The weather is dismal again. It is amazing what an effect this has on your life. I spent the bulk of the day reading a book and on occasion walking the dog. Now I am watching some cheesy movie on the tv...

So much for doing heaps this weekend - like cleaning up for my impending visitors next week..

Had I written about this?

My best mates from pre Iceland are coming to visit, Bernd, Amanda and son Matthias from Germany, Narelle from Aus and Amanda's mum and dad and great aunt from Aus. So it should be a great time. Hopefully I will have some time off work to be a proper host, if not Amanda, Narelle and Bernd have been here often enough to be able to take over the tour guide role for me.

The government ratified the Icesave agreement today, putting the country into debt for the next God knows how many years. I may be naive but I always thought that when folk were putting their money in private hands that they were taking a risk that might mean they never see their money again, I also thought that when a business becomes bankrupt that normal laws would be followed and that the general public would not be made accountable and payable. Still, it seems that the big bullies in the EU have got their way.

Did not mean to be so depressing... blame it on the weather.

Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world a mother's love is not. ~James Joyce

I just wanted to call attention to the really nice blog post Olga did about mum. It´s her 82nd birthday today - and I forgot ofcourse - until she told me that my sister and aunt had both called her this morning....

In other news, my nephew Maggi had the big family dinner bash today - we had lovely chicken breasts with sundried tomato cream cheese filling wrapped in bacon, very nice. The weather has finally taken a turn for the better, I tell you people were going mad (literally) with the rain and crappy weather that we have been having recently. This meant that ma could go berry picking both yesterday and today. She is now on her way to Rvk for a few medical appointments (eye doc and accupuncture). Am ofcourse going to miss her dearly -but Freyja is probably going to miss her more.

It's that time of year again

Yep that's right it's berry time, the blue berries as you can see are only just turning blue so it is still very early on in the season, but this does not stop my mother - berry queen picker. It doesn't matter how bad her back is or how tired she is she always takes every opportunity to go berry picking. So after a rather "heavy" Friday night, she got me to take her at 2pm on the Saturday - twas probably the best thing for me.

Mum in her berry picking outfit - she lies amid the growth and picks and picks and picks....

Freyja and I meanwhile wonder around and look perplexed. I did also try and pick some but Freyja was intent on surveying the surroundings. I couldn't let her run free as we were just above the paddocks where horses were grazing and I wasn't in the mood for chasing her around and then exlpaining myself to angry horse owners.

She found this most unjust! Then in the evening it was food from the middle ages. Saturday was a day for Sturlunga. Sturlunga is a saga which documents one of the bloodiest fueds in Icelands history, and it took place here in Skagafjordur. At the moment there is a group active in the fjord promoting the different areas where the different battles took place and making the saga a living thing... Cultural / historical tourism at it's best. I hadn't taken part in any of the days activities I just went to the dinner that was held in the evening - with the bestest of people.. family and friends anywho, the menu was to be based around food that the folk of the time would have had available to them, a part of the evening's entertainment was the band Voces Thules - they were brilliant.

Also a writer Einar Kárason (the head on the left) said a few words as well as a few other local identities. Now to the important bits -- the food:

Entré dried fish, salt fish mush on rye bread, smoked beef tongue, lamb pate and flat bread.

Main - Icelandic lamb soup... had quite a bit of pepper and I didn't find any lamb but did get lots and lots of bláberg which I think is wild thyme.

More mains, lots of barley type things, honey and almond arctic charr, wild salads, turnip mash and for those that like the pig, they had an apparently really good crackling...

I forgot to take a picture of dessert, but it was skyr (Icelandic cheesy joghurt thing) served with blue berries (but apparently very sour - sugar was not readily available in the year 1200 you know) ábristir (spelling probably wrong), which is the first milk from a cow after she has calved. You heat it in a bowl over boiling water - becomes sort of custardy, I love it - but not many of my friends do... then there was mountain grass milk.... which is apparently very good for you - need I say more.

Twas a good night, I learnt a little about the saga and feel that now I really should try and read the damn thing....

Friday night.. was Buff night - the guys that came to the wedding will know that a good time was had by all.... they are an amazing cover band - play nothing but happy tunes but they all look really depressed doing so. Classic.

Every tooth in a man's head is more valuable than a diamond. ~Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, 1605

For some reason this picture of Freyja has decided to be on it´s side - what can I do.... She is happy even if she is sideways to reality

Went for a drive the other day and picked Guðný up on the way and went to the statue of Jón Ósmann - the ferry man.

As you can see mum is very impressed by the statue, the bloke for whom the statue commemorates was an important person to communications in our fjord, he was at the base of the river that flows on the western side of the fjord and helped folk across on his ferry, both people, horses and goods, a vital link within the area of Skagafjordur.

This is probably the most impressive statue I have seen, it seems to capture the character of the man so well, there he is with the trout that he fished from the river mouth, looking towards Sauðárkrók for potential passengers...

the view that he has is really rather nice, am amazed that no one has asked for a building permit on the site. Mum is actually checking out the berries.

My "girls" my best friends in Sauðárkrók, Guðný, mum and Freyja - see how they all seem to be deep in thought about something....

Night walks have started again, night being that the sun is receeding, and so now on our later walk there is no longer a midnight sun to light our way. Still it is so nice, especially during the last couple of days there has been no north wind and so tranquility base is here.

this is the new "yacht" the sailing club has purchased - or rather some members of the club (me not included - but hopefully I will benefit and be able to get a few lessons...)

and ah yes ... the header to this post.... my front crown fell out on Saturday afternoon... not a pleasant experience.... but this means that all my dilly dallying about finding a dentist (choosing a dentist - there are three in the town and I HATE dentists.. came to an end. Thankfully one of the three was available before I broke down completely (was thinking of lying in bed under my doona until judgement day). So by 7pm tooth was back in place, however, I think that it would be a type of courage building, self awareness, self worth excercise in publishing photo of self without crown.... it is really quite off. So fore-warned is fore-armed this is not a pretty sight...

There is an itch in runners. ~Arnold Hano

At long last another post, last weekend was spent at an athletics carnival being held here in the hook. Maggi and I divied up the days so that we weren´t both hanging around down there waiting to put results into the computer. The event was a Young persons sporting carnival and included not only athletics but also football, horseriding, swimming, Icelandic wrestling, chess and golf. There were 1500 participants from all around Iceland. As the competitors were aged from 11 to 18 there were a lot of parents and other support people with them, which meant that the population of the town increased almost 5 fold.

This was our hang out - two extremely slow computers, we entered results in both and had to wait at least 4 minutes between each row of entries for it to save so we could move on to the next bit.... talk about frustrating!!

This is the track in town - if you increase the size you can see some of the caravan tent village that was up on the paddocks above town.

They are still filming Rokland, so they set up the cemetary scene outside the real cemetary again. (They filmed there in winter as well)

The old campsite was converted into a information - entertainment area. The weekend was jam packed with different events and fun stuff for all the family. It ended with a huge fireworks display that lasted over 15 minutes - yeh - they say we are in a recession....

In other news .... work is good, life is good, dog is good - economy is still crapping itself and our politicians still really don´t know what to do.

Later folks