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

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

 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

 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

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

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

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

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

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.