away

 Our backyard view in the countryside:

I can't believe it's been so many days since I last posted but time has flown by. Last week was taken over by my last final, a 10 page long essay on The Dialectic of Enlightenment and the novel Mason&Dixon by Thomas Pynchon. It required a lot of work and I had to put all blogging on hold to get it done. Also, on top of that, I had a few meetings to attend because of my still-secret knitting project. But because of those meetings, I can soon share with you this huge mystery that's been coming together gradually this winter. For an impatient person such as myself, this has been a lesson in accepting that good things tend to come at a slow pace.

When I finally turned my final in on Friday I went straight to packing our bags for the countryside at Lake Mývatn, where we stayed for the weekend. Oddur and the kids relaxed and played outside (they forgot to take photos) while I worked and worked and worked some more. Then they left for Reykjavík yesterday and here I am, "alone", staying at my parents house and working as much as I can. I really miss my kids, it's not easy being away from them. But it's only a few days, and finding a well paying job that offers acceptable working hours for a parent in the summertime can be really hard... I am blessed to have this job at my parents' guesthouse and restaurant. I enjoy my work here a lot, so I focus on being thankful. I'll be back with my babes before I know it. 

I plan on at least trying to keep blogging regularly as I have been the last few months. I have no idea if this is unrealistic or what, but we'll see. Thank you all for continuing to stop by. I promise some great nature photos from the Mývatn area - it is impossible not to be inspired by our incredible surroundings here. 

berry picking in the sun

We have been interested in adding a new, nature related (and yummy!) activity to our seasonal rhythm, that is to say, picking some wild Icelandic blueberries and crowberries together. Today we finally made it happen and it was even more relaxing and fun than I remembered it to be from my childhood. The sun was shining and the nature smelled heavenly. Just perfect! Our time was rather limited so we drove a short distance out of the city, up to lake Kleifarvatn. Although, other berry pickers had obviously gotten the same great idea as we had some trouble finding spots where there still were any berries. 

My teenage brother Helgi is staying with us for a few days and he came along. He picked some of the largest crowberries we've ever seen. I even took a picture of them in his palm, they are as big as big blueberries. And delicious too, might I add. Me and Oddur were able to strain ourselves from eating too much and got rather enthusiastic about picking as much as possible. But Ósk soon discovered this treat of nature and just sat there picking berries and shoving them in her mouth the whole time we were there. She also had a sweet helper, as you can see in the last photo. 

We are hungry for more and are thinking about if we can go again next weekend. Maybe we'll try a different spot then... hopefully before anyone else. 

treasure time

Last week we took a mini-trip after Oddur had finished his work day and drove for about an hour to the beach at Stokkseyri and Eyrarbakki in South-Iceland. The beaches there are very sandy and rather large. I had never been there before but Oddur had told me when he was a kid and went there with his grandfather and how magical it was to him then. So we decided it would be fun to go there as a family and go treasure hunting for shells. The weather could have been better (I feel like this is a sentence I use very often in my blog posts!) but we found many beautiful shells and some glass pieces the sea had softened down. Everyone had a good time and now we have started a collection of beach treasures for the children's playroom. We'd like to add more types of shells though and are already planning on another trip soon. I feel it adds a lot to the charm of the toys when they are natural, from your own area and carry lovely family memories in them as well :)

camping in Þórsmörk

This photo really captures the strange weather we had that day: Sun, light clouds, dark clouds and pouring rain.

Snacking in the tent.

Inside Sönghellir cave. It is huge. Sönghellir means "cave of song" and minutes after Oddur took that photo, a group of people came and started singing. It made the cave exploring even more fun. 

A very helpful and lovely tourist took this photo of us. The light isn't perfect but I'm just very thankful to have a family photo from our trip :)

A hooded wool jacket for Oddur

Yarn: Snældan nappað tógv (5 threads)

Needles: 5.5 mm for cuffs and 6.5 mm for the main part

Pattern: Lopi wool sweater Strýta, but adding a zipper and hood. 

The Lopi jumpsuit I knit really is a great item when camping - Úlfur started using it one and a half year ago and it's still too big! I swear it's growing along with him, maybe he´ll still be wearing it as a grown up? :)

Our weeking camping in Þórsmörk national park was amazing. Although it did rain a little bit we were well dressed and it didn't bother us at all. Úlfur was thrilled and staying in our cozy (aka small) tent was such an an adventure to him. To get to Húsadalur valley, where we were staying, we had to cross rivers that are absolutely flooding and scary so I took the bus with the kids and our equipment instead of tempting to drive on my own while Oddur ran his super 55 km trail run. He had some trouble as this was not his best day of running but he did manage to finish in less than 8 hours - I'm so proud of him! After welcoming and congratulating him at the finish line we just enjoyed nature and spent the night in the tent, listening to the rain. We went for a walk the day after and Oddur let me snap a few photos of the sweater I just finished and gave him. I am very happy with the outcome and so is he :)

I hope we'll be able to go camping another time this summer but we'll have to see since I have some news to share... (no, not pregnant...) ... we are moving! And very soon, only in two weeks. So packing, packing and more packing it is. I'm so excited, our apartment is way too crowded as it is and I can't wait to get some more space. Mind you, I don't need a whole house but there are limits to how small you can go without feeling like you live in a storage room. More on the moving business soon, off to bed I go. 

we don't mind the rain

Can you tell by the lake's surface how heavily it was raining?

Yesterday, my sister Hildur Ásta and I took my children to Höfði, a small "park" with short hiking trails but stunning view of our beloved lake Mývatn. It was not raining when we left the house but man did it start pouring once we got there! Luckily, we don't mind the rain and actually it came with a lot of good things such as utter privacy (we felt like we were alone in the world!) and an incredibly rich smell of leaves and flowers. Úlfur jumped into every puddle and had a blast, while Ósk was thrilled just to reach out and touch the leaves above her. I am so glad they seem to both be real nature lovers, they never complain or whine when we are on nature hikes such as this one. For that I am very thankful. 

A lot of posts these days as I'll be back tomorrow with my latest knitting news - stay tuned :)