Heydalur

What a fabulous weekend away with Katri, Jukka, Pyry and Traian.

So, Friday morning Katri and I had a great and long rehearsal without Zelia. Jacob did not have class and took her which was great. Toward the end of the rehearsal Jukka came in to video the material we had which was surprisingly interesting when we watched it. Now comes the even more difficult part, concept, composition, intention...in time.

In the Icelandic class as watched a movie which was very good, very little dialogue and unfortunately I cannot say that I understood any of it. But we did understand the movie. Quite depressing and quite beautiful. From the movie we headed home to load the car, get Traian in it and head to Bonus for some shopping for the weekend, meet Katri anf family and head out! The drive was about 1.5 hours, but it was dark so we could not see much. We wound in and out of many fjords, saw some lone lights of houses sitting alone along the water or dotted in the fjords, and the road was no longer paved, and finally turned right into Heydalur. We followed road up a bit and to the large farm house where we saw some new friends having dinner!!!! No joke, Arni and Karro were there for the night before continuing their drive to Keflavik to fly to Argentina for a holiday.

Anyway, we got the keys for the summerhouse (cabin) and headed back to the main road, over a little bridge, to the right and up the dirt road again to the cabin. We decided to unload and then head back for dinner. The cabin was very sweet, with 3 small bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and bath. It had a nice wrap around porch and we could hear a river running. Back to the farm house we headed, walked through the slushy snow, took everything off, said hi to the sleeping dog and sat down to eat. I cannot forget to mention the talking parrot Kobbi who lives in a cage in the main room. He whistles a lot, says godan daggin and perhaps other things. Zelia could not figure out where the noise was coming from. For dinner we had a very nice cod with curry and vegetable, rice, salad and then ice cream with frozen berries for dessert. Back in the cabin we had some wine and got the kids to bed which stretched into everyone heading to sleep.

In the morning we woke with the kids, around 8:30, as it was just beginning to get some light in the sky. We woke slowly, made breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and cheese. Then we got all dressed and headed into the cars a bit up the road. Jukka had asked about places to go fishing - another avid fly fisherman, and so that's what the guys were planning on doing. Katri and I decided we would hike with them to begin with and then head back when we/the kids were ready. So, Zelia was in the wrap, Pyry in the ergo carrier and we were off. The terrain was interesting, maybe tundra, but I am not sure. It had huge mounds of long grass and mossy bottom that was squishy to walk on, water was running through much of it in little streams and there were still some patches of snow here and there (yes the 2+ feet had basically melted away). We got to walk over larger streams and eventually decided to turn back with the kids.

When we got back to the house we had some porridge with grated apple and all went to sleep for about an hour and a half. Katri and I woke first and had about a half hour without the kids to just chat, I was doing some knitting, had some coffee in quiet, lovely. We laughed that the men had probably found the hot spring and spent the day hanging out there.

Jacob and I had brought the fish he was given the other week and I began to make dinner: sweet potatoes, salad, cod made with Emita's chicken recipe (lots of caramelized onions and lemon). while I was cooking Jacob, Jukka and Traian returned hot and tired. We had a nice dinner together and as it turns out they DID find the hot spring - just where we had driven the cars before beginning our hike. It was decided, clean up from dinner, put on our suites, get what we needed to make the babies warm when we got out and head into the car. The night was perfectly clear with a million starts in view. We headed to the small spring, stripped down and went in. It was amazing!!!!! The temperature was perfect like a bath, we could sit and be covered just below the chest and look up at the sky. The kids were so relaxed and calm when we got in, splashed some and mostly hung out. We got the babies out, dry and warm in moments and then had a bumpy ride home. Zelia fell fast asleep. I think it had all the perfect conditions, warm water, a little crying, being all bundled up and a bumpy car ride. She slept VERY well. Once back we enjoyed some dessert we had brought from the bakery in town and headed to bed.

the next morning we all slept a bit later, 9am I think. We had a leisurely breakfast in two rounds, first oatmeal and then more eggs and bacon. We began cleaning the house and packing up, settled the bill and got on the road. The day was rainy and grey but the scenery was still very pretty. Zelia was fast asleep and we listened to music and chatted on the ride home. At one point Traian said he saw a seal and we were now officially on the look out. Not too much later Jacob says, "Andrea, there's your seal." You would not have believed it, there must have been over 100 of them, hanging out on the rocks, all furry and cute, with white and black fur. When we pulled over some of them heard us and turned to see what we were doing. So fabulous!!!!
Along the drive we saw a few pieces of sea ice floating which was a surprise to be honest. But Jacob mentioned that the sea ice is quite close to Iceland this year. Once in a while a poor polar bear finds his way here and it doesn't end well for him:(

Anyway, everyone is home and back into the weekly routine. Jacob has begun a new class with a professor from Canada. He will only be here for a week so they are having many hours everyday.

The pictures are mostly of Zelia as you can see, in one she is with Pyry and one is of Jukka fishing.