Friday, May 29, 2009

The end of May

Well, the last few days have been grey and rainy but we have been assured that we did not just experience the shortest summer ever!

Tonight we are flying to Reykjavik and staying with Edda for two nights. Tomorrow we have plans to meet Katri and Pyry at the zoo and also a woman with her baby who went to Commonwealth. She wasn´t in school with Jacob but he just found out about alumni in Iceland. Check out the website for the zoo http://www.mu.is/in-english/

On Sunday we will have brunch with Lana (Bates alum) and Erling her husband and another Bates alum who is here visiting before we head on the road in our CAR!!!!! We are "renting" Katri and Jukka´s car until August when they are selling it to the dancer who will be taking Katri´s place.

We plan on heading to Lautrabjarg, the bird cliff and staying Sunday night ina hotel there and then continuing the drive home on Monday. Sunday and Monday are holidays here, the Pentecost.

We had a wonderful anniversary celebration on Wednesday at the Tarhouse, where we ate very well and had a blast sharing the celebration with Gerdur and Gisli who have the same anniversary!!!!!! Danielle, Astrid, Henry and David also joined us. The meal was 5 courses, each one delicious. We began with plokfiskur, then bisque and then three main courses, steinbita (I think lump fish), a flat fish and then monkfish. Then we headed back to the house to enjoy a chocolate cake that Danielle and Astrid made for us with blueberry/rhubarb compote Jacob made.

Last night we had Emil, Jacob´s professor over for dinner and it was another delicious meal. Jacob made the Indian chicken we love, wheat berries and a spinach, chickpea curry dish. mmm, mmm, mmm

Unfortunatley I woke this morning with pink eye, so I am off to the doctor´s at 1. When I couldn´t open my eye early early this morning I thought, I haven´t felt this since I was like 4 years old!!!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Outside in May
















Here are MANY, MANY pictures.
The first are Jacob and Zelia walking to school in the morning, the second group is form our garden!

Some are from the music morning last Saturday. We were singing some songs in Hebrew and doing Ugah, Ugah, which she likes, but apparently wasn't in the mood for - she lay on the ground!!!!

And finally today at the park with Katri and Pyry






















a vacation day - at the park

a vacation day - on the way to the park

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Outside time

It has been a really beautiful weekend in Isafjordur. On Friday I got out of class at 4 and went to meet Jacob and Zelia and we went to Samkaup for a few ingredients for dinner. I hadn't made Hallah in a long time but it was rising at home ans we were going to have a nice Shabbat dinner. We enjoyed another one of Baki and Angie's gift steaks - delicious. And we discussed how this was the best present EVA!!!! On Saturday morning we all played/worked in the garden for a short while and then went to music time at Edinborg. In the afternoon, when Zelia and I woke from our nap (Jacob kept sleeping, he wasn't feeling well) Zelia and I walked to Gerdur's new store and helped her build more of her furniture.

Last night we had a nice dinner with Katri and Jukka. Jukka leave today and Katri in two weeks. The are excited to move back to Finland but we will miss them both. Everyone else in the country was attending Eurovision parties to watch the finals! Iceland, Israel and Finland were all in. Norway won, Iceland came in Second and Azerbaijan came in third.

Jacob left at 6am with Tray to do some sampling at low tide for a class, then need to go out again this evening. Zelia and I have had leisurely morning, eating oatmeal and Zelia has been enjoying playing on the porch.

She has changed so much with her walking. We were saying how when we first met Katri and Jukka, Zelia and Pyry couldn't play together, but last night it was great. At one point we laughed at how nice it was, the four adults were eating and the two children playing in another room! We have passed to another stage. This other stage also includes Zelia walking off wherever her little eyes lead. She has no problem walking off the porch and out into the world:) It's great but we have to keep an eye on her. She loves to walk outside and pick up rocks, sometimes taste them, but mostly give them to us to keep.

Jacob and Tray just returned with buckets full of clams and mussels so apparently we are having a BIG early dinner tonight. Zelia loved the mussels:)




Wednesday, May 13, 2009

What weather!

For several days we have had some wild wind blowing and some rain through the sun. I started running about a week or so ago and went for a run on Monday night after dinner. In a bit of a pissy mood I head out with some music and decided to run up the brekka (hill). After two rounds up the hill I continued on the high road toward Bonus and was it ever windy! As windy as it has been here there were gusts that still shocked me. Interestingly I think it took the pounding out of the run.

The next day we woke to similar weather, lots of wind and sun and rain all at the same time. As I was walking to work I saw the most incredibly rainbow I have ever seen. It was clear, bright and I could see the full arc - breath taking. I laughed to myself as just this week I have been singing rise and shine and bring god your glory glory to Zelia and she loves waking to it - so the rainbow was appropriate.

now, today was a day to behold. We woke to blue skies and sunshine and it was 11 degrees when we I check at 7:30. I do have to mention that the sun was shining at about 4 am. We were walking outside with only sweaters and flip flops. The sky was blue and the clouds were making formations like I have never seen. As a lot of the snow on the mountains has melted the contrast now as I look out is stark, the dark earth of the mountain, the white snow on the peaks or running down gullies and then this blue sky. It is hard to describe accurately, at least for me.

It is 7:30, Zelia is asleep after a long day with Harpa. I have to mention that she walked to Harpa's today with Jacob both of them in their sun glasses - too cute. AND, she didn't cry, not even when he left her. Jacob is outside with Danielle working in the garden and the sun is still shining. the wind picked up a lot this afternoon so it can be funny to walk out there.

Lastly, I began a 3-week Icelandic course that meets from 1:30-5, it's meant for unemployed immigrants so there are some activities built in. Today we went to this house that the municipality set up for the unemployed so that they can gather, have things to do and a place to go and not get depressed. It was pretty amazing. There were 3 rooms, each with different possible activities, fiber art, mosaic, computers, planting, jewelry making, etc. So, I got to do make first fiber art product, I made wool "beads". It was really fun, so I brought a bunch home for Zelia, so far she is uninterested!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Alla's Farm














































At the music festival during Easter I was speaking to Nina, who printed the posters for BAK. She was selling hot chocolate and some wool shawls with her husband Smari. I was asking her about the wool and she told me about her friend Alla who has a farm in Pyngeyri. I told her I really wanted to go to a sheep shearing and she said that to go for lambing is a great thing. A few weeks later I got Alla's email address and we began some email communication. She is also studying English at the University Centre.

I happened to have mentioned this to Gunna Sigga, who works at the University Centre and happened to have picked my mom and me up from the airport in September, and she was planning on visitng her as well. So we made a plan to go Saturday afternoon.

Because Gunna Sigga is just amazing she came with ponnukokur and her homemade blueberry jam (I eat this every day with my yogurt at school). yummmmm. Zelia had a blast riding next to Karl Aaron, Gunna Sigga's son as he tried to think of all the English words he knew. It was actually quite impressive especially when he said blow torch - I definitely don't know that in ANY other language!

We arrived and Alla went and got us a backpack to carry Zelia in and a pair of mittens - which she refused to wear - of course. As you will see in the pictures, she eventually refused her hat as well. Anyway, we walked around the farm and looked at the cows, smaller than the ones in the US and very cute. Check out the colors on that one! I was truly hoping to see a birth, but it wasn't meant to be I guess. We saw several lambs and Alla says she doesn't even know how many have been born. Earlier in the week she had a day with 12 new lambs!!!! Amazing.

She also does a lot of craft work, makes buttons from the sheep horns, washes and spins wool, sews, etc. We got to se her workshops which were very neat and she invited us back to learn to do some of these things - I can't wait.

Zelia had a lot of fun looking at all the animals, Labbi the dog included, and on the walk back to the house she began making chicken noises, baa, baa, baa - it was pretty funny. She was also going through her entire repetory of words and sounds so we were doing a lot of laughing.

Jacob and I bought a dozen of her eggs and we were all invited inside for some tea and coffee and she too would have made ponnukokur, but we needed to think about heading out. She had a beautiful old piano that Dan, Tanja's friend visiting from Argentina (from the US though), played really nicely. We had tea made from mint, lemon balm and some other herb growing outside. Then she began boiling some eggs, some of which were wild duck eggs. Their shells were practicall green - very interesting. Jacob was anxious to try it and offered Zelia a bite, she proceeded to eat the entire thing!

We came home, fed Zelia and then headed to Tanja's where Dan was making us all a 4 course meal! Bruschetta, cheese, salami, mushroom risotto, spelt pasta with salmon, raosted lamb and tiramisu, delicious!