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@brittarnhild
I have sent postcards to all of you who emailed me your address (+ a couple more). Now we are back in Norway, so it is too late for more postcards. Instead I am sharing a few with you here.
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A few other blog updates lately:
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@brittarnhild
We are gathered here in Reykjavik, Iceland, for the confirmation of my nephew Ágúst Örn. You already know Ágúst, yes, he is the actor, I am the leader of his fan club :-) Can you remember I have been here to see him take part both in Oliver Twist and in Macbeth at the National Theatre here in Reykjavik.
The confirmation, or ferming as they say in Icelandic, took part in Hallgrimskirkjan today, and yesterday many of us met in one of the side aisles in the church to make it ready for the confirmation party.
My sister in law had planned everything doen to the tiniest details, for us it was just to set up the room. What a lot of fun to do this, the whole family together.
Ágúst, and my other nephew Benjamin, who will have his confirmation in Trondheim in a few weeks, are always teasing me. Some time during the preparations they had found my camera, so when I came home and looked through my photos I found quite a few I had never seen before :-)
I love their teasing of course, and when I gave Ágúst a speech during the reseption today, I made him promise that he will never stop his teasing. In our family we always say that you tease the one you love. He must love me buckets!
Today was the confirmation service. 10 young girls and boys.
I couldn´t help myself getting quite emotional.
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Thank you Ágúst for a wonderful, memorable day. Now I am looking forward to yours Benjamin :-)
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@brittarnhild
Here is "oue" house in Reykjavik, found via airbnb (all first floor is ours).
Just across the street is a park and the Kjarvalstadir museum. Every morning birds in our garden and the park wake us up with their beautiful singing.
While taking our grandson for a walk in the park this morning, we found out that the birds are Icelandic redwings, Coburni.
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@brittarnhild
Do you know where to find the best hot dogs in Reykjavik? They are sold in a tiny little stall downdown, Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, which has been there since 1937. I never visit Reykjavik without at least one hot dog from the stall, and last night, a long time after dinner, some time after our last drink, Terje and I walked down to the stall before heading home.
Usually Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur has a long line of people queuing, but we were lucky. Only three people in front of us in the line.
From the website:
A hot dog condiments include ketchup, sweet mustard, fried onion, raw onion and remolaði, a mayonnaise-based sauce with sweet relish. Hot dogs are often ordered with “the works,” i.e., all condiments, or in Icelandic “eina með öllu”.
For me ketchup only was enough :-)
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@brittarnhild
The first time we did The Golden Circle was back in 1985. My borther Børge had fallen in love with a young Icelandic woman and they were getting married in Reykjavik. My whole family travelled from Norway for the celebration. Torgeir and Øystein were toddlers then. I had knitted and sewn a lot of new clothes for them and loved to take them around. We spent a week on the saga island and one day Børge and his new family in law had rented our own bus with our own private guide to visit Gullfoss, Geysir and Thingvellir. Since then Terje and I have done the tour twice, with Marta only once, when she was just one year old. It was time to take her back.
Just as yesterday presentet itself with a blizzard, today offered a bright winter sun from a blue sky.
First stop Gullfoss, Iceland´s most famous waterfall. Still beautifull sunny, but here the wind was so cold and heavy it was no way we could have the baby with us out there. Solution - staying with him in the cafe while we took turns to see the waterfalls.
Next stop Geysir. The original geysir, which has given name to all other geysirs around the word, is not erupting much any more, but the nearby Strokkur is busy, every fifth minute or so. My guidebook says that you rarely have to wait more than six minutes, but when Marta has filmed for ten minutes she gave up, took a break and then the eruption came of course :-) Well, she gave Strukkur another chance and got her film.
Our last stop was Thingvellir, where the Vikings established the world´s first democratic parliament in AD930.
It is hard to imagine all the history which is in the air here.
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It is hard to pick just one recipient of a postcard. Email me your address to knitwoman1958 (@) yahoo.com and I will send you a card.
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@brittarnhild
Do you remember the Blue Garden Letters I did back in 2014? I am thinking of doing something similar again. Not exactly the same, it did not work out as I had planned. but I am playing with a few ideas.
While I play with the new ideas I wonder if you are interesting in a postcard/travel letter from Iceland?
Leave a comment on this post, and I will pick one of you.
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@brittarnhild
Today Terje and I are busy packing, reading guidebooks, looking at maps, making plans. Tomorrow we are leaving for a week in Iceland. Do you want to come with? I can´t promise travel letters this time, but I will update my blog. Hopefully with a daily Iceland tale.
PS - the category Iceland in the right hand bar, will take you to all my other Iceland tales. Take a look and get prepared for this visit.
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@brittarnhild
With our daughter, son in law and grandson at the cabin with us, I am inspired to make some babytoys. Using left over cotton yarn, I am crocheting small figures in different shapes and colours. When finished they will hand over the babymat, perfect for a 3-4 months old to play with.
One of the figures I fill with dry paper, which will make noise when being squeezed. In another one I will put a kinderegg filled with dried peas.
While I crochet, Leander is having a nap in the old farmer´s bed which stands in the livingroom.
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@brittarnhild
For a year now I have worked reduced hours. A new situation, as I have almost all my grown up life worked full time, with some exceptions when the kids were small. Working reduced hours gives me days at home, gives me long mornings when I can sit watching the birds after breakfast.
I love my birdwatching time, and over the last 12 months, I have learned a lot about the birds in the garden. Their names, their singing, what they like to eat, how they act alone or together. I have a special notebook where I write down the birds which visit The Blue Garden. I started this notebook in February last year, and love to compare today with the same day last year.
Almost every day we have great tits, blue tits and eurasian siskins visiting. Then a lot of other birds are coming from time to time. Like the yellowhammers. I love the yellowhammers. I love their colours, but most of all their singing. One, two, three, four five six, seven........is how we describe their singing in Norway. En, to, tre, fire, fem, seks, sjuuuuuu......Seven in Norwegian is sju, the same sound as the last sound in the yellohammers song. A few years ago I wrote a legend about how the yellowhammer learned to count to seven. So far the legend is only in Norwegian. May be I shall translate it some day.......
Or you can try google translate yourself. You find the legend here.
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