back in the swing

Well I’ve been home from Iceland for 10 days or so now and things are slowly settling back into some sort of resemblance to how they were before Pabbi died. My mind stays more focused and doesn’t jump about quite as much as it was. I’m getting back into the work routine but man I’m probably shouldn’t have had so many sleep-ins whilst in Iceland. Getting up by 0630 is just a wee bit harder at the moment than it was before going to Iceland.

I miss Iceland (probably the family/people more than the actual physical place, though I miss that too) terribly but oh when I walked into my own bedroom at 2am last Thursday morning, I felt things for my room that I don’t think I’ve felt before. If I could have hugged my room I probably would have, instead I opened the door and just sighed. My bed, my stuff, my own tea collection, my everythings. I picked up a few things in my travels to add to my room and in the below picture is one. I could have spent a lot more money and time in the Cath Kidston shop… My new cup for when I want a biggish cup of tea (I might have 4 cups that I drink tea out of at home depending on the type of tea, the mood I’m in etc).

Home

Not just my house but also the farm, collecting macadamias, playing with my camera in the afternoon sun.

Oh Hello Sun

I see red

Anchor Point

This past week was also my first week back at Uni for the first time in a good 3.5 years. It’s good to be giving the brain some more stimulus. It’s going to take a while to get used to class from 1800-2100 on Tuesday and Thursday nights but I’ll get there. A bonus to the late finish is that I get an off-peak train fare home 🙂 and since I’m at uni on Thursday nights I can’t be tempted by late night shopping. It does mean that I miss ballet this term though which is a bummer.

Back to Uni

Now a picture or two from Iceland

mmm Irises. There were so many in the botanical gardens.

Reykjavik Botanical Gardens

Bro, where’s my fish?
Bro, where's my fish?

Three photos and a few words from June 20

Well in a few words you will find out that I am now in Iceland and have been since about 11pm on June 16th. Just in time to celebrate Iceland’s national day on June 17th and then a memorial service and ashes burial for my father on June 18th etc etc etc

We’ve had a slide show of slides that Pabbi took before Mum and we will be having a slide show shortly of slides that Mum took after she arrived. Mum is currently knitting me a shawl, we’ve climbed a mountain in the midnight light. We are going to brew beer tonight with Karl and watch the soccer and a hundred other things that have been done and yet to be done.

A few photos from June 20.

This is one of my nephews wearing Amma Rut’s (Mum/Ruth) glasses.
Iceland, June 20

We spent part of the afternoon at Þingvellir, where we laughed at this sign. The sign mentions nothing about throwing Australian coins into the river…… I would love to get one of those signs. How often do you see a sign like that????
Iceland, June 20

This is Öxarárfoss at Þingvellir. This waterfall looks quite large on the road in but when you walk up to the base of the falls it is actually quite tiny…..
Iceland, June 20

Oh what a wonderful Christmas

It is 0615 as I write this on Christmas morning and I am sitting in the living room amongst a bombsite of wrapping paper, ribbon and cardboard boxes. Pabbi is awake and Karl is dozing in his bed but apart from that it is just me and the birds. We had a very big night last night and I don’t think it has ever taken that long for us to do the presents, with 9 people though it takes a little bit longer. Oh we had a ball.

A family from Iceland should come every year for Christmas, well at least one every second year. Matthew and I had a blast making a clued treasure hunt for the girls, which had us laughing till we fell off the chair. All those photos will come later though and oh what photos I have, as well as photos from decorating the tree and decorating biscuits.

Jól 2008

It has been such an amazing last few days and now there is only three and a bit days till Iceland flies home. After having our Icelandic Christmas last night we will shortly be heading up to The Farm for our Australian Christmas.

Currently Birta is eating chocolate, Silja is playing with her magic balloon, Mum and Pabbi is eating breakfast, Matthew is still asleep (despite my attempts to get him up), Karl is finding chocolate on the tree, Anna and Toti are walking round.

happy

There were flight delays out of Singapore and again out of Sydney but finally a plane landed in Brisbane carrying four special people. My brother, my sister-in-law and my two nieces. One of the first things they girls did when they arrived was hopped on the net, spoke to each other on MSN and played various Flash games. This photo is so much more than just a girl at a laptop, it is Birta, in the living room of my parent’s house in Australia playing on my laptop and that makes me smile.

so much joy

One of the things Karl did shortly after he arrived yesterday was to have a little look through the camera bag I had with me. Today, though he had more of a play with my lenses and I had a little play with his 24mm f/2.8, which let me take this image.

Jasmine

This afternoon after the girls had a little nap, all of us bar Mum and Pabbi went to the park and played French Cricket for a while which was a total ball and I am looking forward to quite a few more French Cricket games between now and Christmas Day. Oh I am so looking forward to the next few weeks! Tomorrow I am back at work though after taking the last two days off for the arrival of the Icelandic contingent.

1240 days or thereabouts

Is roughly how long it has been since I last saw Karl, my big full brother. I can’t really say he is my big brother because I have four of them and Karl is the youngest of them. To say I am excited is something of an understatement.

We have just picked up Karl from the airport, which was all very exciting and this is one of the goodies he brought with him. I keep on bringing the package up to my face and inhaling the delightful smell. mmmmm dried fish!!!!

The mother ship has arrived!

Getting closer

Monday night is SES night and last night was Monday night. Myself and one of the other newbies got to out with a crew instead of staying at group training like the others. We got to do real jobs this time as well, like filling sand bags to hold tarps down, climbing ladders with said sand bags to pass to the workers on the roof, clearing branches and wet carpet. Man why on earth did it take me this long to finally join? We only have about a month or so now left on probation and then we get to go on all sorts of things.

In other news, my teeth are still driving me mad. “Braces, free to whoever removes them”. I went back last Thursday and had a new wire put on them which is slightly less painful in some ways but more in other and I got pink and purple bands put on (I let the girls at work pick a colour each). That whole biting, chewing thing is not something that my teeth enjoy doing at the present and I can’t yawn too much as it causes the wires to grab on my cheeks. sigh. I only hope that in another month they are relatively pain free as I need/want/have to be able enjoy Christmas and all the goodies we will have this year. We have been organising our list of Icelandic goodies that we want Karl and Toti to bring out, they of course include Appelsín, Prince Polo Bars and Dried Fish…. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Dried Fish.

Unlike a yoyo craze, unlike a marble phase,
I love it everyday – Dried Fish!
Unlike a hopscotch craze, unlike a knucklebone phase,
I love it everyday – Dried Fish!
I love it everyday – Dried Fish!

I chatted to my nieces on MSN last night, I have never done that before. We had a great little chat and I think I will make more trips to the beach this coming month than I have in the last couple of years! I am so looking forward to next week.