indulgence

2005-05-30T14:23:00.000Z

No, I dont want to be your friend.

2005-05-30T14:21:00.000Z

we are rabbits

2005-05-30T14:20:00.000Z

Waiting inside the stable for things to come (hopefully mares.).

2005-05-30T14:19:00.000Z

Rather new in our house and already pregnant.

2005-05-30T14:18:00.000Z

Piggy once again. Free to roam at leisure.

2005-05-30T14:17:00.000Z

Young and up to no good, piggy and lamb.

2005-05-30T14:16:00.000Z

Two good friends taking a walk.

2005-05-30T14:15:00.000Z

I am so proud! First time on horseback again since I don�t remember when. I'll keep it up.

2005-05-26T21:01:00.000Z

Wednesday. What a nice day today! Nice and sunny weather, good mood at work, cooking for marvellous guests – no meat, so I made a veggi lasagna with green paprika and spinat and more green for the green part and red onion and red paprika and tomatoes for the red, with home baked rolls – and it tasted nice.

Thursday. Me feeding people, today it were Ragnar and Family and Jón Valur and Eyrún. The weather is still keeping itself, There is hope, the heavens have not yet fallen upon our heads. Tomorrow evening I will go to a party in country side near Selfoss and I am finishing knitting the jacket I want to use. So, no time for blogging.

2005-05-24T23:37:00.001Z

Norway in spring (yes, it was raining)

2005-05-24T23:37:00.000Z

The star of the 14 th. of mai

2005-05-24T23:36:00.000Z

we three kids of our parents

2005-05-24T23:35:00.000Z

grandson in Oslo (the small one)

2005-05-24T23:18:00.000Z

Late this afternoon “The Girls” met and we sat for four hours in a coffehouse chatting: The girls: 20 years ago we went together to university, age about 45 to 80. It’s nice to follow the lives for such a long time, seeing everybody getting families and kids and houses and these odd jobs. Guess who in what age was in Africa, in China, aso. (and so on) and is planning a trip to Australia?
The weather fills me with hope. 9 working days to go to summer holidays, including only 4 days straight (or bent) teaching!

2005-05-24T09:04:00.000Z

Somewhere there came the question: Do horses eat fish? Yes, They do, and we have given them saltherring. Also cows are crazy for this stuff. It is the taste of salt they like and in every good stable you will find salt licking stones. They don´t eat it in excess, they get hey of course and then they nibble a bit out of a barrel.

2005-05-24T00:47:00.000Z

Time is passing, yes, it is end of may!!, and little news from here. In between I was in Norway, attending the confirmation of my niece and met a lot of family and friends of the family of my sister. I took my oldest grandchild with me and we had a nice time. Cold there, cold here, the summer is lazy to come and in two weeks my summer holidays will start. Still, narcisses and tulips are flowering in my garden and the trees are sprouting leaves.
The Eurovision is behind us, poor Iceland, there were discussions how and where to hold the next Eurovision here in Iceland as everybody was sure that the icelandic song would win and then they didn´t even get into the finale. But as it is said here, the song was great as was the performance and european people just don´t recognize a good thing when they see it. Yes, you must be optimistic to be able to live in this cold and barren country. I was so happy that Malta got the second place, a beautiful song, a beautiful voice and that was it. No naked people dancing, not even to mention that this lady in singing lacked all slimness. So there are people who still got taste. As me.
As usual at this time of the year I feel a depression settling in, my mind and body long for warmth and sweetness and going outside the house you believe it will never come.

2005-04-27T23:04:00.000Z

Yesterday late Jakobína and Guðmar came in for a coffe on their way back home after cinema. Today, work from 8 to 4, unexciting and an evening with Monika watching america’s next topp model. We both like it and have our views on who should win. Anyhow, there seems to be quite a lot more to become some top but looking beautiful. I even think they are rather normal looking without make up. I am sure I would make a great model if I were younger, slimmer, bigger, with longer, straighter legs and bigger eyes. Maybe I would have to learn how to walk, too. When I was a teenager I tried to walk like a model, with the toes to the outside and got the effect of a unsecure duck. But that is a long time ago.

2005-04-27T00:00:00.000Z

Outside it is summer, today at least and it is amazing how quickly you forget the bundled up freezing days. So today we sat in our break on warm stones in delicious sunshine. I got these great new summersocks, knee high, pink with black stripes and showed them to everybody who didn’t want to see them. Relaxed breakfast with my friend who stayed overnight, after an evening of chatting, work til four, shopping, a very nice visit and dinner right now.
Yesterday I got this really bad allergic reaction to something after I was some time in my garden, running nose and a bad headache. Who says that being outdoors is healthy? So, I was quick to go in again. Outside Jón Valur is whashing a car and I told him to take mine too, which he is doing. So, a bright clean new day tommorrow.
Just as I was writing I heard this noise outside and saw parts of treetrunks falling down: Valur has bought a chain saw and Jón Valur was sitting up in a tree, cutting branches. So, the big boys are playing outside.

2005-04-25T09:02:00.000Z

Back from Portugal we could hug Jón Valur and Eyrún who had arrived meanwhile from half a year of austria where they seemed to have had a good time. As Monika left the flat downstairs they moved in and everybody is very happy. Jón Valur started to work again with his father, to his great relief (the father’s) and Eyrún got a job at a computer and things wholesale, to my and Jón Valur’s great enjoyment.
We got past the “first summer day” on the 21th of april and for a change it did not snow but the sun was shining. So now here in Iceland we say it is summer with 8 DC outside and start cleaning our garden from the heaviness of winter. Everything is coming nicely, krokusses are in flower and the narcisses are ready to bloom. The tulips still need some time and other plants are as yet just a promise for later times. There was, still is, a lot to cut back or cut down, a gardener we wanted to get for this job came once, walked through the garden with us and never returned. I have’t yet got the meaning of this: is our garden hopeless, too big, too small, fine as it is or did he just loose our adress? Be that as it might be, it leaves us, me, with gardenclippers and a saw…
The next day Marinó was 17 years old – so old, rather a shock for his aging mother – and we had a small birthday party with family, hamburger and sweets and he was very happy. He loves it to have his birthdaysong song for him.
So, life goes on at it’s usual pace. As the sun is shining once again into our windows I am cleaning, once again, throwing things away – yes, where DO they come from? Yes, I know, things do get lost, break, dissappear .. but here, at my house, they seem to multiply, get kids, grow and be happy. Not to talk about the flood of papers coming through our doorslit each and every day. The paper we pay for with full of extrapapers nobody asked for, a paper we don´t need and dón’t pay for either, pamphlets, advertisements, more advertisements … one big black plastic bag once a week and meanwhile the woods are cut down and pulped. Next door there is an empty flat and all these not asked for papers are put in front of the door and the next wind blows all this into our garden.

2005-04-24T11:17:00.000Z

my mother's garden

back again and pictures from our time in portugal

2005-04-24T11:10:00.000Z

Me back in cyberspace...
Yes, I have been gone for a long time, I know. Mostly the fault of my not there and not working connection. Now I've got a little black antenna (wireless LAN PCI adapter) that is connecting me and Jon Valur with the big world outside.
Yes, I flew to Lisboa, a long time ago! It was a very relaxing and quiet holiday, going for walks, sitting and talking, making visits: things you do in holidays. I even got a little tan. On the way out, between Faroer and Frankfurt, Valur got a bleeding nose and blood was over all in this tiny space you got in aircraft seats. So we sat there with tissues, ice cubes, plastic bags and pesonal hoovering over us. In Frankfurt there was a rushing to change planes, but we got it all and arrived one hour late to 29 degrees and sunshine and parents fetching us from the airport. The house was full with pleasant guests and in the evening we played scrabble, while others watches TV or sat together playing cards in front of the blasting fireplace. Yes, the weather didn't keep what it promised the first two days, it started to rain and everybody but the tourists were so happy theat it finally rained that we could not do anything else but be glad too.
The flight back was without bleeding or rushing, but still, Valurs golfbag was left behind in Amsterdam and there was a confusion about arrival time so our children came much too late to fetch us, but we got home in the end and was I not happy to meet my bed again!

2005-03-16T22:15:00.000Z

So, just some words so everybody sees that I am still alive and well. Tomorrow Valur and me are flying to Lissabon to visit my parents over eastern. So beside of crocheting two more hats I had a lot to do, but everything is ready now, my hair newly cut and the bath is waiting. Up again at 4:50, and tommorow evening I will be sitting on a nice patio and sip white wine in degrees over –1; while I know that my daughters are taking care of my house, car, son and flowers. What a wonderfull life!
I wish everybody a nice holiday and maybe I write you from Portugal.
Claudia, I didn’t forget your birthday, I just didn’t take care of the date. So, happy birthday!! And your son phoned me by accident the other day, so I could congratulate him.
Bye and bless und bald wieder.

2005-03-09T23:14:00.000Z

See my new photos from today- visit of daughters, kids and dogs.

2005-03-09T21:59:00.000Z

still another creation

2005-03-08T02:15:00.000Z

a headcover

2005-03-08T01:51:00.000Z

good mood sock
These socks I knitted

2005-03-08T01:44:00.001Z

one more
crocheting for the fun of it

2005-03-08T01:44:00.000Z

a hat

2005-03-08T01:43:00.000Z

one more hat

2005-03-08T01:37:00.000Z

Grandchild on horseback
That I have to live with! And am proud of it.

I forgot

2005-03-06T23:13:00.000Z

to tell you about the icelandic outdoors swinmming pools. If you have once tried them out, you won't want to swim anywhere else. Of course the hot springs feed them and you will find a comfortable warm swimming pool in every crummy place and between them, used in summer and winter. All of them have a hot pot too, with, or without bubbles. It's great. The biggest and best known hot pool however is the "blue lagoon", world wide known through excellent adversitsing. There the tourists go, yes and some icelanders too, I don´t, for reasons I am not going to tell.

2005-03-06T13:54:00.000Z

I would like to tell you about Iceland. If you look at a map of the world, it is this little duck like island down to the right under Greenland. There should be a change of name. Iceland is very green and Greenland is rather icy. When about 1000 years ago the first settlers arrived at Iceland from the east, as they came from Norway, the first thing they saw was the biggest glacier in Europe, the “Vatnajökull” and called it “Ice”land. They should just have waited with this name-giving around the next corner, there it gets green and lushy. Greenland on the other hand was one of the big advertisements in the old days. They wanted people to settle there in the time of the vikings and called it Greenland, thereby promising grass and meadows for the animals.

Iceland has a rather mild, oceanic climate, getting softnes from the “Golfstream”, a warm arm of ocean which streches all the way north fom the mexican golf. Fishes like this, so there is great fishing here and was the main industry for a long time and still is. In the last decades we got aluminium factories, precision fabrication, software production. And on a small scale whatever you ask for. We can look proudly of having produced two times the Miss World, the strongest man in the world and the singer Björk. We got a small filmindustrie, music groups which are famous around the world, the leader of the football team Chelsea in Great Britain. We got theater, opera, ballet, art exibitions. And all that out of a population of 284.000, the size of a nice suburb abroad.

We are one of the 5 richest country in the world. We got more cars per person than the americans. Everybody down to 10 years old has at least one handy. Computers are at most homes and often more than one. And so on.

Our speciality: hot water. Here we got these hot springs, springing up wherever you want (no, not really). Springing up in many places. When I was a kid I was terrified and fascinated to drive through Hveragerði. Then the roads were only mud tracks and in the middle of the road there would be these little hot springs bubbling and gurgeling. Some years ago they had to move out of a house there as there was suddenly a little geysir in the basement. Of course we also have some earthquakes and vulcano eruptions from time to time, that comes in the package.
So, most of the icelandic homes are heated by hot water. It is transported in pipelines and has the confortable temperature of about 70 degree C when it reaches the ofens. It is also used as tap water and has a slightly sulforic smell. Some of the energy of the hot water and steam is also used to produce electricity but mostly the huge amount of electricity we can consume is generated from rivers.

Half of the population of Iceland lives in and around the capital Reykjavík. In the north is a town, Akureyri and the rest live in fishing villages or as farmers around the cost. The middle of the land is wilderness: glaciers, stones, sands, waterfalls, more and more visited by tourists.

2005-03-05T21:54:00.000Z

Monday I will go and get me an icelandic passport. The news: after living more than thirty years in Iceland I finally decided to become icelandic officially. Up to two month before I have been german. I haven´t been to Germany in 15 years. So I found it a necessary step to become icelandic. And I am proud of it. Iceland is a great country and my home. I like to make statements. When I decided that I really didn’t believe in the teaching of the church I went and resigned. I don´t like to be a follower in something that I don’t believe in. Some people around me laugh at this. It is important for me.
We are a quite wildly european family, splattered from Germany to Iceland, Portugal, Norway, mixed with a bit of Kurd and Israel. One summer at home we had to juggle between six languages. I took part in three. Me, that is german, english and icelandic. I can safe myself in french. Monika brought russian with her. So, we will go quite a way. We even know a chinese young man. He could help us out, too, if it should prove life saving.

2005-03-05T20:23:00.000Z

The last week passed extremely quickly. Just managed my work from monday to wednesday, thursday I fetched Marinó from school and then he went shopping with Monika what he loved. I went to my painting class and finished two pictures. I took photos of them to show you, but on those pictures my paintings died. So, I will try to take better photos some time later. Now I am once, once, once again cleaning my house … and in between crocheting hats.

2005-03-05T15:35:00.000Z

All the teachers at our school are dicussing this spring two afternoons the week the concept of teaching. We listen to invited specialists, discuss in little groups and as the time goes on ideas seem to be cristallizing how we would like the school to be, the interaction, the learning, the teaching, the assessing. It gets more interesting every week. Many of the teachers are dissatisfied with the school as it is today and many brilliant ideas for changes are emerging.
In our special class we have tackeled this problem often: What is the most important thing for our students to learn in the timeframe that is given? Do they need to learn to handle money when they can use credit cards? Do we spent time teaching them to calculate when they can use a calculator? In the exams they don´t use calculators, somebody argues. Then, isn’t it time to change the examinations? When, in real life, do you have to translate without a dictionary? Should our children attend class to get them to interact with their peers or should we teach them how to interact with peers through stories in a safe environment? Everytime you do something with the children you set a question mark behind it. It can change yearly, weekly, daily. Luckily the opinions of the teachers differ. That makes it possible to go a rather safe middleway. What do children from today have to be able to do tomorrow? What do you know, maybe there will not be electricity tomorrow and they should learn to make a fire with a stick. Read Doris Lessing’s “Memoirs af a survivor” and you know what I mean.

2005-03-04T20:18:00.000Z

children at my house

ramblings

2005-03-04T13:53:00.000Z

I am reading a book my parents gave me for my birthday and, sorry, I am quite unhappy with it. It is a german book and the words in it are so bombastic, high level and intellectual that I have to read every sentence twice just to get it’s meaning. I like clear, simple language which says what it has to say and then shuts up. This book is written by Ruediger Safranski and is about the great german poet Schiller. Here the biographer is trying to top the poet, but does not get it. Schiller is great because he is, still now since 1770 and something, simple, understandable, moving and exciting. Safranski isn’t and will therefore not come into the ring of great writers, however hard he tries.
I have come as far as a complicated interpretation of philiosophers of the late eighteenth century, 1750-1800 or so about. Why do I get so impatient reading this? Their ideas might be fascinating and great, I couldn´t tell. But, when they ramble on about the position of man in nature, the world and the universe, think about what they did not yet know. It was before the french revolution, Goethe wrote that the white colour was the purest one –no, let’s keep it short- he got this whole colour-prism thing wrong, it was 100 years before Darwin wrote the “origin of man”, it was still longer untill Freud wrote stupid things about the human psyche and a long, long time before brain scanning and gene research –and results-, so were does this put us now? Is the view of the human being as it was through the greek classik, the middleage through to the last century still relevant for others than historicans?
I feel like when keeping ourselves in the past and the old ideas we are not ready to look at and cope with the problems of today. Not only the science but the idea of science has changed tremendously in the last hundred years and will surely keep on changing dramatically in the future in ways we can’t imagine. Different to the old times when there were a few elected talking in latin about the world these changes touch now every single individual on the globe. Why for example should we nowadays study Marx’s “Das Kapital”? We know that his and Lenins ideas didn’t work. Is there anything more to say about it? It was tried out and didn´t succeed but cost thousands of people’s lives. Anyhow, the interactions in the world have gotten far to complicted for that simplicistic model.
On a much lower level we are discussing these problems at my school. How and what to teach our children. Should we still teach them facts? Or ways to access knowledge? But more about that later.

2005-03-02T19:07:00.000Z

Thanks to Lisi I laugh tonight. Even though I am tired, grumpy and in a bad mood. Hahaha! )):

2005-03-01T09:17:00.000Z

There is something happening to my blog, the left side is missing. It happened once before, but I do´'t remember what I did, if I did anything at all. But let's be patient, maybe the cybergods will have mercy. Untill then...

2005-02-28T19:38:00.000Z

Saturday:
The children came to me at about one o’clock and started to cut, draw and paste a picture. Than it got rather hectic and I decided to drive with them down town to the car wash as my car is really dirty after the countryside trip. It still is as there was a one hour row, so we just turned back home. Monika went with the older ones to cinema and when they came back we all went to McDonalds. By then the dear little ones were tired and grumpy and it wasn’t as much fun as we had hoped. So, back to Margrét they went and the rest of the evening was quiet with a rather exhausted grandma.

Sunday
No we wait for them again and Ragnar and family will also come to let the kids meet each other.
Should I bake a cake or buy one?
I bought one, that is to say, my husband did and the kids ate. They also played, made noise, like yelling, crying, shrieking, fought and finally a part of them fell asleep. Look at my pictures, you can see all of them on one of them.

Monday:
worked, came home and slept for three hours. Ready to go to bed again.

Last week

2005-02-26T10:29:00.000Z

The last week was a full week. Monday and Tuesday there was heavy fog which is very unusual for icelandic weather conditions.
Monday
Monday afternoon I had a meeting at Marinós home, introduction of still new people, talking about the summerwork to come and things like that. He is going to get a new timetable, he is going to lay the table each day,learning to change his bed covers. Otherwise everything is fine as are the folks working there.
After that I had to hurry home as Gerður and Ottar came for a visit and a couple for dinner. In the evening I went to “a new born baby” visit and was very proud to find that house through the darkness and fog in a suburb I had never been to before. To finish that day I fetched Monika from her evening shift at the old people’s home.

Tuesday
Tuesday evening Valur and me went to a lecure in the icelandic gene institute (íslenska erfðagreining) where they have a huge project going in the genes of people with autistm and their families. It is well on the way and some results will be published in the end of this year. They got four groups to work with: the people with autism; their close families and the larger families, going back to grandparents and sideways to the siblings of the parents and their children; students at the university of Iceland; normal pupolation. They take blood of all the people with autism and the closer families (1700+ samples by now), send questionaires, and again take blood of some of the other groups. Then they compare the genes and look where differences are. These results then will go to other specialists who will work to look at the functions which are connected to the gene(s) in question. That, maybe, will be followed by some drug to overtake or steer the function of this malfunctioning gene. As one example: With one family there has been found a bit of one gene missing which is known to fine tune the reactions of the brain by producing an encyme. If this missing bit is found to be missing at the gene information of many people with autism there would be a point to start working with. But it is known that autism must be a cluster of different changes in different gene strings, so there will never be one drug to help. But… at the end of this year we will know more.

Wednesday
Wednesday evening I went to another lecture about CAT (Cognitive affective training). That consists of a bunch of materials to teach people with autism to understand their own feelings and those of other people. A very interesting way of working which we Must get for our class.

Thursday
Thursday evening found me in the countryside. Heike arrived for Jakobinas birthday from germany, Margrét fetched her from the airport and together me and Heike drove to the east. There we had a nice and relaxing evening

Friday
and the next noon I collected the children of Jakobina from their different places, schoolbus and playschool and went back to Reykjavík, while the young women, five of them, went for a long ride (see photos of birthday.) The children all slept at Margréts place where I will fetch them later.

Saturday

2005-02-20T12:08:00.000Z

Yesterday there was a horse in our house. I promised to tell nobody, Jakobína is afraid that people would think we are crazy. Yes, we are. But please, don´t talk about it.
Jakobína arrived with children, girls, the dog Rósa and two horses in a trailer at noon. They planned to ride these two horses on a horseshow in town, as an exercise for both horses and riders. So the question arrived where to give the horses the final make’up. There were some options but we took the quickest one: the lower floor of my house. Margrét, the hairdressingwoman arrived with her little bag and then there was combing, brushing and grooming. The horses, one at a time, behaved beautifully as ladies should do in a beautishop and didn’t leave any manure. The show also went nice I have been told. No, I don’t live in the country. We have a very usual house in a usual house street but a rather big garden with a garden door and there in they went. In the meantime my husband was feeding lots of grandchildren. It was a very happy saturday. (look at the photos if you like.)

Friday

2005-02-19T10:33:00.000Z

So much did I plan to do today and so little did I accomplish. Nice lazy day. I slept very long, read the papers, spent a long time chatting with Margrét and Monika, together and alone, I did dust some and cleaned the bathroom and did some whashing – ok, I put some dirty things into the washingmachine and it did the rest, then I read and slept some more. Margrét brought Marinó for dinner and herself and her two kids and a friend of them and they all ate here and half past nine Valur and me drove Marinó home and I fetched my car from Margrét’s place on the way back. The only thing I regret is not having gone for a walk as I had promised myself in the morning. So some calories stayed unburned.

2005-02-17T21:04:00.000Z

Work from eight to half past twelve and my working week is finished. Did teach, go out into the slub, talk and work in the office and didn’t get away before past one. Margrét is still on my car as her’s it at the garage. Coffee and lunch at home and then I drove Margrét home, Monika to work and me to my painting class and finally finished my “horses in landscape” picture and fiddled with another one which is coming well along. Shop, home, fish, potatoes and salat for dinner and here we are. In the evening I dress into something comfortable, fall into my easy chair in front of thr TV and sew or knit. My needlepoint cushion is getting along fine and I love it. The phone beside me, so I stay in touch with the world, today my daughter in law, the ears of the baby are fine again, and with my mother who is coughing on the phone and has newly developed an allergy for akazia-trees which stand in full flower at Lisboa at the moment. And on friday before eastern I will listen to the requiem of Mozart at the Gulbenkian hall, as she told me. So, looking forward.

Wednesday

2005-02-17T07:29:00.000Z

The same again as yesterday, to work eight o’clock and a quite exhausting day it was, due to sickness of half of the staff in our class. I never get sick and jump in for them that do. I get extra hours paid but still I am tired. Margrét fetched me at four and to the shop we went, buying food once again and now I wait for a guest and then this day is finished, too. The guest: My oldest son’s mother in law and I am so happy how lucky my children are and I am with all my children’s in laws and: all the mothers are teachers! Two of them I got to know and like a lot through wedding preparations. I have not yet got round to speculate deeply if there is some psychological connection in this teacher mother fact. Anyhow, we are a big family and getting bigger.
16.02., my oldest son has birthday today, I will not tell you how old he is –how old must I be, to have such an old boy…

2005-02-15T22:06:00.000Z

This morning I woke up at half past eight, had my porridge aso. Cleaned the kitchen and arrived at work at ten. The poor sweeties were completely crazy today (as yelling, bawling, throwing materials around) so we spent some time jumping on the trampoline, going under chairs and over the broom and around the table… to let some steam off. One teacher had birthday and brought this extremly delicious cake for us. Later there was a teacher's meeting and I spent sometime in between at the computer, writing reports and the like.

When I came to the parking lot at about four, my car had a flat tire. A big nail smiled at me: Got you! I phoned a service and a very young man arrived half an hour later and though he tried badly he was not able to get at my sparetire which is, as I know now, under the car. So I had to wait again for the next service man, who came still half an hour later and did his job nicely. Meanwhile the rain was pouring and as I find it unpolite to sit in the dry car while somebody is changing my tire I stood in the rain too and got extremely wet and cold. Following this adventure I went to the tirefixing shop and had everything fixed again. All this took about two hours.
In the meantime I was in phone connection with Jakobina on the way to town who asked me to take care of her children, which I had to decline as I wasn’t at home and Margrét whom I had promised to fetch somewhere after work. She got another ride. So Jakobina left her kids with Margrét where I than fetched everybody and the storm wind of five children blew through our house while I fried bred and eggs. Jakobina and Alisse arrived soon, with a horse trailer with a horse in it, everybody had coffee and something to eat and something to talk around yelling and eating kids and then suddenly there they all were gone and a blanket of silence once again descended on our home. And now it is eight o’clock, time for my easy chair and needlework.

2005-02-14T20:36:00.000Z

Last week I had my birthday and thank everyone who phoned and congratulated me in that or any other way. I even got a postcard, yes, some people still write postcards and such a beautifull picture it is. Otherwise I got roses and a bad weather overall from my husband (the later one I still have to buy). Monika gave me a cordless computermouse and such a keyboard which was a pretty splendid idea. How has life been before that? Margrét gave me a car wash. So I had a shiny clean car for some hours and some polish under the new snowmudsplashes.
The postcard told me, that the writer was enjoying my blog, so that I just had to sit down and write. Otherwise I have started to feel quite lonely here in cyberspace if it wasn’t for Monikas comments. So people, if you read me, put an xxx under comments!
For this week I decided to give you a brief overview over each day. So, today, monday:
I woke up eight o clock, had a bath, breakfast and coffee and cigarette and went to work, starting 9:30. There I started to supervise the morning brake of 4 sweet children, eating their breakfast, which they did nicely. In my following 20 minutes break I went out and had a smoke. We have to get away from the schoolbuilding, so there is a small walk included. The rest of my break I eorganizes shelves in the classroom. Benni very professionally helped me too move one rather sticky one and did it perfectly. After that I had a comfortable lesson of 90 minutes with one of my pupils. After a cup of coffee I had to go out into the sleety, icy rain for 30 minutes and try to supervise our children, all looking the same in little overalls and disappearing in scarves, gloves and caps. I survived that and on it went till half past one. Then, and now it get’s interesting, I went to an exercise room and spent 15 minutes walking on a runway and some time making some exercises. Then: shopping, noth9ng of interest, home, reading (and going to sleep over the book) making dinner, and so here I am. Yes for the “broken sword” players, I am stuck on some jungle island. And there I will leave it today.

Carrots

2005-02-07T22:58:00.001Z

You wouldn’t want to know what is in my new fridge. Something ugly, mossy, smelling? No, quite the opposite, something very, very dead that should be alive. Before Christmas I bought this little baby carrots, imported from the US. Everytime I look at them, they look nice, a few grey spots, but that is it, very eatable. Now I leave them to look how long they will stay that way. In my opinion carrots this age should start to sprout, get dry and wrinkly and, waiting some more, get brown and smelly. What do they treat this carrots with that they are so completely dead? What are we supposed to eat? Why can’t food be as nature gives them? Salats, I just read, are whashed in chlorine, so they keep better. Oh, I long for summer and my home grown vegatables!
And, did you see my weatherpixie? I love her! Now I will not have to tell you anymore how the weather is in Reykjavík. But for our house, you can add some 2-3 degrees minus and draw away some of the wind.

Today I am proud.

2005-02-06T16:20:00.000Z

Proud of my mom who told me that I wrote nonsense the other day, proud that she knows nonsense when she sees it and that she is reading my blog and thinking about it, too! The nonsense was, and I correct humbly –teachers also make mistakes- that the earth is nearer the sun in winter than in summer. It is not, it is on the opposite side and nearest in spring and autumn. Did I get it right now Mom? The reason I would talk about this subject in the first place, was why the sun goes higher in spring parabolic and not linear. In the end, as I understand it, and I might be wrong again, it’a a question of the curvation of the earth, And here I will leave it. If anyone of you can tell me if I am wrong this time again, please do so.
This week I spent a nice afternoon with the two year old son of my oldest, we read books together and looked at holiday pictures and were comfortable. I did work, eat, sleep, visit dear friends and the only thing that is changing daily in my life is the weather. One of my teeth is sore and I should go to the dentist but it’s not yet quite sore enough to take that step.
Yesterday evening I finished “Belladonna skjalið”, or “rule of four” in english, by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. It didn´t grip me, maybe because I got the icelandic tanslation. But the background, the campus of Princeton University, was uninteresting for me as the life speculations of rather young men. Anyhow, I didn’t get it and found it rather boring.
The book before “miskunnsemi guðs”, translated into icelandic from norwegian, (“Guðs barmhetigheit” by Kerstin Ekman) is quite readable but the main persons remain rather pale and the ending is such that you wait for the book number two. Ha, you know what I read right now on the cover?..is the first book of a triologie… ok. It’s the story of a young midwife in the northern corner of Sweden, where Sweden, Norway and Finnland meet, starting at about 1917.
Now I will go into my kitchen and think about food as Margrét and her familily are invited to dinner.

2005-02-02T19:57:00.000Z

I know, I have been rather lazy on the blog the last days. Lots to do. The last weekend found me in the countryside, the first time again since November and it was very nice indeed. Really, I answered a cry for help, everybody beeing down with the flu. So I cooked some dinner, played with great enjoyment with my grandchildren and whashed some washing.
Here in town time is moving fast, much fun at work and my new bed is great still! I hope I will have more time at the weekend.

I am throwing away…

2005-01-26T19:58:00.000Z

Now I am working at my bookshelves. No, I am not throwing away books, I am not that desparate yet. But papers I keep there in boxes. Like: From the Option Institute in the US when I was there for autistic family training with Marinó 1993. Kripula Yoga Center, two times. 91 and 93. Old articles about autism. Reciepts. And so on. It is like throwing away pieces of the past. The yoga teaching says you should live in the here and now. I try my best. But still, there are papers I can´t throw away. Not yet. But the boxes get fewer each year. When I’ve got nothing left, maybe I’ve finished learning.

What a lot of work I did do! I forgot: 1994, school for Marinó at home, I planned each day for him, from morning to sleeptime down to 15 minutes, what plays to play, which puzzle, what he should exercise, where with whom… and had four other children to think about and I think I did teach german two evenings a week.

That was yesterday. And today I went home early from school, feeling sick. Curious what tomorrow will bring. No news on the mouse, but everybody decided that it was more afraid of us than we of it. Just to leave no doubt: It is a new, clean school with bright rooms and nearly everything we could wish for. The poor mouse had to be quite desparate in the cold to seek shelter with us.

Life is soo exciting!

2005-01-25T14:46:00.000Z

When I came to school this mornig, three out of five teachers in our special class were sick at home. But we managed well with some help. Then somebody got the crazy idea to clean the cornar where a mouse was supposed to be living, hoping she was not at home. I said, ok, I will take the carpets out of the corner if you promise not to shriek and run away if the mouse is still there. (It had been sighted three days ago and not since.) They promised. Of course the ladies shrieked and run away. I am sorry to say, I have not yet seen this mouse. So we barrikaded ourselves in the other room, I of course had to rescue the children which were sitting unsuspecting at their tables. Of course my little pupil wanted to take the carpet with the mouse droppings with him and we got half an hour of howling for not allowing it. Finally the principal and another teacher, with a broom and a blanket as weapons went on a hour of unsuccessfull mouse hunt. When I left, the room was in shambles. Continue tomorrow.
Outside time is going backwards. Layer for layer the melting snow reviels our past. Monikas birdfeeding leftovers appeared, in the front of the house there was sawdust from my parkett and now green needles from the christmastree. In the corner there are autumn leaves. No dead mouse yet.

Monday morning and through the day

2005-01-24T23:01:00.000Z

This monday morning I couldn't find my glasses. It is frustating to look for one's glasses without glasses, but I tried not to panic. Still a had to phone the school and tell them that I would be late. Of course I did find them in the end. In the livingroom under my needlepoint.

Outside it is so slippery that I refused to go out on the playground with the children in the big brake. They go out in whatever weather there is and the school supplies warm nice overalls. So today we stayed inside, the children were not so happy but my legs remain unbroken. Hopefully there will be some more thawing rain before it starts snowing again.

In TV I saw that there is snow all over Europe and in the USA. I feel sorry for all of you. Here we got this perfect isolated houses with heating from the water of hot springs, so as long as you stay inside you will not get cold. It must be quite bad for poor or homeless people now who are not so lucky to sit in a warm room.

“Ten feet under” is finished here in TV for the time being. I have been watching these series for some time. So good bye to you undertakers, hope to see again.

New photos

2005-01-23T19:14:00.000Z

I put new photos under "Christmas" on line. Better late than never.

Lisa: who can ride a horse? Me!

2005-01-23T01:16:00.000Z

I was great on horseback in the old days. Show me a horse and I was on it’s back. As I live in Iceland it were mostly the iclandic horses as here there is no other breed. But I tried the big ones too, abroad. Some very little informed people call the icelandic horse a pony and think of it as a plaything for children. No, it is by nature a wild and strong animal and I have seen unsuspecting “big” horse riders dissappear at the horizon in a cloud of dust. Ok. I was, as I said, a big rider. I started when I was 10, hanging with feet clung to the sides and fists in the mane and got so far that I used no saddle and could jump onto the back of every neat horse standing beside it, from every side you whish. We had a great lot of great horses running around, at that time my father sold icelandic horses to whatever country in europe and even the US and on the backyard there were at least a hundred pieces at any given time. Horseriding was work, in a way, keeping the right ones together, driving back others who had jumped a fence. Yes, it was a big time for little girls. A nice play we childen did was to throw each other off the horse in full speed. Get a leg and pull or push.
And then I got older, married and got pregnant, again and again and again…. Somehow the horseriding slipped into the background and my children played the plays I used to play (now the grandchildren have started). So, last year my little daughter was nagging and nigging that I should come riding out with her. It was a terrible experience. Not that I could not sit a horse. No, much worse. I didn’t get onto it. Oh, I was so ashamed and sick with laughter. There was no way my fat old ass could make the way from the ground to the horseback without help. But I will not give up. Next summer I will try again and have a little step ready. Just for the fun of it.

days passing by

2005-01-22T23:01:00.000Z

Saturday
It has been snowing on the trees and the ground tonight, once again, and a cat has been taking a morning walk through my garden, a pearly little pattern in the soft, white blanket. A bird came fluttering past, but Monika has not yet offered breakfast.
For the late afternoon on sunday we are invited to Margrét’s birthday and look foreward to it. She has been baking last night and is still doing things now, so I will go in trousers with a stretchband at the waist.

Tuesday
I slept my first night in my new bed which was delivered yesterday evening and slept well, thank you. Now I don’t close the door to my bedroom so I can have a peep now and then at my beautifull room.
Oh, the delivery of the bed. At a little past six a man knocked on our door and I came running and asked him out of breath and smiling; You come with the bed, don’t you? First he looked rather confused, Oh no, he was very sorry he just delivered some letters. I hope, he did understand more then just the word “bed”. There could be rather many reasons why he looked confused and a little frightend.

Friday
A week has past rather quickly, I was buisy at school and poduced a lot of working materials for the children, a story to teach them talking, a story to say good bye, a word and picture domino and things like that. Lots of people are sick at the moment, the flu, common cold with fever and more. It is still very cold outside, slippery in places but nice and bright but for the occational storm. Live is rather nice these days but for ocational emotinal storms..there we go again.

Sunday.
I am so sorry, days are passing by and luckily nothing interesting happens. So there are few news to tell.
Yea, my husband and me did some driving around in the car today. You know what? He always takes different routes from point A to B than I do. It is so irritating. There I got this nice route with the least red lights and the by far shortest way and he just won’t listen. But anyhow, we got home again.

Having no news, I could talk about politics. But it is so stupid. Somehow the politicians, most of them, no, not you, are so terribly stupid. How DO they dare to take decisions as they do? Making war, for the worst. Deciding where to spend our tax money, for the best. And so on. But it is boring and making me angry, so I will stop right now.

I have been reading so much, I don´t really remember what I did read since last. Three books after Kurt Vonnegut, “Slaughterhouse 5”, the greatest antiwar book I’ve ever read, about the american nonhero who stands in an unknown place in France whishing to be somewhere else, and so it goes. “Galapagos”, same author, same depression, now the big brains are under poetic fire, a bit boring, and last “breakfast of champions”, still more depression and the life is nonsense however you look at it. A nice way to start the new year!
“101 days in Bagdad” by Asne Seierstad, norwegian reporter, she also wrote about the bookshop owner in Kabul. Very interesting to read though it was written in the spring of 2003, right before the war on Irak started. About the war: the word “awe” still makes me furious. Awe for the destruction the godlike american nation can pour over the humans of other countries? Hmmm. Not that I was a fan of Saddam, he could be shredded for all I care.
For the icelandic readers: ”Dauðans óvissi tími”, Þráinn Bertelsson, no must. A police story with icelandic political sidesteps, not my biggest amusement.
AND I am reading the first three chapters of “Leadership for Differentiating Schools and Classrooms”, A. Tomlinson;S. Allen, 2000. A Must for the school. It’s better than it sounds. Why the first three chapters only? It comes as it is translated into icelandic. There the name is: “Leiðsögn um einstaklingsmiðaða kennsluhætti.” And we just got so far.

2005-01-15T19:53:00.000Z

Again and again the question arises at our home and in my head: Why do I blog? Some people have the opinion that they would not like to talk about themselves for everybody to read. I don´t see a problem there. I know some people who read my block: Friends around the world, so I don´t have to write to them individually but about privat things, family members here and abroad who like to know how we spend our days. And last, not least, I blog just because of the fun of it. Chatting away about things I do, matters I think about.
And on the way I also regognize new things about myself. Never would I have thought that I was as much a housewife as I am. But I seem to be, cleaning, stacking things away, ironing. I also shop a lot more than I thought I did. This later point I don´t like at all and will do something about it. As for now I go once again through my cupboards etc. and try to throw away everything I don´t want. I was going to write “need”, but that would not be the truth, I don’t “need” most of the things I own. But still I like them. But old bedcloths I keep to make someday a patchwork blanket? No, I think I will put them away. Etc., Etc.
I know, it gets boring to read how I clean. But it was so much fun! Margret came and sat on a kitchen chair, had coffee and chatted away. Meanwhile I emptied cupboards and asked her if she would like this and that and those bowls and she said yes to most of it and the rest I threw away or packed for the red cross. Oh, you should see my kitchen now! A place to breath. And (don’t tell anybody!) new dishes and cups and bowls … it looks so nice. And my wardrobe has become so organized – like in an advertisement, I could get a chair and sit down in front of it and admire my handiwork, but I don’t.
Furthermore I finally finished the babyjacket with gloves and little shoes and a cap and even threw it through the washingmachine so tommorrow it will be dry and ready to give. And you know, today the reciever was born, a fat little boy seven days too late.
I will let you rest now and keep on sewing my new lacy curtains tommorrow.
You see, the days are brighter longer, so little by little I get my energie going again. I will not say it again, I promise! (that the sun is higher up)

a lot of nonsense

2005-01-15T11:34:00.000Z

Yesterday I bought a really beautifull little tablerunner for my dinnertable. I put it there and I am sure it is handmade, though it doesn´t say so. It was really cheap, I would have no more than 10 minutes to work for the money it cost me. Made in China. What does give us, the humans in the western world, the right to exploit the eastern world on a grand scale as it does? The women, and I am sure they are women, can only get pences for many hours of work. When I get something for nearly nothing, somebody must have been cheated on the way.

The 20th of January the day will be one hour longer than the shortest day of the year and the sun is already smiling into our kitchen window at high noon. From now on the days will get longer quite quickly, the reason of this is the tilt of the earth of 23,5 degrees towards the sun. Look at for better information than I can give down below. On the way I got the speed at which we are thrown around in the universe: 29,8 km/sec around the sun. So, no reason to be proud of your fast cars! One more point I find interesting: We are furthest from the sun in summer in the northern hemispere and nearest to the sun in winter as the earth doesn´t make a perfect circle around the sun. And, did you, here on the upper side of the globe, ever realize that the noon sun shines from the north when you are in Australia?

Hmm, where did my link go? Sorry, maybe it comes later.

2005-01-14T22:45:00.000Z

I just did realize that I didn’t express myself in the right way the other day. I should not have said: What should I do, but: What should I do first. First, this little word makes a whole lot of difference, without it it looks like I had nothing to do and was wondering what to do with my time. No, the meaning was just the opposite: There are so many things I would like to do that I don’t really know where to start. And all these things are of equal importance to me and have to be fit into a defenite timespan. So, I have to decide what is the most important thing to do at what time. For example sewing my needlepoint is best done in the daytime, as dusting or cleaning the floor because of the light (or vice verca- the no light.) Knitting and reading on the other hand can wait for the lamps, knitting preferably while watching TV. Shopping I have to do while the shops are open, depending on what it is I have to buy, those are different times again. Going shopping I have also to consider the different density of the traffic at different times of the day as well as the places where I want to go to so as not to drive back and forth but in a neat circle. Besides this I also have to consider my working time at those days I am working. At those times the question arrives if I go home first or go directly after work to where I want to go.
Then, of course, still more important things do happen and then I am ready to throw all my plans overboard. For today I had planned to finish to go through my clothes and put them back into my wardrobe in the now beautifull room with a new and shiny floor. Then I was going to go through my kitchen. But, delightfully, Jakobina arrived from the countryside at noontime and three sweet grandchildren ran to hug grandma. And so I followed them for their bright company through IKEA and diverse shops and had a great day.
As it is,I sleep in our guestroom, waiting for my new bed to arrive on monday. Now I know why my guests leave my nice guestroom bed after a few nights. But that’s ok too, who wants guests all the time? (No, no DO come, I’ll fix the bed!)

mother of pearl

2005-01-09T20:58:00.000Z

How beautifull it was yesterday evening! The sky and the clouds were a symphony in pastellcolours, colours of mother of pearl, dark- and dovegrey, pinkiest pink, salmon pink, violets, blue in all shades, and beneath, still, the christmas lights on the streets and in the windows of nearly every house.
Kaffe Fassett, the famous english designer, once visited Iceland in wintertime and stated that he felt like sitting inside a shell.

Time

2005-01-08T14:53:00.000Z

As so often, life is a question of time. What should I do? I have quite a lot of options.
I can, and do, play my computergame. Now I am somewhere in southern america. I could keep on reading my book: 101 days in Bagdad by Asne Seiderstad, interesting though it was written 2 years ago. I could knit on my babyjackets or needlepoint the cushion I bought yesterday and started on, impatient as I am. I would like to go on with my sitepage, got new ideas for the next topic. There already is a batch of dirty things in the washing machine. Still and again I should iron. I have visits to make and to go and find the parket I want to have in my bedroom. Yes and before monday morning I have to empty my bedroom as on monday morning there will come a carpenter and put that parket on my bedroom floor and make me a window sill. Than I will get me a new bed and, maybe, curtains. I could blog, which I do, a tiny bit. The christmas tree is still decorating our livingroom, but to get rid of that is the work of the man of the house. I already took the decorations down and stored them nicely for next christmas later this year.
Oh yes, thursday after work my car broke down. Lucky as I am on the parking lot at the school. I stepped on the clutch and “bing” it went. So, no clutch, no driving home. And I who had been so proud of my functioning car just some days ago. But Monika did fetch me, man of the house got it through telefoncalls to the garage and yesterday afternoon it was ready again. And what did I do? I went driving down town and spent lots of money on material for a cushion. It was not my idea. A friend was on a visit and wanted to go to this yarn and handiworky shop. In the end I did spent money and she didn’t.
Outside of my window Monika has put corns on the snow for the birds. So now there is a sweet fluttering up and down and little fluffy bodies picking around. Everytime I look up, there they go and then they fall like brown snowflakes down again.
So, my bloggimgtime is finished. Time for the parket. Have a nice day.

2005-01-03T19:01:00.000Z

Today I was thankfull for my little red car, being the owner of a car, any car. There was such a storm and the dry snow being blown everywhere around us - me and my car - that is was difficult to find the way to work. The traffic in whole was rather slow. On the way back home the temperature had risen a lot and now the roads were slippery rivers, so no little walk today as I promised me on new years eve.
It was ok to wake up for work...wonders happen...but is was hell to stay awake, mostly after this nice hot lunch at the school's invitation. But is was fun meeting all the dear people I am working with and we got a new teacher in our class, too. And now there comes tommorrow and the little kids to look forward to.

I am thankfull

2005-01-02T22:30:00.000Z

With the beginning of the new year I am thankfull that

I was born into a comfortable world and not a poor one
we have a safe and warm home
we and our family have enough to eat everyday
we can afford to buy clothes on us
there are good doctors to help when we are sick
the community takes well care of our son
electricity is there when we need it
cold and hot water flows out of faucets
as a woman I can go and study whatever I like
we live in a free and beautiful country

I thank the people who make this possible

2005

2005-01-01T20:16:00.000Z

Now we have to get used to write a new count for the year, 5 instead of 4. And it was so difficult to get used to the 20.. instead of 19..
We had a nice and quiet evening, yes, it is rather quiet in this house, I realize, and me and Marinó sat on chairs in front of the window and looked at the beautifull fireworks covering the sky. It was amazing once again.
I changed and added to my website if you like to have a look.
Yes and

a happy new year!!

2004-12-30T19:50:00.000Z

We are stunned and shocked about the disaster in Asia. We were worried about a dear family member who phoned yesterday to tell that he was fine, having been on the east side of the tai peninsula. If you read this, Assad, know, that we thought much to you in the last days.
Otherwise life has been easy here, for me at least. Reading, sleeping, eating and missed one kilo(?). I can’t imagine how I will be able to go to work again next week.

Our Christmas

2004-12-26T22:11:00.000Z

So, Christmas has come and Christmas has gone, nearly, the house is quiet again, the candles have burnt down, and there is peace in our hearts, yes, there is. There are still lots and lots of food, only the bread is finished.
The 24th is always an exciting day, but this one was special, as the electricity went about two o’clock, just in our house and we could not find the source. We killed all electricity like lamps and fridge and so on, but nothing helped, we got a blink of light and that was it. Never before did I have so many candles burning in my house, in the spirit of the day. But finally, after a cry for help people from the city came and restored our life to normal and the cooking could begin. The reason: Water had leaked into the main electricity intake and we were happy not to have burned our house down. My thoughts drifted to me crunching waterdrops in form of snow and ice, was this the revenge of the Ice Queen? We will never know.
Christmas eve was slow and sweet and peacefull, like it should be.
The 25th however was exciting. Jakobína and Gudmar came from the country with Ómar, Smári, Grétar, Alisse and Mareike, two young german women who help on the farm taming horses and, of course, the dog Rosa, neatly dressed in her yellow overall. Further Ragnar, Gerdur and Ottar, Margrét, Gisli, Júlíús and Sebastian. Marinó was already here and Monika and Tryggvi came later in the day because Monika was working. So there was a opening of presents once again and with all these kids paper went flying, sweets were crushed on the floor, soft drinks got spilled and everybody was very happy. We ate: Graflax (home catched and home made) and smoked salmon (home smoked, of course) each with it’s sauce, two kinds of smoked leg of lamb, sliced, cold, smoked pork, potatoes, sweet potatoes, rófur (?), laufabraud (which I made in school the other day), cookies, cakes, sweets … quite tradinional and always good. So the days went by, eating and laughing.
Now grandpa and grandma are alone again and happy with that, too. It is quiet inside and outside, everybody full and resting, I suppose. And tomorrow back to work but we lucky teachers.
I hope you had a nice Christmas too!

I added a new section to page 5

2004-12-23T21:01:00.000Z

Today the day was 5 seconds longer than the shortest day. My husband feeds me with information as such.
Been buisy. Added a section about "touching" an homepage, page no.5.

Thinking while ironing

2004-12-22T18:11:00.000Z

Housework:
Washing the same towels year after year, again and again… ironing the same sheets… taking the same dishes out of the dishwasher… Sartre’s view of hell was a dinner party with the same few friends for eternity or were they stuck in the elevator? Whatever, we won’t invite him to dinner, will we?

When I went in the morning in my car there was this crunchy sound under my tires, ice and snow, I liked that sound, is was like popping pop corn or driving over peas. But then I got this idea: Maybe the snowcorns are yelling, oh, please, don´t crunch us! Then I thought about how many manifestations of being such a tiny drop has. A drop of water, shiny, wet and tranparent, a snowflake, white, dancing from the sky like a ballerina, as icekristall, glittering like a jewel. And, holding hands and tucking in their little heads, they become hard bits of hail. And they don´t complain, at least not so we would know about it. Still, maybe, who wants to get crunched?

I tell everybody that I have started summerholidays. And Gerschwin´s “summertime” is dancing through my head. An allergic reaction to all the christmassongs? But I do like Rudolf the reindeer with the red nose and ..and but not all day long, everywhere but in my oh so sweet and quiet house. Here you only here the dishwashing and the washing machine and the vacuum cleaner and me singing ”summertime”.

Monika, I am still in the first room of your new game. I killed the spider, I got up from the chair, I took the dart and had some Tequila. I even picked up the worm. I found some stupid vase. I looked at and tried everything that had a name. You said it was easy! Does this say something about my brain?

The shortest day of this year

2004-12-21T20:51:00.000Z

The shortest day of this year is behind us, so now we start again and soon summer will be there and the longest day..
The sun was up today for four hours in Reykjavík, they said in TV. So, up at eleven, down at three. Not that we would have noticed it, being cloudy and rainy and dark even through this four hours. But that's fine, everywhere the decorations are glittering and even we got a white plastic tree with a lot of tiny bulbs outside in front of our door.
Just to who is interested, I wrote one more page in my homepage. Now you can have fun.

What a lovely day this day was.

2004-12-18T11:12:00.000Z

I wrote letters, let my computer produce gifts, calenders and the like and packed in presents. I love packing in, I've got all kinds of papers and bits of strings and pearls and what so ever and then I got the brilliant idea to print out a picture of the reciever instead of the name and it looks really nice. I look forward to see all this under the christmastree. I went with my little post, so I can make many crosses on my list today. After two days of rest, a long hot bath and a nice massage down town my back is also happy again. Even the weather was nice and calm, a little bit frost, though. As always on fridays, Marinó came home for dinner and watched TV with us. What this boy can eat! Now, with the xmas cookies around, he is happy.
Watching TV: On one channel there is crime, the next one warmachines, crime again, then sick dogs.. I give up and go to bed now.

Could it be, that I am getting old?

2004-12-15T23:40:00.000Z

I have come to a point in my life where ist becomes seductive to flirt with my age. “I am getting old”, I say and expect everybody to say, no, you look so young still, or no, that can´t be, you are a grandmother already? But, alas, they don´t really say it all the time anymore. So I should stop telling about my age and color my hair (which I already did) and try to look young and fit – long way to go. To look fit, at least.
Today I had difficulties with this young image, my back gave way and, already at work, I couln´t straight up anymore. I took the offer of a walking stick, but it was a joke, they didn´t have one. So I went home, craweld into bed and stayed there the better part of the day with a lot of blankets on and painkillers inside me. I can still go and have my smoke, so that´s ok. But a bad back really doesn´t have anything to do with old age, does it? And anyhow, what´s bad with age? I get happier every year I get older. So, happy back into bed, then.

Global Warming

2004-12-13T19:40:00.000Z

These days I worry about global warming. We do make our jokes, like, my sister can have orange trees in her garden and a boat at her front door. Even for Iceland it does not look so bad in the next hundred years and my husband has been talking about buying a house in Spain in case of the next iceage.
Listening to the politicans these days, there is a big probability that this will really be necessary. In Iceland we can see the glaciers getting smaller year from year. In Austria as here in Iceland there is no more snow for skiing. After hundred years my grandchildren will probably still be alive and will witness the floods everywhere around the world. Southern India and Bangladesh will dissapear. New York, London, North Europe and many seeside cities with a less than 7 meters waterlevel will be flooded. The weather pattern is already changing. And nobody does anything. 100 years is tommorrow, not the day after.

New photos

2004-12-12T09:06:00.000Z

On friday afternoon Jakobina came into town with children, one dog and Alissa and went straight shopping christmas presents. So grandma and granddad went babysitting, what was very nice. Untill - ma came back from shopping, then everything went berserk. Everybody slept here, the next morning we got rid of the children and had a really nice shopping spree in the mall. I am nearly through with shopping for presents. I decided not to give any toys but every child gets a book and some clothes. Hope, they will be happy with that. So, a week is gone by and and sunday still has to show what it got.
On thursday I got a oxygen shock: I and others went with children from school to the house animal zoo and I was two hours outside! But I got payd for it, so that was the bright point. No, it was quite sweet, really. Somebody in our school got the bright idea to connect with the children in playschool next door from our school, so we went there and every 11 years old schoolchild got a little friend he had to take care of. And they did that very nicely and sweet and the little ones were so proud!

weather and silence

2004-12-07T17:01:00.000Z

Yes, the weather in Iceland is an issue, every single day. Yesterday it was summertime, today a storm is shaking our trees and Monika said that it would be okey if it either snowed or rained, but together at the same time? That is our tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic, we get every bit of weather the gods can think about, on a daily basis.

If you read “..and they sat together in comfortable silence,” you can guess that a man has written the sentence. Reading the book “Why Men don’t listen and Women can´t read Maps” by Allen Pease, 2001, I have learned that my husband isn´t as unique as I thought. On the other hand, I am great at reading maps and things like that but it is true, if I would have to back into a parking place, I would rather find another one. But comfortable silence… is that’s why so many women blog?

The chicks are gone

2004-12-06T19:17:00.000Z

Last weekend was a very nice weekend. On Friday I got pleasant guests, Marinó stayed overnight from Saturday til Sunday, I talked to my mother on the phone, looked through my christmas decorations, got more guests and they all liked my cookies, in short, had a pleasant time. I even got a new haircut and haircolour which you can admire in my photos (Christmas is coming). And on Monday morning, the 6th. 12., St. Nikolaus had put wonderfull christmassweets into my boots!! What a morning.
But sorry news: a mink got into our henhouse in the country side and killed most of the chicks. Dolores, Angelika, Light Foot, all gone. One rooster and two ducks are left. The mink dug a hole under the water inlet and crawled in. This morning he was still inside, feasting on his bad deeds. My daughter rushed in her fourwheel drive through mud and water to the next neighbour and with his help and gun the intruder got his deserved end. Poor chicks.

Slow times

2004-12-03T13:56:00.000Z

7 new pictures.
This week has been kind of exhausting. I don´t know why really, there must be something in the air. Teachers have gone home in the middle of the day, feeling sick but come again the next day feeling better, people who usually burst of energy have been dragging their feet… We shall hope that the next week will be nicer to us.
I have much fun at school with the children, they are so clever and work so well and I have the feeling that I do something worthwhile.

I’ve been reading:
“The Messianic Legacy” by Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln. The first half was exciting, once again the origins of the christian church, who was Jesus, what was his mission, what was made of it and why. The second half, discussing Jesus’ heirs, his bloodline into our time, forgeries or not, didn´t catch my interest so I laid the book aside, for now at last.
Dan Browns “Angels and Demons” in no less exciting than the “Da Vinci Code” and who likes a nice thriller with an interesting background is well advised to read the book. It is well written and I have found no loose threads. For my taste the hero is too much of a hero, by far too clever and surviving impossible situations. But that is probably what makes a hero.
“Tears of the Giraffe” by Alexander McCall Smith left me a bit disappointed, it is a nice, easy to read book but does not reach in far “The First Ladies Agency”, not in depth nor in poetic.
What else? It has been very slippery outside, raining on frozen streets and walkways and I “kissed the ground” once, but with little consequences. As for today it is quiet and white outside. So I will dare to go out (drive out, really) and maybe look if I see some Christmas present and fill up my kitchen cupboards with stuff to eat. We are rather low on these items at the moment.

Ironing

2004-11-28T21:12:00.000Z

Finally I did do some ironing and to tell the truth, I was quite excited about it. Here I got these nice lacy kerchiefs from my grandmothers, white batist with their initials sewn into them. I use them as platesets now. There I got old napkins, strong linen, all of them older then 40 years, some of them from the first decade of the last century. Again with names or initials of so many people, now passed away. Some, few, of them are still handwoven and got a tiny red number sewn into them, probably parts of grandmothers' dowry. Think about it: "40 white napkins, no. 16 is missing!" °Old, white bedcovers with crocheted borders. The mother of my father came from a quite prosporous farm in eastern Germany. Of course they lost everything in the time of war and I am astonished how many things they still could take with them, fleeing on grandpa's fisherboat over the baltic to Danmark. The good china and silver and such they put into a hole in the garden so it would not brake or get lost. Not astonshingly everything had dissappeared when they came back for a visit many years later.

Darkness

2004-11-27T19:02:00.000Z

I think,that when you live in Iceland you really get to appriciate Christmastime, whatever religion you are in or out. December IS the darkest month of the year and as northernly as we are we see and feel and taste the darkness enveloping us. The body energie drops many levels and one could sleep all day long. I did, today and read. So, the Christmas spirit and customs keep us alive. Nearly everybody puts this sweet light decorations up at their houses, there is baking and eating of sweets. Tomorrow is the first advent and I will stick little candels into oranges and invite children and grandchildren for "adventu kaffi". No, I will not bake now, or just a tiny bit. I decided to buy the cakes this time. You know, low energie level.

Web Page

2004-11-26T14:09:00.000Z

Instead of writing into my blog now I would like you to take notice of my new Web Page which is being borne now. It is a difficult dilivery but I am learning. I hope to keep it up and that people will read it. I am trying to get the site into a search machine but am having difficulties. Whish me luck!

I got a life

2004-11-25T14:06:00.000Z

Looking at my blog and reading kjánaris comment I realized, that I DO have a life. (Sometimes I wonder). So, there has been no time left for this blog, sorry. But the weekend is coming. Maybe I will get around to ironing now?
Till I have time, I think of you! (Specially when I see a cow or toiletpaper)

Coca Cola

2004-11-22T17:14:00.000Z

I have known for a long time that you can use Coca Cola to get rusty nails shiny again. Now I learned that you can use it as a toilet cleaner. Just tried it out, works fine. I don´t yet know, what it will do to the environment used that way.

Back In Town

2004-11-21T20:52:00.000Z

Yes, I did go to the countryside and beautifull it was! No sky between heaven and me, virgin snow on rocks and hills. On the way over the mountains I saw for the first time whisps of hot air over the old lavafields. Mother earth is alive beneath our feet. We know that on Iceland. Rivers encrusted in ice, waterfalls frozen into strange shapes.
Friendly warmness embraced me at my daughter´s home, newly baked bread and three loving grandchildren. We drove to the eggwoman to get egg for our breeding mashine: 21 days and there will (hopefully) be chicks, six months and these chicks will be beautifull and lay eggs (hopefully). We were invited to coffee and cake, accepted and had a nice chat about chicken, horses and cows. Otherwise we kept ourselves inside and watched the temperature go up the next day, from
–18 to –5 and –2 when we left for town.
So I am back and finished reading: ”The dead sea scolls deception” by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh. It´s an interesting book for those who like to know more about the origins of christian church and the possible ways for the church not to tell about it. It is rather academic and printed on quite bad paper which makes it tiring to read.
I loved the book “the no.1 ladie´s detective agency”. It is a book which touches the heart and has much more depth in it than I expected. Strange that it should be written by a white man! I already bought another one from the same author (Alexander McCall Smith), “Tears of the giraffe.” But that has to wait, as I am now reading “angels and demons” from the some author as the “Da vinci code”, Dan Brown.
So I have no time to write anymore, I must go and read!
Have a nice day!

new pictures

2004-11-21T01:19:00.000Z

There are a few new pictures to look at. Hope you will like them

Snow

2004-11-16T20:50:00.000Z

Today it did snow. See pictures in "my pictures". Not tiny, white stuff like the other day but 15 cm in three hours. Lucky, lucky me to have gotten snowtires yesterday, I would have been stuck somewhere. Iceland is the land of the extremities: glacier and vulkano, ice and hot springs, no snow or too much of it. I love it!
I went into a bookstore... no I will tell no further, not now. I bought a microwave on a great sale and a white christmastree with lights already on. Today shopping was nice :)

Empty school

2004-11-15T21:39:00.000Z

Probably only a teaecher can appreciate how wondurfull an empty school is. It is quiet, it is clean, it is peacefull. Time to work without noisy kids interrupting. There have been 7 weeks like that, minus some days. 7 kids in one big school and today none. The latest news on the strike as I don´t think that it has yet made the international press. We got an offer, which we rejected. About 75% voted for the strike, 92,5% voted for rejection.
Yesterday there was set a law by parliament that the teachers should go to work. They didn´t, most of them. Sweet me, of course met on time, I really didn´t know our special class would shut down and... I have had to fight for other things. I was too lazy going home again and had, as I began with, the luxus of an empty school, few good people and enough to do. I lost myself in goggle and siccors and paste. I don´t have any idea how tommorrow will look.
AND I got my wintertires! It took only one hour. But it´s booty days now, so wintertires is a must.
AND the old, nasty, smelling fridge is out of my living room!! It took only 10 days!! My oldest daughter and her man were the angels, got a big kiss and dinner for it.
Me tired, me go to bed and read.

Post skriptum for shopping: books

2004-11-14T20:23:00.000Z

Yes, you got me there. I forgot bookshops. I loose myself in bookshops and rarely get out without another book. The most dangerous bookshop is in London airport Heathrow. When we fly to Portugal we got a stopover for seven hours. Yes, you can buy quite a load of books in seven hours. The only restriction is your strength to carry them. I think, last time when I was alone I bought ten. The time before Monika drew me out after five. Why Heathrow? They are so much cheaper than in Iceland.
When I have the choice of two books I buy the fatter one. I mean, you get more in 600 pages than 200, don´t you? Of course I also look at the authors. But take care not to buy the same name too often, most of them get really bad after a time. The cover picture also tells you a lot. Then read the backcover and when you are satisfied to that point, read some sentences in the middle. It can be a flop, then you got a garbage bag. The last of my books to go there was a late one of Patricia Cornwall (well?).
Sometimes you get good tips in newspapers. But you would not want to buy bestseller no.1. More often than not it is trash what tells you a lot about the people who buy books.
Amy Tan you can always buy, up to now at least, Margaret Atwood, Alice Walker as well, Marilyn French – but that are no news for readers.
Newly I look for books from the modern chinese and japanese culture. The most interesting thing about that, I feel, is that we all are truly homo sapiens and that differences in human feelings and behavoir rarely exist undir the flimsy skin of conventional courtesy and different religions.
And don´t forget them, the sweet books you read when you want to rest your brain; where the black haired woman is bad and the blond is the good one and the hero rescues all of them. Try Wilbur Smith and you get lost in adventures in far away countries. And then there are so many more …
Yeah, I love me books! (see pictures under “my pictures”, yes, I´ve got a big house.)

COLD

2004-11-14T15:52:00.000Z

In the end I didn´t go to the countryside. Wintertires and that. you know. In the 12 o´clock news yesterday there was told about two accidents on the suðurlandsroad because of icy streets. So I stayed at home.
It is gasthly weather outside. An icy wind is howling around our house, the trees are shaking their heads and there comes white stuff falling from heaven, not really snow, it´s too cold for that. And I still have to go out of the house. Yes, shopping. I know, I hate it. Some shops are open here on Sundays. Lucky we. Have a nice day, I hope it is warmer wherever you are.

Thinking while knitting

2004-11-13T14:23:00.000Z

I remembered the “quick eat competition” in TV. As, like, how many hamburgers can you eat in two minutes? I don´t like this. I mean, food is something to chew, thanking mother earth for giving. Food is something to savour the flavour. To look at, to anticipate, to indulge in. How about a new competition, the quickest quicky you can do with as many partners as you can get in two minutes? No, I don´t like it.
OK That´s what grandma thinks while knitting ….

shopping

2004-11-13T13:34:00.000Z

What is it, all these jokes about women and shopping? I HATE going shopping, it is work. Have six kids and all those that are attached to them and go shopping. It is exhausting. And then it is said we should go and exercise our body. Men, do you know the power it takes to push a brimfull cart around crowded corners? I mean, who would be going shopping if we poor women would not do it? Men??
And buying clothes .. ok, maybe if you are young and slim. The other day I saw this wonderfull, lacy undergarment in the shop window. Against better knowledge I went ohh and went inside to try it on. Never, never again. Life is learnig. Of course they didn´t have it in my size, but I tried on what they offered me.. Never before had I realized I was THAT fat (a nice number 18.) Had I not been a grown up I would have started crying. Let my children laugh about my big pink unders, I feel comfortable in them and they on me.
Of course even I need new clothes from time to time. But as seldom as possible. You are in this hot, tiny, claustrophobic cell; where do I put my bag, my scarf and my wintercoat and then I fall down, trying to get into too slim trousers .. oh, no. And shoes? I rarely buy shoes. I got two pairs of sandals, Ecco, one brown and one black and home knitted woolen socks. My daughters have given up making fun of me. I got one pair of black shoes when it must be. And, when the snow really gets high I change into sweet little boots. And that´s it. Yes, really, just look at me, walking down the street. The sandals however are a little bit nasty at work in recess, they got those little stones there on the ground which love to steal themselves between shoes and feet, so I stand there, prodding stones out of my sandals when I should be playing with children...
Enough now, off to the countryside..

Thank you

2004-11-13T13:03:00.000Z

Thank you dear friends and family for your sweet feed-back on my blog. And I got two new pins!! I walk around my house with a big smile on my face.

me and my life

2004-11-12T14:11:00.000Z

This week was a lot like the old one. Therefore, I will not bore you by getting in and out of sweet smelling baths.
The day today: snow, more than powder and I am considering what to do with the summer tires on my car. Should I go and change and wait and wait and wait? Or should I just risk it driving like my sweet little car (Pegeout 206; bright red) is equipped now? But, I would like to go to the countryside once again tomorrow. But then I could lend my husbands car. But I think, he has summertires too. Why is life so complicated?
The point is: I don´t have the least longing to go out of my nice, warm house. Even not to buy something interesting. There is enough food in the new fridge – yes, the old one still decorates our living room, bets taken for the futur - after my husbands small birthday party yesterday- three children, two inlaws, three grandchildren –. I bought me a new book yesterday: “The No,1 Ladies´ Detective agency” by Alexander McCall Smith and I still have to finish reading the “wind-up bird chronicle” which I really have fun with and discusses the question: What IS reality? Which of the many possible possibilities in life are the real ones? Where are the connections between one person and the others surrounding him?. It has 607 pages and even I need some time to get through it.
I have knitting to do: I started some days ago a small infant jacket and am trying for the first time knitting “two sides” so you can turn it around and use it both ways. It´s fun, but nothing to knit during looking at television, at least I am not able to do that yet.
I still didn´t iron..

Sabine´s way: working with children with autism. First lesson: Ignore

2004-11-12T13:29:00.000Z

Before I start going once again: Thank you, known and unknown people for your encouraging feed-back on my pages. And if there would be, but there isn´t, negative feed-back, thank you too, I like to learn new things. Anyhow, feed-back is what keeps me going. Just imagine everybody would ignore me?

It is fascinating to realise how every grown-up feels the compulsion to tell a child what it should NOT do. Today even a mail delivery man at school felt the compelling need to say to the pupil I was with - we met him at the maindoor going inn after recess-: "You should not do this."
For you to understand the following argument, I think I should tell you about my work and I am very proud of it, from every point of view. Me, our team and our working conditions.
As I told you somewhere before, I am a special teacher in a special class for autistic children. We got two big and bright rooms with moveable partitions (see photo in my album. Hmm, it got lost in cyberspace, try again later). We can shop nearly everything we need. We got 7 (!) children, age 6 to 16. (And five computers). We have one room for the "little ones" and the other for the 3 teenagers, possible to mix. We have the use of all the school and all the classes as we find it suitable. We are a staff of 6, 3 full time, the rest part time job (I work 70%). Yeahh, we live in Iceland!
So, we have these programms going. Between other fascinating methods one is exstinction. You just ignore the behavoir you don´t want. Yes, it is as easy as that. The child is kicking, spitting, biting, yelling, throwing things: ignore. Believe it, children between 6 and 8 can´t really hurt you. Older ones? I don´t know really, the older ones at our school have learned not to. It is unbelievable, how quickly undesired behavoir dissappears. Like my sweet little pupil. He was really angry, yelling. No reactons. Then he started throwing things, first small, then bigger, then something really big. Looking at me: don´t you see what I am doing? As I kept on looking out of the window and nobody reacted, he shut up, drew a big breath and said: "go to sleep." Laid down on the sofa and listened to music. Next time? No next time yet, in a week. You get it? No comments for a week and I will stop writing this blog. Will I? No, maybe I get one comment in between and it will make me really powerfull to go on once more. And that is the problem.
There are these people I started with. People in and out of school who don´t work in our special class, in the bus, in the shop, wherever, they feel compelled to say: "Oh, stop this." "No, you may not do this." Wow, I got attention! Let´s do it again. What else can I do to get attention???
I got spitting mad the other day. And of course, told the people who ignore, not the other ones. But they do understand what I am talking about. At least, our kids are clever. They do behave, when they have learned, when I am around, or one of our team (most of the time.) And that´s nice for me/us. And, let´s not be unfair. Other people do learn this too. Just give them time (how I hate giving other people time but probably that is what learning in life is all about).
Wonderful to blog... I can go on and on and nobody interrupts me.
Of course we do more than just ignoring. But that´s a good starting point. The next thing you would do is praising until you get blue in your face. And having fun … but that is a new chapter. If you want to hear more about this, I will tell you later. I will, even if you don´t want it, as long as you will not ignore me :).

new pictures

2004-11-12T04:09:00.000Z

I spenT many hours putting new pictures into my blog, but it does not look as I wanted . The Families should have to be together, there should be only one picture of a kind, my landscape hopped into "friends...you just look at them anyhow'
iT´S FARTOO LATE...GOING TO SLEEP!

Thinking on Sunday while baking.

2004-11-07T15:06:00.000Z

I know, that you all are very excited how my plan for Sunday did turn out!
Yes, I had a bath, I did my nails and shaved my legs. (Am I getting too private?)
I did not read yet, however. And I did a little bit of ironing. And I am baking a cake, it is in the oven right now. Something with pastry and a filling of marcipan and eggs and peaches.
But there is another thing I would like to share. I am sure that some of you, if not all, have wondered: Why sex in the barn?
You would probably not believe it, but I am the shy type. When somebody starts talking about sex ot making bad jokes I get red. I feel the blood surging up into my face and can´t do anything about it. So, me, I am in the barn, with some of the children, grandchildren and guests. And you know this rooster, he does it all the time. If you think about it, it´s logical: He´s got a lot of hens and these hens lay a lot of eggs and he has to be buisy to make sure that his seeds are to be carried on to further generations and that there are going to come little chicks out of the eggs. But logic isn´t the first thing coming into my head in situations like that. So, my face becomes red like a moon at dawn. Happily it is ratherdark in the barn but I felt like embarrassed. I know, horses do it too, and cows, and sheep. But they do it somewhere private, most of the time, far away on the meadows.
So, I thought, I must get used to it, life must go on on the fleshy side too. And as you already have sex in the city on TV, so why not sex in the barn in my blog?

A Week Later: Saturday Morning til Late Afternoon

2004-11-06T17:57:00.000Z

You probably know this feeling: You go to sleep Sunday evening and wake up Saturday morning and you don´t know where the week has gone. It has evapourated and the only thing you know is: you are one week nearer to death and the next month´s salary - I don´t get a check, they put it straight into my account,
My week was not like that. Monday seems eons away, looking back from Saturday morning. Still I know what I did do on Monday: I went to work at nine o´clock, was there until half past one, went shopping for dinner and visited in hospital. Probably I went early to bed, usually half past ten, eleven and than I read some.

Now: "The wind-up bird chronicle" by Haruki Murakari. A book I like and will buy more of the same author if I find some. On this blog side, I intended to give you a clear, witty and comprehensive critic on the books I read, but now I have difficulties with that. What is the taste of people? What is the essence of a "good" book? Many books regarded as "good" I feel like terribly boring, beside the point of my life and sometimes quite impossible to understand. I suspect, that it is just this incomprehensibility that makes the critics go "ahh" and "ohhh" because few people will admit that they don´t "get it".
But, as I am at it, a few words about the books I did already mention: "The da Vinci Code": An exciting thriller with the now so fashionable strong female character, interesting, but not mind boggling probable possibilities about the origins of the christian church and an end that is questionable but interesting.
"Middlesex" is a very clever book with bewitching prosa, sweet, full of humour, tragic and many facetts of human life. Parts of it may be a little longdrawn, but you get carried away and learn something new.
Try also to read “the bride stripped bare” by anonymous (Nikki Gemmel) if you want some sensuous female sexuality. A daring book with unsuspected twists.

But back to my week. On Tuesday I went after work and bought me a new fridge with a freezer. Not because my old one was not working any more, no, just because I longed to have a new one, clean and shiny. So I just went and bought it. Such a new luxus for me, having been a housewife without own money for so many years, to go into the next shop, to say, "Oh yes, I would like that one" and pay in cash. The new fridge also looks nice in my kitchen. And it is so much smaller than the old one, with light that is working, so now things will hopefully not get lost and smelly!
The only problem: The old, ugly, dirty and smelly one still stands in the middle of the living room as nobody has yet visited us who is strong enough to carry it down the stairs.

Wednesday was the day I put washing into the machine. In half a year from three machines a day down to twice a week. Did somebody say I didn´t have a sweet life? Empty nest syndrome MUST be a syndrome men invented, what else could a woman want to be than a mother? O, dear men, many, many things!

On Thursday I was exhausted, all that washing! As I am not the happy owner of a dryer, I had to hang all these wet pieces on a laundry line after work, fell for half an hour into bed... yes, work was crazy too, no lunchtime even. Then I drove my car to a garage where it got a new exhaust. That are the costs of countryside trips. My husband was so sweet to drive me to my painting class where I finished, yes, believe it, three pictures I had been working on for some time. See the first one on my photo page when it gets there. Not willing to be bothered with cooking I bought a ready to eat fried chicken and some potatoesalat.

On Friday, my dear friends, I made extrawork and extra money, came home half past two and slept through till five o´clock. The weather is sleepy, too. Not cold, not warm, grey, rainy without rain, chilly wind, in short, uncomfortable. I admire the people jogging up and down our street. No, I don´t. I shake my head: Nurds, put up the footrest in my easy-chair and keep on watching "whatever" on TV.
Marinó comes home for dinner. We are told, he has been sick in the stomach. Maybe that´s why he is so hungry: Dinner: meatballs in sweet sour souce with rice, bred and cheese, flatkökur and butter, cake, more bred and cheese, sweet cake, in the end we drove him home. But in between he was sweet and hugging and watching TV.

Saturday morning, 10 o´clock: My husband has cleaned the kitchen and coffee is waiting for me. He is buisy cleaning his room (it was in great need). What a nice way to wake up! After a sweet hot bath with foam and nice smells I start cleaning too, the living room, dust from the shelves, dirt from the floor, olive oil on the dinnertable, I like it nice, spik and clean but unfortunately it doesn´t keep. Usually I don´t clean more than a corner at a time, but today I am in the mood for it. So I take the stairs too, the hall, my bedroom, the kitchen, my study, start sorting papers, pens, drawers...yes, the garden is left.
I will dare to plan my day tommorow, an extraordinary luxus. I will forget the ironing - still waiting from the week before - I will take another bath but not shampoo my hair this time, I will relax in bed and read, I will bake a wonderfull cake (and eat it), I will visit one or two friends. I am so excited if I will be able to do this!

Sunday evening

2004-10-31T22:56:00.000Z

Back from the country. It was quite exhausing and exciting. 6 Children playing in the livingroom, cooking, cleaning... So I got home to town to rest awhile.
As you can see, I have gotten a guestbook now. Please, place your pin! I also got a straight connection to Monika and Lisi. I am sorry to say, Lisi has been quite lazy, so I try to put some pressure on her.
The next step will be to open my photoalbums for you. I got me a digital camera and am absolut crazy taking pictures now. So, look forward!
Also it should be easier for you now to write a comment. Just try once again, please.
The teachers strike is at its end, for the time being. We did not get what we wanted, so this is probably not the end of it. We did use the lonely days in our special class quite nicely by getting a young one used to the schoolbuilding.

autism

2004-10-29T01:02:00.000Z

I added "autism" in my interests, I am a mother of a sixteen year old boy with autism and work as a special teacher in a special class for children with autism, 6 - 16 years old. So, my offer, if you have problems, questions, I will try to answer them as well as I can and have time. Just write in comments.

???

2004-10-28T21:31:00.000Z

I don´t really have much to say. The question of the day is therefore: Do I write in the blog if I don´t have anything to say, or do I not write in the blog if I don´t have anything to say. If I do write, friends will maybe say, what a stupis woman. If I do NOT write, however, friends will start asking, why is she not writing? Has she stopped writing in the blogger page? Will she ever be going to write again? I look at her page day after day and nothing new? Maybe she is sick? Did she have a car accident, I heard it is cold in Iceland and the streets are icy. Maybe her smoking got her to hospital, finally? Maybe one of her children is sick and she is sick of worry?
Friends, I can assure you, I and my family, we are healthy and happy. You will hear from me again soon and I will let you know if it should happen that I close this page. For today however, I have nothing to say. Sorry.

small informatin on Icelandic food.

2004-10-25T22:53:00.000Z

Came out to the country at 5 o´clock in the evening and wasn´t yet out of my blaser, had a knife in the hand and was cutting up dead sheep. My daughter, Jakobina, had just gotten them from the next farmer, about five kilometers away. First thing we did was "svíðasulta" a first timer for us.
1. Rezept:
As many sheepheads as you´ve got, the are usually cut in half. (We got only 3 now.) Boil them in a big pot við seasalt, peppercorn, loorbeer. When they are sweet and soft, about 1 and half hour, you take them out to cool and keep the water. Plock off everything that is eatable; tounge, gum, meat, meat back in the eyes, behind the ears. Put the bones again into the pot and let them boil some more. In the meantime, cut the meat into rather small pieces. Put in the bottom of a whatever, we used a baking form, about 1 cm of the water you cooked all this in. Let that cool. Add the meatpieces. Fill upp with bonewater(sieve). Put a plastbag over everything and something heavy. (We used jam glasses.) Put in the fridge over night. Take it out of the form, cut it in slices with a sharp knife and eat on bread. Some people put mustard on it too. Also possible to eat with hot potatoes and butter.
Next time we will use 6 heads to fill that cake form.
But stop, don´t throw the bones away yet! The children wait for the half yaws. Give them a good brushing (the yaws, not the children, ahh, maybe them too), let them dry and give them to the kids. However you hold them they can be your cow (with all the teeth as an udder), if you turn them around it will look like a horse, you can use the front teeth for digging and of course the modern version: you can use it as a gun.
And then, what´s left, the dogs will be happy to eat.

2.
Kjötkæfa , something like sausage filling.
Cook the leftovermeat from working the scheep in a pot. Importend to use the meat from the underbelly. Lots of seasalt, lorbeer, peppercorn, fresh green things if you have them, rosemarine, onions, 1kg we used on this. Cook till the meat is soft and nice, quite awhile. (we had one 20 liter and one 10 liter pot.)
Let cool, so you can pluck the fat, bones, and fibers away. Keep the water, take the fat, keep.
Put the nice meat into a mixer, wetten with the water, mix in fat so it keeps together. The more fat , the harder it gets. So, what do you like? we made a soft one with little fresh onion, french krydd: Rosmarin, estragon, basilikum.
The next one was with much onion, curry and rosmarín.
the last one everything + peppercorn.
A good, cheap, healthy bred spred for grown up and children. Freeze what you dont eat.

That´s what we do in the country when it is cold outside...
Nothing about the chicken, my beloved rooster has dissappeared..taken a walk and never came home again. But I got a picture of him.
That was the first part of my weekend. More an iceland specailities later.
Visit it next summer and have a taste. we are pobably going to open a "rent a horse" and get "icelandic food and art " and "look at our beautifull colourfull ckicken".

2004-10-21T21:14:00.000Z

Drove to work this morning at 8 and was at home again half past 9, sick. Somebody said I was looking green and the shock of turning into "Hulk" had me in bed as soon as I came home. But now in the evening I am still myself and the colour is pinky again, so the danger is hopefully over. Because of feeling so sick I only managed to bake two cakes and one bred and had a very simple dinner. (I took some antibiotica too, so it is not only my inborn strength that keeps me on my feet.)
The latest news on the strike: The next meeting will be after 2 weeks, so ...?
On Fridays I never work, so I will get my little son from school at noon and drive out to the country, maybe the girly party will take place after all. On sunday evening I will inform you of the status of our chicken, yes there ARE real chicken, but that story will be told later. So everybody: have a nice weekend.