More of Day 2

I forgot to mention one of the interesting things about the Blue Lagoon is the incredible build-up of silica.  It's lovely in the lagoon and many, many people find it very therapeutic in the treatment of various maladies.  I seem to recall old novels speaking of someone going to "take the waters".  However, such a "treatment" doesn't come cheap.  Just to get in and paddle around the water (you get a towel but no other niceties) is about $43 and the price goes up from there.  Also, as a homeowner, you need to regularly treat your water pipes because of that silica build up.

Nowadays, fishing is highly controlled, very few fishermen are left and the price of fish is often out of reach.  Interesting, for an island.  One thing that you do see, however, is drying of cod by simply hanging it from wooden logs

They sound rather  like bamboo wind chimes.  Apparently someone figured out that dried cod heads and skeletones were considered a delicacy in Nigeria - so you find those too (and they are really stinky!)

We had to visit the largest quilt shop on the island - just because

They had a very large selection of American fabrics.

 And finally on to Edda's home for a typical Icelandic dinner: roast leg of lamb, potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower, peas and pickled red cabbage, with skyr cheesecake for dessert.  Actually Edda's husband cooked for us (as she was busy driving us around) and the girls entertained us - especially the bigger two with great English. 

It was a fabulous day.  We were treated as royalty!  Thanks, Edda and all the family.  We used R's car, a Toyota Land Cruiser, with high clearance, useful on gravel roads, of which there were quite a few. 

On to Friday next.

Sunday catch-up

[Long post - lots of photos]  Computer now working well at Caro and Rob's home (the Hague in the Netherlands).  And so to catch up,

On day 1 we visited an Icelandic Sweater shop.  Oh how incredibly georgous.  Because they all hand-knit they are also quite expensive ($135-185) but they are also made with very un-processed wool, so they contain lots of natural lanolin and are quite water resistant.  We did cheat a small bit and took a photo in the shop (which we weren't supposed to)

Gloves and headbands - really needed in this climate.  The temperature was about 36-38 with an amazingly cold wind.

The hotel recommended a local restaurant for supper.  What a wonderful treat.  Good food is always such fun and especially in another place.  This is a new fish restaurant with a rather well-known chef.  We ordered a glass of wine and a salad to start.  A treat "from the chef" arrived with each of us receiving about a 2" high flower pot.  Inside was an incredible taste delight: the bottom was aioli, covered with a layer of pureed pickled radish and celery root, topped with a layer of crispy breadcrumbs.  In each pot was standing one green radish shoot.  Not only was it such fun, it was very tasty as well.  We shared our salad and each ordered pasta with shrimp and lobster.  As the Dutch say, "lekker".  Mighty fine.

Iceland has suffered an incredible financial crisis since 2008.  You see building after building just standing empty and/or unfinished.  Really quite sad.  As a result the rate of inflation is astronomical.  We got a "book ahead for tourists only" hotel rate, but food is quite expensive.  I understand that most all goods are very high.  So that would explain the bill for the above dinner was $89.  More than we usually spend!  Lunch the next day, for example, for the 3 of us was over $60 and two hamburgers and fries on Friday night were $43.  Adds up quickly.  The long hours of light are so unusual to we travelers - I would wake in the middle of the night and have to check the sky.

So on to our travels with friend Edda around some of the western part of the Island.





Unlike most other countries, the Prime Minister is listed in the local phone book.  And this is their "white house" - it is the home of the President.  No police, no guards, no fences, only a small gate on the road.  Amazing. 

A fascinating old sod covered house.  The "fence" for the animals was made of volcanic rock stacked up all the way around. [ Because of the prevalence of volcanic rock, it is used in literally countless ways.]

Here was Poulsbo RV, Iceland style.  Made me laugh so I had to stop and take a photo.  Camping is a very popular activity in Iceland, although not the sort of campgrounds that we know.  Because there are virtually no naturally-occurring trees, camping is mostly done in large grass fields, only sometimes with "hook-ups", but they do love it.  A very popular activity is to drive all the way around the island with one of these small campers.  The head of the RVing Bookstore will be doing this in late August.  It will be fun to follow along.

Finally arrived at the western coast, just as the wind picked up even more and it began to rain.

Very old Lutheran church, out in the middle of no-where.  Drove, then, across several miles of their barren "moonscape" - volcanic landscape, to the first of several geo-thermal locales.  At each of these, you could almost think you were in Yellowstone National Park - steam and bubbling mud pots, all smelling of sulfur.  But what we found so fascinating, is that the Iceland government has harnessed and captured this steam to make electricity and EVERY home and business in Iceland is heated with hot water from these geo-thermal spots.  I need to find out more how the taxing works with all of this, but amazing.  They warn you in the hotel shower that the water is so very hot, that you really have to pay attention to adjusting the temperature.

Past bird cliffs and onto the Blue Lagoon.

Did you realize that the North American and European plates are separating at just under 1 inch per year and that "line" runs right through Iceland.  Who knew?

More to follow.

Computer troubles

We're still here and will be back.

Day 1 in Iceland

[Lots of photos]
We made it "easy peasy".  The flight was on-time and we left Seattle on a sunny afternoon.

The flight was 7 1/4 hours and it never got dark.  Very strange site to see

And then it was about 6am and quite lovely

At the Keflavik airport (the main international airport) we were parking next to "The Iron Maiden" World tour plane. [who cares]  Our Icelandic seatmate warned us of the Icelandic "moonscape" when we came in from the airport.  Rather like the big Island (Hawaii) as it is totally volcanic

The trees are in the city where they have been specially planted.  It is rather flat - except for some hills a bit of a ways away

[with snow]  We had a bit of breakfast (European: bread, meat, cheese, tomatoes and Elaine made waffles)along with the Bulgarian national Women's Soccer Team, staying in this hotel,  a brief nap and then headed out to walk along "the" retail shopping street.  Our only purchases were some tissues and a calendar.  Then we visited Hallgrimskirkja a very famous Lutheran church, right in the middle of downtown.  The shape is supposed to be reminiscent of basalt volcanic columns [not unlike ones found along the Columbia River in Washington] and is still very controversial.

A ride to the top of the tower provides great views all around.

By late afternoon it had begun to cloud up and the temperatures had dropped to the high 40's, clouds and wind.  A stop for coffee and skyr cake (a very nice, light, yogurt based cheesecake) was called for.  It's just about time for some dinner and then an early night.  Edda will call us this evening and we will make our plans for tomorrow.  She has promised to be our personal tour guide - aren't we lucky?

Life is such an adventure!  .

tomorrow's the day. . . . .

That we finally take off and begin this adventure.  It has been over a year in the planning and it's gonna be FABULOUS!  We are off for 10 weeks, with most of that time in the Netherlands.  We will be doing two house swaps - that means two different families in our house.  It has taken a LOT of organization and arranging and sorting out, but at last it's here.

We leave Seattle in the late afternoon and fly (essentially) all night to arrive in Reykjavic, Iceland.  We have been reading up and the weather this week is in the 40's and 50's during the daytime, with off and on showers and rain.  It's even getting below freezing on some nights.  Oh my goodness.  Good thing that we are hearty northwesterners.  But, and I can't wait to see it, sunrise is 4am and sunset is 10:45pm.  that means pretty much light for 24 hours straight.  Oh my!  Never experienced that.

My crazy exchange friend, Edda, whom I have only met online, lives in Reykjavic and will telephone us on Wednesday evening and plan our adventures for Thursday and Friday.  She is taking both days off work to run us around and show us a taste of Iceland.  Aren't we so lucky!

So tomorrow morning it's hop out of bed and into the shower.  Then the towels and sheets can go to the washer.  Then we can have some breakfast.  Phew!

Life is good.  We are so lucky. 

We're getting there

In some ways, we are all ready to go and are just tapping our toes waiting for Tuesday.  And yet, each day I do find more things that need attention.  That little basket on my bedside table, filled with my stuff (nail files, hand cream, cough drops, etc, etc.) needs to go away.  The Important Papers (stuff) on my desk that needs to be put away.  etc, etc, etc.  Really - getting house ready for other folks to stay here is much more work than getting ourselves ready.

We are about set with the clothes,

Iceland first means weather as "bad" as Seattle (or maybe worse) so warm things required - or at least the ability to make layers.  That's the first part of our journey, then on to the Netherlands where they have been having above normal temperatures.  That's the short sleeves, tank tops and shorts.  And of course, a girl has to look her best when she is traveling!  :-)

Look at this clean dresser top,

Not sure it's been that clean (and clear) since it came home from the furniture store.  Alas.

On the other hand, my hands must suffer from A.D.D.  I cannot just sit around and watch TV in the evening.  So I finally broke down and bought some 'handwork' to keep myself amused. 

Aside: You realize that I have a project bag all ready for the flight, but I cannot "dip" into that while we're still at home.

As we will be having a new little one join our ranks in late July [will it arrive before we are home again?] it seemed quite appropriate to work on embroidering 12 blocks.  These are then to be assembled with sashing into a quilt top.  Such fun and cute.  We don't know if this will be a boy or a girl, so generic animals are perfect.

Monday doesn't have much happening except our last National Georgraphic lecture in the evening.  Tuesday will be something of a race to get up, strip the bed and start the washing machine, showers and wash towels, final packing and our friend will pick us up shortly after noon.  And at long, long last we will be on our way.  H U R R A H !!!!!!!

Lead up to heading out

Alright, OK, my sewing room is a mess!  It is the room that is out-of-the-way and the best place to store boxes and bags of things that need to get out of the way.  When someone will be using My home as their home, I have lots of things that need to get out of the away.

 Yikes, what a mess!

But the suitcase filled with gifts for my favorite Dutch quilters is ready to go,

So many things there are hideously expensive.  So I have crammed in just as much as I could.  Christmas in May.  :-)

Today was Q.A., as I told you yesterday, and Harriet Hargrave was our speaker.  WOW!  She has so much experience - really dating from the inception of popular, "modern" quilting as you and I know it.  So much background.  Do check out her books and courses.  But suffice to say, she is a frustrated  hand quilter so has perfected machine quilting so that it looks like hand quilting - yes it really does!  Much of the secret involves the kind of batting used.  Amazing!

During the monthly "show and tell" portion of the meeting, Laurie showed a wonderful little quilt she found at a yard sale.  She was not particularly attached to it, but wanted to support the homeowner.  Therefore, she was willing to part with it, for a most reasonable price.  It has come to Seattle to live until it goes to the Netherlands.  Yes, Caro, it is for you.

Apparently the satin binding was added later and cut off some star points

  I am not a person who knows about dating fabrics, but my guess is it is from the 30's or 40's.  It is a full quilt (top, batting and back).  The back is muslin.  Some of it is pieced and quilted by machine, but there is also some hand work on it.  Of course, it has some places where it is quite worn, but it could be repaired (I think) or it is a marvelous "cutter" quilt.  Don't think it will fit in the suitcase this trip, Caro, but you're coming again!