My Phalaenopsis definitely like their new place and started flowering a few days ago. Now they are in full bloom and I set them up for a photoshot. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All around our garden! Ingólfur raked them up and put most of them in the trailer to be driven away. We raked quite some amount underneath our trees where they are going to protect the flower bulbs I planted earlier this autumn. And of course they'll make the birds looking for food happy as insects will hide there, too. 
And then I used an unwatched moment, grabbed the ladder and saw and cut off the extratrunk of our Larch.  Like the look of it afterwards.
Some roses are still flowering and I'll cut some of them to have inside when the weather gets colder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to move the riding horses to the autumn pasture at Ísólfsstaðir. Went with a bunch today and they were really happy to get their freedom. 
Whilst chatting with the farmers I spotted some of his sheep approaching and got some nice pics of them in the sunset. Think I'll have to get a print of those for them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just finished to fix the broken part of our big shelter. Next step is painting the older one and then we'll be ready to go for the next winter. 

 

 

 

 

you might ask. Haven't heard much of them lately. Well, first things first: we'll probably get 3 foals after Hugleikur next summer. 2 of them will be very early as he did a nearly too good job with Flugsvinn and Ögn getting them pregnant in their first heat. Vordís is pregnant, too, but we aren't sure if she'll keep it as she's getting older and things are a bit more sensitive then. It should be her last foal anyway. Of course we hope the best and she's in very good shape physically and mentally.
Hugleikur and Pandóra are growing like there's no tomorrow and started getting their wintercoat. Soon we'll have to fetch them and the mares home and the riding horses will move to Ísólfsstaðir. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few years ago we bought a gooseberry and a black currant bush and kept them in Jón's garden. They grew fiercly the last years and the birds were happily taking care of at least the black currants. 
When changeing a few things in the garden I got the idea to move the berrybushes and plant them where the hedge next to the walkway had been. I had purchased a red currant bush, too, so perfect to put the three of them there and some lilac inbetween (hope the lilac will survive the winter).
But to replant those 2 bushes I first had to get them out of the ground and give them a proper trim. To make a long story short, there wasn't much left of them when I was finished, but I hope they'll grow strong next spring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Took place without us because of the COVID measurements. Instead of going to Skagafjörður, we invited our friends Magnús and Ingunn to come over and spend the weekend with us. Nice to finally be able to offer our friends to stay overnight. Enough space.
We went for a very nice ride to Æðarfossar waterfall and from there to Kaldbak and back to the stable. Good hack out and our guests told us how lucky we are with the beautiful riding tracks around our place. We finished the day with delicious food and great stories told over a few drinks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the rules about keeping horses in Iceland there's a paragraph about mandatory windshelter in the pasture. If there's good natural shelter you are lucky and don't have to build a shelter, but better safe than sorry. In each of our 3 fields around Húsavík we've been building a windshelter. The first one in autumn 2007 and it was definitely time to renew the big beams holding the boards. In fact it was the first time we had to do it since the shelter was built. 
And the shelter down by the seaside was severely damaged after the big storms last winter. That means half of it just broke down, had to be removed and built up again.
This time we decided on a bit different design, made the angle a bit smaller and put boards instead of corrugated iron. Think that'll withstand the wind a lot better as you leave a small gap between the boards. 
Well, enough to do, but better have it ready before winter!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hraunsrétt was rather strange this year! The sheeproundup was organized the way that nearly nobody stayed at the mountain hut at Þeistareykir because of the COVID measurements. A few stayed in a caravan and 2 or 3 in the hut. Everybody else went home for the nights. Think it's not the worst way to do it as you rest a lot better in your own bed than on old and very thin mattresses in the cabin. Ella had been taking care of our food the last days and today there were just a few chosen ones who were allowed to attend the sorting. Depending on how many sheep each farmer has he was assigned a number of helpers allowed. Everybody had to have access to handsanitizer and it was banned to share alcohol.
Well, the sorting went indeed better than usual as there were fewer people just standing around and watching, but everybody helping and trying to get the sheep to the right place.
This year it was Snilld's last sorting as she's already rather old, thin and missing a lot of teeth. But she came home with both lambs. She'll get a good time on the meadow before we have to say goodbye. At least she'll get as many treats as she wants before that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was quite a lot to do today and our day rather long. 
First we were asked to help gathering the sheep at Klambrasel like we did the years before. Of course we joined as it is fun and always good the be able to help friends. Ösp wasn't too happy about being left alone with me and not going for a fun ride on the highlands but having to work. But no need to complain and she did a really good job.
Afterwards we got a phonecall from our friend Dóri if we'd be available to take pics when he arrives with the herd on his way to Halldórsstaðir in Laxárdalur. It was quite some time we had to wait for them and in the end it was already getting rather dark when they crossed the river. But I think I got some nice shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the sheeproundup will be next week we thought it might be interesting to have a look how things are up in the mountains. It had been snowing quite a lot the days before but the snow was almost gone when we arrived up there. Few sheep to see, we hope the gathering will be successful next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's been quite a while since I was blogging last, but there's quite a good reason for that. Not that there hasn't been happening anything around here, the truth is: there's been happinging so much that there was no time to sit down and put it in here.
I'm happy and thankful when I have a quick look in here and see that you still come back and check on our site and blogg even though there hasn't been much going on lately. I'll try to make it up to you and update things as soon as I've time to do so.
Well, the reason I haven't been blogging is we finally moved to a new house in town. We've been waiting for that to happen for quite some time (few years to be precise) as it wasn't just any house but Ingólfur's birthplace. His dad built the house 1963 and has been living there since. About 7 years ago he applied for a senior citizen appartment here in town and was put on the waiting list. And then nothing happened, he waited, kept asking, nothing happened, waited more, asked again, still nothing. Until this spring when he got to know that a flat in an appartment building for seniors would be available soon (not the place where he's been on the waiting list!) and after a good talk to Ingólfur's sister, he decided to go for it.
We couldn't believe that was finally happening, but were really happy about the trust we got to make his place ours. There's a big garden around the house, which suits me and my roses just fine. They of course came along and so did a lot of other plants as the new owners of our old place have no interest in having a garden and are just going to make a parking space out of it sometime. They would've thrown everything away.
In May we started to measure the rooms in the house and tried to decide what we'd have to do to make it ours. By then Ingólfur had already told the buyers they could get our flat on the 15th of June, which was quite bold of him, knowing we hadn't done a single hammerstroke yet. But where there's a will there's a way, isn't it?
I spent hours on the IKEA homepage, trying to design a kitchen and find things suiting us for the new place. We ordered new flooring and paint for the walls. In middle of May we went south to do some shopping, including buying/ordering the kitchen. When at the warehouse we had to change which fronts we would take as the ones chosen weren't as suitable as we thought. It was good that I already had done some homework as the salesmanager just opened my drawing and we could keep on working in there. Unfortunately we never saw the final drawing as the second screen, where we were supposed to see what he was doing, didn't work. Well, it was quite some challenge to put up the kitchen with no final pic... We managed anyway. Reminded me a bit of these Wasgii jigsaws where you have some hints, but don't know what the final pic looks like. We were told there would be some waiting time to get everything for the kitchen, but most things were storing and would be sent soon (good to have a garage to store things...)
Soon after our trip we had a meeting with Ingólfur's family to clear out the stuff his dad had left in the house and the siblings were supposed to split up. Everybody was in good mood and things went fast and smooth. Stuff nobody wanted was given to a local charitysale. 
So now there we are close to the end of May, 23 days before we have to move out of our old flat and nothing done yet. Well, in fact some things done, the flooring and the paint already arrived and the kitchen was hopefully on it's way, but in fact there was a huge amount of work left to do, which we couldn't have done without the help of family and friends. I'll put that in the blogg later in the right timeline, so you can hopefully read about the ups and downs there. 
To make a long story short: managed to move out in time!
Stay tuned ;)

 

On top of the list is going for a longer or shorter ride. And that's what we've been doing the last days on different times of the day and different places. Good for us and the horses to change scenery a bit, different things to see and experience. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course we are not forgetting about Hugleikur and Pandóra! They are having a great time at Hagi even though there are quite some flies at the moment. Both are growing and maturing and are really interested in people. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and time to get the stable ready for the next season, pick chantarelle mushrooms and berries. Jón always goes berrypicking and then keeps huge amounts of bilberries in his freezer. He often picks that much we get a huge share, too. In return we try to spot good places for him when out for a hack. Today we met him on our ride and could tell him about an even better place to pick. Fönix was a bit surprised to see him, but happy about getting a clap and treats.