Gleðilegt sumar! Summer is here!

I am turning into the grumpy lady in the neighbourhood. I think this is the effect of living in very close proximity to everyone in the village. I really like it in terms of my work, seeing that you know where this dog and this cat lives and whose horse was brought in with a nasty wound. However, when I get home in the evening or at the weekend, I want to be anonymous, minding my own business in the garden. So I am still keeping the dream alive that I can move to a place of my own where I have acres to myself and my eccentric habits.

Another thing bugging me today is that Lappi seems to be having a teenage crisis a bit early, being disobedient on purpose, as if to try my patience. People that know me well would maybe know that I don't have a lot of patience most of the time! He seems hellbent on eating my 'gúmmískór'-Chech made rubber slip-ons traditionally worn in the Icelandic countryside. This in spite of him knowing from an early age that he must not, and has always obeyed by this rule. Also, he tears out the insoles knitted by my mum and chews on them. I am sure that he loves the buttery sweaty juice coming from these wonderful flaps of wool, but even sweeter must be the feeling of being naughty!

Today is the Icelandic 'sumardagurinn fyrsti', or first day of summer. Traditionally it is very wet, windy and cold, if not snowing, on this day. People will however persevere with going on parades and children will receive a summer gift of a rubber ball, skipping rope or summer clothes. This is a very Icelandic day and an official day off. So today I have been in the garden playing with Lappi and planning the beds (in my head, I am not doing anything yet as we can still expect snow) and the weather has been behaving so far. It is great to have a day off, as the last two days have been craaaazy at work. Everybody seems to be selling horses abroad these days (they must be getting a lot of Icelandic krona for their Swedish krona and Euro) and the lambing season is looming large, so the next few weeks are going to be manic!

Well, I guess it was about time people got some news from the wonderful town of Hella! By the way, I am not doing anything about my thesis corrections yet....yikes!

Lappi sees the world

Went south for the weekend, all the way to Reykjavík, spending the first night in Hafnarfjörður at my parents'. Lappi came with, experiencing tarmac for the first time. Also, he had to be on lead the whole time. We had meat soup, my favourite, which lasted me and Sverrir two more meals at the weekend. Lappi was good and didn't harass grandmother which was a big plus in her books. Saturday we spent in Reykjavík after mum and dad had left for Snæfellsjökull glacier for some skiing. We took Lappi everywhere round town, even to buy wine and beer for the party we were going to in the evening. Had a picnic in a sunny park and everything was hunkydory. After all that Lappi was totally knackered and could sleep all the way through the disco party we were going to later in the evening.

*As you see everything revolves around the dog these days*

The party was great, I never knew there was that much disco music to be unearthed in the world! Well, it began snowing in the night and in the morning everything was again covered in the white stuff (no, not cocaine and not dandruff).

It was a bit hard to get to work this morning, but on the plus side I got meat soup for lunch from one of the farmers wives, so now I am saturated with the stuff!

Yup, life is OK, I guess. Just the time to start worrying about doing my thesis corrections!

Time for some news

Tax returns have been handed over, the puppy is now formally mine and I am having a bit of nights with broken sleep due to his need for frequent visits outside. I am really enjoying his company and today will be our first day on the job together. It will be interesting to see how he manages. Other news, the snow is gone and the migratory birds are flocking to Iceland. Many of them will be flying over here on their way all over the country. Last night there was a lot of whooping swans squabbling on the river, a bunch of duck quacking, and my favourite the oystercatcher was peeping joyfully over mine and Lappi's heads around midnight. Lovely!

Last but not least, my parents were over for one night at the weekend and brought with them my brother Magnús all the way from Shanghai! It was a great time we had together and I look forward to the next opportunity.

Anyway, must get to work. Behave while I am away!