Gleðilega páska and Puppy Love!

Gleðilega páska or Happy Easter to everyone, I hope you are all having a relaxing and well deserved break, most Icelanders have 5 days off for Easter, from Easter Thursday to Easter Monday.

The Icelandic flags have been flying since Palm Sunday. There are dozens of flag poles around this town, I can count 6 from just one of my front windows. Flag flying is a national past-time here and many people have flag poles in their yard.   

They have been flying at full mast all week 

but when I awoke on Good Friday (Föstudagurinn langi...Long Friday) they had all changed to half mast. 

 The flag goes up and down quite often on this flag pole in my front yard and I am begining to think that the flag flyers are really elves or the hidden people as I never see anyone putting it up or taking it down and this morning when I got up at 6am all the flags had gone. I will however endeavour to catch one of these mysterious flag flyers in the act and get a snap.

I must tell you I have a bad case of puppy love at the moment and have fallen for this little cutie, her name is Nina and she is the latest addition to Ross and Olga's home. 

This is the first time in my life that I don't have a pet and I am not sure at this stage I want one but with Nina I get to have the joys of a pet without the responsibility of one...bit like being a grandparent I guess.  While she is so young and until Olga goes on maternity leave (which is not too far away) I get to puppy sit during the week while they are both at work. Each morning I walk around to their house at about 8.30am and pick up Nina and bring her back to the Post Office where she spends the day with me until around 2.30pm when I take her back home.

She is very obedient and is pretty much house trained now...we rarely have any accidents...she sits and listens and really wants to do the right thing.

Nina sitting patiently while I take a photo and of course hoping she gets the treat that I have in my pocket.

Olga said the other day she wonders if Nina thinks she has a secret life, as I pick her up after they have gone to work and drop her back before they get home. Perhaps she thinks she has a double life where this funny woman who speaks very bad Icelandic comes and takes her for a walk to a place that has lots of stairs...which are a bit of a struggle for little legs, who plays with her, makes her sock toys and gives her lots of treats and then whisks her back home before anyone knows she has been out and about.