Three Dizzy Dames

3 lovely Aussie ladies came to stay for a week, they call themselves the Three Dizzy Dames,  Leith, Laraine and Kate all belong to a Perth chapter of the Red Hat Society which is the largest women's social group in the world, only rules are that you must be at least 50 years old and at all Red Hat events you wear purple and of course a red hat....which pretty much rules me out ever joining!!! However the 3 Red Hat Dizzy Dames are game for pretty much anything and visit me on the tail end of a 160 day world trip.

 Kate, Laraine and Leith on the steps of the Old Post Office

just before they departed Sauðárkrókur.

The ladies decided to stay a little longer than originally planned to catch their breath, relax a little and what better place to do that than in the stunning and serene setting that is Iceland.

My itinerary for tourists was once again given a tick of approval from the Dizzy Dames who seem to thoroughly enjoy the places we visited in the Skagafjördur region.  I  will try and only post images of these places that are a little different from previous posts.  First stop during the week was once again Glaumbær where I think every tourist who ventures north visits to see this lovely restored turf farmhouse and of course coffee and cake at Áskaffi.  Askaffi also has a historic display upstairs and after our tummy's were full we spent sometime perusing these.

 

I just love the old boxes and carved bits of wood

We timed our visit to the local tannery the next day to coincide with the tour of their factory.   We saw all areas of the leather processes including some experimental stuff such as parchment, bird wings and a couple of cats...these of course are found carcasses...no kitty cats harmed in the process.  I was fascinated by these experimental things and a few potential art projects whizzed around my head.  For some reason I was too busy looking and not clicking with the camera...so sorry no pics, however I did find a great little video of the actual tannery here in town created for a BBC documentary and this really is similar to the tour we did...but only shows the fish leather process...whereas we also got to see the lamb, cow and horse tannery processes.

The next day the weather was glorious, the top of my head even got a little burnt would you believe it got to a sizzling 19c...proof below.

So during this heat wave we spent much of the afternoon at the very pretty township in Hofsós

where we explored a couple of the museums.  Each time I go I visit a different museum...one more lot of visitors and I will have seen all 3.

The girls taking a closer look at the Basalt rock formations.

On the way back to Sauðárkrókur, we stopped off at Hólar and took a stroll around the University grounds

The bell tower

more turf houses

 A view over the student accomodation area

 Replica building of the original bishops office using the same tools, materials and building methods.

Of course I happened to mention Geocaching to the girls who became very interested to know more so this is Leith finding their very first cache. 

When we were at the tannery we were told about a handcraft festival that was happening just outside of Akuyreri on the coming Fri-Sun, so we earmarked Fri for that event.  The closer we got to Akuyreri the colder and wetter it became but as we approached the festival the rain subsided and we had a great day.  Once again I have very few photos to share...far too busy looking.  

It was an excellent opportunity for me to talk and get contact details of several fabulous artisans who are producing quality Icelandic Arts and Crafts and I will contact them hopefully in the near future when I am about to open a retail/gallery venture in the Old Post Office. 

Lots of overhead cloud and low lying fog as we entered the carpark...it was quite a chilly day.

But the children don't care as they swim in the outdoor heated pool, rain, hail, snow or shine.

 Most of the handicrafts were indoors, it was very crowded and sellers expected it to be even more so over the weekend.   It is a bit hard to go to something like this and not spend a little money, Laraine bought a lovely felted wool and silk scarf...I was tempted. Kate bought some herbal hand creme and Leith was strong and able to resist temptation.

Laraine's lovely scarf.

I fell in love and went home with a folky ceramic piece and a little miniature bird woodcarving.  

 I think I have a little birdy thing going on at the moment!!!

On Sunday we visited Grettislaug and I think this for my visitors rated best place to experience in this area...I know Gill and Bern also loved it.  Click on the link above and check out this 360 degree panorama view...it's pretty cool.  For 500 kronurs approx $4 AUD each you can soak as long as you wish in the hot pots surrounded by magnificent countryside with a great view of Drangey.

 Drangey

 Kate, Leith and Laraine very much enjoying their soak.

Laraine not wanting to be outdone by the young ones went for the triple...ie from hot pot to icy cold North Atlantic ocean and then back to hot pot.  You can see the relief on her face as she once again felt the lovely warmth of the natural hot water thawing her body. 

 Laraine all rugged up as we looked for the cache here at Grettislaug.

 Sprinkler watering a roof top lawn

We stopped and waved to a group on a horse riding tour on the way back.

Last day Monday was mainly spent at the hairdressers. The girls decided that they all needed a bit of a spruce up before continuing on their journey.  

 

Would you believe that in this small town there are 9 hairdressing businesses.  I booked them into  Móðins hárstofa where I go and they were all really happy with the results and the price which is a lot cheaper than most places in Perth.

After the hairdressers and a bit of a late lunch they took photos of the town from the graveyard and then came back to the Old Post Office for a little craft lesson before dinner in felting soap. 

Kate, Leith and Laraine.

The girls left on Tuesday morning to drive the Golden Circle route back to Reykjavik where there is so much more to see before they fly out on Friday morning to Edinburgh.  All in all it was a pretty full week for me, I thoroughly enjoyed the company of these Red Hat ladies and look forward to catching up with them again sometime in the future.

P.S. 

I just had a bit of a chat to Leith on Skype and apparently they had a sensational trip around the east coast and saw amazing glaciers, icebergs and water falls to name just a few...girls I look forward to your blog update of this. 

Sunny Iceland

Sunny days are here (finally) and seem to be sticking around give or take a day here or there.

The weekend before last I spent a Sunday afternoon at Glaumbær which was open free to the public.  There were people in national costume, providing demonstrations in the old ways of doing, plus market stalls where handicrafts, cakes and second hand items were for sale.

 Sigga making butter in an old fashioned butter churn (Ross and Olga found an antique one of these in their shed).

 Kristin [Olga's grandmother(83years)] and her sister Guja (90years) demonstrating the art of knitting

I found a lovely spot to sit in the sunshine out of the wind where a play area was being set up.  Children were being introduced to toys that their parents and grandparents would have played with.  Basically all that is required for hours of fun is a few sheep bones, sheep horns, bits of wood and some string.   

This is a farm...(in case your imagination is not up to the task) the long thin bones are horses, the sheep jaw bones are cows, the large horns ewes, smaller horns are the lambs and any tiny bones could be chickens, pigs etc, the paddocks are all marked out with sticks and string.

 Children were fascinated

 and played happily for quite sometime while parents went through the museum.

 This young lad was not content to just play with the farm animals he had to become one and very convincing he was too.

I also showed them how to play knuckle bones (Jacks) a game that I used to play back in the day. 

Although playing with sheep's bones was a pastime of yesteryear's children they are still found in some kindergartens and play corners today and if parents are not happy for children to be playing with the real thing they can purchase the plastic versions.

Children's play corner at the local tannery in Sauðárkrókur

pic by Gill

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Ok back to sunshine, last Thursday it was a warm 15c, people were sunbaking in backyards in bikini tops and walking around town in tanktops....I kid you not Australians.  I did take a photo of someone sunbaking in their backyard that I took from up on a hill looking over the town, they were in a bikini but I refrain from posting as it does seem a little voyeuristic and invasive of their privacy...so I have no real proof to show you...you will just have to take my word for it. I must be acclimatising as it felt gloriously warm to me as well.

P.S. Just found proof...there has been a heatwave in Reykjavik and yesterday (Sunday), was a sweltering 16c and everybody flocked to the beach.

pic source from here

Visitors...Hooray!

It has been a fabulous week, I have had my very first visitors from Australia come to stay.
A dear friend Gill and her husband Bern were visiting family in Wales and made a little side trip to catch up with me at the Old Post Office.

 

It was really wonderful to have an old friend around to reminisce with and then be able to show off Iceland and the Skagafjörður region to them.  I worked with Gill for 6 years in Art Education at a Perth University and we shared an office for around 4 of those years.

 One of Gill's Knitted ceramic teapots

Gill is a talented ceramic artist, extremely intelligent, sharp witted, irreverent and one of the funniest people I have ever met.  Gill made me laugh everyone of my working days over the six years and not just a little giggle or chuckle here and there but side splitting, rolling on the floor, belly aching laughter. I laughed more in those six years than I had ever done previously and I hold very fond memories of all her funny stories and antics.  I remember one year when she was trying to teach a group of art education students about visual messages and perception...she came dressed as the Queen Mother and proceeded to teach ceramics in full character mode in a pale blue crimplene suit, complete with hat, gloves and handbag.  She stayed in character for the whole day.

Gill as the Queen Mother

 Removing gloves to give a wheel demonstration.

 Not sure the Queen Mother would sit with her legs astride and have hitched her skirt up that far!

Although they were only able to stay for 3 nights we fitted in quite a bit of sight seeing as well as time to sit and chat.  They came bearing gifts and I was totally spoilt! I now own one of Gill's knitted teapots (which I have coveted for sometime) and she also gave me a little set of her wall pieces, plus a Kindle...which I had never really looked into, but have since loaded on a few books and have started reading Eat, Pray, Love,  it is so much lighter than a book to hold and the best part is I can magnify the print!  A few things are hard to get here, vegemite of course impossible, rosehip capsules for my arthritis and anchovies.

Summer seems to be a bit hit and miss this year, some days are lovely but others are decidedly wintry.  The first night they arrived it was cold and very windy, fortunately they came prepared with the appropriate summer clothing for Iceland.  Most of the pictures in this post are through the eyes of Gill...for some reason I was too busy talking and did not take many pics, so Gill kindly left me a copy of hers.

Bern dressed for the Icelandic summer!

The next day was quite beautiful with no wind so we drove out to the little seaside village of Hofsós for coffee and cake but first did a little tour through the Immigration museum which told the story of the Icelanders who immigrated to the Americas from 1870-1914...during this time 20% of the Icelandic population left to start a new life elsewhere.

 

 A view of the town which has a population of 180-200

I would be happy to do laundry everyday with this view.

Plus we went in search of Elves as these Balsaltic rock formations are said to be the capital of the Skagafjörður's elf population.

I also introduced them to Geocaching and we did a little over the two days,

 

The heated swimming pool at Hofsós where a cache was supposedly nearby

 

Bernie scrambling over rocks looking for the cache...however we did not find this one.

From Hofsós we drove to Hólar which for over 700 years served as the capital of North Iceland and the cathedral here is Iceland's oldest stone church.  There is now a University which specialises in all things Equine and houses the Centre for History of the Icelandic Horse. Rural Tourism, Aquaculture and Fish Biology are also taught here.  There are also articles on display of Archaological digs, a Turf house, a small forest and of course the Beer club.

 We took a walk through the turf house and Olga's amma, Kristin told us that she lived in one similar to these until she was 8 years old.

There were also a couple of caches in Hólar forest so we went in search of those.

 Me frantically searching for one that once again eluded us.

Gill finding the other one...her very first cache find!

After Hólar our next stop was Glaumbær on the way we passed a group of horses being driven along the roadside.  Gill is a little nervous of horses and over her stay she had a few close encounters with them to varying degrees.

 

 Gill's close encounter #1 with horses

We had worked up quite an appetite so as soon as we arrived at Glaumbaer we headed straight to Áskaffi for lunch and had homemade vegetable soup, smoked lamb, pancakes and coffee...absolutely delicious. 

 Once our tummy's had been filled we found a cache at Glaumbaer and then visited the Turf house farm museum. 

The front of the Farmhouse

a view of the back of one of the rooms...note the herring bone pattern of the turf

Side view with turf wall (this pic is definitely postcard material)

Interior view from the end of the passage

 The sleeping quarters

The Kitchen

The Glaumbaer farm has 15 rooms and is so much larger on the inside than expected.

 Collections of objects on display

After Glaumbær it was back to Sauðárkrókur for dinner at Ólafshús.

Gill having close encounter # 2 with a foal.

The next day we stayed pretty close to home, we visited the Tannery in Sauðárkróker which processes fish, lamb, horse, cow and reindeer skins to name a few into the softest leather and fur skins.

Fish Leather

Fur skins

 Gill bought Icelandic cod and Wolf fish skins as her souvenirs of Iceland.

We took a little drive by tour around the town, up to the graveyard and the local golf club where Gill had another very close encounter of the horsey kind.  A farmer was herding his horses from one paddock to another.

Gill's close encounter #3

Gill filmed this outside the car, so you will see just how close she was.

We then headed back to my place for a spot of lunch and had an array of Icelandic fare we had bought at the supermarket such as smoked salmon, herbed whale blubber, dried fish, flat bread, smoked lamb and Icelandic cheese.

 After lunch we visited Grettislaug which is not far from town, has fabulous views

 and two hot pots to soak in. 

 The day was beautiful, no wind here and we just relaxed totally in the hot water....Bern in particular seemed to enjoy this immensly.  

 

There was a cache nearby so after a lovely long soak we trekked off to find it...and we did!

From Grettislaug you can also take a trip to Drangey and see the Puffins...unfortunately Gill and Bernie ran out of time to do this...maybe next visit.

Drangey 

Later that night in Sauðárkrókur there was a bonfire near the jetty to herald in Lummadagar.

 Gill and I took a walk for a closer look and we got there for the tail end of it.

 

  There was a small sailing demonstration for children by the local sailing club which only started up a couple of years ago.

 As you can see everyone was dressed in their summer gear!

It was a pity Bern and Gill could not stay a couple more days as the Lummudagur festival was in full swing on Saturday...more about that in next weeks post.

They left early the following morning for Reykjavik where they had one more night before they flew back to the UK.  Hopefully they were able to fit in another couple of sites and got to see a Geysir, the Gullfoss waterfall and the Blue Lagoon.  

It was soooo good seeing them both and I hope they will venture this way again sometime soon.