Lummudagar 2011!

Mostly I have found Sauðárkrókur to be a quiet, sleepy little village by the sea, which mostly suits me to a tee...however the place certainly does comes alive for Lummudagar!  In the 9 months I have been here I have not seen so many people in the town at any one time.

 The car parks were full

 The free camping ground was full

 So full that people camped up on the hill

There was certainly a festive atmosphere around the town. The main street was closed to traffic on Saturday afternoon and stalls were set up along the footpaths the length of the old part of town.

Lummudagar is pancake pikelet day and you can stroll through the town and get your fill of free pikelets and coffee provided by various stall holders, groups and businesses.  There were competitions for the tastiest pikelets....I don't know who won but I thought the ones outside the florist were amazing.  

There is also a competition of the best decorated district.  Each area has a particular colour to decorate with...I live in the old part of town and our colour was blue.

 

 

 

I think this guy might have been giving the finger to the other districts in the competition.

Other areas up the hill were red and above them yellow.  Towns and farms within the Skagafjördur region also participated with Hofsós going purple, Hólar green, Varmalið orange and the farms pink.  Not sure of the outcome of the competition but it was fun to walk around town and see how people decorated their house and front yard.  Unfortunately I did not get to see the other areas and only have one photo from Gill's collection taken a few days before the event of an early bird in the yellow district.

 

Yellow district

The carnival atmosphere was in the air all Saturday, children of all ages were well catered for, 

there were jumping castles,

Go Cart rides

Lucky dips

and crane rides!

For older folk 

there were motorcycles,

music on rooftops

and markets galore

 where bargains could be found and tasty homemade food consumed.

 Of course I love a bargain or two ten.  I managed to get a couple of hats, a few scarves,  some woollen jumpers, one to wear and a couple to turn into cushion covers...all for around $18AUD.  The extra hats and scarves will come in handy when family are here over Christmas as I am pretty sure my sons will come very ill prepared for the winter.

I also bought my very first Icelandic antique...I never see anything very old for sale here but this day I came across a little hand carved wooden box, it is no bigger than an eyeglass case but is a lovely shape with great patina which felt beautifully smooth in my hands.  I paid approximately $17AUD...a bargain me thinks!

I have heard a rumour that the old post office has been nicknamed Australia as the other two properties on the street are known as Russia and Germany.  The flying of the Australian Flag on the front of the old Post Office on Lummudagur will possibly help cement the name into local folklore.  

The house on the left of this pic is the guesthouse Mikligarður otherwise known as Russia and you can read the history behind the nickname via the link.

and next door to Russia is the red house otherwise known as Germany 

(I have no idea why, when I find out I will let you know).

For more great pics of Lummudagur 2011 which showcase the carnival atmosphere 

(far better than mine), check out the gallery on Feykir the local area newspaper.

Small Joys...the best kind!

 The last snow fall a couple of weeks ago was pretty intense and it has left quite a layer of ice around.  I often take Freyja for a walk through a secret garden area...in summer it is rolling green but at the moment it is pretty impenetrable heavily covered in ice and snow.  I really like this walk and so ventured out the other day but when we got there the path had completely disappeared under the snow.

Normally there is a path through here

 Even Freyja did not know which way to go

 

The path cuts into the side of this slope so it was a little hair-raising walking along here, fortunately someone had been along before me and I used their footprints to guide us through.

Small Joy #1

The view was well worth the angst of the walk

My life at the moment is full of small joys, one being the Red Cross market days, where you can fill a plastic shopping bag for only1500 Kronas, approx $13 AUD.  So Olga and I had one bag between the two of us and we stuffed it full.  I managed to get a lovely Pashmina, a vintage silk scarf, 6 brand new white cotton dinner napkins, plus a couple of skivies.  Olga snapped up a scarf, jeans, a couple of tops and quite a few baby clothes and all this for only 1500 ISK...bargain...but Ross secured the deal of the day and bought a cool leather Jacket for 1000 ISK approx $9 AUD. 

Small Joy #2

My Red Cross stash.

When we came out from the Red Cross we were greeted by these unusual cloud formations.

 Small Joy #3

Another small joy is the one where you find out how to do something that you thought was pretty unattainable....I think I can now call myself a knitter...as I have added a pair of socks to my growing list of knitting achievments...I had always wondered how you turn a heel and now I know.  So next I think I will try a jumper or cardy or something similiar and see how I go with that...I am sure YouTube will get a bit of a work out.

Small Joy #4

The fab socks made from Lopi which is the very warm Icelandic wool.

 

Ross in the beanie looking a little like a mischievous Christmassy Yuletide lad

but always an absolute joy!