Family Times, Xmas 2011

Apologies for this long and picture heavy post,  I am just trying to summarise the whirwind affair that was my Christmas with family.  It was so busy and it went so fast that I feel that it hardly happened...thank goodness for the blog as it makes me slow down and reflect on these special moments and thank goodness everyone left me photos as I took none...just too busy 'being' with them all.

The morning after Jesse and Michelle arrived we started the Christmas holiday season with some very sad news...my sister-inlaw Irma had passed away on the 21 Dec.

 

   Jesse set up a little shrine with candles and photos

I feel so incredibly fortunate to have spent a week with her here in Iceland in Sept.  Just after Irma returned to Perth from her Iceland and Italy trip in Oct she found out she had cancer, it was very aggressive and Irma died less than 3 months after diagnosis.  My children found it especially difficult and quite torn to not have been able to go to the funeral or to be with their father, nonno, nonna, aunts and uncles at this very sad time for the family. 

However with the aid of technology we chatted to them all on skype and fondly remembered over the holiday period the special, loving and giving life of Irma.  I think we all still had a fabulous Christmas and New Year and I am sure that is exactly what Irma would have wanted.

Besides family I got to meet Eva's partner John, what a lovely man he is, quiet, easy going and although an only child coped very admirably with the goings on of sibling revelry.

 Eva and John

And Jesse's girlfriend Michelle is a joy, very open and friendly young woman who constantly made me smile. 

 Michelle and Jesse

Also here and travelling with Dom my eldest son, is Lachlan, a next door neighbour childhood friend to them all and special mate to Ross since he was 8 or 9 years old. 

Plus visiting from Germany was the beautiful Anja,  they all met when she was a high school exchange student at  Ross' school in Perth.  Anja returned to Australia a few times and ended up living with Eva and Ross for over a year in Inglewood.

Anja (Henry's godmother) 

Henry perfected the art of crawling over the holidays

 

got into the holiday spirit

and bonded with his Aunty and Uncles.

 Eva told Ross that she was going to miss Henry far more than she would miss him!!!

 Dom allowing Henry to explore his musical genes.

Jesse and Henry having a fun playtime.

It really has just been a family affair, we did not really do any touristy stuff, we basically just hung out, chatting and spending precious time together. 

The weather here at this time of year tends to make going places difficult, some did get to go to Akureyri and Hofsós, however the road to Grettislaug was too snowed in for Ross' little car so they missed out on the hot springs but the Hofsos pool made up for it.

Jesse, Dom and Ross at the Hofsos pool

The boys did do a spot of fishing (no luck though)

         and a bit of jamming in Ross' basement

 

There were snowballs,  

snowmen

and snow angels

and of course let us not forget New Years Eve where they all got to nurture their pyromaniac side for the fireworks.

Huge bonfire on the beach

and fireworks at 9pm to get everyone in the mood.

Dom already in the mood with his firework booty and 

well and truly channeling his inner pyromaniac!

 In Australia it is against the law for private citizens to set off fireworks but here in Iceland over the Christmas and New Year period it is wholly sanctioned and everyone seems to set them off.

Jesse all gung ho and ready to set off his very first fireworks in the old post office carpark.

 It sort of exploded and sent us all back peddling,

 I must admit I am not a fan in such close proximity and would much prefer to watch from a distance.

On the stroke of midnight the town just explodes into a huge fireworks spectacular that continues pretty much for an hour or so as everyone sets off their own stash of fireworks.

 

It doesn't matter where you are there is sure to be something going off somewhere in the town.

View from the graveyard

Olga, Ross and Jesse

 

Olga and Anna

 

It has been so special to have all my children here for their very first white Christmas and hopefully over the years we get to spend more of these times together.    When I moved here I always knew I would be seeing them for Christmas 2011 but now I am unsure when the next next time will be, so it was very sad for me to say farewell.  I miss them all so much, however once the renovations are complete and the business up and running I will start to make plans for a return visit to Australia to catch up again.

Happy New Year!

Fireworks, Sauðárkrókur Iceland, 01.01.2012

This is just a quick post to wish you all a happy new year and let you know I had a fabulous Christmas with the family. I said farewell to my eldest son Dom yesterday, the last one to leave and am feeling a little flat.  I will update you all in the next few days, I just need to allow myself a little time to process the whirlwind that was the last two weeks.

I have never been one to make New Year resolutions, I am not a great planner or list maker...I tend to live quite intuitively and just see what comes my way.  However I have made a conscious decision to engage more actively in renewing, rediscovering my art practice...it is time. 

I am reading a book at the moment given to me by Lachlan, one of our Australian Christmas visitors and as I can be my own worst critic at times, I intend to keep this passage from it in mind this year.

"If we walk into a forest, we marvel at the range and texture of nature's appearance.  Each aspect of it is a wondrous expression of the universe - each tree, flower, blade of grass, bird and butterfly.  We don't feel any of it is a mistake.

We don't run up to the gnarled trees and tell them they should be like the tall, straight trees.  We don't tell them that they're not trying hard enough, or they're not good enough, or they're not practising enough.  We don't tell them they've gone in the wrong direction or that they should be something else.  That would be ridiculous."
Essence Revisited: Slipping Past the Shadows of Illusion by Darryl Bailey pg 33

20ll was a gentle year for me, a year of softly, slowly, settling into Iceland...feeling at home...with an inherent knowing that I am in the right place at the right time.  2012, I already know will be much busier...a year of consolidating all the efforts made and seeds sown last year.  I feel a little daunted by all that I have to do but mainly I feel excited by the challenge and the prospect of new adventures.

The Post Office post...finally!

 I have been wanting to write this post for months, as many of you know I have been negotiating a purchase for a 1952 Post Office in Sauðákrókur Iceland since February this year.
Well my 4th offer has finally been accepted. From the moment I stepped in to the building back in Feb I knew the place was to be mine...it just felt so right when I walked through it and I do believe it has very patiently been waiting for me to have tied up my affairs in Australia and for me to return.  It has been a lengthy process and at times extremely frustrating but finally the contract arrived in the mail over Christmas,  it certainly has been a lesson in patience (hope I have learned something) but I am sure it will be worth the wait.

 A huge thank you to Sigga who has helped me enormously in making this happen,  her patience and pragmatic approach to the situation I know played a major part in the final positive outcome.  I will always be eternally grateful for the enormous effort she has put into this project for me.  Also big thanks goes to Kristinn who has graciously provided accommodation in her home to me for the last 3 months. I am so indebted to this mother and daughter team and words just don't relay how appreciative and grateful of their good will I am.  Hopefully over the next few years I will be able to repay in kind someway/somehow.

It has been a momentous year,  at the end of 2009 I was on a plane to Iceland to spend Christmas and experience the winter and darkest period to see if it was for me, needless to say it is and I spent that couple of months reflecting on the outrageous idea floating around my head of moving here permanently.  I returned to Perth at the end of Feb 2010 and proceeded to get my affairs in order, to sell my house and make this move happen and on Oct 9th 2010 I finally landed back in Iceland.

Whilst it is not the cutest place in Sauðákrókur this old post office is a building of huge potential.  It is situated in the centre of the main street, directly opposite the church.  The building comprises of 3 levels, the ground floor is what used to be the public entrance (this was an active Post office 2 years ago) and this is the area that will need major transformation but I think there is space for at least two self contained holiday accommodation rooms for tourists/artists plus also a retail/gallery area...once settled I need to talk to an architect and find out what is possible.  The basement runs the breadth and length of the building and consists of at least 7-8 rooms...some will be for storage/laundry but others will definitely be art studio spaces so that I can finally re-acquaint myself with my creative side that has been hibernating for sometime.

The top floor is an apartment where I will live, quite spacious, certainly enough room for me, definitely needs a neutral paint job which will be the very first thing I do, starting today.   I will document the whole process so quite a few before and afters pics will undoubtedly show up on this blog.

So today, the last day of the year, I collect the keys and say goodbye to the old and welcome in the new.

Happy New Year!