Day 71-bluebird skies and dynamic Northern Lights

Bifröst as seen from across a frozen Lake Hreðavatn.

   March 15-We woke to weather conditions today that made us think that we might be back in Colorado: blue skies with only a few stray clouds on the horizon.  After I got done teaching over at Hraunborg, I joined Sally at home
for dinner.  The weather was still beautiful when we got done
eating; it was sunny, the air temperature was near freezing, and there was no wind.  We have seen days like this only a couple times over here, so I definitely did not want to let it go to waste.  The snow turned out to be thigh deep in some places, so it would have been great to get out for some backcountry skiing.  However, we do not have our skis here, so I put on my hiking boots instead.  Thankfully, the snow was mostly crusted over, so I did not fall through much. 

   I hiked around the western side of Lake Hreðavatn and stayed low to get to the Jafnaskarðsskógar ("forest of the flat mountain pass").  When the Vikings first reached Iceland, the lowlands were so thick with
(mostly birch) forests that they had to travel by river to make their way inland.  Over the next 200-300 years, Icelanders almost completely denuded the island, using the wood for heating and construction of their buildings.  Sometimes they just burned the forests to clear the land for their animals and to plant fields.  Only in the past few decades has there been a concerted effort to reestablish forests and Jafnaskarðsskógar is one of the bigger examples.  It and smaller neighboring forests are overseen by the husband of Joslyn's teacher, Gróa. 


   With as many birthday parties that Joslyn has been invited to, we might have figured that sooner or later she would be invited to two of them on the same day.  Well, it happened today.  She was quite vexed about the situation, so she and Sally talked it through and she came to a solution that appears to have worked out quite well. One of the parties started at 4pm, so she and Alex (who was also invited to this one) showed up to that one first.  An hour later Alex came home and Joslyn went over to a neighboring building on campus for the second party, which had started at 4:30. 
   The first party was for Sigrún Ísafold, who is in 3rd grade and was turning 9.  She knows our girls because they play together around Bifröst occasionally and see each other each day on the school bus.  As a side note, Joslyn's name is difficult for most Icelanders to say and spell, and when Sigrún Ísafold put together Joslyn's invitation, she had to guess how to spell Joslyn's name based on how it sounds.  The result was "Justlin."  Alex and Joslyn both had fun at the party.  Sigrún Ísafold's family owns two parakeets, which was new to the girls over here.  As is usually the case at birthday parties over here, there was plenty of food to eat, including hot dogs, cake, chocolate eggs, gummies, pop, and lollipops.  They also played with some balloons and the kids were just sitting down to watch a movie, when Alex and Joslyn left.
   The second party was for Birta, who is in 5th grade, but is in Joslyn's class, since 4th and 5th grades are combined in a single class at Varmaland.  They kids were eating supper when Joslyn showed up, but she had just eaten, so she only had one piece of pizza.  After supper, the kids were divided up into groups and went on a scavenger hunt for pieces of paper that Birta's mom had hidden around the neighborhood.  Then, Birta opened her birthday presents, two girls spilled their drink, and Joslyn helped clean it up.  The party wound down with the kids just playing around.  Joslyn joined Birta's little sister in chasing the family cat around the house to pet it.

   Just after we put the kids to bed tonight, I looked out of the front door and noticed that there were some lights behind the clouds off to the east.  Pretty soon, Northern Lights emerged and started dancing across the sky.  We got the kids out of bed and we all huddled on the balcony in front of the apartment and watched in awe as the extremely dynamic display quickly worked its way west across the sky.  This display was not as expansive as ones we have seen before, but the range of colors was much greater with pink, purple, and red visible as well.  This display also changed its shape and color much more rapidly than any of the displays we have seen previously.  In many ways, it reminded me of the finale of a fireworks display.  Within ten minutes, the ribbons and drapes of light had disappeared over the western horizon and the kids went back to bed. 

   About 2:30 in the morning, I happened to wake up.  As I often do when I know the night is supposed to be clear, I got up to briefly look for any sign of Northern Lights.  My insomnia was richly rewarded.  I got Sally up and we watched the lights dance in the sky for about ten minutes.  Then, they just faded away.  This display filled the sky more than the ones earlier in the evening but was not nearly as dynamic.