Day 137-socializing again



 Kristín, Daníel, and Imba 



   May 20-All of us got to spend time socializing with friends today.  Kristín and Daníel had invited Alex and Joslyn over for Monday, but these plans got disrupted by other events, so they had the girls and Imba over today instead.  Since the farm that their parents own is about halfway between Bifröst and Borgarnes, Sally, Spencer, and I dropped the girls off and then continued on into town.  We did a little shopping and then headed to the swimming pool. 



We got some of the best views yet of the glaciers and snow-capped mountains off to the east of us.

   After a couple hours of swimming and soaking in the hot pots, we showered off and went over to Maggi and Signý's house for coffee, cake, and company.  The temperature was well into the 50s today and there was practically no wind, so we pulled a table out of their garage and set it up on the space they want to use as their patio.  It was wonderful to hang out outside and enjoy the views of the mud flats and the mountains of Snæfellsnes to the north, while Spencer and their youngest daughter ran around on the grass.  It actually felt warm and summery, and by the end of the day, we had each managed to sunburn just a little bit.  Apparently, sunburns are not very common over here, but you can manage to get one if you try hard enough.

We landlubbers continue to
be amazed by the sea level
changes that occur because
of tides.  We figure that the
difference must be eight feet.

We were bummed that we were unable to see the solar
eclipse like our friends in the States. However, the
alignment of the Sun and the Moon has made the already
dramatic tide differences even greater. This has been
particularly obvious to us at this pier southeast of Borgarnes. 

     

   We finally pulled ourselves away and headed out of town.  Spencer had asked for ice cream from Hyrnan, which is becoming somewhat of a tradition after swimming in Borgarnes, so we stopped in for some.  Sally has only recently discovered that soft serve ice cream cones can be dipped in a licorice sauce that hardens and she has fallen in love with it.  Since we have never seen it in the States, she figures that she better get her fill of it over here! 

   After finishing our ice cream, we drove back to the farm to pick up the girls.  When we got there, we came across Alex with her two friends petting neighbors' horses.  After we did the same, we went to the house and were invited in for more coffee and dessert!  It was absolutely delicious.  Kristín and Daníel's parents, Einar and Þóra, are not quite as proficient with English as the Icelanders at Bifröst, so we had an excuse to try to speak some Icelandic.  However, their skills in English were still better than ours in Icelandic.  The family has a herd of 60 sheep and enough hay production to feed them and a few horses year-round.  This number of sheep is an order of magnitude too small to make the farm self-sufficient.  Consequently, Þóra works as a janitor at Varmaland and Einar is a tractor mechanic.  We had a lot of fun talking to them about farming, the kids, and tractors.
   The girls had had a great time playing with their friends.  They rode bikes, jumped on the trampoline, played in a stream on the property, and got to hold Kristín's baby lamb.  They also got a surprise, when they unknowingly ate horse meat for dinner.  Einar told them what it was after the meal and explained to them that it had been a "bad" horse, so they had slaughtered it.  They thought that it was a little salty, but otherwise, they agreed that it tasted pretty good. 
   The kids started to watch a movie soon after we showed up and asked to finish it before going home.  With no compelling reason for them to be home, we agreed to leave them behind and continued back to Bifröst.  We spent a few hours getting work done and Spencer started the process of learning to ride a bicycle without training wheels.  Finally, Sally and Spencer went back down and picked up the girls.  The family gave all three kids some glasses and pens as "going-away" gifts.  When they got back to the apartment, Spencer rode his bike some more, the girls jumped on the trampoline, and then we all had supper and went to bed.