Hays Family in Iceland: Day 181-the cats of Bifröst

Monday, July 23, 2012

Day 181-the cats of Bifröst

July 3-It rained off and on today, so we stayed inside. Sally worked on the laundry, Shan wrote up some blog entries, and the kids played, watched TV, and worked on some of their schoolwork to keep up with their Gunnison cohorts. In the evening we got into the hot pots on campus. Yes, we have lived here for almost six months and this was the first time that we went over and used them. They are nothing fancy, but they were warm and it was a nice way to relax in the late evening. We tried to get to bed a little earlier tonight, but given the nearly continual light, it seems like a fool’s errand to try to stay on a specific schedule for a schedule’s sake. You can work or play outside (or inside) as easily at 11 pm as at 11 am or at 5 pm, so choose the time you want to be up!
Two things that the kids (and the adults) have missed during our stay here are our cats back home, Frisky and Sebastian. Thankfully, there are lots of cats roaming around Bifröst and the lack of predators makes them significantly more friendly to strangers than your average farm cat in the States. We know the true names of a couple of the cats, but for the most part the kids have come up with their own names for them. Here are our adopted pets of Bifröst:

Kisa was special. She belongs to Kolbrún and Konrað, who lived on the floor below us and actually call her Guðrun. Their daughter, Viktoria, was in kindergarten with Spencer, so when Kisa had kittens in May, we got to go down to their apartment to see them, which made everyone happy. One day in April we left our window open while we were gone from the apartment and when we came back, we found Kisa curled up in the kids' room! Ever since then, Kisa has felt quite comfortable following us into the apartment when we come home. We sometimes let her in and play with her briefly before we put her back out.