Day 199-wool shopping in Mosfellsbær

   July 21-We all had another fine breakfast at Pam and Marilyn’s “bed and breakfast.”

Pam plays "go fish" with the kids after breakfast.

Sally and the kids walked down to Kolaportið for one last run through the weekend flea market.

   Shan stayed at the apartment working on the blog.  When the rest of the family returned from their shopping, we headed for home.  For the last few months, Sally has wanted to stop at the wool factory in Mosfellsbær, and we finally managed it today.  She bought a number of woolen items and yet more wool yarn.  Then we drove to Akranes to visit our favorite bakery there for probably the last time this summer.
   Finally, we drove to Maggi and Signý’s house in Borgarnes, since they had invited us to spend the afternoon and to eat supper with them.  Sally dropped the rest of the family off and then made a quick trip to Bifröst to pick up the various gifts we wanted to give them to thank them for being so helpful during our time here.  Our kids spent the afternoon playing with their kids, Erla and Elva, doing some arts and crafts, and watching a movie.  We think that our kids have seen more movies over here in these seven months than they did in the preceding year in the U.S!
   Meanwhile, we adults sat around and talked.  We discussed the upcoming elections in the States, which they get to watch with amused detachment, whereas we will have to be subjected to the horrors of living in a swing state.  The similarities between the politics in Iceland and the States are interesting, although the processes whereby they have become similar are quite different.  Party politics are an inherent component of parliamentary systems, which is the form of Iceland’s government, but they have also taken over in the U.S. as well, at least at the state and federal levels.  We all agreed that this is detrimental, given the problems facing both countries and the EU.  It seems likely that the electorate will not force the politicians to change their attitudes, except when we reach true crises, like occurred in both of our countries in 2008.  It is not the most sensible way to run a government, but apparently it is the style of governance that is preferred by a majority of our fellow citizens.  Crazy!  We decided that the world would probably not implode in the near future, though, so we figured that we would see each other at some point in the future.  With that, we said yet more tearful good-byes to good people we have met in Iceland and headed back to Bifröst to go to bed.

Shan, Alex, Signý, Erla, and Maggi in the back; Elva, Joslyn, and Spencer in front.