This weekend has been really nice and relaxing overall.

Friday's "Date Night" yielded a nice steak for both of us at Outback.

Saturday saw us putting together furniture and placing it for the office which is located in the basement along with getting a new entertainment center that will consolidate the TV and all the other stuff (DVD, VCR, Surround sound, etc.) and a new bookcase for in the office area.

Sunday we slept in and then started into the rearranging of the boxes to finish placing furniture in the office. Once the furniture was tentatively placed we both felt the need to empty some boxes. We got through about 10-15 boxes (I think) but not everything can be put away yet so some of it still clutters our desk tops. But we definitely feel like we're making headway.

We then headed out for a quick dinner at Souplantation before heading to Dafydd's softball game. Tonight was the playoffs/championship and I'm happy to report that Dafydd's team won!! Yeah!! But it was COLD sitting there watching 2 games. Taught a couple of young ladies a little bit of Lucet before they got distracted by skateboards and playing catch, but they enjoyed playing with the yarn for quite some time even when they decided to give up on Lucet.

Tomorrow while Dafydd is at work I'll undertake getting some more of these boxes and stuff cleared. Part of the unpacking is deciding what we want to continue to hold onto and move around the world with us. My old CRT monitor has been replaced and is headed to the local Salvage store as a donation along with a printer, CD rack and some other odds and ends. Now that we have almost all of our stuff in 1 location it has become clear that we have WAY too much stuff. 3 bedroom sets, 5 sets of pots and pans, 3 sets of dishes plus a set of china and the list goes on and on. Once we get all the stuff separated out into the garage that we're giving away, we'll make that call to the local Salvage store and they'll think they hit Christmas. *smile* Still the decisions don't always come easy.

It's been forever since I posted and I still have yet to finish several of our recent trips but I thought I should post something for any readers that are still out there and go back to the other stuff later (as I've done in the past). So let's see . . well we've moved to California from England and I must admit that I've been missing all the friends we made in England while we were there. Just the other weekend we had a visit from Mary and enjoyed spending some time with her. The moving part is going fairly well. So far we only seem to be missing one thing and there hasn't been any major damage to anything but there are still lots of boxes to unpack and there are still parts of furniture or computer equipment that still has not been found among the boxes. I'm sure it's all here . . somewhere . .

For the past couple of weeks, since we lacked much furniture, both of us had our desktops set up on a pair of filing cabinets and a coffee table. I'm happy to report that today we finished assembling the desks and putting them in place for our office. I'll admit that I'm very excited about this because now when I feel like I need a break from unpacking boxes I can sit down at a desk and do some of the scanning or other things that I've been needing to get done. Additionally, it means that I'm more likely to turn the Skype on now and again just in case someone wants to call. ~smile~

Our current concern seems to be book shelving space. Those of you who have visited our place before know that we had LOTS of bookshelves in SEVERAL rooms all filled with books of some kind. Well, new place and new book shelve positioning. We've managed to put all the tall similarly fashioned book shelves in the room we're going to use as a library but that means that we'll be short book shelves in places like the office, game room or sewing room (all of which are in the same room). I'm sure it will work out somehow and some way and especially after we get all the boxes out of the way. It's amazing how much space the boxed stuff takes up .. once it is put away it doesn't look like we've got that much stuff at all. Well, okay we still have a lot of stuff but it doesn't seem to impede daily living once it is put away.

Well tomorrow we make a SERIOUS dent in the office boxes . . or at least that is the intent.

The pools are the best.

From the SCA site, Nik drove us back south to shop. Along the way, David hopped out at several stops to recollect the Klakavirki ribbons tied to sign posts to lead people to the site like breadcrumbs. We stopped at the mini-mart at Reykjahlid to gather beverages when the hot dogs and hamburgers they offered looked good and we decided we were starving. It was a pleasant day with a decent wind and so most of us sat at a nearby picnic bench to eat our meal . . Cedric on the other hand was avoiding "the wings and the fangs and the eating of the eyeballs" at all costs and so he opted for sitting in the yetti. Satisfied, we all piled into the yetti and started the drive to our next stop - the pools. But alas, I realized that to avoid the little midges getting behind my glasses I'd taken them off and set them down . . but didn't retrieve them before we headed out. Bless Nik, she turned around and we went back for them.

Setting off. . yet again . . we went to the pool at Jardbodin at Myvatn. The pools are the oddest sensation (for those who've not experienced them). The water is milky blue/green with minerals and all the water, heated as it was, comes from a natural spring, already that lovely temperature. The trip from the shower/locker room to the pools was interestingly cold but once in the water it was LOVELY.

From Iceland Tourism

We lounged in the pools for 2-1/2 hours before we realized, not only were we pruned but it was getting late (although we didn't realize that part from the sun's location).

From Iceland Tourism

We travelled west along Route 1 over Vikurskard and saw a mist that seemed to envelope the landscape. It was eerily awesome to see and drive through, although I was glad that I was not the one driving as I'm sure from the driver's perspective it wasn't fun at all.

From Iceland Tourism

When we got back to Leirunesti we realized we were hungry again and so we stopped for more burgers and pylsur (hot dogs). After a much distracted journey we were back at Nik's house in Skogarsez.

From Iceland Tourism

With the wings & the fangs & the eating of the eyeballs

The title will become clear as I type our adventures for our first full day in Iceland. The phrase was courtesy of our Rapier Protectorate, Cedric Crispin, and became a theme for all of us to mutter throughout the remainder of the trip. But I digress and there is so much to convey to make this more clear.

We woke up and after a leisurely breakfast of fruit toast and cereal, we wandered into Akureyri for lots of shopping and, of course, ice-cream. We went to Akureyri's High, or Main, Street and stopped into a tax-free store where we found all kinds of souvenirs. From there we wondered to the 10-11 which is a convenience type store similar to our 7-11's in the USA. Nik picked up all kinds of Icelandic luncheon type stuff for us to enjoy later. Ice Cream was enjoyed at Leirunesti (the Big Bridge Burger Bar) next to the runway and we were treated to a couple of plane landings on the runway built out into the Fjord.

From Iceland Tourism

From Iceland Tourism

We crossed the Eyjafjordur

From Iceland Tourism

and then stopped to take pictures across from Akureyri.

From Iceland Tourism

These flowers dot the landscape everywhere and the way that I understand it they were introduced as a ground cover that has now gone further than planned but the locals enjoy them so they are there to stay.

From Iceland Tourism

We stopped at Ljosavatn (lake called water of light).

From Iceland Tourism

And then Nik showed us on the map where we've been versus where we're going.

From Iceland Tourism

Having taken in the beauty of a stilled lake, we were ready to see the waterfall that Nik had been talking about since we had gotten in - Godafoss! What a spectacular waterfall with a spectacular view all around. The tale is that Iceland had a choice of whether to continue to follow their gods or change to the Christian faith and when they made the choice to change to the Christian faith, the local Chieftan took the idols and threw them into the waterfall . . thus the name the Waterfall of the Gods.

From Iceland Tourism

Although there was plenty of time spent there and plenty of fun had, we managed not to get wet .. well all of us except for Cedric who insisted on crossing to see the plaque.

From Iceland Tourism

With the view suitably drunken in, it was time to shop the gift shop.

From Iceland Tourism

Then we were off to do more shopping at Myvatn. When we arrived at the gift shop I couldn't help but note the blackish dust on one of the stuffed animals in the window. We hopped out of the vehicle where upon we were attacked by the local gnat (on steroids), called the midge. Cedric found this to be his worst nightmare and he was totally grossed out by these varmints. He insisted that they had fangs and were trying to eat his eyeballs. I will admit that they were annoying as they flew between your glasses and your eyes and since they were the size of Wisconsin mosquito's it could be intimidating. So here, as Cedric maliciously eliminated any midges that happened to follow us into the car, was born the phrase "with the wings and the fangs and the eating of the eyeballs."

Then we were off again to see the lava flows

From Iceland Tourism

What you can't see is that in the cavern there is hot water.

And from there we went to where the European and North American plates meet, where David and I stood on our respective sides (him in Europe and me in NA) and kissed across continental plates.

From Iceland Tourism

And then we travelled further yet to experience the blue mud at Namafjall. While the landscape reminded me of what I would imagine Mars to look like .. the smell was something in and of itself and not in a good way. Cedric and I were sure that the smell was going to hang with us on our clothing for some time while David was brave enough to wander the fields and take a closer look.

From Iceland Tourism

From Iceland Tourism

As we headed back to the main road to go back towards the event site when David had the opportunity to touch snow . . in June. He was so thrilled and the remainder of us were glad that he didn't decide to make snowballs to throw at us.

From Iceland Tourism

We were also really impressed as we passed one of Iceland's Greenhouses. The greenhouses all run on the hot water and steam available from Iceland's natural resources.

From Iceland Tourism

We received a call on our way to the site that indicated that the site may not be open as of the time that we would reach it, so we opted to go past the site to Husavik for more shopping and to see the outside of the world famous Phalic museum.

From Iceland Tourism

From Iceland Tourism

From Iceland Tourism

From there we headed back to the site at Laxamyri where we were looking forward to fencing and fun with the Shire of Klakavirki.

Visiting Iceland

After a little bit of problems getting through the check-in counter at London-Heathrow because we had more bags than they allow at that airport we, and our bags, arrived at Leifur Eirikssonar Airport in Keflavik right on time. Our wonderful friends from the SCA, Nik & Martha, were there to greet us and start our trip around the Island. As we departed the airport we got our first view of the type of artistic sculpture we'd be seeing dotting the landscape along our entire journey with a rainbow done in metal work.

From Iceland Tourism

We stopped first for Coffee and Hot Chocolate at Njardvik and passed the time with some pleasant conversation and catching up.

Then we travelled up Route 1 through Reykjavik where Martha went back her way and we kept travelling with Nik. We went under a portion of water through the Hvalfjordur Tunnel which is 6.3 km long.

From Iceland Tourism

The landscape continuously amazed me with the mountains still capped in snow, the waterfalls everywhere you look as the snow melted from the tops of the mountains, the striations in the mountains showing where glaciers grazed them forever ago, the rolling rocky terrain that is actually moss-covered lava flows and the constant sun making everything seem new and bright.

From Iceland Tourism

From Iceland Tourism

From Iceland Tourism

Along our route we passed through what would pass as road construction for Iceland. This disturbed me as the people and the equipment were working on the entire road without cones or control signage and the traffic just goes around them however they can on whatever road the equipment is not blocking.

From Iceland Tourism

We travelled across the bridge at Borgarnes and finally stopped for dinner at Vidigerdi.

From Iceland Tourism

We travelled through Akureyri and past the white tree at Hrafnagil to Nik's house at Skogarsel. The drive North took about 5 or so hours and so we were all exhausted by the time we reached the house. However, that did not stop us from staying up a lot longer and chatting as the sun didn't indicate that it was getting to be close to 1 am since it wasn't any lower than it would be at 8 pm anywhere else in the world. This was the most of the moon that we saw our entire trip and as you can see it is still quite light out.

From Iceland Tourism

We finally all drifted off to our beds to try to find some shut-eye after making a plan to be up around 9 am so we could get some stuff seen before heading to the event.

A Saturday out

The weather report called for rain today but as we looked outside we saw that there was sun to be enjoyed. This meant that neither of us felt like staying home and partaking in the work tasks we had lined out for the weekend but instead enjoying some of the sunshine while seeing some of the local sites. I was excited about this trip out not only for the opportunity to see some things but also because I had the new lenses for the camera and was anxious to try my hand at photography.

Off we headed toward Bath to see the American Museum. We'll admit that curiosity got the best of us and that we wanted to see what they had to offer of our history. Of course you aren't allowed to take pictures in the museum so there aren't many pictures of our trip to this location. But we have to say that the museum was really interesting. There are several rooms re-created from boards, furniture and accessories rescued from buildings or homes in America that were leveled for a reservoir or a highway. The museum didn't offer an opinion of American history so much as a FEEL of American history that we enjoyed. Due to our Civil War interests, there the New Orleans Room and the General Store were the areas of most interest to us. The New Orleans rooms offered beautiful bedroom furniture including a vanity with a marble top which David was quick to point out that I could not have. The room also had a beaded piece hanging on the wall which appeared to be a pocket like you would expect to put letters or something in which caught my eye as being quite unique. The General Store had cage crinolines hanging on the wall and a gorgeous mint-colored silk jacket on a dummy in the store window. The jacket had some excellent detail which we were able to look at in more detail as the woman was kind enough to spin the dummy around carefully so we could get a look at the epaulets in the back. Given the detail work and the style of the jacket I would guess it being 1870's.

After this we ventured into the gardens briefly where we met the groundskeeper.

From 2009-0425 American Museum Bath

Once we had paid our affection, we were allowed to continue on into the gardens. The trees are in bloom here and it makes for breathtaking views.

From 2009-0425 American Museum Bath

From 2009-0425 American Museum Bath

Next stop was Farleigh Hungerford Castle which David has attempted to see on several occasions only to find them closed for one reason or another. The castle was sprawling by comparison to most we've seen and was obviously built more for comfort than for defence. We enjoyed the audio tour which told us of the times the Farleigh's had chosen the wrong side and therefore found themselves loosing their titles or on a couple of occasions the castle itself.

Feeling a sense of accomplishment for having seen some things that had previously eluded us we saw that we still had time to go to Longleat Animal Safari. I changed the wide-angle lens for the telephoto lens as we headed in the direction of the park. We were slightly disappointed to find out at the gate that the Monkey portion was closed due to the monkeys having contracted a virus that they can carry harmlessly but is deadly to humans. We were thankful to find the staff taking precautions and wish them the best with getting the monkeys back on track.

As we entered the park, we realized that we'd gotten there just in time to see all the excitement as some of the staff tried to herd Trevor the Ostrich. The only reason we could figure for this behavior is that he got too close to the gate in an attempt to escape . .but Trevor wasn't going to be herded without a fight and even start pecking at the jeep at one point.

From 2009-0425 Longleat Animal Safari

We ventured through the rest of the park without further incident and enjoyed getting some GREAT photos with the new lens. We also were thrilled that the animals were hanging out relatively close to the road and in some cases, crossing the road either in front or behind the vehicle.

From 2009-0425 Longleat Animal Safari

In case you are wondering, yes those are Rhinoceroses and they are closer than they appear as they passed behind us and at one point in front of us.

The tigers almost seemed to pose for us.

From 2009-0425 Longleat Animal Safari

The lions were hanging out and/or avoiding the mower.

From 2009-0425 Longleat Animal Safari

We couldn't help this one's behavior being SO much like other cats we'd seen. Aside from their size, we saw a LOT of the same behaviors you see in domesticated cats.

From 2009-0425 Longleat Animal Safari

From 2009-0425 Longleat Animal Safari

And then we were reminded of the size as we watched one young male lion climb back down the tree trunk and took a look at the huge paws and claws.

From 2009-0425 Longleat Animal Safari

Of course the wolves always impress and this was no different. The pack of wolves they have are Timber wolves from Canada. Some of the younger ones played a bit and/or were checking their pecking order in the pack . . no matter which it was it was short lived and didn't seem to cause anyone any injury.

From 2009-0425 Longleat Animal Safari

From 2009-0425 Longleat Animal Safari

From 2009-0425 Longleat Animal Safari

After we were done with the safari we headed toward the house . . boy what a house.

From 2009-0425 Longleat Animal Safari

David showed me the Victorian Kitchen which is part museum and part store offering kitchen accessories. VERY impressive. Things were starting to close and we'd wandered most of the grounds seeing things structured more toward children in this area than the adults and so we headed out feeling quite good about our successes for the day.

Before I go on

Okay, I just couldn't continue on without catching up on Michka's and Janna's visit with us in October. The postings have been LONG overdue and they have been ever so patient. So, below find the links for the blogs that I needed to do before I could move forward.

Guest Arrival

Viceroy Tournament

Local Sites

The Play is the Thing

Exploration is the name of the game

Errands and Departure

Thanks for reading!