More ash

After a period of little ash production - ash is again falling on the farms close to the volcano. Strangely - this time around it's much darker and not quite as fine as earlier.
Note: the sheep on the bottom picture are in fact white.

Hair

 
I'm a bit strict as a coach and I insist that my little cheerleaders have very neat hair when they are performing. that means I must also step up and do my daughters hair. Braids are all the rage now, and hers are pretty good, I think!

Ash pictures

Here are some very telling ash pictures from Jónas - a local photographer and Arctic trout farmer.

My little cheerleaders

 
I can't resist showing you these pictures - I'm so proud of "my" little cheerleaders. We had a little show for parents and friends yesterday and these are from the practise earlier that day. They have come a long way from November (when we started the team) and they are such a joy to work with.





















There are more pictuers here

Hope for the farmers

This picture of the northern light over the volcano is stunningly beautiful,
and on these pictures you can see something beautiful in a different way: volunteers helping farmers clean their houses.

Lately a lot of volunteers from the rescue teams, the Red Cross, some jeep clubs and a lot of individuals too, have helped the hardest hit farmers to clean the ash of their land. That gives me hope in so many ways.

A new felted hat

Before felting...

 ...and after with some lace I'm crocheting. 

I'm going to put the lace on the hat - along with a lot of embroidery. I have not used lace with my embroidery before - but I have a really good feeling about this one. 

I'm going to dye the white one with some dried flowers I have from last summer - and bleach the pink one a bit. This hat is going to be in very soft colors you see, and the pink is a little too harsh. I also want the color to be a little "distressed" and uneven and the bleaching will achieve that. 

Now the only question is - is there an environmentally friendly way to bleach cotton?

Cleaning

The pool is closed for obvious reasons - the ash blocks the filters. The cleaning is in full swing all over the village, and things are getting back to normal.

Swedish TV

Here is a very good video in Swedish, on the volcano Katla, featuring a lovely couple who remember the last eruption in 1918.

Today's Rock Picture

Today's Rock Picture, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

It was raining quite a bit yesterday, which was good because it washed a good deal of the ash away. It might well have been warmer though, it was bitterly cold. Today is a bit milder, but far from warm I'm afraid. The foreign journalists that are still all over the area, are not seeing our beautiful country from it's best side I'm afraid (and thats not counting the volcano)

TF1 - interview in French TV

My husband was surprised by some French journalists the other day. Here is the video - there is a short commercial first. He is the one in the mask by the way and please excuse the state of my home - I was away on a doctors visit and those were very busy days.

Update: there was some problem with the link, I think I have fixed it now. It's also in the comment system, for some reason it works better there. I have no idea why.

Spring break?

The spring it self is on a break. Hopefully not a long one.

The new mittens

New mittens, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

UFO and a FO

I am doing something, knitting and embroidery wise, although this blog has not reflected it lately. This one of two (obviously) baby shoes I an working on. The other one is nearly finished, but I have to felt some buttons for the closure.

 

I started these mittens before Christmas, but didn't finish them until now...

Snow

We have quite a bit of snow now - but it's not white and pretty, it's black and dirty with the fine ash.

Yesterday's Rock Pictures

Today's rock picture, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

Play

One of the few things I did in Reykjavík (besides sleeping) was playing with my lovely granddaughter.

Homeward bound

I'm going home today after a few day's stay in Reykjavík. I've resting at my lovely stepdaughters house - I needed that, not only after the stress of the last weeks, but also after a (very) small medical procedure.
I'm all better now and I look forward to see my husband and my children again, and to give the kids their "summergifts".
To day is the first day of summer in Iceland. Although the actual summer is a bit away, this day marked the start of the warmer season, and it is still a national holiday. The tradition of gift giving on this day is older that  the tradidtion of christmas gift in Iceland, but in modern times it almost exclusevly children who revieve them from their parents and perhaps their grandparents too. Outdoor toys are a great favourite and lately books too.

Great pictures

My friend Elín Björk Jónasdóttir took some great pictures when she flew over the volcano. Elín is a meterologist - and a knitter.

Through the ash

Last light I was lucky enough to catch a lift with the some very high ranking police officers, through the closed area. I have a doctor's appointment in Reykjavík (nothing serious don't worry) and I could not drive trough myself.
It was very strange sitting in the big car with a mash on and seeing the ash fly by. I was extremely safe, the car was equipped with state of the art gps and in all kind of radio contact with the rescue central.
I did not take any pictures - you don't do that in a police car. We saw a glips of the fire from the eruption, but the column was invisible in the dark.

Web Cam

You can watch the eruption on web cam here 
and even better here
and also here.

Town meeting

There was a very informative town meeting today. Experts in different fields answered questions and gave advise.The Red Cross is a part of this - and I played my very small part - I made the coffee and such, with my lovely Red Cross friend Auður (the one in the grey lopapeysa)

Shopping trip

We had to go to the shop to get some groceries. The shop is relatively well stocked - the road to the east is open, but the road to Reykjavík (to the west) is very closed to day even though it has been partially repaired. The ash is so dense on some parts of the road that it's almost zero visibility and the rescue trucks must drive by gps only.

The situation here in Vík is not nearly as bad, but it's still nasty enough - the ash flies everywhere, the air smell strange and the sky is light brown.

Lightnings

Here is a collection of unbelievable lightning pictures from the eruption column. Not to be missed, they are truly amazing.

Amazin NASA picture

This amazing NASA picture shows the ash very clearly.

Here is a collection of Icelandic new with pictures - you click on Meira to open them. You don't need to understand the language - the pictures tell it all.

Video

Here is a new video, filmed from a helicopter.

No picture

There won't be any picture -I'm not venturing out into this, it's not worth it. I have to go out later to day (Red Cross duties) and I'll perhaps take a quick photo then if I can, but until then I'll stay indoors.

No school

There is no school today. It's very windy and the light ash is everywhere. Picture later.

Picture links

Here are some great pictures of the plume. This one is fabulous too.

Scenes from my village

Many people were cleaning up the ash and there were also festivities in the village, as three boy's were confirmed today (that is a big thing here in Iceland with huge family gatherings and lavish gifts).

Ash

According the the latest news, the  plume is now carried to the east and the ash is falling in Mýrdalsjökull, directly above Vík. I could see the light brow clouds approaching and thought that they were heading to us, as predicted, but thankfully they went just that little bit further north. I hope that the ash will stay there, out of harms way and leave the village and the farms alone.

BBC video

Here is a very good video from the BBC

More ash

We had quite a lot of ash fall in the night. This morning the fire brigade were washing the streets, and thankfully we had some snow early this morning - and then some rain so the air is almost clear now. But the ash is everywhere. like black sticky disgusting mud. More is ecpected later today and tomorrow, according to the predictions of the Icelandic Meteorology institute.

Here are some "ash pictures" from this morning:


The ash mixed with rainwater looks a bit like cement.



My lawn is full of ash.


My garden and my flowerbeds are full of wet sticky ash.


The snow and the rain was most welcome.


Today's rock picture...


Ash on moss...



Ash on budding leaves.