Happy day

Margaret says Happy Day. Time to jump.

Grampa's first Gaylord

This is our favorite place at Christmastime. Gaylord Opryland. You can stay here a week and never realize you haven't been outside. It is the Disneyland of Nashville. This year we shared it with Grampa.

Heritage

This is a photo of Grampa Coleman's grandfather, John Baptiste Brieden and two of his brothers. This of course, would be Grampa's mother''s father.

John is the one standing. Sort of looks like another relative we have, huh?

Happy autumn Christmas

Yesterday it was 69.

 Last night at midnight it was still 69. This morning it was 29 and Ice raining. Kids really enjoyed the warm weather for a day. Today back to winter.

Christmas cactus

Last year Michelle got me this Christmas cactus for my birthday. It had buds when I got and was much smaller and bloomed early. Then it was just green and I've enjoyed seeing new growth throughout the year.

At Thanksgiving this year buds began to appear. The buds were tiny but a few days ago they started tripling in size. Now they are blooming. It really IS a Christmas cactus!

And let's not forget the hot toddy!

Happy Holidays

Candles are a huge part of the holidays at our house. Every year I try to buy two or three nice smelling ones from Bath & Body - Cinnamon, Cranberry or Bayberry, or the Pumpkin Spice. 

This year we're trying to see how we can use what we've got to enjoy the holidays just as much. 

I always save my old candle stuff. A quarter inch of old wax in 4 or 5 jars adds up. Then there are the smaller candles that never quite get all the way used.

So the other day, when Michelle said I needed to get more of those nice candles, I went into my storeroom cabinet and pulled out all my leftover candle jars.  I keep a stock of wicks in my craft supply, and grabbed 3 of those, too. 

I heated a large panful of water.  I dropped all the leftover wax into a smaller non-stick pan and set that on the boiling water and watched it all turn to liquid. 

Then I washed out an old Bath & Body jar, dried it, then put in 3 wicks. I stuck them to the bottom with a few drops of melted wax, then I slowly poured the new concoction (all scents included) into my newly cleaned jar.  It looked lovely cooling on the counter.   Obi was fascinated how it worked.

When it was all dry a few hours later, I tested it out. Looks like new, huh!? and smells like Cranberry Cinnamon Pumpkin pie!!

This should last a couple of weeks, if I am careful! 

11.5 miles in winter

It's been COLD the last few days. Degrees as low as 16 made it painful to be outside very long. Treadmill running is nice but long runs are far better outdoors.

Today it was 48 and getting up to 50 - windy, cloudy, even a little rainy but it was still a perfect winter day to run, so I took advantage.

Went a new route, to East Blue Creek. Just had to share the pics.

Tree decorations

It was so much fun doing all this together. The kids did it all and the tree looks great.

Happy Thanksgiving

From CA

Happy Halloween

Today we carved pumpkins, the the kids dressed up and went trick-or-treating with friends. Super fun day, and happy, sweet kids.

O the things we have in common

Seems all my family like sharing bed space.  :-)

What's not to like?

After 4 hours of soccer

We had no arguing about bed time tonight.

Morning run

Today's run was 11.5 miles. I found some nice streetside trails that go past horse property and orange groves. Gorgeous sunrise today. Great run.

Walking SweetiieBelle

Sweetie Belle is the name of a unicorn pony in the new My Little Pony series.

It is also the name of our oldest mini donkey.  Sweetie got her name because she is so sweet and gentle. She even lets our little one year old walk her on the lead rope.   Sweetie loves going out on the lead, she seems to look forward to it every day.  She's gotten quite used to the kids in the short 2 weeks we have had her.

Margaret walks Sweetie Belle

Walking Annabelle

Second time Margaret has ridden AnnaBelle. Cute huh? We got two little mini donkeys.

Mud pots and sulphur pools

The mudpots of Namafjall Hverir were amazing. Located at the base of an active volcano, in what looks like a caldera covered in black sand, there are these bubbling hot springs, some of which contain high concentrations of sulfur. The smell is noxious.

The terrain here is barren - or mostly. In a few spots I found creeping phlox surviving somehow, while not much else here grows well. The ground is typically so hot here that few things can grow and live very long.

Looking out across the field you see steam rising. We were allowed to walk up to the geyser areas, and also the sulphur pools to get a nice, close look and whiff before getting back on our bus.

The pile of steaming rock piles are called fumaroles. This is an opening on or near a volcano where sulphuric gas escapes. It looks like steam, but the smell lets you know it is most definitely sulphuric gas.

The boiling, sulphuric mud is incredibly breathtaking. It reminds me a little of the Tar Pits in central Los Angeles, but the content of these pools is not tar, but sulphuric mud. The consistence is much more liquidy than that of the La Brea Tar Pits. Also, it's so hot, no skeletons or any other remains have ever been pulled from these mud pools. 

When we left the ship this morning it was misty and raining. Now the sun is out, with lovely clouds overhead. We were later told by our ship's captain that they have never had sunny weather in Akureyri and we felt very lucky to have had such a beautiful day.

The Dark Fortress of Dimmuborgir

Dimmuborgir National Park is a place where rock formations look as if they have come to life, or might, once the sun sets. This area is a large lava bed, and because the formations here look very much like a collapsed fortress, it was given the name Dimmuborgir, which means dark fortress or dark castle. This 360 degree view of the park was taken by another visitor and borrowed by me.


There are many legends about Dimmuborgir, two that involve trolls.

The geology of Dimmuborgir is extremely unique. The only other similar land mass area in the world is beneath the sea off the coast of Mexico.

One legend says that all the clans of trolls in Iceland came here to meet one day, to discuss peace between their clans. As they were making their final agreements, they reached out to shake hands, when the sun appeared, and cast light on the trolls. If you are familiar with troll legend, you will know that if a troll meets with light from the sun, they are instantly turned in to stone - which is why legends say that these formations look like the stone bodies of trolls.

The arch in the background here is known at Dimmuborgir as "The Church" - and is said to be where clans of trolls met to discuss peace between the tribes. 

Another legend tells of the famous Icelandic trolls known as the Yule Lads, and their mother, Gryla.

The Yule Lads of Iceland are 13 mischievous trolls who show up each year at Christmas. These trolls live here in Dummuborgir all year, and show themselves to the public on consecutive days each year, beginning thirteen days before Christmas.

Originally told as a scary story to stop children from misbehaving, the Yule Lads today have been merged with the idea of Santa Claus. Their mother, Gryla, also appears in the stories (but she's much more evil than her mischievous children). Gryla has the ability to detect the behavior of children year-round, keeping her nasty sons informed. Gryla eats the worst of the badly behaved children, leaving the lesser offenders to her sons.

In Iceland, this story is repeated each year. Children are said to get either nice gifts or rotten potatoes in their shoes, depending on their behavior.

The 13 Yule Lads live here in Dimmunborgir because of the many hidden caves. They are said to live in this cave during the year, staying hidden from sight during summer months.

Walking back to the bus our guide pointed out this tiny footbridge. This  was our first experience crossing the place where two continents come together - the North American plate and the Euro-Asian plate connect at this spot. The two plates are so close together here that people can walk across the footbridge. 

Footbridge connecting the two continents

There is constant tectonic activity in Iceland, and we could feel the ground movement (ever so slightly, but still feel it moving). In this particular spot, the plates move apart at a very tiny rate. In other places in Iceland, the rift between the two plates is much wider, and moves apart more rapidly.


According to

We had a nice lunch in Dimmuborgir, and here we tasted our first Icelandic beer by Viking.  Wow, I have to say it was pretty incredible. This one was a lager, distilled over lava rocks. It was on tap here at this small shop. There was also smoked fish and also a lamb stew, both of which were more than tasty. Accompanying rye bread is baked in the geothermal vents nearby.

The two continents in Iceland

Iceland is home to 37 active volcanoes. If you add all the inactive volcanoes in Iceland, there are a total of 130 active and inactive mountains. A few of these have not erupted for more than 950 years.

Seismologists still monitor inactive volcanoes. Due to the island's location smack-dab on top of two plates (the North American plate and the Euro-Asian plate), there is constant movement of these two plates moving apart, creating a higher incidences of volcanic activity.  We could feel this constant earthquake activity during our visit to Dimmuborgir National Park.

While going east from Lake Myvatn I saw this unusual mountain that looked from a distance like it was made of sand. I asked the guide about it, and he told me it was a tephra cone - that particular one was  Mt. Hverfjall, which erupted about 2500 years ago. It's an inactive volcano. You can walk along the upper ridge of that mountain and look down into the collapsed center, the caldera. A tephra cone is made up of the tiny particals and debris formed when a large eruption occurs. There is very little lava from a tephra cone, it is more sedimentary.  

All along the ridge of the two continental plates sit several very active volcanoes. There are also many calderas - which are basically the crater of a large volcano.

Sometimes these calderas are filled with water, while other times it forms a large and fertile valley.

small caldera with a table mountain in the background

part of a fertile valley located in a caldera

Lake Myvatn and its midges

After visiting Godafoss we boarded our bus again for the next stop, Lake Myvatn. This is about an hour east of Akureyri's port.

This was a lovely lake area surrounded by volcanic mountain peaks - and this was the only area where we ran into about 47 million midge flies.

Before we arrived to the lake, our guide warned us about the midge flies and mentioned they are bothersome and annoying, but not dangerous.

Having grown up in Michigan, I have very distinct memories of riding my bike through a batch of swarming midge flies, swallowing some, getting some in my eyes, and learning quickly how to just close my eyes for a second while driving through them. But the ones in Akureyri made the ones in Michigan seem like vapor.  These things were incredibly annoying.

Getting our picture taken without getting a mouthful and eyeball full of these bugs was a feat in itself. One woman who had a shawl on put the shawl over her head and asked for a photo.  She did not remove the shawl!

When we got back on the bus, thousands of those little buggers followed us. Hours later, I opened by purse to get something, and a few more of them flew out!

It was a gorgeous location, surrounded by several volcanoes, table mountains, and volcanic debris fields. In between those things the fields were fertile, and farmers use whatever areas they can to take advantage of that lovely ground.

This tour was an all-day excursion. We were already more than an hour away from the ship, and still had several stops to make.

Akureyri Iceland

Iceland is an island of 37 active volcanoes. The terrain is as versatile as the number of volcanoes it lives with - and changes drastically in minutes!  There are lush, green fields, and desolate barren valleys, bubbling volcanoes and sulphur beds, and so many other amazing sights!



Akureyri is Iceland's northern-most large city, and their second largest urban area. Much like Oslo was, Akureyri is located deep within the fjords. It's an important fishing port, and one of the best places to visit and see endangered polar birds - such as the Terns, and the Puffins. 

Because of its location between the fjords and mountains the climate of Akureyri is surprisingly mild. Its ice-free harbor has played an important part in the city's significant role in history, and its establishment.

Vikings left a long history in Iceland. A Norseman by the name of Helgi the Slim settled in Akureyri in the 9th century. The city was occupied by Vikings and Danes for several hundred years before the permanent settlement of 12 people was established in 1770. It took many more years before Akureyri became a strong, established area. In World War II it was one of three air bases used by the Norwegian-British armies. 

Akureyri has a sub-polar oceanic climate with cold (though not severe) winters and mild summers. The snow cover starts forming in late October and melts in April, but on the mountain tops snow can remain year-round. 

We were welcomed into port by a freshly cleaned tug-boat. It escorted us to the docks and we sat outside watching them tie us off to the docks, which is a slow and tedious process.

We had been told that Akureyri would be cloudy. As you can see, the cloud cover hung over the city very low, and thick. But we were still excited to get out and see the famous sights - this was the first city that I had arranged a formal tour for us. We were allowed off the ship at 8 am, when we met our tour guide.
Because the area has so many famous sights, I wanted to be sure and get a glimpse of as many as possible on a single day. This tour was titled the Jewels of the North, and had 6 wonderful stops throughout the day.

One of the most famous stops in Akureyri is Godafoss Falls (waterfall of the gods). This is a horseshoe falls very much like Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada.

Godafoss is a part of the Skjálfandafljót River, whose main water source is from melting icebergs.  This waterfall is considered Europe's most beautiful waterfall, and you can totally see why.

There are rocky hiking paths on both sides of the river. There is a bridge that crosses the river, and has been rebuild and repaired many times. If you look closely at the picture, you can see the original bridge supports, just below the existing ones.

In the year 999 or 1000 the Law-speaker Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði made Christianity the official religion of Iceland. After his conversion the story says that upon returning from the Alþingi, Þorgeir threw his statues of the Norse gods into the waterfall. 

Þorgeir's story is preserved in Ari Þorgilsson's Íslendingabók.

A window in the Cathedral of Akureyri illustrates this story.

The Icelandic language is very strange, and comes from what is known as the Old Norwegian. They take great pride in the fact that they are forever making up new words from combining old Norse words. 

Our tour guide told us many funny details like this. He was an elementary teacher out on summer break.