An Update – Lot’s of Activities
Time flies! It has been over a year since my last post and what an eventful year+ it has been.
Sue and I traveled to Iceland the end of this last March. What a beautiful country and such nice people! I did greatly underestimate the weather thinking storms would be over by the last of March, which they generally are.
Our flight arrived the day after a late season snow storm that had canceled most of the previous day’s flights. Finding our snow-covered rental car in the open parking lot was difficult though it was the wind that ended up being our greatest challenge.
We had signed up for weather warnings and found one of our planned driving days had high wind warnings across much of the country. Wind in Iceland is measured in m/s and we noticed predictions for wind speed in some of our planned driving route was 40+ m/s. (The conversion is 1 m/s = 2.2 mph.) We changed our driving plans and were glad we did.
Our many highlights included driving the beautiful countryside and touring a geothermal plant providing both hot water and power generation from their geothermal fields. Nearly 100% of Iceland’s electricity is renewable coming from hydroelectric and geothermal sources. Geothermal hot water is used to heat about 90% of the country’s homes and buildings.
Last month we rented a house in Newport Oregon and hosted our family. There were 11 of us including grandkids and we had a great time. (I must admit I drank a little extra vino to adjust to the slightly higher activity levels.)
One of the days we had a negative tide and walked down the beach to see some exceptional tidal pools.
Four from our family chose to hike up to a peak called The Thumb which happened to overlook the tidal pools. They were able to spot us from the peak. Can you find them in this picture?
They launched a drone they had taken with them on their hike and you get an idea of the steepness for part of the trail and the beautiful view they had from the top.
I am keeping busy with many projects and appreciate the help of graphic artist Darby Holt who joins Sue and I at our house, two days a week.
My limited gardening (3 grape vines, 2 citrus trees named Burt & Ernie, and a handful of pepper plants) is challenging. I have, I hope, beat the powdery mildew this season and will try making a little wine this fall.
Salute!
