SPRINGTIME IS HERE!

So, how do you know when Spring has arrived?  In Alaska, it was the return of the beautiful Canada Geese; in Scotland it was fields filled with little lambs.  In Iceland, it is the onset of cruise ships in the harbor, baby geese laying in the grass, a trip to the zoo and tulips.  

One cruise ship arrives about every week.  Sadly, some only stay for a day.  Can't see much of Iceland in that amount of time.

Reykjavik's Botanical Garden

Walking through the botanical gardens we saw these cuties sleeping in the sun.
Security under mom's wing!  

The flowers were in different stages - some tulips were already gone and the rhododendrons were in various stages of blooming.  We were still a bit early for most of the blooms.  But it is all free - so we can visit any time.


  
 





From flora to fauna......
The Reykjavik Zoo is very, very small and most of the animals are domesticated. They have horses, cows, sheep, goats, pigs and chickens.


My favorite were these cute Icelandic ponies.  This one is typical with the bangs over the eyes.

Without bangs - these have been cut back for some reason.

These ponies are very friendly. 
Even in the fields along the roads they will come up to the fence to greet you.


Al's favorite!  They had a "reptile" house with about a dozen displays. One very nice thing about Iceland is that these displays are not of local critters.  ALL IMPORTS!!


The seals are always fun to watch.  This one kept swimming in circles around the pool and each time he came in front of us he flipped over onto his back.

The zoo had a few "wild" animals like the seals.....
Reindeer
(there are herds in the far north)
White minks and
Arctic fox



Hallgrímskirkja
Hallgrímskirkja is a Lutheran parish church here in Reykjavík. At 74.5 metres high, it is the largest church in Iceland and among the tallest structures in the country.  It is Reykjavik's main landmark and its tower can be seen from almost everywhere in the city.
The church is named after the Icelandic poet and clergyman Hallgrímur Pétursson, author of the Passion Hymns. 
















Statue of Leif Erickson stands in the plaza outside of Hallgríms Church.

This past Thursday (30 May) was a national holiday and a beautiful sunny day!
This was our chance to go to the top of the church to see the view.
The following pictures were taken from the tower windows above the clockworks.


Guess who took this picture?
Reykjavik has an airport that is very close to downtown.
(The main airport is in Keflavik - about 45 minutes outside of town)





















Snæfellsjökull (Snæfell Glacier) on Snaefellsness Peninsula








Sunset over Snaefellsness Peninsula(taken from our apartment windows)











The Scoresbys (friends of our daughter Jennifer from Texas).
Made a special trip out to Selfoss to attend church even though they were staying in Reykjavik.


Leaving work one afternoon this is the sight we saw! 
These are all archive employees enjoying the sun and an afternoon get-together!



Nothing ever stays the same!
Chris Norton (on the left) is our area manager from England and Mario is our trainer from Germany.
They are setting up the Nikon camera for us to start capturing images with the camera.


Al ended up being the one to transition over to the camera. 
He can do images with the camera nearly 4 times faster than with the scanner.It took me as long, if not longer, to camera capture my project than it took to scan it.  I was happy to stay scanning because there are more quality control issues with a camera than with a scanner.  You have to worry about calibrating the camera, adjusting focus plus making sure the crop is correct.  With the scanner all I worry about is the crop.


Challenged myself to read the Book of Mormon in 28 days.  I finished in 27!  Looking forward to starting again!!!!

We love hearing from all of you who let us know how much you enjoy reading the blog.  Please keep those cards and letters (texts & emails) coming!!!

We are doing just fine and keeping busy with work and church and play.
We definitely believe in a BALANCED life-style.

Love to all!!


PS(The pictures look fine until I preview and then they are all messed up.  Hopefully, they will be okay when published but, if not, you should be able to figure out what is what! Good Luck!!!!)




Comments

  1. B n G AndersonMay 31, 2019 at 4:08 PM

    Oh man the Anderson's r loving the pics n history. I'm amazed u can spell all the places correctly. Yes a balanced life of missionaries..good 4 u.
    We r fine. Staci's oldest child is getting married July 6th in Montana. Lots of relatives coming so it will b a hoot.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JoAnn ArnoldJune 1, 2019 at 10:10 AM

    I was amazed as I studied each photo. Thank you for sharing. I think the two of you are blessed to
    have the opportunity to serve this mission. Of course you were blessed as you served each mission.

    ReplyDelete

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