New Years baby?

As I write this wee blogspot my sister-in-law is at the hospital possibly giving birth to my wee nephew. Expected but not. She had been scheduled for a c-section on January 2nd of the new year, but it was obvious well before Christmas that the baby would be well done by that time. My sister-in-law's bump was so huge she could not bend down to pick anything up or even some movements were very difficult for her and she very often had problem catching her breath so we were certain it wouldn't be a long wait. But Christmas came and the baby didn't show no matter how much we wanted a wee parcel kicking and screaming to be placed under the tree. But we were certain he would show up to see the fireworks especially if he is anything like my brother!!! And it looks like it's going to happen now, and hopefully we will be getting good news soon.

Good luck and best wishes to Júlíus and Svala, and looking forward to meeting you little nephew!

Happy New Year!

The Yuletide lads - part 15

On Christmas night itself
- so a wise man writes
- the lads were all restraint
and just stared at the lights.


Then one by one they trotted off
into the frost and snow.
On Twelfth Night the last
of the lads used to go.


Their footprints in the highlands
are effaced now for long,
the memories have all turned
to image and song

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson
Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 14

Candle beggar

( Kertasníkir )

The thirteenth was Candle Beggar

- ´twas cold, I believe,

if he was not the last

of the lot on Christmas Eve.

He trailed after the little ones

who, like happy sprites,

ran about the farm with

their fine tallow lights.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 13

Meat Hook

( Kjötkrækir )

Meat Hook, the twelfth one,

his talent would display

as soon as he arrived

on Saint Thorlak´s Day.

He snagged himself a morsel

of meat of any sort,

although his hook at times was

a tiny bit short.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 12

Door Sniffer

( Gáttaþefur )

Eleventh was Door Sniffer,

a doltish lad and gross.

He never got a cold, yet had

a huge, sensitive nose.

He caught the scent of lace bread

while leagues away still

and ran toward it weightless

as wind over dale and hill.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 11

Window Peeper

( Gluggagæjir )

The tenth was Window Peeper,

a weird little twit,

who stepped up to the window

and stole a peek through it.

And whatever was inside

to which his eye was drawn,

he most likely attempted

to take later on.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 10

Sausage Swiper
( Bjúgna krækir )

The ninth was Sausage Swiper,

a shifty pilferer.

He climbed up to the rafters

and raided food from there.

Sitting on a crossbeamin

soot and in smoke,

he fed himself on sausage

fit for gentlefolk.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 9

Skyr Gobbler

( Skyr gámur)

Skyr Gobbler, the eighth,

was an awful stupid bloke.

He lambasted the skyr tub

till the lid on it broke.

Then he stood there gobbling

- his greed was well known -

until, about to burst,

he would bleat, howl and groan.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 8

Door Slammer
( Hurðaskellir )

The seventh was Door Slammer,
a sorry, vulgar chap:
When people in the twilight
would take a little nap,

he was happy as a lark
with the havoc he could wreak,
slamming doors and hearing
the hinges on them sqeak.

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 7

Bowl Licker

( Askasleikir )

Bowl Licker, the sixth one,

was shockingly ill bred.

From underneath the bedsteads

he stuck his ugly head.

And when the bowls were left

to be licked by dog or cat,

he snatched them for himself

- he was sure good at that!

By Jóhannes úr Kötlum / Translation by Hallberg Hallmundsson

Pictures/Copyright©Olafur Petursson

The Yuletide lads - part 6

Pot Scraper

(Pottasleikir)

Pot Scraper, the fifth one,

was a funny sort of chap.

When kids were given scrapings,

he'd come to the door and tap.

And they would rush to see

if there really was a guest.

Then he hurried to the pot

and had a scrapingfest.

English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

The Yuletide lads - part 5

Spoon Licker

(Þvörusleikir)

The fourth was Spoon Licker;

like spindle he was thin.

He felt himself in clover

when the cook wasn't in.

Then stepping up, he grappled

the stirring spoon with glee,

holding it with both hands

for it was slippery.

English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

The Yuletide lads - part 4

Stubby

(Stúfur)

Stubby was the third called,

a stunted little man,

who watched for every chance

to whisk off a pan.

And scurrying away with it,
he scraped off the bits
that stuck to the bottom
and brims - his favorites.


English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

The Yuletide lads - part 3

Gully Gawk

(Giljagaur)

The second was Gully Gawk,
gray his head and mien.
He snuck into the cow barn
from his graggy ravine.

Hiding in the stalls,
he would steal the milk, while
the milkmaid gave the cowherd
a meaningful smile.

English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

Yuletide lads - part 2

Sheep-Cote Clod

(Stekkjastaur)

The first of them was Sheep-Cote Clod.

He came stiff as wood,

to pray upon the farmer´s sheep

as far as he could.

He wished to suck the ewes,
but it was no accident
he couldn´t; he had stiff knees
- not to convenient.

English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

The Yuletide lads - part 1

Let me tell the story

of the lads of few charms,

who once upon a time

used to visit our farms.

They came from the mountains,

as many of you know,

in a long single file

to the farmsteads below.

Grýla was their mother
- she gave them ogre milk -
and the father Leppalúdi;
a loathsome ilk.

They were called the Yuletide lads
- at Yuletide they were due -
and always came one by one,
not ever two by two.

Thirteen altogether,
these gents in their prime
didn´t want to irk people
all at one time.

Creeping up, all stealth,
they unlocked the door.
The kitchen and the pantry
they came looking for.


They hid where they could,
with a cunning look or sneer,
ready with their pranks
when people weren´t near.

And even when they were seen,
they weren´t loath to roam
and play their tricks - disturbing
the peace of the home.

English translation/Copyright © Hallberg Hallmundsson.

Graduation Blog

Wow it's been long since I have sat down to write anything on this blog, but the wait is at an end.
It was my graduation yesterday, December 3rd, 2008 on a Wednesday of all days of the week to have it on, and it was at 11 o'clock AM as well. Which meant that I had to wake up EXTREMELY early or 7 o'clock. I'm a lady ... I don't do mornings. But the weirdest thing was that I managed to wake up all by myself at 6:30. I was not happy! so I stubbornly stayed in bed until 7. Then I finally dragged myself out of my nice cosy bed onto the not so warm floor and got dressed and ready in my graduation outfit as soon as I could and phoned for a taxi well before eight o'clock. I had to be at registration at 8:40 and I had stressed with the girls of not being late. I was hopeful that I would be there about twenty minutes early. But now, no such luck, in fact a big let down. I waited for the taxi for 50 MINUTES before in state of panick I started hurridly walking into Uni. Usually that would not have been such a problem, I had my good shoes on and was meaning to change once I got to Uni but this morning was SPECIAL. My bit of Glasgow was completely covered in ice (fljúgandi hálka) and I could see the cars skating about outside and the people falling about trying 'ingeniously' to walk to Uni in these conditions wearing sneakers and jeans. But I basically skated up to Uni in record time, flying on the ice past people with limbs flailing about them all around me. There was nothing else to do. I finally made it about 10 - 15 minutes later than I would have wished but I made it and my toesies were quite frozen at this point. I still had stuff to do. I needed to register and get tickets for my guests for the ceremony, I also needed to pick up my robe and hood. When that was finished I had to find my way on my frozen toesies to Catriona's office to warm up a bit before going to meet my guests and getting them to where they were supposed to go.
I found Catriona and Sandra already in the office and both of them were rather worried that I was so late and were quite shocked that the taxi had never come to pick me up at all. I was sooo lucky to have worn my leg brace this morning because I had been thinking of not putting it on right away. We changed into our robes and got ready to go over to the main building and met up with Catriona's folks shortly, the Sandra's peeps joined us as well and finally my parents showed up as well. I showed them where the elevator was and how to get to the Bute Hall where the ceremony took place. I then had to run to Randolph Hall at the back of Bute Hall (and of course I had to go back down to go across the university and go back up, no cutting straight across there) Then waited for the girls to join me because I had completely lost sight of them in the crowd. We had to wait a bit before the started calling us into our seats in the correct order, we were quite early on so it was nice. The funniest bit though was when they called me to my seat. Elin Ingeborg ELFSdottir is as close as I can get to pronounciation.
However the Hall itself was bloody freezing and didn't help my wee toeses at all to get warm, in fact it just got worse. I really wished I was wearing my Icelandic National Costume because at least it has a woolen skirt and a shawl, brrrr, it was soooooo cold even the Icelandic Viking was complaining. (Although I have been complaining about the cold in Scotland for six years, they just don't seem to understand that we are used to cold OUTSIDE not INSIDE!!!) The ceremony took an hour and a half to finish and since we were quite early receiving our degrees we had to entertain ourselves by giggling over the various strange names that were called out.
When the ceremony was finally over we had to do the 'graduation walk' around the east quadrangle before stopping outside in the frost. We were greeted by Robbie O'Maolalaigh the head of the Celtic department who came to congratualte us, and later we ran into Dauvit Broun our course convenour. I sent my mom and dad into the photography room to wait for me because I needed to go pick up my things from Catriona's office but when we got there there was no one there to let us in. So I went back to mom and dad and we decided on a graduation photo pack and while I was waiting in the queue Catriona came running with all my belongings and bags because the secretary had come back and Catriona and her parents needed to leave as early as possible. So mom and dad guarded my things while I stood proud and a bit silly looking while they snapped some photos of me. Then finally I was able to change shoes ... ah HEAVEN.
We took a taxi home to my place so I could show them around my new room with my many many windows! And when we had sufficiently recovered and warmed up a bit we went back to mom and dad's hotel room. I ran out to Burger King for some lunch and this was just before three o'clock in the afternoon now. We watched some news on the television and I phoned TGI Friday's to book us a table for tonight, got a table for four people at 7:30 no problem. While I was on the phone mom decided not to take any chances, like this morning. The weather forcast was predicting more snow and ice and because it had taken so long or not at all for a taxi to come to me early in the morning it would be best if I stayed in town with them so that I didn't have to worry about going home in bad conditions or getting into Uni tomorrow morning, because I had a meeting with my tutor. So we booked a room for me at the hotel, and I got a lovely room on the next floor with a double bed and it was just perfect. So I had to go back home and pack my wee suitcase before going back to the hotel. I managed to chat a bit with Catriona online before going back and told her I had booked the table so she would be able to find us and I told her that I had borrowed her name and booked the table under the name Eileen Gray and that she had apparently adopted me for the time being. She told me she would adopt me anytime anyway ... that made me happy! I phoned for a taxi and it took half an hour to show!!! So good call from mom about having me stay the night at theirs because it is much easier for me to get from there to Uni than from my actual residence. It still took me twenty mintues to get from mine to theirs because the traffic was horrific but I did finally arrive and I managed to rest a bit before we went out again and now for the actual Graduation dinner.
Shortly after we arrived at Fridays and got a table Catriona appeared. We ordered some lovely food and while we were waiting I gave Catriona her graduation present and I got one too!!! She is so lovely. I loved my present, it was so thoughful and wonderful and I got the best book EVER. 'The Perfect hostess' and it is so much fun. I am going to place quotes on here most likely, they are the best ever.
When we had finished dinner and desert and were just chatting away I looked out the window and none other than Anne and George were outside there, and I just started pointing and hmmmhmmm-ing like crazy because I couldn't come a word out of my mouth. She noticed my absurd behaviour and came in to say hello they had to run because their train was leaving in ten minutes from Central Station. They were just back from Edinburgh where Anne was graduating as well. I managed to give her her Graduation present and Christmas present before she left. I will have mine too look forward to when I get back. We had planned to see Sandra later in the evening and after we had finised our sizeable meal we went over to Waxy O'Connor's and waited for her to show up. Mom and dad went back to the hotel though, so Catriona and I got us some beverages and enjoyed a chat while waiting for Sandra to show up. They only showed up then when we were about to leave, but thankfully I managed to give her the Graduation present before they left and so did we.
Catriona then phoned me when she had reached home which made me feel so much better because you never know when you are riding on the bus in Glasgow what you are going to get, but thankfully it was a smooth ride. I was already tucked in my bed at the hotel in the wonderful double bed. Mom and dad were as tired as I was and understood very well that I just wanted to crawl into bed, they wanted to do the same. So I had said goodbye earlier and gone to my room. It was very nice and cosy and I started reading my book 'The perfect hostess' so that I was able to tell Catriona again that I absolutely love it. I managed to watch a few minutes of Top Gear and then I was completely dead to the world. It was very fine day indeed but totally exhausting as well.