A little over a week ago, on the day before my soccer tournament in Copenhagen, I passed my largest kidney stone to date. It measured 6.5mm x 4.0mm and is pictured above on the logo of my laptop computer. I strongly suspect that this stone passed from my kidney to bladder several months ago when I was experiencing very severe pain. I believe that the 70 miles of hiking I did over the prior week probably got it started on the last leg of the journey which proved relatively painless. I apologize to followers of this blog for the inclusion of such entries which I suspect are of little interest and/or gross. I do so because the blog has become very valuable to me as an indexed and searchable journal which makes it easy to keep track of such events which is helpful when doctors inquire about medical history.

Maya is back from Normal, IL where she spent the summer as an intern working for Rivian, the electric vehicle maker. Pictured above with her teammates, she was the program manager for the production of the new Amazon delivery van. Her team shipped the first four units during the last days of her internship, an accomplishment that had her working 10-12 hours a day. Amazon has contracted Rivian to produce 100,000 electric delivery vans by 2030, with the first 10,000 hitting the road by the end of 2022. This was a major milestone for the company and her performance over the summer earned her a job offer. They would like to hire her now on a part-time basis until she graduates next spring and then transition her to full-time. Rivian is an excellent company that will be at the very top of Maya’s list of potential employers. The only downside is that the company is headquartered in California where she would have to relocate. She joined her siblings and college roommate for brunch at our house where we reconnected after her summer absence. Nicolai starts teaching history at the Concord Middle School a week from Monday and Kyle starts a remote Master’s Degree program with Georgia Tech tomorrow.

A close friend of ours was in need of a headshot for work. I was happy to help out. 90% of my studio equipment is in storage and I had to make do with a pair of small strobes plus Jeanine holding a white reflector in just the right spot. I like making portraits of people I know. They are more at ease and I know when I have captured their essence.

This evening we enjoyed a delightful get-together at the lovely home of friends from our community. Even though she has grown allergic to them, Jeanine adores cats. She was very careful not to touch the pair that lived in the house. They immediately recognized her as a cat person and came over to visit and curl up beside her. I am more of a dog person which explains why they ignored me and why the older Siamese gave me the evil eye while I was taking this photo.

Occasionally, photos do not capture the full experience of being in a place. I am posting this video of the Haifoss waterfalls from my visit last week to provide a better sense of the raw power they possess. Unfortunately, my drone does not capture audio which would have provided the full effect.

Nicolai requested a new passport photo and I was happy to oblige this morning. He is looking ahead to an upcoming amputee soccer tournament in Costa Rica. In related news, he learned last night that he has been elected to the American Amputee Soccer Association Board of Directors by his fellow teammates.

Jeanine and I enjoyed a morning walk to her plot at the community garden where she wanted to inspect the weeding she had hired someone to do. She was pleased with the results as was I with the number of beautiful things to aim my camera at.

My entire day was spent traveling back to the states. The airlines recommended arriving three hours in advance of departure to make up for all the new Covid documentation and processing requirements. Pictured above is the church at Viðareiði, one of many images that did not make it into the blog. It serves the northernmost settlement in the Faroe Islands and lies on the Island of Viðoy at the base of Malinsfjall. The current church was built in 1892.

Today, team USA competed in the 4v4 tournament and a penalty kick shootout competition placing second and first respectively. We played 6 qualification matches followed by the finals. Matches are 14 minutes each with the finals being 20 minutes. In theory, it is like playing a full match plus overtime. In reality, it is much more grueling because the intensity of play is so much higher. We were all fully spent by the end of the tournament and then it was time for the penalty kick shoot-out competition. Each team had a total of ten PKs (5 taken yesterday and 5 taken today). The team with the highest total of goals wins. I was the fourth taker today and a goal from me would win the competition for team USA. Happily, I found the right side of the net with the keeper moving to the left. A goal earlier in the day brought my total to 4 and I will go to sleep tonight easily and with a big smile on my face.

The motivation for my trip to Iceland and the Faroe Islands was an international over-60 5v5 soccer tournament billed as the World Cup by its organizers being held in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, of the 26 countries that had planned to come, only a fraction could attend the twice rescheduled tournament due to Covid restrictions in their respective countries. My team represented the USA and we won 2, tied 2, and lost 2 which was good enough for a third-place finish. Considering this is the first time any of us have ever competed in this format it was not a bad result. In one match, we were up 2-0 and earned a “blue card” for not gaining the referee’s attention before an on-the-fly substitution (one of the different rules that apply to 5v5). This cost us a 2-minute penalty which left us a player down during which time our opponents easily scored 3 goals which kept us from being in the finals. Losing 1 of 4 field players is a death sentence and all on account of a technicality. I scored once in each of two games and was the second-leading scorer for our team. The first was a loose ball in front of the net and a quick reaction finish. The second was a very nice shot from distance while the goalie was visually shielded. Tomorrow, the format changes to 4v4 (no goalies) and a new tournament will be run. Another set of rules to learn but also another chance to make it to the finals.

I arrived in Copenhagen shortly after noon and immediately set out on foot to experience the city. Nyhavn is a photographer’s dream, a tiny canal lined by brightly colored 17th and early 18th century townhouses, bars, cafes, and restaurants. Rosenborg Castle was originally built as a country summerhouse in 1606, one of  Christian IV’s many architectural projects. In total, I covered 10 miles taking in the sights including many of the iconic squares and the newly constructed opera house. Later in the day, I connected with my soccer team for dinner at the Gorilla, a beast of a restaurant in the old industrial premises of the Meatpacking District of Vesterbro.

The lovely village of Saksun lies in the bottom of what used to be an inlet of the sea, surrounded by high mountains on the north end of Stremoy Island. The inlet formed a deep natural harbor until a storm left it filled with sand creating an idyllic lagoon that leads out to a black sand beach. The church was originally built in nearby Tjørnuvík, but in 1858 it was disassembled, carried over the mountains, and reassembled in Saksun. It took a second visit to this area to get photographs. The first time I arrived you could hardly see 10 feet in front of you.

If you click on the photo below you will be able to see the inlet to Saksun and the beach.

Earlier in the day, I briefly visited Kunoy where I was able to observe sustainable salmon farming. Farmed salmon is a vital part of the Faroese economy, representing half of the country’s export value.

I only had time to visit 7 of the 18 Faroe islands during my five days here. I had to give up on Mykines because of time lost due to tire replacement and will view that as reason enough to warrant a return trip in the future. I have only posted a tiny fraction of the photos I took and will try to sprinkle out a few more over the coming months.

With new confidence in the tires on my campervan, I returned to my planned itinerary, albeit delayed by half a day. Pictured above is the north end of Kalsoy Island (population ~80) which can be reached by a 15-minute ferry ride and a 10 Km drive passing through four very dark, one-lane tunnels (pictured below). I read somewhere that this location is featured in the latest Bond movie and I can’t wait to see it. I arrived at the campground in Mikladalur at about 7:30 pm quite exhausted from earlier hiking. My first impulse was to have dinner and go right to bed. The presence of clear skies over the mountain peaks prompted me to make my planned hike to the Kallur lighthouse (see if you can locate it in the photo) right away instead of the following morning, Not only did I get photos unobscured by clouds, I had the trail to myself, save for a couple of dozen sheep. Between hiking and photography, it took me about two hours to go up and come down, leaving another 30 minutes before sundown at 10:30 pm.

A large percentage of the roads and tunnels in the Faroe Islands are one lane only with strategically placed turnouts where one car can pull aside to let oncoming traffic pass. The system generally works but I can tell you that the first time you encounter head-on traffic in a narrow tunnel, it will get your heart racing. Things get really dicey when two or three cars are traveling in a group or with large trucks. Driving here is not for the faint of heart. In addition to the already mentioned challenges, the roads are frequently on the sides of mountains or edges of cliffs, often shrouded in dense fog/clouds, and must be shared with sheep that are said to outnumber humans here by two to one.

The hike to the location where I launched my drone for these photographs is just over a four-mile roundtrip. I did it once last night (it stays light here until after 10 pm) only to find pea soup thick fog and again this morning when I was lucky enough to catch a few moments of good visibility. I think eight miles was well worth the effort for these photographs and the opportunity to take the ultimate selfie. Click on the image above and see if you can find Waldo. The full resolution of this panorama (21 images stitched together) is 18,000 x 5,200 pixels. My posting host limits the resolution to a fraction of that. While moving on to my next planned destination, the tire pressure indicator on the VW California campervan that I am driving/living in went off for a third time. Having filled the tires twice already, I checked more carefully to see if I could find the problem. I concluded that all the tires were so badly worn that they were actually unsafe to drive on. Normally, I would gamble on them holding up rather than abort my adventure but there are just too many ways this could end badly so I will be returning the van in the hope that the owners will put new tires on so I can continue. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: The campervan owners were able to replace the worn tires with a marginally better set of winter tires they had on hand. Equally important, they also placed a spare tire in the van so that I can address any issues that might arise. So it is back on the road again.