Spring arrived in Spånga while I was away. When I left, most everything was still dormant, and I come back to everything flowering.

The overnight transition from a thick blanket of snow in Jokkmokk to spring flowers was jarring.

I planted a Hellebore in the new flowerbed in front of the house last year. I’m never quite sure what will survive and what won’t, even when I follow all the recommendations about sun and shade and soil conditions, but this one did, and now it’s flowering!

Viburnum. As beautiful and pleasing this spring as it has been every spring.

To be fair, it’s not just the weeds that are green in the garden. The carex is surprisingly hardy and green all year round. Several of the ground cover plants also emerge green from under the snow, including both hazelwort and waldsteinia. I rather like that. Maybe I should try them in more places.

Nothing green is growing yet, apart from eranthis and snowdrops. And… weeds. How come it’s always the weeds that start first? Not even crocuses are out yet.

My family walks through the house without noticing a lot of things that I can’t help but notice. They leave chairs pulled out from the table, at an angle. They leave rugs askew. They leave doors half-open in such a way that, when I walk into the space, I am met by the edges of the doors.

The family are clearly not bothered. But to me, the doors meeting me edge-on almost feel like the doors are attacking me. It’s like walking into hostile territory. A palisade, or a barred wall.

So I keep pushing the doors away to the side, all the time. And a few hours later, they’re back again.

The new light fixture is so great. I put stronger lightbulbs in there than I thought we’d need, and now I’m glad I did so. I can sit and sew late at night, with black thread on graphite fabric, without even straining my eyes or wearing glasses.

We have a New Year’s tradition of watching fireworks from the flat roof of the newer half of our house. Twenty minutes before midnight it’s time to bring out the big ladder and then we take turns to climb up to the roof.

The roof is wide and flat – there’s plenty of space to walk around to get good views in all directions, without ever having to worry about getting too close to the edge.

There’s always plenty of fireworks to look at, near and far. Usually quite a lot quite near, even.

For the first time ever, Ingrid opted to go celebrate New Year’s Eve with her friends. Growing up! So we had to wish her a happy new year by text.

Christmas lights, welcoming us home.

They also make the first step out of the house in the morning quite a bit nicer.

We have snow. It’s nice that the cold came first, before the snow – now it stays on the ground instead of melting into slush.

The birds really appreciate the sunflower seeds we put out. Swarms of goldfinches and greenfinches. Blue tits and tree sparrows and nuthatches and magpies and blackbirds.

Now with the snow, the deer also come by to eat the bits that the birds spill.