We’ve had a good two or three weeks of lovely winter weather now: plenty of snow, temperatures between –5°C and –10°C, and surprising amounts of blue skies and sunshine in between the flurries of snow. I love shovelling powdery snow on a sunny day.

The snow cover in the garden is so thick that I can barely see some of the smaller bushes. I only know to avoid stepping on them because I remember where I planted them.

Snow has piled up on tree branches and porch railings in precariously curling layers. In some places, it’s started slumping off whatever thing it landed on, but somehow still clings on in gravity-defying curves. I’m peeved that I can’t manage to take photos that do these shapes justice.

There’s a wildish rose bush at the back of the garden. Its rose hips look especially decorative against snow, even when they’re all shrivelled up.

I’m surprised that the fruit is still there and hasn’t been eaten by birds.

I’m not sure what species it is, but I’m guessing it might be a beach rose. Those are common in Sweden, and for years I thought them to be a long-time part of Swedish nature. I only found out recently ago that it is considered an invasive species, and I learned that the first one was spotted in Sweden just a hundred years ago (1918 according to Wikipedia).

My days are still full of meetings. This new team loves meetings and discussing every decision and doing remote pair programming. It is very democratic and very sharing but also rather exhausting. I barely have enough time for a workout and a quick lunch during my lunch breaks, and definitely no time to go out for photos or anything like that. So here’s a desperate, badly lit and badly composed, end-of-day, better-than-nothing, photo of my dinner materials.

Even so, the photo reminds me of how happy I am with our “new” kitchen. Well over a year and a half old, it still feels new, and I often find myself thinking fondly about it. It is so much more functional, well-organized, light and better-looking than the old one. All these deep drawers with their smooth mechanisms, felt bottoms and well-fitting dividers! And the smooth, solid, easy to clean counter top! And the dimmable lights, aimed at places that actually need them! Love it.

Speaking of splurging, I bought four new hand towels just because the old ones were looking tatty, even though they were still perfectly functional.

There is no doubt that the new ones look better. The trouble with new towels, though, is that they never work as well as old ones. The cotton is too smooth and just doesn’t absorb much water. At first these felt entirely hopeless. Full of fabric softener, I guess. I threw them in the laundry bin and after a first wash they work a teeny bit better. But it will probably be many months, if not longer, before they can compare to the old ones. By the time they’re at their best, they will probably be looking tatty already…

One part of adulting that I still haven’t fully learned is allowing myself to spend money on nice things. Even when there is no doubt whatsoever that I can afford it, and I know it to be useful and believe it to be beautiful, there is still a twinge of guilt.

It took an effort to spend 700 SEK on this useful and beautiful lamp.

These days I usually manage to recognize this feeling and sometimes decide overcome it. But frugality is easier for me than splurging, and asceticism comes more naturally than indulgence.

On the plus side, this means that I spend much less than I earn and there is always money left over at the end of the month, and unless I do something spectacularly stupid in the future, I won’t have to worry about running out of money when I’m old. Maybe I’ll learn to splurge when I’m ninety.

For about half an hour at mid-morning, the sun hits my favourite corner of the sofa.

Look who visited our bird feeding station: the friendly neighbourhood rat.

Obviously one doesn’t really want rats around one’s house, but I’m coming to accept their presence as more or less inevitable. The advice for keeping rats away from your house and garden all seems infeasible. Avoid tall grass, get rid of fallen fruit, make sure there are no places for them to hide, don’t feed birds. So we could get rid of rats if we got rid of all that makes the garden lively: the tall grasses and flowering perennials near the house, the apple tree, the wooden deck, the bird feeder. And then covered the ground with concrete all around the house where the rats tend to dig their entrances into the foundation. I can only hope that all the neighbourhood’s outdoor cats do their job and don’t let the rats multiply too much.

But it actually looks cute, doesn’t it?

For my lunchtime workout today I went out and shovelled snow for 50 minutes. A total body workout in fresh air and sunshine, and for a meaningful goal. What could be better?

The pile next to the driveway reaches up to my waist now.

Even with the snow and the cold, there are very few birds at the feeder. Mostly fieldfares and blackbirds, and the occasional blue tit or nuthatch. I wonder where the swarms of redpolls and goldfinches are this year, and all the great tits and blue tits we’ve seen in the past.

A thick layer of new snow makes the world look fresh and bright.