flooded

Sun is flooding our studio! I love the light, but by the window it's steaming hot. Never mind, the promise of spring is here :)





Making small booklets that will be on sale at Kaleido.


There's still a LOT of snow despite the warming sun. If it melts too quickly we'll be flooded in water instead. A family of 3 roedeer have been visiting our back yard in search of something to eat. They have had a tough winter, but at least these three have made it through. They're lovely to watch (although Asta goes crazy when she hears them stepping around outside, she wants to chase them).

still cold

I don't mind the cold! But the weather forecast is promising more snow and this I think is unneccessary, we've got plenty already. Asta loves the snow but hates skiiers, ever since one "chased" her with flailing arms. She ran for her life. The other day she actually (!) caught a field mouse while digging in the snow. And I had to bury the poor thing...

icicles

We've had the most wonderful winter so far! The first snow fell in November, and it just kept falling and getting colder. And stayed beautiful for ever. Not like in the rescent years - snow, melt, freeze, snow, melt freeze... But I can do without the lowest degrees, -22°C...

boat ride and memories

My mother treated us to a boat ride on her birthday. The boat goes from where she lives with my father now, passes where I grew up as a kid, and stops in Stockholm. They sold our house ten years ago. I haven't been back since, it hurt too much. Never thought it would before they sold it, but it did.


Tricky weather made it difficult to take nice shots.


See the rooftop of our house, on the left? Seeing it like this from the water was ok, even fun.



Boo Gård.


I used to walk along the shoreline with my dog. There was a rumor that tennisplayer Björn Borg used to live in that house for a while, but I don't know. These houses were nothing fancy when I grew up. Ordinary people lived there then. It's different now.



Gammeludden. End of boatride photos.


This year has been an extremely good year for berries and mushrooms. And for mosquitoes, hence the silly attire. We've made so many blueberry pies the kids complained and refused to eat more... We've also made delicious blueberry sorbet, marmalade and we tried a recipe for blueberry wine (!), but it's not ready yet.

concentration

Bringing Rosa, Olivia and a friend to the studio one day during the spring break. Wonderful to see them in action, painting and drawing.


Rosa

Olivia

Olivias self portrait.


My corner of the studio, self portraits on the wall at the moment.

strange lands

This was Tuesday.



And this was Wednesday.


Who treaded here? Probably the creature that makes Asta bark furiously (we humans hear nothing).

talking about Turkey

Dinner at Marias, with the rest of my studio mates that I'm going to Turkey with!
We're leaving in ten days, to spend almost 5 days in Istanbul - needless to say, we're thrilled. None of us has been there before, so we had all googled for information. We only found the usual touristy stuff, so; if anyone out there has anything to recommend - all contributions are gratefully received!
The day after we watched Crossing the bridge, a film about the different music scenes in Istanbul, to get into the right mood. I love traditional music played by the Romani people.


This is my contribution to The Pom-Pom Project. My heavy, luscious pompom will be sent to Bournemouth, UK, to participate in a public installation in the Bournemouth Gardens with heaps of others.
But it's hard to part with it, I've become quite attached to it...

And here it only snows, snows and snows...

birdsong and dogplay

Every cloud is silver-lined, bear that in mind
When old man trouble gets tough
And the going gets rough
Let the worry bird worry for you!
----
another quote from the song
Let the worry bird worry for you
(Leo Robin/Jule Styne)

Worry bird number two has landed in my Etsy shop!
Meet Åke, a crocheted raven (perhaps?). Tell him your worries and they will be gone!




Lovely days with a lot of snow and cross country skiing. Asta is one happy dog.

valentines and visits

Valentines day came and went. We went skiing in the forest for an hour with the girls. It was the first time for me this year and it felt great. We brought hot cocoa, sandwiches and peeled oranges and ate them out in the open.

Valentines card from Rosa

Valentines card from Mattias. This is how he see's us.




Mattias (left) had visitors, two students from an artcollege in Cardiff, England. They came all the way to Sweden to interview him. Very ambitious and very nice.



A book cover collaboration that is on it's way to Israel and for Julie to finish!

winter break

Hello again!
I took a break from blogging for a couple of weeks, but now I'm back!
The schools started today and everything is – finally – back to normal. I love holidays, but I'm just as happy when they're over and things go back to normal. I want my newspaper with my morning coffee for instance :) (in Sweden the paper's not delivered on public holidays, and there are so many of them this time of year...).

We spent the Christmas holidays eating, ice skating, eating, watching films, eating, ice skating, eating, etc...

The ice on the lake Mälaren came early this year. We went on the ice nearly every day – I haven't skated this much since I was a kid, and it fills me with happiness. I love being outdoors in the winter if the weather permits it, and it sure did these last weeks.

Hope you had a wonderful holiday too.