snow and frost

I enjoyed the last bits of winter as much as I could, and for most of January, there are almost only nature photos in my camera roll.


This walk, for example, was magical. The photos don't do it justice.






The day after it had snowed a little.


More hoar frost. :) But it's so pretty though!


Walking from work on nights like this, when everything is quiet and the snow makes it even quieter - such a lovely part of my everyday life.


And then there was finally enough snow on the ground to go skiing!!! And skiing I went, it was Thursday and I had the whole golf course almost to myself. What a dream.


Then I went into town for fika and catch up with Johan. (Of course he has a hoodie that says "Listening is everything". <3)


Two days later there was EVEN more snow, enough that I could ...


... put my skis on right outside my door. THE LUXURY.


I even asked this gentleman to come out in the cold with me to document it. He complied. :)


I skied up to the golf course the same way I would usually walk, past the stables ...


... up the hill ...


... and out across hole 5.


Lots more people out now as it was Saturday - almost crowded :) Gosh, skiing makes me so happy, and it makes me so mad that now that I've found a form of exercise that I love, I can't do it very often. (Maybe that's what keeps it interesting though.)


Jonathan plays through the organ part of Pärt's Beautitudes while Anna listens, lost in the music, in the church where we practise with my vocal ensemble. What a joy Wednesday nights have become. (Our first concert will be April 21st!)


Then it was Scandinavian Shuffle! It's a balboa weekender here in Gothenburg and the whole weekend was such a success. I was the official photographer, so I'll post some favourites soon. Until then, here's Miranda on our coach with my monster <3


And here's a snapshot of a balboa/ folk dance taster that had the best energy and the most smiles I've seen in a class in a long time.


Between all the dancing, Miranda and I had time to take a walk in the forest as well. It's so nice when people come to stay who loves the forest as much as I do; it helps me not take it, and how close it is, for granted.


And then, at the end of January, another walk from work. All the snow is gone and I don't think we'll get any more this year. Ah, well!

Taylor Swift feat. Bon Iver | exile

first week of january

First week of January. I spent it with some of my favourite humans. Here they are:


In case that wasn't obvious from the New Year's photos, we brought Raphael with us back to Gothenburg after Snowball and then he stayed with us for almost a whole week. Both Liam and I were still tired after our Christmas colds, so it wasn't the whirlwind of activities and nature we could have had, but wow, it was still so amazing to get that amount of time together. Since Liam and I moved back to Sweden from Manchester in 2019 we've been able to see him for a few days per year; ten days in a row was an intense luxury.


Since we didn't really "do much" I didn't take a lot of photos, but here he is air playing Bach (bloody organists <3) in my favourite café :)



Too soon it was time for him to go back to Leeds. It's extra hard when we don't know when we'll see each other next.


People are my favourite!


In other news, I got a haircut!

And me and my gang went to the Twelfth Night's ball at the opera as usual. I didn't feel like lugging my DSLR around so I chose to make do with my phone. All the group photos look something like this:





I think this one is the most decent one even though I could only make two out of five people look in the same direction at the same time :)


The boys handled it well though! (There's a first time for everything - it's usually them I complain about. :))


The big gang from my dance society! (Photo by Peter Faltpihl.)


And then dancing!


The day after, we had our traditional post Twelfth Night's Ball hangout in Utby, and it was such a beautiful day that Lisa and I decided to meet up in Gamlestan and walk there.







There was fika!



And hugs. :)

Afro-Cuban All Stars | Amor Verdadero

new year's photo dump

+ I made the place cards out of air drying clay & oven dried orange slices and they're the prettiest things I've ever made
+ if you think the amount of photos of the table decor is disproportionate you are wrong
+ my friends cook the best food and have the best parties and are the best people
+ getting to be present for Anna's New Year's speech (this year accompanied by Henrik on keys) is an honour the whole world should aspire to
+ if I knew when the evening started that I would only end up on two photos, I would have chosen those exact two
+ I love all of these people with intense passion
+ that's all

Wherever I Go | Jacob Collier feat. Lawrence & Michael McDonald