Almost no snow left now :-) I really hopes this means that spring is comming! But here they don´t think that spring has arrived until the Cranes has.

And so another working week has passed and February will soon be put behind us. I can´t say I´ll miss it. I think that is the worst month of the year. Now March will come and with that the hope of spring and longer days. It sure helps when the snow almost is totally gone :-) But March and April can be treacherous months here. One day it can be sunny and hot and the day after snow and several degrees below freezingpoint. Last Year the winter didn´t come until late March so one never knows.

The ground is deep frozen so all water that comes from the snow and ice has no way to go. We have gotten several new small ponds.

I actully saw the beginnig of dawn this morning! The sky started to be a bit lighter at east already at six am :-) At midsommer we will have daylight almost for eighteen hours here. Further north the sun woun´t go down at all at that time. I always get a bit sad when midsummer arrives, because then it will turn and become darker again. Midsummer is by the way a huge holiday here, but I´ll describe that when that day comes.

This is an actual pond and the surface has started to look a bit less shiny. But it´s frozen to the bottom so one could still ice skate on it.

The heat from the stowe is slowly spreading through the cottage now. In a way it´s more difficult to heat up the cottage when it´s just over freezingpoint outside. I don´t know why but it´s like there were some kind of bubble around the cottage when it´s several minusdeegres outside. The cold outside sort of helps keeping the heat inside. Now when it´s warmer the heat sort of slips out so much easier. I don´t know if that is right at all, but it feels that way anyway.

The first flowers of the year in my garden, Snowdrops.

One thing I am sure of is that when it´s warmer and more moist in the air the fan belt in my car starts to squeek. Not only when the engine is cold but all the time. If the air gets dry the sound stops. Inside the car one can only hear some small noices, but outside it sounds like the engine is breaking down :-) It´s a terrible noice and people at work have really fun when they hear my car comming closer :-) I checked the fan belt and it´s okey and can´t get any more tight. Well I can live with that, the´re worse things in life than a squeeking fan belt :-)

But others are on their way. This is the buds of my yellow Christmas rose (Helleborus)

Have a nice day now and have in mind that we are one day closer to spring!

and here are the buds of my red Christmas rose.