Spring?

Only people who have experienced countries with loooong, cold, dark winters will understand the longing for spring that people have here in Sweden. The local paper even has a "signs of spring" section where people send in their photos of ice thawing, buds breaking through the earth and birds returning from migration.

For me, seeing tulips in the shops really signals a change of seasons. I saw this lovely bunch in my local supermaket and couldn't resist the gorgeous shades of pink. Snapped them before I'd even removed the cellophane.

London, here we come (again!)

It's always a good idea to have something to look forward to, to help you make it through the long dark Swedish winters. So, this Easter we're heading off to London again. As we had such a fab time there last year, we just had to go back for more. Here's a couple of photos from last year's trip - some sweet houses in Notting Hill (don't you just wish you owned one!) and A enjoying a cuppa in some old dive of a cafe that we stumbled across.

A seed of an idea....

Mmmmm. I have the idea for a little project involving vintage fabrics. We'll see how that develops.

I still have to get my camera fixed. It's actually the flash unit that's bust, and as I rarely shoot with flash, the camera is still usuable - although I'm ashamed to be seen in public as it's cracked with wires sticking out in all directions! So I have been getting on with editing some on the many hundreds of pictures I have already taken.

Here's one which was taken on a frosty misty morning in January in Stoke, my hometown while on a visit over Christmas. It's a homage to Stoke's industrial past, showing the top of one of Stoke's hundreds of disused bottle ovens (where pottery was fired). I had set off with my trusty camera and was wrapped up to the nines in woolly items, telling my mother I would be gone an hour. Arrived back after about three hours, with my mother on the verge of ringing the police ("this is not Sweden you know Dawn!"). Sorry Mum. I tend to lose track of time and space when I'm out snapping.