It's that day of the year again

I've ended up not blogging very much these last two years, but I haven't give up on my two "traditions" of documenting the last day of the year and waiting for the first snowdrops and so at least two times of the year I'll remember this blog.

This year, it's been a very warm December (one day, earlier in the month they claimed on the radio that many parts of Sweden had had the same temperature as on midsummer's eve). Snow on a couple of days, frost on others, but most of the days have been warm for the season. And rainy. This last week or so it's gotten a bit colder, with frost staying on north side of hills and in the shadows through the day. To top it all off, when I looked out the windows the sky was blue with just a few light clouds and the sun was shining, but I didn't see the wall of clouds moving in from the west so the sunlight disappeared far too early compared to my calculations. All in all, not the greatest weather to photograph (not even moody fog like last year), but I do have a few more photos to show that back in 2012. You can't change the weather, just your own attitude towards it.

But first, a little DIY I made for christmas. We don't have an outdoor christmas tree this year either so instead I bought some string lights and made a tree shaped decoration on the still boarded up window (with the cat hole). As a reference, I think it's 60-something cm tall and the lights used are these. It's been a tad stormy since I put it up so it's not in the same pristine condition as it was, but it still looks decent enough, especially seen from the road.

[click pic for a close-up, where you can see how the lights 

have been strung in the left pic, which was taken in the 

afternoon rather than at night like the other two were.]

I don't have a long new year's wish for you this year. I simply wish that 2016 will bring you much joy and happiness, may it be a year when dreams come true and new dreams are born. May 2016 be everything you hope for and much more!

The last light of the year, and a wish for the year to come

I haven't blogged much this year, but of cause I have to return with the traditional new year's eve post. I'll be the sixth year now that I do this photo post, the posts from the previous years can be found here.

Unfortunately, unlike during the first years of this tradition, the weather hasn't been on our side. We got frost on boxing day and then some light snow after that, but then it started thawing again and today it's just been grey, wet and foggy. Hopefully the pics won't be too dark and dull. Was aiming for for the serene and melancholic, though you might have to be a fellow november child to really enjoy these silent, fog veiled winter landscapes. (Even I prefer the fog and rain to end with november, though, so the winter months can be white. Frost white or snow white, either is fine, it just has to be white. You need something that lights up the short, dark days.)

One a positive note, though, the warm winter means you can get som fairytale/troll forest pics even after autumn. And it makes those pretty little snowberries more visible.

Last year, I ended the new year's post with a long wish, coloured by what happened in my life. Though aiming for a positive wish, in a way the darkness in the heart that wished it shone through. It reflected perhaps more the lack of direction in my life and the negativity in my mind than anything else. It was a wish for others in my situation and not perhaps for everyone. This year, I'll just cut out the most positive bit for you, in a slightly new version:

So my new year's wish for you is thus: May 2015 be a year filled with dreams that come true, happiness, adventures, courage and many new opportunities. May you wander along your path in life, your north star to follow, be it one you're already on or a new one that is just found. May you create and thrive and grow. 

Happy New Year!

A New Year's wish

As I'm writing this, there aren't many hours left of this year. Keeping up with tradition, I made the new year's eve afternoon walk to take some photos. It's the fifth year I'm doing this now. You can see the previous posts here.

As mentioned last year, the weather has been different every time I've done this. It's gone from a pink moon over a landscape slightly touched by white (2009) to snow and ice (2010) to fog and frost (2011) to dark, windy and wet (2012). This year the afternoon was a serene, snow-free day with relatively much sunshine. A pretty typical december day in Skåne, minus the fog and rain, really. Not that many clouds, which bodes well for the fireworks tonight.

And as for the result of the photo walk... Well, I'll let you be the judge of that.

 The sun went missing for awhile, but returned once I was up the hill and it made the landscape glow in the last sunlight of the year.

And with that, let's finish with a new year's wish. Before, I've shared with you some of the wishes written by Neil Gaiman. They're still good so if you haven't read them you should go to his blog and do so. But this year I also wanted to end with a wish from my own heart to you.

I wish you all a happy new year! Celebrating the new year is one of the oldest and most universal of traditions or ceremonies in the history of mankind. The big sun wheel had once again made a whole revolution. In the western world the end of one year and the beginning of the next has been associated with one of the most important days for people living this far for the equator, winter solstice -- the darkest and most ominous day of the year. While it is no longer celebrated on that date, the symbolism of the climax of darkness and dormant (but not dead) nature and the beginning of a journey towards light and rebirth can still be part of the new year magic. A new year can, if we want it to, be a new beginning. A time to review the year behind us and make goals and dreams for the year in front of us. We walk into the unknown that is the future. Perhaps scarred, perhaps confident, perhaps excited, perhaps indifferent. Regardless of which, the new days are all there in front of us -- for us to fill with meaning. Some days will be remembered for years to come, others will be forgotten. We can only do our best in filling the year with days to remember as they are the days that, in the end, make up our lives.

So my new year's wish for you is thus: May 2014 be a year filled with dreams that come true, happiness, adventure and many new opportunities. May you find your path in life, your north star to follow, and find it worth struggling for. May you grow and create and thrive.

Whether this past year has been good or bad -- or, probably, both -- for you, let the new year be a reason to turn the page so you can discover a new chapter in your life. Find the challenges that will be worth the hard work because it's through challenges you reach what you most of all want and need. Remember, you don't fail until you give up. And if you do have to give up, may it be a surrender to a new path in life: to bigger and bolder dreams and to more fulfilling goals. A giving in to a new dream rather than a giving up on an old one, a closure of an old chapter so a new one can begin. Put past disappointments and failures behind you not to forget them, but to move them out of your path to the future. Let the bad things that might have hurt or stopped you this year be nothing but memories and experiences in the year to come. One bad chapter does not define the whole book.

And while you walk along your path -- clear and easy to follow or obscured and tangled -- let the happy memories and the positive things in you life light the way. Let yourself shine and help others to find their light when they can not see it themselves. Winter nights are dark, but in that they give us a reason to kindle a light. A light of life and hope. And it is in the darkness that we see it shine the strongest, not because it is stronger than otherwise, but because it is only then we truly see its strength and beauty. It makes us remember what is always there, hidden.

There's a saying that planting a seed is to believe in tomorrow. Why not let new year's eve be a reason to plant a seed right now? Just a little seed -- a thought or idea in your head or a small action. Even if it's just something really tiny, do it now. Maybe it seems futile today or tomorrow, as days can be dark and hopeless, but the seeds will always grow if you plant them. A small step always carry you further than standing still does. Plant seeds not just as a belief in a new day, but as a belief in yourself. Sow as many seeds as you can along the path you walk and rest assure that one day -- perhaps on the day you least expect it -- you will find that they have grown into a paradise garden. 

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve

 
Every year since I created this blog, I've had this little tradition of taking photos on new year's eve and blog about them in the afternoon -- as you can see here. The weather has of cause changed every year: there's been fog and frost (2011), snow and ice (2010) and slightly white with a big pink moon (2009). But this year it's been the most boring weather so far. All day it's been dark, windy, wet and foggy. And not possible to get anything like the photos I've been able to share previous years. Tried to wait, hoping the wind would clear up the fog a bit, but it was only getting darker and around 14 my camera already protested, saying it was too dark outside.

(to make it clear: this pic was taken around 16:30, not around 14 when I took the first pics.)

I don't want to give up my little tradition just because of bad weather, but it's on the other hand boring to writing about the last day of the year and illustrate it with such cold and dreary photos. So I cheated a bit: the photo above is taken today and the photos below are from yesterday.

Fingers crossed we'll at least be able to see some of the fireworks at midnight. Hope the weather is better where you are. And that you're having/will have a good evening, whether your plans include a fancy party or a cozy time at home in front of the telly tonight.

~*~

This year, too, I would like to quote Neil Gaiman's new years wish and wish all you creative souls out there a beautiful year filled with beautiful mistakes. Or as I put it last year:

The blogs are filled with people wishing others a happy new year and planning ahead for 2012 now. Some are sending out greetings to their readers and followers, others are making resolutions and preparing for their own personal challenges or inspirational mottos for the new year. I was just going to publish the photos today and let that be my greeting to you on this day, but then I just read this new year's wish from Neil Gaiman on his blog and thought it really applied to us beaders, jewellery makers, crafters and artist -- in our personal lifes as well as in our creative pursuits -- so I wanted to share it with you:

"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever."

You can read his whole new year's eve post at Neil Gaiman's Journal.

Thank you for following me and commenting on my blog through the year, even when I'm rubbish at replying on comments or write self-pitying screeds. I do appreciate you and your comments, even when it doesn't look like it and I hope you still see that. Your comments make me happy. They make me smile and they make me enjoy blogging so much. Whether you "just" read (and pin) or also comment, I appreciate your visits and your interest in me and/or my writings. You make the journey of life less lonely for an introvert girl who find it hard to make friends and be social. I hope you'll stay with me through 2013 too and that we all may have a great year in front of us, filled with opportunities, creativity and happiness.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve

A couple of years ago, I began a new tradition: to photograph my surroundings on the afternoon of every December 31st. In 2009 it looked like this (with the big, pink moon rising on the lavender blue sky) and last year -- which was a very white winter -- it looked like this. Today the weather was as it often is on new year's eve around here: foggy. Last night the sky was clear and starry, but tonight when everybody -- more or less -- want to see the fireworks, it's of cause foggy. Foggy and frosty -- which means you can get some nice photos:

Because of the fog, I didn't go for a long walk. Just around the garden and then up on the hill.

(Above picture might give you an idea of how thick the fog were at times. The colours makes it look like it's about to snow -- or, had it been summer, a thunder storm about to come -- but that's not the case. Pretty realistic colours, but different from the rest in many ways.)

...and then there were some photos with a bit more colour than the ones above:

Happy New Year!