Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.



It's 5 degrees celsius today - that’s spring weather, not winter. The ice is rapidly melting, the snow hides in the shade and turns gray and slushy, the trees may soon be tricked into budding. Not that I’m complaining too much, though it only delays the inevitable: there will be snow again, and bitter wind, and then the long months of spring mud. But today in the sunshine, all of the colours sparkle in the soft spring light.



As the spring awakens and signs abound of the earth beginning to stretch and open up to the light it may be both the moment to celebrate being half way through winter as well as the opportunity to lift up my head, breath deeply and catch the scent and sight of spring while it lasts. And to revel in the transformation of my world as it shakes off the white winter covering and daylight pushes back the edges of the dark night.



The sun is shining brightly in Nynäshamn today, in fact, it's so warm that I have the the balcony door open and warm air is wafting in, along with the car fumes. It's so warm I am wearing a teeshirt. (Of course that could have more to do with menopause then the ambient air as L-G quips.) In the afternoon there is a bit of nip in the air, though you can see that the waters beckon us, even if the shore is still snowy.



We are still living in a depressing building site, with the builders firing up their equipment early in the morning, the whole apartment complex filled with dust, noise and chaos as water and electricity is shut off periodically and the kitchens and laundry are renovated. We also got a new security front door and today we were told that they will be fixing the acoustics in the landing outside of our apartment, so it should reduce the echo effect that sends Lambi wild when someone comes home at 2 a.m. I can't wait for that!

While I mutter and grumble about the inconvenience, I can see an end in sight. And it won't look like this place. Be sure to click on the picture to see it "in all it's glory" - shudder! Though worryingly, I think Lars-Göran's mum would love it.

In brighter news, Lars-Göran has acquired a new toy this week - yet another digital camera - the Canon Powershot S2 IS. He has been unhappy with the Olympus pretty much since we bought it. At the time he liked the idea of a light, compact, slip-in-the-pocket camera and its weather proof casing, it just didn't suit his photographic style. He became increasingly frustrated with the lack of manual settings (he loves tweaking settings), it's poor function in bad light and the inevitable camera shake you get with such a lightweight camera.

So, it was back to the Canon range that we so loved and he has chosen the best fit for a price we can afford - just! So he can take his nature shots from afar



or even duck in for a close up using the 12x optical zoom:



It even has a video function, so he has been taking home movies like a demented Ingemar Bergman the last few days. I hope that phase wears off soon. However, he has sacrificed the compact function as this camera is much more like a SLR in size and weight but the additional benefits he gets from it far outweigh the inconvenience of needing to use a camera bag instead of his jacket pocket again.

The photos on this entry were taken with the new camera and so far we are really happy with it. The real test will be when we take it out on the boat and see how it fares in a marine environment. But just in case, we still have our old Olympus on hand as you never know...