The ice is melting

Hi all you beautiful people who still finds your way into this quiet place on the internet.
It’s been over a year since I wrote my last blogpost. And I want to thank you so much for still coming here and for writing comments and engaging in my older posts.

I suddenly felt an urge to share a little post with some photos from this past week, when the ice melted away on the lake. This is always the real sign of the arrival of spring. And this year the ice left almost a whole month earlier than usual. We got an early spring this year, and no words can describe how grateful I am for that.

Last week the ice started breaking into pieces and for each day that went by the ice slowly sank into the water. I think it is so beautiful to witness this happening every year.
Suddenly you wake up one morning and you see the sunlight glimmering on the surface of water. And it feels like seeing magic.

So now the spring is here. A new season has started. A new chapter. And I feel it in every cell of my body.
The spring fills me with aliveness a feeling of awe for all life and nature. And I am so glad that I get to experience it once again.

I hope to share some more moments of my spring in here. And I hope that you, whoever you are and where ever you are, have a really wonderful April, filled with all those things that brings you joy.

With love
/ Jonna

A little hello

Hi friends!

It is Saturday evening and I’m sitting in the beautiful kitchen in my art studio, working on some photos and enjoying the sound of the fire in the stove and my dog Nanook snoring on the kitchen floor.
This exact moment is what I dreamed about a year ago, when I stood here on a ladder in the kitchen, with a mess everywhere, painting the walls and spending all my energy and time on the renovation of this little house.

What gave me so much energy to work on this art studio is this moment that I’m in right now. I could see in my mind how this place would one day give me so much joy, peace and inspiration.
And now that is my reality. Now I get to enjoy it, and it feels so amazing that I barely find the words.

The light this afternoon gave me such a boost of happiness! I was going to get some wood for the stove so that I could keep the fire alive all evening, and the sun was just about to set behind the forest on the other side of the lake. The light became so soft, and with a subtle touch of pink, and it just gave me a feeling of a new time to come. The spring.

It’s still so, so far away. We are only in the beginning of February, which is one of the coldest months of the year. But I know that every year around this time, the new kind of light can shift something inside of you. It’s like a whisper of something beautiful to come. A new cycle of life.

And usually around this time of the year, when I haven’t felt my bare feet on the earth in half a year, I can burst out in a ugly cry just to think about green trees and leafs, or the smell of the roses in my summer garden. It feels like such a long time ago. And it feels like an eternity until that will come again.
The winters are really long here. But there is so much beauty and good things about that too.
It’s a quiet time that opens up a lot of space for being alone and being in your own bubble without too many distractions. And that is something I usually miss in the summertime.

So, instead of crying thinking about the smell of roses, I’m going to enjoy the smell of the fire in the stove, and the wonderful sound of crunchy snow as I walk outside, and the peaceful never-ending evenings in my art studio.

For those of you who saw my latest YouTube video, I want to let you know that Nanook is feeling so much better now! He was struggling a lot a few weeks ago, and it was such hard time with so much worries and sadness. But he got through it and for the past week he’s been even better than before.
He is such a fighter ♥

When we took our evening walk this cold Saturday evening, I got blown away by the night sky. Since there is new moon now, the sky is totally black and that makes the stars even more visible. So I ran into my studio to pick up my camera bag so that I could set up my camera to create a timelapse.
So one of my cameras is still out there in the cold to record a beautiful little film of the milky way swirling around in the sky.

I took this photo and as you can see, the milky way is going right between the trees. You can also see the Andromeda galaxy in the middle of the photo, a little bit to the left. Isn’t that incredible?
There is a whole other galaxy there. Its just…so hard to take in.
How I wish I could just fly up there and discover all the stars and galaxies.

Now it’s getting late here and I will actually spend my night in the art studio. Nanook is already alseep, and I think I’m going to join him soon. Just another cup of tea in front of the fire.

I’m sending so much love to all of you who comes here to read my blog. I’m really glad that this way of creating and sharing is still so appreciated by so many of you. And thank you, THANK YOU for all the beautiful comments. I read every single word you write.

Talk to you soon! Good night from me and Nanook ♥

Life in a frozen land

Hi everyone and Happy New Year!
It’s been a couple of months since my last post in here. I really hoped that I would do some small updates in here more often, but 2023 was a busy, busy year all the way til the end of it. The most hard working year of my life. But it came with so many beautiful things that was very much worth the work. Especially my art studio, who took about 7 months of full focus and renovations to finish. But I got a treasure for a lifetime.

Honestly it feels so good that the year has come to an end now, and that I get to start a new chapter.
The first days of the year has been spent at home, keeping the fires alive in the stove and just taking care of myself, my family and my house. Because at this moment, it is -32 °C degrees outside and it’s been this cold for a couple of days. And even though it is very hard to keep our house warm, I love it with all my heart. The beauty of cold weather fuels me with energy and creative inspiration.

The past two days I’ve spent almost all time with daylight outside to capture the beautiful scenery of this frozen land. This morning the moon was seen above the trees in the pink, morning light and I rushed outside with my drone to fly away and get a better glimpse of it.

And the fire. The beautiful fire that feels like a door to ancient times.
The extreme cold temperatures forces you to take it slow and get warm by the fire. And even though we keep our house warm with fires throughout the whole winter, its not often that I truly sit by the fire for a long time to enjoy it. But when it’s this cold, it just happens naturally and it is the most magical thing.

Even the sound of it makes me feel so good. The sound of the wood breaking and snapping, and the flames moving. A kind of whisteling sound. Almost like strong winds heard from far away.

Beautiful little Nanook enjoying the sunlight as the sun just rised above the forest before it goes down again. Nanook is a winter lover, but his old age makes the winter harder on him, and his arthritis gets much worse when it’s this cold. So we take it very slow with him these days.
Just short walks outside in the garden, and a lot of rest and cuddles inside.

And the nights makes me feel like I’m in a dream. Or in a fairytale world.
The stars are shining so bright and the northern lights can be seen dancing on the sky almost every night. It’s so beautiful it almost hurts.

I stand there looking up in the vastness of the universe, and even though my mind is filled with a millions of questions without answers, i feel closer to the truth than ever before.

I took this photo of the nightsky last night, and the camera spent the whole night outside creating a beautiful timelapse that I will share in my next video.

It’s another beautiful night ahead of us now and I am just about to get out in the cold evening to set up my camera for another night under the stars. And then, I will enjoy a cup of warm tea in front of the fire.

From the bottom of my heart, I wish you all a beautiful start on this new year. And thank you for being here. Sending you lots of love! ♥

I saw it coming

I had a really rough day yesterday, feeling so sad and down because of things regarding my work and someone stealing my identity and content on the internet. I spent the whole day in the cabin with Johan trying to solve the issues but things didn’t really work out as we I hoped. And that just started a spiral of negative thoughts in my head. In the end of the day I had an intense headache from all the worrying and all the emotions, and I felt so drained.

I went down to the wild river just a few minutes from our cabin as the sun was setting, because I knew I needed to get some fresh air and take a break from the internet world.
And suddenly I’m there, back in my body again, after a whole day being stuck in my head.
I’m observing the playfulness of river below me and the stillness of the majestic mountains far away, while the last rays of the sun hits my puffy eyes from too much crying that day.

It was so beautiful, I had to cry again.

I felt like I was embraced in the warmest, most loving hug by the most beautiful scenery. The mountains, the pine trees, the water…everything was so perfect that I knew that everything is exactly the way it’s suppose to be.

And suddenly as I sit there, a very cold, strong wind comes from out of nowhere, bringing some tiny snowflakes swirling around in the air.
And I saw it coming. The winter is on it’s way.

I took the car and drove to the closet town before it got dark, to fill up some more water to have in the cabin. And on the mountains I saw the first, tiny layer of snow covering the tops.
I was so glad to be here when that happened. Because the look of the first snow on the mountains is such a special view. It creates such a beautiful contrast together with the rocky parts.
I really love that.

But I still got a chock this morning when I opened the door and saw how much snow had come during the night. It looked like a winter wonderland.

We didn’t bring so much warm clothes so Johan had to take an old fishing hat that we found in the cabin for our walk with Nanook today, as a protection from the cold air. He looked so cute 🙂

And Nanook seemed very happy to see the first snow, as always.
It’s so beautiful, but to be honest I don’t feel ready for the winter just yet. I had a lot of photography projects to do outside still, and the snow makes that really hard.
And I would like to squeeze out a bit more of the autumn before the long, long winter arrives.
We will see if the snow is here to stay or if it will melt away in a few days 🙂

Right now in this moment, I’m sitting in the cozy cabin, Nanook is sleeping and snoring on the floor beside me, and Johan is soon arriving with some food that he bought from a restaurant in the nearby town. Because it is Friday, after all!

I hope you have a beautiful weekend, wherever you are.
And thank you for all your beautiful comments. I haven’t got the time to answer any yet, but just so you know, I ready every single word you write.

Big hugs and tons of love to you all ♥

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