Since I defended my PhD thesis many things have happened and I haven't really had time to focus on some of the formal aspects. The doctor's ring is one of those.

Most newly finished PhDs in Sweden usually buy the doctor's ring via the university, which usually have a ring (or several depending on the disciplines) in their own design. The university where I graduated has one that is fairly modern in red gold. However, when asking around I learned that it was also possible to design my own ring (or have it designed for me), and this is what I chose to do — primarily because I hardly ever wear red gold and I'd love to wear my ring all the time.

What you see above is the result: a ring in silver and white gold designed and made by talented goldsmith Kinna Sturesson. I picked it up today and I think it turned out even better than I imagined. It feels great to wear it too.

It has been a week of suprises, some good, some not so good. This one was good, however: Around sunset today we drove towards the local harbour to take some photos and on the way there we were lucky enough to see three deers on the road. We stopped the car and watched them for several minutes before they turned and leapt into the forest. After that the beautiful sunset sky was just a bonus.

It has been pretty cold the last few days and we begin to feel sorry for the birds. Today we decided to buy some food for them, both in order to provide nutrition but also to be able to watch them. They've already found it and we're thrilled.

Image by Steve Dahlfors at Sveriges Ornitologiska Förening.

The house we live in is pretty neutral. All the walls except one are white, most floors and the staircase are made of oak, and the floor in the bathrooms, in the laundry room and in our hallway are tiled in dark grey. Neutral. And I like this.

There are a few exceptions, however: One of the walls in our dining area is wallpapered in matte turquoise and gold, and the kitchen tiles are light turquoise. The fact that the previous inhabitants have chosen an accent colour such as turquoise means means that we have to address it in some way. One solution might be to re-wallpaper the wall and change the kitchen tiles, another to simply go with it and embrace turquoise.

I actually had a few turquoise items before we moved here. A pillow here, Kivi candleholders from Iittala there, and some striped bedlinen in blue and turquoise from H&M... In addition, the ongoing sale at H&M prompted an order for four new turquoise velvet pillows. What I don't have, but like, is the Dot bowl from Stelton, the knitted sit puff from Glad saker, the wine opener from Sagaform, and the wonderful Prince Wladimir tea from Kusmi Tea. I guess it shows what route I chose...

The sun is shining from a blue sky today and we will hopefully see a sunset like the one above. The photo was taken in mid November on an amazing Tuesday evening as we were driving by the sea, watching the cows grazing on the meadows. These moments have been wonderful at a time when we have all been struggling to get back on our feet after the accident and everything it brought with it.

I love brown leather and wood in combination with crisp white and dark grey (and perhaps an accent colour) and this is what can be found in our home in various ways. Searching the shops for dark brown items I came up with this display, some of which we have or have variants of, and some of which I'd like to have some day.

The bed linen set from H&M T. and I actually use at the moment, and the quality is very good. We also have various baskets (these can be found at Granit), candleholders from Holmegaard similar to these called Cocoon, and trivets from Trip Trap. The photo of the amazing organically shaped wooden bowl was found at Tradera (a version of eBay and an auction I unfortunately did not know about until it was too late). The decorations balls were found at IKEA and the olive wood kitchen utensils were found at Salt and Pepper.

We just saw wild geese flying over our house again, thus underlining the fact that there is no real winter here where we live. These migrant birds tend to stay away from Scandinavia during the winter, but this year we've seen them almost every day. They communicate all the time and even if we don't see them, we certainly hear them, as the leader goose seems to encourage its followers in the most verbal manner and the following geese respond. It's fascinating.

Suddenly I felt like making a few alterations to this blog so here I present the new layout. I've added a few frames which will be put around some of my blog post illustrations (one of which can be seen below), and I have also changed the header and the section headings. The new and very visible font is called espesor Olas Lines and I have otherwise used Arial as a calming counterpart, with lots of space around each letter. Let's see how long this will "feel right"... I'm sure I will feel like making yet another make-over in due course.

This winter hasn't really been one, since we've hardly even had any frost. The photo above was taken on New Year's Day and ever since it has been only green lawns to look out on as we wake up in the mornings. It can be chilly, usually because of the wind, but the temperature has rarely dropped below 0°C/32°F. Yesterday it was snowing, but the snow disappeared as soon as the flakes hit the ground. It's such a contrast to last year's almost excessive snowing.

The lack of snow makes me feel as if Spring is already here as the light is returning. I'm almost surprised by the cold as I walk out the door, however, which makes me realize I'm probably a bit too optimistic, but I'm happy to see tulips and daffodils in the stores. Perhaps they will help me through the last part of January and February. By then the temperature hopefully has caught up with my Spring feelings.

T. and I have been creative and made some additions to our home. Some of the results you can see above: a bedside table in oak (well, there are actually two of them) and a lampshade (there are actually two of them as well). I really love the bedside tables. They are small, but large enough for what needs to be there, and they are also very slender and light despite being made of massive oak. I decided to make the lampshades simply because I didn't find suitable ones in the stores, but it was actually a fun job — although a bit messy because of the glue — which I might attempt again should the occasion arise.

I'm tracing my family's lineages and history at the moment, as is T., and we have both managed to find out quite a lot. My own family tree now has more than 560 people in it, primarily spread out geographically in the counties of Dalarna and Värmland, but I'm not done yet so I know it will grow even further.

One of the difficulties in my own pursuits has been that the church records burned in 1797 in my own home parish (where the majority of my ancestors also lived), which makes it almost impossible to trace ancestors further than the early 18th century, but I also have ancestors elsewhere and in some cases these can be traced back to the 13th century.

On my mother's as well as my father's side there are links to the Svinhufvud and Stierna families and I have learned that one of my ancestors, Engelbertus Olai Helsingus, was in fact Gustaf Vasa's priest. (Vasa reigned in Sweden between 1523 and 1560.) At this point in time there are quite a few other lose ends and I'm really looking forward to further explorations.

Ironically, as the new year begins both T. and I are engulfed in the past. We are researching our ancestors and T. has managed to find evidence of relatives as far back as 900 AD, while I have found relatives born in the 13th century. We have revelled in our discoveries of noblemen and priests, mountain engineers as well as peasants as we have tried to piece their lives together. If they had not lived we would not have been here today. Our minds reel.

As we're moving into the new year we're also hoping for a less tumultuous one than 2011 proved to be. We have made it though. We're all in one piece. All of us feel fine now, although a bit tired from time to time, and we are eager to focus less on the recent past and more on the future. We do not know what it will bring, but at least we're increasingly more free to think of it now. Last night we toasted the end of 2011 as well as the beginning of 2012. Let's hope it will prove to be a wonderful year. Happy New Year, everyone!