It is the darkest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. Always a sad moment for those like me who love the light.

But there is plenty of little lights to bring us hope on this day. There is the knowledge that from now on, every day will again be longer than the one before. There is the little lights in my christmas tree, reminding me of the cosy weeks at the end of the year, and there is this amazing daffodil on my kitchen table, with the promise of sunnier times.

With this little flower in mind, I have been thinking about this summers’ fieldwork today. We are planning to start a new plant invader survey project and I am collaborating on the research design. So in my head I was hiking up and down the sunny Swedish mountains already, marking species along the way.

But that’s for the future!