Easter Day

We got up early today for a relaxed start to Easter Day. The weather was perfect with sun shining from a clear sky and 15°C promised.
We went to the cathedral to celebrate the day, but the service seemed fairly mundane and the hymns were very tricky to sing. The choir was good, as it usually is, but a church service is different to a concert.  Maybe try the free church next time.
We ate lunch with our friends at a pizzeria and then headed home.
Once home I went for a walk, a much needed walk after that large lunch! I set off on snow shoes and needed them for the first section, up the northern slopes. Once I reached the ridge I left them on a large rock and continued on the more-or-less snow free ground.  When I reached the copse of fir trees that was my end-point I sat around for a half-hour or so in the sun, just watching nature around me. Several large flocks of swans flew very high overhead, headed north in giant V's. The largest spider I've ever seen in Sweden was hunting through the mosses near my feet. There were lots of small birds flitting around the trees. Just as I was getting ready to go, two great spotted woodpeckers arrived and flew around together. A mating couple perhaps. I think the photographed bird is a female, because she has no red on her head.
On the way home I found the colourful slime mould in the extra. As the snow melts away I often see small fragments of this orange mould, but the pictured area is about 30 cm across.
I almost forgot, I found the first flowers out in our garden this morning, in a very sunny corner of the garden. Always an event to celebrate!
Happy Easter everyone!