Desktop icon wierdness

Hello list, something wierd is affecting my Desktop. Files I save to it aren't displayed there, ie I see no icons. They are listed fine in the shell or for example gwenview. At first they are not visible in a konqueror window either, but after being accessed by gwenview you can see them in a konqueror window but still not on the desktop. (They are not visible on the second desktop either.) Does anyone of you have a clue what has happened to it? cheers, Mikael