It's been three wonderful, loving and fun weeks of vacationing, and now I'm back at work. It feels strange yet OK. In the last week X and I have been around; on Friday we saw "The Dark Knight", the latest installment of the Batman series. Prior to seeing it, I've heard many lauds for Heath Ledger's performance, not to mention how many people have wanted to see him get a posthumous Oscar for playing The Joker. Christian Bale's Batman is about as unmemorable I won't spoil anything: the film is beautiful! Apart from the obvious Hollywoodisms ((E.g. using a very nasty-looking male villain to clearly separate him from the pretty superhero, hence the clever pic above.)) I feel they could have done without, it's astounding to see a film of this magnitude do so well despite being so commercial. I really, really like this film and urge everybody to see it. I can't write more about it at the moment, but I probably will later on.

Yesterday we celebrated my dear mother's mother, who turns 96 years old today. 96! She still lives on her own - granted, with the aid of my parents, who live very nearby - and is a powerhouse; I cannot imagine anybody more positive at that age, despite her downs. My parents had made a strawberry cake and my sister and her family turned up, which means everything got turned up a few notches with her kids and husband in tow. I even got hugged by Emelie (the older child) when they were getting ready to go home, and that's a must! X and Katharina joked a lot about how my chest hair keeps popping out from my t-shirt and Katharina added that it glistens. Laughs all around. Pairing my sister and X in (loving?) squabbling against me is like introducing gasoline to fire. What've I done to deserve it? I love 'em.

Next weekend we're returning to visit Norsborgs Park ((Description of which is available in Swedish here and here.)) which is an area just outside the town where I grew up and ran around in. I just hope it still lives up to the childhood memories I carry from it, even though it's at its best in the autumn, with leaves everywhere, little rolling hills, cannons and big, braggish houses from the 18th and 19th century.