Spanspek

Yesterday was Kajsa's big birthday party, with 60 guests under a large marquis. The rain held off enough in the preceding few days that it worked out well. Kajsa worked so hard. It was the rest of us who should have been working for her. Today we set off for a little town called Lesjörfors, where a mountain walk has been created. It passes through the land of the trolls. One sees them and signs of them all the way along the path. It's great fun. For Australians, accustomed to ten years of drought, it is staggering to see the amount of water in Sweden. There are lakes everywhere and, with the recent wet summer, the troll mountain was seeping water all over the plane. I doubt that we shall see the like of it in south-east Australia ever again.

A similar nature park is Mariesbergskogan in Karlstad. It has many more animals inside and outside, and more extensive playgrounds. It even has a train ride (a small diesel vehicle dressed as a train and towing several carriages). Mariesbergskogan is on a bend in the River Alvaren, the large river flowing into Lake Vännern. It forms a delta which carries sand from further north. The soil in Karlstad is very sandy as a result and there are a number of natural beaches in the area. Trolls are said to live in the forest but we didn't see any.

The Swedes are a lot closer to nature than we are. Perhaps it comes from nature's winter imposition; one just can't ignore it! In summer, they're outdoors most of the time, embracing the long daylight while it lasts. It was with some sadness that Kajsa and Harald told us it had been the wettest summer for a long time. In many places, there are parks and gardens very well kept—not just available for one's enjoyment but with cafes or kiosks and other amenities. About 2 km from Vibäck is one such place... or two: Knappfors and Lunadet. They sit between the two lakes Lonnen and Älkvattern and are separated by a short canal and a lock (as Lonnen is lower than Älkvattern). Lunadet is close to a small down-hill ski run surrounded by forest. I say small, but, as we've found in the past, climbing it in summer requires a not-inconsiderable effort! We didn't attempt it this time with Daniel in tow. The settlement, if one can call it that, has a church and a small cafe and restaurant. There are many small "summer houses" on the lakes. Kanppfors has a small shop selling handicrafts and ice creams and sweets. Other buildings include an old mill and are sometimes used for exhibitions. Most appealing to children are the enclosures with animals: goats, pigs, chickens, turkeys, rabbits and guinea pigs, and long-time resident Axel the donkey.

I saw this on the back page of The Guardian newspaper on 11 July. I'm reproducing it here because a search on the paper's website doesn't show it. It's part of the page compiled by one Lucy Ma... and I don't know the rest of her name because I tore this snippet out (and tore her name). So, Lucy, if you're reading, contact me and I'll happily give full attribution. You're the governor of Alaska. It's Independence Day weekend. Every media outlet not celebrating this is trained on the Michael Jackson memorischmaltzfest. You have debts mounting up by the minute fighting totally bogus gosh-damn ethical claims thrown at you by your elitist Democratic opponents from the pink lower 48 states. You may or may not want to run for president in 2012 but you know you sure as Shinola can't make it round all those what state caucuses and primaries comingin from Wasilla every day. Not if you're going to keep up your moose-culling duties and still have time to give your kids stoopid names! So what do you do? Quit? Causing all those who believe your are positioning yourself for a presidential run rather than professional punditry to go out of their ever-lovin' minds? You betcha!

This morning we went to Boda Borg, a "playhouse" in Karlskoga. It's difficult to describe (so you might want to look at the web site). A series of courses, each posing a puzzle one must solve to make it through a number of rooms. Some are quite physical—crawling through tunnels and tight spaces—while others require working out answers to questions. Oftentimes, they're both and one must also figure out what the question is. Once you've completed one puzzle, the door to the next room is unlocked. It's great fun, but we didn't manage to complete a single course!