have I ever mentioned

how much I like to be HOME?

This morning I've been spending time with my favorite four- and nine-year olds, whom I asked to entertain themselves while I checked my e-mail.

They found the week's discarded unfinished puzzles from the campus newspaper. No. 5 is working on the sudoku while No. 6 takes on the crossword puzzle.

She started by tracing over already-written words, but has now graduated to filling in the empty spaces with "dog," "cat," and "and." Or so she says. I think she is something of a postmodern when it comes to spelling.