It is very regal!

At our gifted program in Springfield, Missouri, I have actually overheard one First Grader arguing to another that legislative bodies are more likely than presidents to affect their lives. They were designing a LEGO city at the time, and trying to decide whether or not it needed a White House.

They are beautiful! I have never seen any before; I don't think they're common along the Mississippi River flyway where I grew up. My cat is very interested in the sound they're making. Thank you!

Thank you for sharing! I love the motion throughout this poem.

Oh dear

Coco sends Hamlet a nose-touch.

Terry's Felix is the one I always loved! I like that movie--it is an Indiana Jones James Bond.

Dr. No 😍 and those impeccable suits that Bond wore! He was always properly dressed for every situation.

Is this the same son who gives you cool LEGO sets? He's a keeper!

I think fox! They will eat berries and seeds as well as meat. Maybe you'll see your visitor soon!

The pattern is soothing too! 😍

I remember eating a lemon pancake there for my "sweet," and loving that place. That was in the 1980's, so I looked it up in a tourist guidebook and found my way there with a paper map! It felt like going to Shakespeare & Co., only with yummy food.

I am now going to think for a long while about this, which is why I am fond of Tom's writing. This is the kind of thinking we did in chilly classrooms at my northern Illinois college--why would we write "casualties" if we meant "deaths"? We could choose to write to confuse, or to clarify.

Good job! I got mine annually, and in December a mammogram found a cancer that was tinier than a Renaissance mouse's nose. I just needed surgery, not chemo or radiation! (I had the dense tissue business too). That mammography sure saved me from a lot of illness!

If I found a student writing like this, I would send him home with The Elements of Style as required reading. No matter what he wants to write, he needs to learn to write it well.