A good day yesterday. The people in my workshop seemed so pleased to be tangling with the old. It lifts my heart to know that I'm not the only reader who is invigorated by this. We studied two pieces about villains; we talked about the varying nature of villainy . . . how a poet manipulates language to create that character . . . Richard III versus the Duke of Ferrara . . . and, yes, RIII won the "more sympathetic villain" award. That duke is bad.

Why am I using all these ellipses? I hope this is not going to be my next new annoying tic.

And now I'm off to blueberry- and blackberry-pick with Son Number 2, who is so anxious to go that he actually got out of bed at 8:30 in the morning. Somehow I managed to raise kids who love berry bushes. It's a comfort to know that they'll always be able to make a living as migrant workers.