When I was a kid I loved Captain Kangaroo, but none of us kids ever liked Mr. Rogers. Damn, that man was creepy. I think I was a kid pre-Sesame Street, but I know I never watched it.

My mother didn't like Mr. Rogers. I did. I found his earnestness... I don't know. Perhaps refreshing, perhaps quaint. Anyhow, he had a red sweater I was quite fond of.

Of course, I also loved the Friendly Giant and Mr. Dress-up.

Especially Mr. Dress-up.

The Friendly Giant always made me kind of sad.

Mr. Dress-Up????

Mr. Dressup.

We got CBC, so for some reason, most of the children's shows we watched as wee ones were the CBC shows. In my world, Sesame Street contains French half the time, Spanish the other half.

Unfamiliar with all these North American telly shows; I don't remember watching telly here before age 10, and that was Crusader Rabbit, whom I adored.

Not-so-seekrit message for Plei: can you e me with spellings of second-tier character names we discussed? And said character ages? Because I want to send you stuff over the next couple of days.

Off to feed cats and things.

Teletubbies are off-putting and annoying.

*Barney* is the motherfucking devil.

Sesame Street has always, does currently, and will always ROCK. I watched it in college every day, because I had a break when it was on. People would walk by my (open) dorm room door, and then 5 seconds later, they'd walk back into view, and ask, "Is that....*Sesame Street*?" Dude. It's not like it was porn.

Not-so-seekrit message for Plei: can you e me with spellings of second-tier character names we discussed? And said character ages? Because I want to send you stuff over the next couple of days.

Will do.

Barney is evil, Teletubbies are good when you're running a high fever, Sesame Street is the One True Kid Show, and Schoolhouse Rock is the only reason I can do multiplication.

(sticking head back in)

merci, madam.

And Teppy rocks.

On another note (while awaiting Nic's finishing up in the loo, so we can go), I am pleased and a bit discombobulated. I wrote about 1000 words on Matty this morning and suddenly realised, the end is about five pages, plus one exorcism and one roundup/epilogue, away.

After that, I take the slight break from Penny/Ringan and work on "Eden Tree" and "Burden of Memory". Also research on the fourth Penny/Ringan book (specifically UXB squads, London in the late 1940's), because I have faith they will want more.

But it's an odd feeling, being close enough to the end of the novel to see what's dancing in the tunnel light. It's currently in the mid-70Ks, and I feel - I don't know how I feel. I generally get that odd blank moment when a book is done, "my house is untenanted!", but that won't fly this time. I'm already in the middle of other things.

aaaaand, Jilli rocks too. I think Sesame Street was maybe the single greatest creation of the television world, ever.