ties are not optional.

At our house, ties are required at the moment. For the last week or so, Quincy has been Duffy Driver from the Little Red Train books by Benedict Blathwayt, and guess what Duffy wears? Yup, a tie. And a jacket. As you can see, no one is immune.

I have lovingly been given the role of Jack the Guard. Berkley and Kai are Jack and Duffy understudies, respectively. (Be sure not to mix them up.) But Jeremy has won the best part of all, the coveted role of the Postmistress. He is so pleased.

He studies the very detailed images for ages and copies Duffy's stances and mannerisms. He regularly slips phrases from the books into conversation. I love listening to his Duffy adventures through the monitor. Some favorites:

• oh rust and dust
• race to the finish
• put on the brakes
• animals on the line
• here comes the swish train
• coke and clinker
• off in the distance
• blow the whistle looooong and loud
• Barnacle Bay. My favorite place in the whole world.

But the best of all was when I walked into his room and he jumped out of bed, exclaiming, "Duffy earlyslept (overslept)!" and then he walked with such purpose out of his room declaring that he was on his way to Birchcombe Village and he needed to load his supplies in the train.

A boy on a mission with a vivid imagination. That's a pretty cool combination.

Oh you may wonder why he needs that wrench. That's to fix the blown boiler. Of course.