Well, it's official. Sylvan is obsessed with trains. All colors, all sizes, beat up, brand new - all of them are good. He and Thomas the Tank Engine are joined at the hip even to the exclusion of Sylvan's beloved "babies" Lamb and Bear (though they are still a close second), and sometimes even the pacifier! Building intricate train tracks has also become something of an obsession in the Spearpeople household, and Sylvan isn't the only one who's into it (see pics...). Jim has become quite good at making circuits that never loop back on the same path twice, and Courtney is occasionally in on it, too. We have been greatly helped by the donation of an extensive track set, given by one of Jim's colleagues whose kids have outgrown their own train obsessions. Of course we've supplemented with some strategic pieces that make those never-ending loops more fun. In other vehicular news, the Spearpeople are officially carless! For the past 5 years we have driven a diesel Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen, which we loved without reservation until October 2015, when the scandal broke about VW's sham fuel efficiency. Turns out the car's braggable gas mileage, delightful pickup, and overall excellent driving experience were too good to be true. So three weeks ago we sold the car back to VW (where it will likely join about 500,000 others as a new coral reef somewhere in the Pacific Ocean) and have decided to go without a car for a while, to see what happens with the electric car market. Since we bike or use public transportation most weekdays we haven't felt too constrained, but weekends are definitely an adjustment. Grocery shopping and weekend errands are now done more strategically, and we've taken advantage of car sharing options several times - Zipcar, Car2Go, and some full-on rentals for weekends with visitors coming up. Here's hoping for a reasonably mild and low humidity summer!