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I started browsing through Real People section and was most delighted to discover your section on Adam Anawasse. A formidable and impressive young man indeed. I was very pleased to see that he hails from Moosonee, Ontario. My father was in the Canadian Air Force so I grew up all over Canada. Some of my best memories were from the 2 years we spent living on the base in Moosonee. I was 9 and 10 years old when we lived there and I remember:

Polar Bear Express train to get there; no TV - it is where I learned to love CBC radio and make our own fun; picking cranberries in the wild; ice fishing on James Bay with Dad and people from town; ice breakup in the spring and floating wooden sidewalks; seeing Beluga whales in the wild; and sled dogs in town; sparkling rainbows over glistening green forests after a rain; and sledding off our roof because the snow drifts were so high; winning poster contests at school; going to town with Mum and Dad to meet local kids to play together.

Those were very good years.

Cheryl O, Victoria BC

There's one word that best describes the casserole recipe you shared with the world: abomination. Sure, John might like your nasty concoction of old mashed potatoes, wieners that are mostly filler, and processed soup but, as I said earlier, his barbarous taste in food is such as sets nations girding their loins for war. He might believe that "spuds" and "weenies" are acceptable English but let us not forget that this is the same man who didn't think you needed a bachelor's degree after you got married. If he's stupid enough to think that the chief virtue of a dessert is how easily it slides down his gullet, he's stupid enough to think the money he earns is his to play with.

Paul J, Saint John NB

I remember the days when my girlfriends and I made "Poor Man's Pot Roast". We'd fill the bottom half of a deep saucepan with cut-up potatoes, carrots and onions and add just enough water to cover them to "two fingers" depth. We'd dump in a packet of dry onion soup mix, bring everything to a good boil, and top it with 4 big flat "hamburgers" made up from a meatloaf recipe. We'd let the "burgers" simmer about 20 minutes per side, then cool and refrigerate everything so we could pick off the congealed fat and split each "burger" into 4 round slices. At dinner time we'd heat the veggies and "stock", thicken things up with a bit of cornstarch, gently heat the "slices" .... and have a feast!

Anna M, Winnipeg

Now we're playing "pretend" again. Yesterday, Lynnn offered a treasured family recipe. Today, Young Elly explained that she concocted it with Mike as a cooking lesson.

Looking back to last week's letter, we note that Elly was embarrassed when Mike regaled the neighbor ladies with tales of his Mom's distressing bathroom noises. Perhaps a better diet would help the whole family's digestive health? The Cheapie Weenie recipe isn't just sludge--it's bland sludge. And chewing fresh fruit is good for you--you shouldn't just have to sluice it down your throat!

(By the way--just last week, we saw a Liz who could construct a complete sentence, undress herself & jump into a filled bathtub. In today's strip, she's regressed to babyhood again.)

NB, Houston TX

Hi! I just wanted to say that I am enjoying your strip. My local paper was one that dropped the strip when the rewrites began. I was only a child when the orginal strips came out and have I really enjoyed "revisiting" the past. I do want to comment that I really miss the people that Mike and Liz grew up to be! I miss Robyn and Meredith! Thanks for making a wonderful comic!

Jessica S, Liberty KY

At the end of my husband's funeral, several eagles flew over head. It was a military funeral and it was held outdoors. Several weeks later you printed the strip where birds flew over head at Elly's mother's funeral. I don't believe in consequences. Your strip came when I had lost all faith and hope. Your strip gave me back my faith. Thank you.

Bernadette G, Asheville NC

I must say that I was skeptical about going back in time with the Patterson family. But, after starting from the beginning again, I find that I have forgotten most of the early episodes and I'm enjoying the series even more than I did back when I was a young mother. As a working 64 year old woman I look back in nostalgia to the good old days of raising little ones and keeping a young marriage alive. I've recommended this Comic Strip to my son and his wife.
This has been great fun and I'm looking forward each day to a new episode. Thank you very much!!!

Lois R, Long Island NY

Lynn-
I'm turning 30 this year and have been a big fan of FBOFW since the early 90s when I caught a few of the TV specials on Disney Channel (Christmas Angel, Last Camping Trip, etc.). From that point on, I started reading the strips in the paper and relating to Michael and Elizabeth's point of view. Now that I am the father of a young family, I am ectastic to see that FBOFW is starting back at the beginning as I can appreciate the humor of the Patterson's as a young family. Its as if FBOFW has opened up an entirely new vantage point for me and I get to relive this great strip from the beginning with a whole new way of thinking. Instead of seeing the strip through Michael and Elizabeth, I now get to see the strip through John and Elly's eyes. I'm excited and can't wait to see what waits ahead.

Jonathan M, Michigan

I too have been reading your strip for years. I have a very yellow copy of a daily strip that hit home with me many years ago, when April took her first steps. John was calling her and said aloud, "April, you go of the table!" Then as he was hugging her, he was thinking, "...and in a few years, you'll be letting go of me." That really hit home. Especially as I look at my little girl, about to graduate this June. Thank you!

Waunakee, WI - the only Waunakee in the world!

Hmm...the first frame of today's strip seems new, while the rest looks to be older--as if this is a spliced installment today. The effect it gives is jarring, since John was just talking yesterday about how he wants bonding time with the kids, and now he buries himself in the newspaper. It comes off odd and unnatural.

Rachel, Illinois

I'll give our Mr. Patterson credit for not referring to looking after his own kids as "babysitting" as so many husbands do.......

Sheila B, East Hartford, CT

Yee-haw John, "I'll just check out my paper while the kids amuse themselves quietly." Love it. LOVE it.

AC, New Brunswick, but now Houston