to make messes in our rooms and didn't make us clean them up. by messes, i mean projects, which always begin as messes. just to set the scene, this is rural quebec, because your father was an entomologist. he was studying... oh, yes. he was a forest entomologist, and his research station, spring, summer and fall, was up in the woods north, north, north, north, north of ottawa, up the ottawa river, and this would be in a house that he built himself, because he was of a rural background and knew how to do all of that. and therefore, he had a lot of edged tools, which we used to play with as children. edged tools? yeah. sharp—edged tools? yes. you know, and other things, like hammers. things that you could do yourself a serious injury with, if you weren't careful with them. and your mother was a scientist, as well? she was a dietician. so, this would have been the �*30s and �*40s. so, i think she was a dietician, a dietician simply because it was a job you