24 SEP 25

Bee garden heavy in bold gold and bright white in night rain...

Yali is already awake with SpongeBob... carefully tracing costume accessory prototypes into cardboard... slide him a slice of peanut butter toast before he leaves with Oxbear for play therapy... but not before testing out four empty La Croix boxes on his arms and legs as Transformer appendages...

Somehow it's already early afternoon... Patience and I are back from volunteer shifts and Yali is wrapping Creative Writing with a salami sandwich... but he has complaints to lodge... “Patience keeps CONTAMINATING my SANDWICH!” he bellows while scrubbing eraser into his Mead notebook in a fury of personal offense...

But I have to step into the other room to make a call... which amazingly lasts for about five full minutes of quiet before Yali and the dog come crashing through my door in a jumble of fur and action film costuming while I'm on the line with the oral surgeon's office...

After the call... exit to Patience chasing flies around the house with Puck's zapping bug racquet...

...and by the time Yali identifies “sheep” as a popular flavor of fruit during Spelling class... the academic day has gone on just a little too long...

About an hour later Patience and I walk back out the door for the studio with stacks of respective gear as the big boys are asking for things like scrap cloth and white vinegar and sewing needles...

Evening and Patience and I are home for dinner... all the boys have already feasted on steak before Oxbear and Yali leave for knick-knacks at the Dollar Store and Cub Scouts... and Puck out later to J's...

Patience hits the shower before frying eggs on the stove for a sandwich... her wet hair up in a towel turban...

And Mama... gaining Oxbear's head cold from Thailand... wraps up in blankets on the couch with a batch of work, an ibuprofen, and a quick peek into Fat Bear Week...