22 NOV 25

Puck flashes out the kitchen door at eight-thirty in full fatigues and aviators...

While he zooms off to drill at Jefferson Barracks including a Thanksgiving lunch paid out of pocket by the cadres because funds are gone... how can the Army and “aw that's so sweet” pair so effectively?...

...a sleepy Patience is back at the studio for two hours...

...while Mama hangs with G-ma and the Mac bros near Forest Park while B and Carrie-Bri and Sally are busy prepping the old Mac homestead for resale...

Patience joins after classes for a little lunch and conversation to admire the new tufted leather couch... “We should get one of these...” Patience wiggles her eyebrows at me...

Then back home where Puck has returned to grab a packed bag for a roadtrip with friends as the siblings wave him off...

Coasting towards his drop-off for the weekend we contemplate the significance of the "Pale Blue Dot” photo captured by Voyager thirty-five years ago...

As the topic of conversation swings over to Thanksgiving... “You're planning on joining family for the meal right?” // **smiles smugly from behind his aviators** “I'll try to squeeze you in”...

Home again again again... where Oxbear is leaving to elder at the Saturday evening service...

...as Yali begins a parade of various fashion statements anticipating our own church service in the morning... look number three involves temporary silver tattoos stamped across his chest beneath a cross pendant hanging from his neck...

...while Patience is busy discussing Oxbear's and my engagement of twenty-two years ago... “I'm rating your engagement a 2... it would have been romantic if it was on a mountain or somethin'”...

Meanwhile Oxbear is texting AI-rendered images of the secret meal pick-up I've requested for the evening including fried chicken with creamy mac 'n cheese and a Pepsi of course... with cream horns for dessert...

He's back less than two hours later toting the goods... to play “Around the World in Eighty Days” on VR with Yali...