05 JAN 26

Walls glowing in an early red sunrise... smell of beans soaking in jars in the kitchen...

Breakfast hasn't been served yet and on this twelfth day of Christmas Yali is already wailing on his cardboard and metallic-tape electric guitar... fingers flying along thumbtack frets...

It's an Art Day for Patience... her former submission was apparently mistakenly trashed the previous week so she conjures something new for her contest entry as inspiration to Kevin Puts' Codes Mvt. II... the abstract is dotted and daubed in scarlet and sand and jade...

...while Yali passes in and out of the room experimenting with varying blood patterns on his face...

...Oxbear has the grill working again for the first time since the tree fell on it back in the spring...

...and big bro finishes another work-out in the newly scrubbed and sanitized weight room before a plate of Oxbear's grilled chicken and a bowl of peanuts and a glass of orange juice... his pairing...

It's a gratefully simple afternoon...

Patience is busy reading all the comics in Yali's old stack of Scout's Life magazines before experimenting with mystery cake ideas in the kitchen abundantly heavy in cinnamon... ultimately using three sticks of butter in a batch of chocolate frosting which turns out about as smooth as a gravel road...

...Yali is pacing the house gone full Greaser... acting out scenes from his upcoming film in extensive detail...

...Puck is snapping together his 1421-piece faux-LEGO ramen shop...

...and Mama makes a quick run for celery and spices... Oxbear is experimenting with homemade bone broth...