04 FEB 26

Open the door that morning to Yali posing motionless crumpled against the front door in shredded jungle costuming and “even more realistic-looking fake blood!” carefully daubed on and around his nose...

“Dino attack Yali?”...

He nods almost imperceptibly to preserve the effect of a dead man recently tossed by an angry T-Rex...

...while Mama cooks up a large pan of omelet to split before learning about scale drawings...

An hour later Patience and I are out the door for volunteering... leaving Yali comfortably at home with a homemade smoked chicken wrap and a mug of tea stirred with New Zealand honey for a light cough working on his film script...

After another successful hour of sorting and stapling and filing...

...we're home again where Yali is tossing wads of white bread to the dog from the top of the stairs... “Yali...” // “I'm feeding the ducks!”...

A few minutes later he's repairing the floor vent with metallic silver tape because that is way more fascinating than finishing a sheet of ruler measurements...

...while Oxbear and Patience hit FedEx to ship a first care package to Puck mostly filled with hand warmers...

Evening is sitting in the car outside the studio crocheting more of that garnet yarn while watching a little Australian TV programming on my phone...

Then home under frosty stars to the boys where.... “Yali and I made more blood tonight and we watched the whole Lord of the Rings but the version where every time they say the word 'ring' they speed it up faster and faster”...