05 NOV 25
Yali's amply distracted himself from his math sheet that morning with a Haribo fun pack he knows he can't have with his braces... he's got four gummy bears bracing his bumblebee yellow calculator off the table...
...while I stuff down a boiled egg and a Babybel for breakfast and throw on some tortoiseshell hoop earrings to haul us back over to another volunteer shift at the old school...
“Sounds thrilling” Puck deadpans at me...
By this time Yali's gummy bears are fencing each other with shards of graphite pulled out of a mechanical pencil...
After an hour of thrilling sorting and stapling and filing... Yali and I pick up Patience from Spanish as the teacher's in the middle of consulting with her over the success of their preschool lesson plan that morning... “Well that wasn't a total dumpster fire!”
Back home to plate another load of grub for the boys while Patience resourcefully heats a can of soup for herself... almost simultaneously wailing over a sop of blood coasting down her ankle from ice skating last Saturday as a blister has also formed on the other side...
And Puck is calling me out into a balmy wind and sun to help him anchor the new Australian sheepskin seat cover into his Lincoln which requires some tugging and latching and a few zip ties... but the abundant softness wins him over... “I could sleep on this!”
Yali receives a call from his Scout buddy after lunch to consult about their upcoming camping weekend... “How good are you at climbing?” // “Really good” // “I'm really good too... How's your Nerf guns?” // “Very good”...
After confirming plans... Yali hustles back outside for about two minutes before crashing back through the kitchen door yelling about a giant garter snake he saw go racing into the hedge... “I NEED A NET!” he bellows... dragging the step ladder to the fridge where he pulls down a load of fishing supplies on top of himself... including a package of forgotten mummified hot dogs for fish bait... throwing himself back into gold-poured afternoon... so while he's off chasing snakes with a fishing net...
...Puck meanwhile is wrapped up in a blanket in his room with a very fat yellow cat loafing on his back...
And Yali gives up the snake chase to fill another large storage container with water for some cold plunges just to watch the water splash...
It's time to kick off to the studio once more... down the road through that plunging tangle of dappled color... passing groves of crumbling garnets and banana-bunch yellows in apricot light... dying greens wrapping bleached-bones cottonwood branches... papery brambles turning over shades of richer poppy twisted in fire ombres of an I Spy... a little color this season after all...
An hour later Patience bounces out of class under full moon rising with all latest details... “And Macy's mom is flying to England to bring back all the ceili dresses for the girls... eleven dresses!”... at eight hundred smacks per custom velvety pop...
Back home throw a pan of fish and spices and butter in the oven...
...before joining a family conference call...
...while an appropriately timed jungle of chimpanzee screeches erupts out of Yali's and Patience's imagination down the hall...
...and Puck wanders out looking for chocolate...