Collette

Kids fighting as Oxbear leaves for an early breakfast appointment with a former old-school board member

While he’s gone, the clothes dryer goes out… clip Puck’s cargo pants to the floor fan in the storage room… mostly dry before we all leave for – arguing – the traditional family Soulard Market/Crown Candy outing

Looking up… browsing stalls of walnuts, avocados, cabbages, eggs, thick-cut bacon, and peppermint bark (Puck cautions against some produce)… with seven other family members, and R.C. (the ultra-busy doctor preparing for his U.S. residency maybe in Cincinnati or New Orleans)

In a biting-biting cold, even with happy-happy baby G, we wait in a ten-minute line outside Crown Candy… Puck and I split a table with Francis and S… most of us order “The Big Cheese” and Pepsi’s while discussing the Army National Guard and dumb pets, like S’s childhood bunny who would keep hopping into the fireplace while it was lit… R.C. thoughtfully purchases a fat peanut butter cup for me as we leave

Home for…

Oxbear to leave for a coffee appointment in Clayton

Puck prepares all his ski gear for tomorrow before leaving for five hours in Produce

Oxbear brings Egg to her next vet appointment

Laundry and dishes and a Big Fat Greek viewing with Patience (loves love, with supervision)

Oxbear tries to fix the clothes dryer as evening approaches

Kids fighting, Yali wearing a Santa costume re-discovered in the basement… “Get off the couch in your rollerblades, Yali…”