April 7th, 2025
Getting up that morning... an old time-killing tune from Presbyterian Sunday School rolls through my head over and over... “A Dairy Queen a Dairy Queen a Long John Silver's and a Dairy Queen... McDonald's McDonald's Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut...” there were other verses but I've forgotten them...
Oxbear is already gone dropping off the Toyota for further repairs so the kids and I drive out to pick him up while they tinker on it all day... by this time my mind song has swung over to “Cool clear water”...
Back home before I plate breakfast for Puck... discover that the kids have accidentally piled all the loose trash pulled from the minivan into the recycling can...
Puck meanwhile is irritated over a bent screw pin in his work-out equipment... he dings things around on the workbench trying to bend it back while I sit at my desk beating out the last of the tax paperwork... but the annoying screw pin isn't working...
After awhile Puck takes a break upstairs where Yali is wrestle-attacking Patience as she unsuccessfully attempts another Mandarin lesson – calming Mozart playlists are not effectively working this morning – but distractions are waiting... Puck gets busy dubbing over Youtube in Hindi and Portuguese with large-read subtitles in Christmas colors while the kids run off to hide their McDonald's Minecraft toys from him so he doesn't try to swipe them for his own collection... and as the tornado sirens begin their monthly purr... Puck gently teaches Patience the difference between chin-ups and pull-ups on the bar in the kitchen which she attempts herself... while Yali continues fractions comparisons with me before both kids take turns jumping on Puck's back to see which of them weighs more... Puck finally concludes this prolonged hang-out to return to his basement work-out with an “I need ADHD meds...” he chuckles...
It's already after noon... Yali is busy reading an article on the “rough greensnakes” of Missouri... “Can I get one of these?” he asks with enthusiastic sincerity... we'll think about it...
Then he joins Patience and myself for her appointment in South County in cool sunshine... we read “Harry Potter” and play tic-tac-toe in the waiting room until Patience wraps her fifty minutes...
Home again in a splash of new violets tucked in patches across the yard...
The Toyota is ready for pick-up after obligingly sucking up more and more of our cash as these things will do...
And home for Patience's speech therapy session online as Yali strikes on his U.S. Army fatigues and my bumble-bee-yellow rain boots... marching across the yard with a pair of rusted hedge trimmers to clear out a base camp in the old tangled-over shade garden at the bottom of the hill... “I'm going to use that old ladder we never use – you know – for my bed” he explains as he grabs an old yoga mat for a mattress...
Evening arrives quickly... Oxbear out gathering feed for the next week according to my lists... Patience scrubbing out an Allegro on her violin with instruction... some “Malcolm in the Middle” for the kids (seems to be our family's coat of arms)... milky sunset and dark shadow trees...