Feis Day 1

On the day my youngest brother turns 30(!)... Oxbear gets up at six to pin Patience's hair into another mountain of black wig curls for another big double feis downtown...

Mama – much improved but still feeling weak – gives a thumbs up to the final product including rhinestone headpiece before they drive down to the Hilton...

And so it's a quiet morning out of quarantine for myself and Yali... who has the couch and television to himself... SpongeBob marathon...

And Patience competes to a backdrop of the St. Louis Arch wrapped in a heavy mantle of silver mist with Oxbear and “Grandma” for cheer squad...

Puck emerges later, congratulating himself on his health... “I'm so fortunate I'm immune to sickness...”

Yali is then ready for a long nap after second breakfast...

And I check out a full forecast for next week including three days of potentially six inches of snow and "dangerous cold"...

After two tough competitions (St. Louis is always tough), Patience's final results return by early afternoon, placing 4th, 4th, 4th, and 5th … she's disappointed, but still enjoys the time...

Yali and I are feeling kind of crud by mid-afternoon but not enough for Yali to skip out on Crumbl Cookies completely...

Cool and gray and damp beyond the windows...

By this hour of the day about all I'm good for is resting in bed watching montages of ships in rough seas and analyses of the Daryl Dixon Walking Dead spin-off TV show...

Darkness falls fast...

French braid Patience's hair into six rows down her back for even earlier Sunday competitions...

Hard-working “Pops” brings home Potbelly's sandwiches for dinner...