January 12th, 2025
Up for about half an hour in the night with Yali, concerned over residual effects of his illness earlier in the week, poor guy
6.2 earthquake in Aguila, Mexico – notification from my phone in the night...
Church online from home – there are a lot of elderly folk at I.L.; even if they're healthy 80/90 year-olds, a stray stomach bug germ hits harder up at those ages – where Patience (with an achy wrist from her fall at the skating rink) cuddles up next to Oxbear while listening to the Gospel reading and asks – “Are there stutters in the Bible?”… she also then learns about how Oxbear was baptized at the confluence of the White and Buffalo Rivers in Arkansas
While Patience washes her army of Stanley thermoses in the early afternoon, which actually requires some time...
Puck returns from a late breakfast at IHOP with J before his afternoon work shift in Produce; he jumps into conversation about all of the following topics as he grabs a towel for the shower and his work uniform...
- Throwing stars
- Trampolines
- Clothes dryers
- Toothbrushes
- Who he was named after (Augustine and August Chouteau)
- Boxcutters
- Body wash
- German kings
- Cat scratch pads
River road drive to Pere Marquette mid-afternoon... seems like there should be some quiet snowy hills back there... there are... kids take turns flying down the slowly melting snow... entirely to ourselves... they love it
M&M minis, more happy meals, and “The Emperor's New Groove” driving back... as Oxbear and I continue discussing life...
Rich crimson church light washing dead woods in the hills... an eagle snatches a fish out of the dark river...