October 12

Monday was a bank holiday, so Dad was home to get up the shed in preparation for the building of the airplane. Carrie and Francis were there to help, Carrie in a sort of whipped-up Scottish Colonial garb with plaid pajama pants tucked into Boy Scout socks in her Israeli walking shoes… to ward against the chill 47 degrees Fahrenheit.

Later in the day, Collette and Carrie discussed Carrie’s plane ticket for her PhD summit in Denver the following month.
“What? Carrie’s flying out to Iraq?” Francis asked casually.
“Where did you even get that from?” Collette asked him.
Francis always asked the most wild questions, and seriously.
“I’d like to see my life in Francis’ mind,” said Carrie. “In there, I’m probably already in the FBI and flying out to Mars or something.”

After Linnea had completed her Portuguese for the day, Puck, who had been observing, sat at the kitchen table and put on the headphones.
“Leite,” he said, just as Linnea had, the Portuguese word for ‘milk’.
So Collette logged him in, and Linnea told him what to say on each lesson page. His diction was right on, and he passed each segment.
“I doin’ Portuguese!” he said.

And then he helped Carrie make four loaves of pumpkin bread, dipping the spoon into the mix of flour and spices.
“I make hole!” he said happily.

That evening, OLeif helped Mollie pick out art supplies for her seven months in Benin.