Archive

02 JAN 26

“Where are the tongs?” Oxbear calls over the sizzle of bacon and wintry jazz on the Alexa... “I think they were commandeered for the snake pit...” Yali's gotta get those worms in there somehow... So while Oxbear short order cooks some breakfast for everyone without tongs... ...we all

01 JAN 26

Swapping in a new metaphorical calendar begins with Oxbear chasing that putrid smell in the storage room that we haven't yet been able to identify in recent weeks... the source of it that is... so while he's busy playing bloodhound for awhile... ...the boys are feeling

31 DEC 25

Waking to dishwater skies... New Year's Eve plans changed due to unconfirmed flu... Mama's day is mostly obtaining and running back and forth between the boys... tea croissants eye drops more croissants Froot Loops cushions blankets Babybels penne pasta sewing requests Advil heating pads Vicks VapoRub

30 DEC 25

Both boys groggily open New Years Eve-Eve to probably the flu which left Puck shaking in the chills the previous night... somehow this doesn't fully keep them from bothering their sister though... ...who has taken advantage of her temporary reign over the house and is lounging on the

29 DEC 25

Wind is wild in the night... something hits the window hard but leaves no cracks... Some watches pass and the squirrels are back in the attic in some kind of domestic argument that leaves them chittering angrily at each other still some two hours later... Puck and I are on

28 DEC 25

On a day that will swing from 78 degrees to 17 overnight... ...and we're not minutes out of the church service before “someone” has left the words “HELLFIRE CLUB” Sharpied on my hand-carved floor mirror from India... “Yali?” // “I'm SORRY!”... That can be figured out later.

27 DEC 25

Heavy mist stamped on cool dark earth that morning... heavy enough to obscure the Missouri as we cross over to St. Charles County for Christmas Number Five... It's a merry pop of activity throughout the morning and afternoon with all present except for Z&M over in

26 DEC 25

After Patience has spent almost an hour curling and spraying her hair for Christmas Number Four... ...most of us zip north to New Town where most of the aunts and uncles and cousins have already arrived for coolers of “BLUE DRINKS!” for the kids (aka Kool-Aid bottles) and catered sandwiches.

25 DEC 25

We're not even to gifts yet that morning and Yali is already giving a punch-by-punch slice-by-slice of his own version of a horror film for me... Twenty minutes later it's breakfast casserole around the Christmas tree and stacks of bento boxes and costume pieces and survival

24 DEC 25

Giggle giggle... giggle giggle... it's early... but not really that early because it's Christmas Eve and parents should be able to sleep a little later sometimes... giggle giggle... giggle giggle... “SHHHHHH!! THEY CAN'T KNOW WE'RE HERE!!”... an aggressive whisper from Oxbear'

23 DEC 25

It's mid-morning and a wad of flaming paper towel coasts through the air towards one of my book stacks on the dinner table... I catch it in time... “Yali! Why?”... **shrugs guiltily** “I don't know”... Kids need to run around outdoors for awhile... scoop them out

22 DEC 25

Morning breaks in a crack of light across the East... what looks very much like the fissure of space-time in Amy Pond's bedroom wall... Half an hour later Puck is in the kitchen waiting for his cream cheese bagel sandwich discussing historical adaptive intelligence... “If you brought an

21 DEC 25

A cold morning waits... ...rolling out the door to church... cold slices of pizza for the short road... my sweater still smells of woodsmoke... Yali wrapping his knuckles in masking tape like a boxer for no very clear reason... Oxbear teases Patience about 3D-printing his face onto medallions for her

20 DEC 25

While Patience is up saying goodbye to the studio for the next sixteen days of Christmas break... ...Oxbear has been busy chasing two squirrels out of the attic and sealing up the gaps... and probably their entire acorn pantry... ...and Yali is just as busy sharing with me in detail

19 DEC 25

“Open this!” Patience declares... dropping a shiny silver package almost on my head around seven o'clock that morning... “Happy birthday!” Oxbear adds... ...as I peel back the paper to reveal Patience's gift which she chose herself off my list... a pair of panda slippers... since the

18 DEC 25

The ghost prints are hanging at angles on the wall again that morning... “But they're not upside-down this time...” Yali helpfully points this out for me... Around this time the wind spins up as Elmer announces on the group chat that there's a tornado warning north

17 DEC 25

Puck and I are in deep conversation about the measles vaccine and world stats that morning when I realize the time and scoot Patience out the door... ...as Puck drops a lit match into my lemon sparkling water and smiles with a kind of very 18 year-old boy satisfaction at

16 DEC 25

Yali and Patience both find themselves wearing capybara themed tees that morning as they join the table for mixed numbers and a brief study on “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”... ...interrupted “only” by a round of Cards Against Humanity (family edition) with parents after fights broke out over fractions... moods

15 DEC 25

Yali is very busy that morning during Creative Writing... carefully crushing La Croix cans (or probably knock-off La Croix) into geometric patterns... ...while the mobile mechanic is examining Puck's Lincoln in the carport in about a 7 degree windchill... ...and Puck returns from two days at J'

14 DEC 25

Sunday rolls coldly and quietly along... * To church in a stupid-cold freeze for Oxbear and Yali to “elder” at the early service... * Patience prepares herself a bowl of mashed potatoes for lunch and cleans her room... * Yali makes himself five salami sandwiches throughout the afternoon... * Puck is skiing black diamonds

13 DEC 25

Patience is following me around that morning chatting about stuff before leaving for dance... “And all the girls at dance are so into eating baby food these days! And I don't know why! Cissy asked her mom to get her more baby food after she ate fifty puff

12 DEC 25

Opening Scene... angry chitter of squirrel somewhere on the roof... or maybe the attic... can't be sure... is this guy hosting a house-warming party? Get some French toast rolling in the kitchen with whipping cream and vanilla... ...while Puck is wrapped up with his cat and blankets and

11 DEC 25

House is still quiet early that morning... dog trots past... giant wad of sauce-less spaghetti hanging from her jaw... she likes her pig-slop treats... It's a cold one... some snap as Puck later wakes to hit the pavement... sprinting between neighborhoods until his lungs hurt from the biting

10 DEC 25

A high high wind has melted off the remainder of the snow in the night... Patience is busy crafting breakfast burritos at the stove... ...before she joins Yali for Round 1 of classes at the table where he's just been given 116 fencing terms to memorize for his

09 DEC 25

Up too late the previous night indulging in another Madeleine L'Engle and a 1964 biography on Ralph Vaughan Williams... ...cue the seven o'clock hour amidst an explosion of plush stingrays and huskies and other fauna left by Patience all over our bed... It's already

08 DEC 25

Kids are deep in the books... sort of... Yali's making Spiderman minifigs backflip across his notebook with squishy spiderweb sound effects... ...as Puck emerges for a morning work-out to supervise Patience's online multiplication flashcards... bellowing motivational phrases at her following incorrect answers... “NO!... WRONG!... NO!”... then

07 DEC 25

Early enough to the eight o'clock service to find the least squeaky pew on the Epistle side... but they're all running about the same decibels that deep into the nave that morning... so just keep the first one we sit in... Back home... Yali practicing his

06 DEC 25

The morning's hours are a quick tick of what happens on a Saturday when I don't have to bus kids anywhere... * Dreams (actual dreams) of shopping for art supplies * Yali and Patience playing “vicious puppies” before breakfast * Finding one surprise IKEA Ivar pine chair left in

Rest ye merry

Morning breaks... Yali repeatedly screech-screaming like a ring wraith around the house... ...Patience cleaning the bathrooms in rollerblades... ...Oxear off work piecing together the Christmas tree to Elmer's curated Christmas playlist... ...kids chasing each other through the house laugh-screaming... ...while I'm down in the basement sorting

04 DEC 25

Oxbear is gone to the dentist before eight... ...while there's a squirrel fight being conducted in the attic... hmm... seems a little cruel to kick them out now... with the windchill being in the teens and all... Kids are sitting with math work sheets after breakfast... Yali using

03 DEC 25

Yali's sitting on the edge of my bed dressed for an early morning therapy session adjusting the remainder of his wardrobe... mostly a belt and keys attached to his belt loop and a plastic ring on a chain around his neck... and apparently a box on top of

02 DEC 25

It's early and it's a snow day for most of the city... Yali's wrapped in one of the picnic quilts pulled over his head while he sits over the floor vent capturing all the hot air as it tumbles upwards... when Patience walks into

01 DEC 25

Morning opens with one child moping across my bed in rollerblades and a wounded spirit... ...another wrapped in slashed shirts soaked in fake blood... ...and another waiting for church sausage and eggs over easy for breakfast... ...as Yali and Patience begin slowly pressing into my airspace side-by-side with questions and

30 NOV 25

Some hours into the morning post-church I find myself with the boys completely rearranging Puck's bedroom at his personal request... he's tired of sleeping on an army cot... During this continued remodel Yali and I also find ourselves collecting frigid cinderblocks onto a flatbed cart at

29 NOV 25

Wake from dreams of hosting a podcast on textual criticism while solving puzzle boxes of coiled shoelaces before a corporate lunch of Vietnamese cuisine... to the dog chasing the cat down the hallway before rooting her stupid snout through the trash... just at six o'clock on a snowed-in

28 NOV 25

Kids are sitting on my bed sharing a plate of cold pumpkin pie before I've even fully opened my eyes... No straggling today though... Oxbear and Patience have to get on the road before the snow starts dumping up north... “Guess you should bring some winter gear in

27 NOV 25

After eight weeks of patience and careful ear care... Patience is ready to swap out her first studs for something new... but she encounters unknown blood from one of the piercings and there is some theatrical wailing from my bathroom mirror before I'm even fully awake... ...while Yali

26 NOV 25

Open the freezer door that morning to a black skeleton hand frozen in ice... Yali... A golden wind tearing through crumbling goldenrod and oaks past the windows... Patience is gone babysitting with some birthday blooms for "Grandma"... ...Yali is intensely sketching creepy clowns on his old light board.

25 NOV 25

Before I'm even up for the day Oxbear is already gone shooting with friends... texting me notes on the squirrel in the attic whom he's found swinging by its arms from the corner of the roof... caught in his act of trespass... “What should we name

24 NOV 25

It's early... but Patience has already committed a federal offense... “Patience... remember how I told you not to wash Puck's uniform with the rest of the laundry?”... // “Uh...” Putting this aside... Mama gets deep into cleaning for all of the day because Pops is off work

23 NOV 25

Wake from dreams of mountain-cracking earthquake... slow splintering right up the side of it... ...to a little light harpsichord for the morning rush... Oxbear and I had both hit snooze multiple times without realizing it... An hour later in the service... Yali and Patience elbowing each other in the pew

22 NOV 25

Puck flashes out the kitchen door at eight-thirty in full fatigues and aviators... While he zooms off to drill at Jefferson Barracks including a Thanksgiving lunch paid out of pocket by the cadres because funds are gone... how can the Army and “aw that's so sweet” pair so

21 NOV 25

It's a quick day of work under honey glow of lamplight... dripping stone gray mist of rain out the windows... ...while Oxbear takes a gang of kids field tripping on his day off... Yali has allowed Patience to accompany himself and a friend for the morning free skate

20 NOV 25

Rain washed night... driving west past quiet groves of low-flaming crabapples and persimmon... While Patience is hanging with "Grandma" and the Mac boys for several hours... ...all my boys are home where I have already reminded them to stay away from Patience's rented solo dress for

19 NOV 25

A slosh of rain left in the night reveals a full box of kosher salt on the patio table soaked through amongst bottles of food coloring in primary colors... “Yali?...” // “That was me actually”... sometimes Patience follows big-brother footsteps... I forget to ask what this particular experiment was intended to

18 NOV 25

Justin the snake is playing with his breakfast again that morning... sometimes he lets the worms crawl off and dig themselves into his soil-filled food bowl and then they're wasted after drying out in the heat of the tank... but I don't have time to sit

17 NOV 25

After a morning of cold sunshine... and some running and gathering... ...Patience and I hit a Theraplay session in south county where we stencil gold panda tattoos on each other's hands... ...before slinging through Target for gifts and a pair of Stranger Things pajama pants for Yali... At

16 NOV 25

Early morning begins with Oxbear's sous vide screaming for attention from the basement... it somehow shut itself off and the roast dropped sixty degrees in the night... and on the floor below it is a rank cat puddle apparently left in protest against the incessant high pitched beep

15 NOV 25

While Patience is ready to stomp it up five hours southwest later that day... ...Yali is working on his own adventures... vocalizing “Daisy Daisy” to himself about two octaves lower than he would have a year ago... suiting up as Spiderman for action flips on the trampoline... ...asks me to

14 NOV 25

While Oxbear and Patience finish packing to road trip south in Patience's continued quest to achieve the highest level in Irish dance... ...Yali is feeling some dark thoughts about how I've banned him from the chocolate pie in the fridge... “Mom PLEASE can't I

13 NOV 25

Lots to do... Patience is packing for Arkansas early... amenities spilling out of her magenta suitcase onto the floor as she prioritizes... “Guess we gotta test Dad's hair braiding skills” I note... feis-prepared... Meanwhile Yali has snipped all the fingertips off my slick pair of black Under Armour

12 NOV 25

“PATIENCE! I'm gonna make BUTTERFLIES lay EGGS in your NOSE!”... Because my hands are busy packing croissant breakfast sandwiches and my brain is split thirteen ways... I fail to learn what inspired this particular portentous promise but similar to most circumstances around here... the altercation is shortly forgotten.

11 NOV 25

“Patience... time to get up...” // **rubs eyes** “Again?”... feelin' ya kid... Sitting through classes at the table teaching how to calculate a perimeter... begin staring off into space as I will do... Yali notices this and begins vocalizing the theme to The X Files... then starts flicking pencils across

10 NOV 25

“Yali... did you sleep in your jeans last night?” // **belch** “Yup”... clearly he's been hanging out with Boy Scouts... It's a simple start to a day of classes for Yali and Patience... just some squawking and giggling as they carve into a shared breakfast omelet sprinkled

09 NOV 25

Wake to a deep cold that morning... low mist in a quiet world... But the service is full as always... Lutherans aren't much scared of the cold... Afterwards Patience wrapped in layered and oversized pastels laps at her styrofoam cup of hot cocoa like a puppy before running

08 NOV 25

Oxbear and Yali are gone before seven that morning loaded with camping gear to join the Scouts down at Elephant Rocks for the weekend... Patience is dancin' dancin' dancin'... ...coast back and forth on a highway edged in the continuing collage of cranberry and canary and other

07 NOV 25

Kids are shuttled west and south by ten o'clock that morning... ...Patience as paid companion for young master R... ...then shoot down through the Ozarks with Yali to drop him off with a buddy celebrating his 11th birthday... Rip Van Winkle hills glowing in lanterns of all those

06 NOV 25

“Mom look! One of the aliens punctured me!”... just walked out of my room that morning to Yali... a gore of fake blood seeping through his white shirt... “I learned how they do it and got a sponge and got it wet first!” he declares happily as he removes it

05 NOV 25

Yali's amply distracted himself from his math sheet that morning with a Haribo fun pack he knows he can't have with his braces... he's got four gummy bears bracing his bumblebee yellow calculator off the table... ...while I stuff down a boiled egg and

04 NOV 25

Morning is a Jackson Pollock of Demogorgon crunch cereal and burger royales and eye drops and Little Women and handmade flip books on post-its and cranberry harvesting and isosceles triangles and Yali trying to convince Patience that the correct way to spell “poodle” is P-O-D-Y-7... At lunch there's

03 NOV 25

While Oxbear is somewhere over Kansas that morning... ...Puck has joined his siblings' classes following a personal work-out to stir up the circus... ...as usual things get started simply by Patience chatting a thousand characters a minute... more at Puck than with him as his eyes once again begin

02 NOV 25

Shades are lifted to thick mist on a frozen world early that morning pre-church... It's morphed towards sunshine by the time I sit down to our Bible study table and receive a text from Carrie-Bri to the sibling group chat... something about Grandma “burning down her microwave” last

01 NOV 25

Oxbear is already gone to his weekly Saturday morning business meeting when I walk out to kid-activity... ...where Patience has organized her entire candy trove into neatly soldiered lines by brand... ...which of course doesn't sit long without notice because Yali decides to award himself the role of

31 OCT 25

Kids all sleep long that morning... Yali probably due to an abnormal amount of packing tape sounds emitting from the other side of the wall later into the watches of the night for reasons I never fully learn... only that... “I was trying to make something and it didn'

30 OCT 25

Short list of distractions preventing Yali and Patience from completing their classes within an acceptable frame of time that morning... * Comparing the size of a human to a humpback whale * The dog * The dog again * Changing into a suit * Movie script ideas * The snake * A need for eye drops * A

29 OCT 25

Drive Oxbear out to O'Fallon for more all-day team meeting... Drive back home to plate breakfast... Drive to the old school for another volunteer shift where it's Book Character Day and Patience is geared up as Laura Ingalls Wilder in her sun bonnet printed in roses.

28 OCT 25

Wake to Yali already sitting at the breakfast table with a white board and dry erase marker carefully drawing a “no sign” over the words “no Patience”... which may or may not indicate a double negative but for his purposes this clearly means war... ...before I remind him that the

27 OCT 25

Puck's hazel eyes are almost fully glazed over as he stands in the kitchen... back leaned up against the counter while I rinse dishes... he's only been back a few minutes from an overnight at J's... and Patience has spilled out about a full

26 OCT 25

Can't get out the door on Reformation Sunday before the kids' waterpik falls into the toilet and mascara gets scrubbed into my sweater which is the shade of oatmeal but there's no time to fix that... Back in an icy ballroom downtown under a dark

25 OCT 25

Eight forty-five... murder of crows splits above the Old Courthouse behind a full wall of glass in the ballroom... full-silver and cold now with rain a county behind... and Patience is warming up a reel for the first competition slot of the morning... ...while biggest brother drives back down to

24 OCT 25

It's a cold sun cracking out another October morning,.. Patience is busy taping her dance shoes in a new style... Puck is researching 100% Australian sheepskin seat covers for the Lincoln... And Oxbear and Yali are meeting one of Yali's best pals at the Zoo for

23 OCT 25

Morning's stacked with English muffin sandwiches and costume pieces and ordering electrical tape and pocket notebooks for the weekend and more of those dreaded math flashcards... Then after running weights back and forth in the yard Puck requests a haircut mid-morning... Yali and Patience crowd into the bathroom

22 OCT 25

After serving Puck a plate of eggs and pinto beans... ...and listening to Yali's persuasive speech on why he needs to purchase a charcoal sweater vest from Amazon to complete his Hogwarts student of wizardry uniform... ...Patience and I are back at the old school where the Spanish

21 OCT 25

It's a sleepy house that cracks into a cold morning of work... pot of soft-boiled eggs on the stove... ...Patience walks out of her room snuggled into a secondhand Alaska hoodie from her aunt... clacking her press-on nails together... she's already drawing a caricature of “Puck

20 OCT 25

Steady thumping of weights from Puck's room that morning... ...while Patience gladly takes a break from “order of operations”... as she later explains to her Aunt Irish... “I already know everything I need to know in math... I know what five times five is"... and so she

19 OCT 25

A cold and shiny rattling wind outside church glass of all colors... in the basement six tables of Bible study adults sit to play Lutheran distinctions Jeopardy! just for fun... **cough cough** nerds!... our table wins... Meanwhile Yali is the only boy at Sunday School that morning where apparently one

18 OCT 25

Boys are gone fishing by seven that morning... Yali snaps a photo of a flaming amber sunrise for me... red sky at morning... While they're out catching and releasing bass and catfish... Patience is busy reheating a bowl of rice for breakfast with another episode of “Little House

17 OCT 25

Morning begins... Patience experimenting with shadow puppets on the wall... Yali hustling through the living room in his suit-coat over another fake-blood-stained shirt... I guess “cowboys” is on pause this weekend... It's the eleven o'clock hour and the whole family is field-tripping to Cahokia... sounds of

16 OCT 25

Yali's sitting by his snake's tank early that morning watching him roll lethargically through the mulch the day after horking down some kind of huge Canadian green worm... “He's a fat cow” Yali laughs at him as he pushes his plate of scrambled eggs

15 OCT 25

Oxbear's off work preparing for his flight to Quito the next morning... ...while Puck is gathering together the pieces of his car... the whole drive-shaft and disassembly in a large Tupperware to deliver to a mechanic in Lemay for further analysis and many hundreds of dollars... An hour

14 OCT 25

Yali is already busy toasting tiny marshmallows with a handheld lighter walking into the living room before classes that morning... don't roast and drive please... They're chugging through work sheets... after some dramatics from Yali... math flashcards are his apocalypse-now... he roars right into Abram in

13 OCT 25

Aware in the early morning that something is standing over me... waiting... patiently... open my eyes to a pair of other eyes staring down at me from above... “Can I make pancakes?”... While Patience busies herself with a bowl of batter in the kitchen before classes... …Puck throws himself out

12 OCT 25

Yali leaving Sunday School in his new black suit which he now wears to help Oxbear “elder” at the early service... pulls two quarters from his jacket pocket... slaps them into his friend's hand... his friend confirms payment and is pleased... Yali's two thousand dollar betting

11 OCT 25

Thick mist over the world early that morning... Oxbear gone to a business meeting... returns with a paper sack of breakfast sandwiches to share... Yali's already busy at the bathroom mirror... applying fake blood cuts and scabs to his face with an old toothbrush... hopefully an old toothbrush.

10 OCT 25

Patience is already in a furious scribbling of drawing pencils and cootie catcher templates with a mug of hot cocoa... Yali hack-coughing into convincing me he needs a break from math class that morning... Mobile mechanic hacking open Presley's dashboard to finally remove the plaguing driveshaft... Classic Halloween

09 OCT 25

Oxbear already at an early coffee meeting mostly without the crutches now... I'm prepping tea and toast for the young ones and organizing paints for Yali's day of art and printing off cootie catcher templates for Patience... “She might need to use your crayons for this

08 OCT 25

Oxbear's knocking around the house on crutches and Yali's feeling sore all over from dragging the trampoline across the yard yesterday and a little “ick”... but they still scoop themselves out the door with bowls of eggs over easy pushed into their hands from Mama “for

07 OCT 25

Hand vacuum whirring in the living room in the seven o'clock hour... Yali sucking up the ant invasion... no evil villain cackles though... As I pull eggs and bread for breakfast... he's organizing cardboard in the living room before class... “I'm making the Armor

06 OCT 25

Everyone's home in the afternoon for awhile between Walgreen's for athletic wraps and back from overnights and neighborhood jogs and play therapy and Red Robin with friends and making more fake blood in the kitchen and fencing class... just missing rain shedding somewhere south and east.

05 OCT 25

“YOUR SON OWES ME TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS BECAUSE I ATE AN ORANGE PEEL! HAHAHA!”... one of the three boys of Yali's Sunday School posse half-shouts in laughter at me as they tumble out of the building together... “I do! I owe him two thousand dollars!” Yali laughs in

04 OCT 25

“And remember Yali... you need to get your fishing equipment prepared for your Scout outing Tuesday evening...” // **dramatically throws his head backwards** “Oh gosh...” // “What... is your social life just too demanding for you?” // **grins** “No...” // “What are your plans for today anyway?” // **bigger grin** “SCIENCE!” While I leave Yali

04 OCT 25

Nine AM out in Byrnes Mill dropping off Yali with a friend and his grandpa for exploring Meramec Caverns... leave him watching “Floor is Lava” playing with their one-eyed dog after chatting with the grandpa about the cave on his property that needs exploring once the debris gets cleaned out.

She's 10!

Yali's feeling good apparently... doing “the worm” across my bed early that morning... “How're your teeth feeling today?” // **braces shine back in a big grin** “Good!”... Patience is in the kitchen already celebrating her most-looked-forward-to day of her year... assisting Oxbear in mixing chocolate chip pancake

01 OCT 25

Yali feels like his teeth are attacking him that morning... so after a dose of Tylenol switch on some Harry Potter for the mopey fellow while he stays home with the big boys... ...as Patience and myself spritz over to the old school for another volunteer shift... a little conversation

30 SEP 25

Braces time... Yali is slouching in a chair in Dr. K's office suspiciously watching the twenty minute informational video with me before his appointment and not feelin' it... his eyes read a dark “I HATE ALL OF THIS AND I'M GOING TO BE MAD AT

29 SEP 25

Patience is busy cutting white cheddar cheese with a pocket knife in the kitchen before sitting down to class... ...while Yali wearing his Harry Potter robes turned inside-out is carefully popping 3D-printed claws onto each of his fingers... then something about face paint halfway through Creative Writing... ...and Patience gets

28 SEP 25

Radio's featuring some high-powered American Gospel that morning while Yali's snake contemplates these tunes resting his chin on a stick in his tank... Yali walks out of the bathroom his hair split down the middle and slicked 90s style to check out live fat bear week

27 SEP 25

Yali's crooning Bruno Mars probably louder than necessary on an early Saturday morning down the hall... cracking into the high notes that aren't as silky anymore since his voice changed in the summer... makes him laugh... Oxbear is already gone to an early business meeting with

26 SEP 25

Head cold doubles down in the night... and it's hopped quarters down to Patience now too... Yali is already buzzing the RC Tesla in the living room... Patience asking for the location of the jar of apple butter... both of them sketching jack 'o lantern designs at

25 SEP 25

Head cold is crackin' that morning but not enough to stop our trip to the Eckert's country store in Belleville across state lines... Puck even returns early from an overnight at J's to join our 48-minute drive through a patched and crumbling East St. Louis