Summer Break Day #29

• Oxbear’s 36th birthday
• Oxbear unwraps an armload of gifts from Yali and Patience which are many of their favorite toys wrapped in tin foil
• Yali follows Oxbear around with his wheelbarrow, gathering clippings while Oxbear trims hedges
• Oxbear visits with Theodore and Gloria across town and receives an iPhone tripod for a birthday gift
• Puck mows the yard at the Big House while I take Yali and Patience on a very hot walk back home
• Oxbear picks up burgers and sandwiches for dinner to wrap up an easy kind of birthday, just the way he wanted it

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Patience to Collette : “Why am I your daughter?”

Collette : “Because I adopted you.”

Patience : “Who dropped me off as a gift?”

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While on our very hot afternoon walk, trying to keep up with Yali on the bike, Patience had been chattering almost continuously the past half hour since we’d left home…

Collette : “You know what I like to do on walks sometimes, Patience?”

Patience : “What?”

Collette : “Sometimes I like a little quiet time. To think. Questions are wonderful, and conversations are wonderful. But sometimes it’s just good to listen… and think… and hear the birdsong…”

Patience : “OH! YEAH! That’s a good idea!” *imitates bird calls loudly for extended period of time*