Weather, under the

Head cold increasing…

whole house smells of old pipes

Oxbear and Yali leave for a morning appointment under bright sun

After spelling and Mandarin Chinese with Patience… recovering enough to join Patience for volunteering as usual… she in Spanish (where the tiny ones play yarnball-snowball fights with her) and I in First Grade… Patience’s old classmates call to her from the playground to stop and say hi as we leave

Slogging through afternoon math, the plumber arrives in the middle of Colombian culture class so… it’s mild, drive Yali and Patience over to the old park for running barefoot through the volleyball sand pit (snow is gone again)… until… “There’s a bear out there!” (there’s no bear)

Meanwhile, the plumber discovers that the drain is still clogged from the paper towels so he has to call the first guy back out again… another two hundred clams… a two-Advil afternoon

Introduce Yali to “The Fellowship of the Ring” during dinner… after meeting Strider, he’s inspired to create an adventure cape and sword for wilderness exploring in the yard

Cold drive down to the studio for just an hour in class for Patience while Oxbear’s out gathering the bacon (including Puck’s often random and brief interest in the seasonal caramel apple pops and other candies)

High wind and stars…