after a turkey sandwich for lunch i went to market basket to return some cans. lacking cooking imagination, i've decided to have hot dogs for dinner the rest of the week and went about gathering up the necessary ingredients. i also picked up some belgian waffle ingredients as well (for the weekend).

returning home i noticed the front of my bike was making a funny noise. i thought maybe the brake pads were rubbing against the rim but when i adjusted them the noise was still there. maybe the front wheel was just squeaky from being out in the rain the past few days. i didn't think anything of it and quickly forgot about it.

next i paid a visit to my community garden plot. as i suspected and secretly hoped for, the garden was empty so soon after our morning rainstorm. using my hands (once again) i planted over a dozen nasturtium seeds. i then made my rounds shooting spring flowers in some other plots.

i took advantage of the clearing weather by taking a motorcycle ride to michael's at the gateway center in everett (i discovered that's the official name for this large shopping area along mystic view road). i used a 50%-off-one-item ac moore coupon (michael's accepts competitor coupons) to get a packet of knitting markers for my mother ($2.99 after discount).

i briefly browsed the garden center at the nearby home depot. there were a lot of perennials on sale (lupines, bleeding hearts, peonies) and i was tempted to get some except i had no way of bringing it back with me on my motorcycle.

i then went to pet supplies plus on the fellsway in medford, looking for rawhide chews for hailey. not sure why but the shelves were bare. i couldn't find any of the smaller rawhide sticks so i ended up buying some medium-sized ($10.98). because of the long line, i went to browse the fish aisle. they have this new cool aquarium from fluval called the "chi" which is supposed to be inspired by chinese feng shui. there's something that looks like a floating box on top of the aquarium that contains the lights, filtration system, and a platform to grow plants. it's interesting but at only 5 gallons it's difficult to set up a really good aquatic ecosystem.

finally i went to the assembly square mall. first stop was ac moore, where i used another coupon to buy a pair of takumi single point 9 inch size 8 knitting needles ($2.99). i had been using bamboo shish-kabob skewers, before my mother lent me some of her needles. i hadn't been using them in a while and she finally asked for them back, which was basically a 13 inch size 8 pair of needles. so i decided to get my own needles, size 8 being a common size. it's kind of ironic because i haven't knitted anything in several months. maybe owning my own needles might inspire me to return to knitting.

last stop was the garden center at k-mart where i picked up 4 52" galvanized tomato cages ($3.69, 30¢ cheaper than at home depot). they also had some 42" cages, but when i compared the topmost "hoop" they were exactly the same size, so i don't know how they're measured.

the tomato cages presented a problem: how do i get them back home on the back? i ended up strapping them horizontally on the rear seat of my bike with my bungie netting. that made the profile of my motorcycle nearly 4' wide, so i was careful to stay in the center of the road and not stray to the side and accidentally scratch any parked cars with the pointy ends of the cages.

i went directly to my community garden, where i replaced the smaller cages on my tomatoes with these large 52" cages. now my plot looks like an industrial site, like i'm growing steel wires instead of plants!

after going home briefly (where my amazon.com order was waiting on my doorstep: rain pants and bike gloves) i went to the cafe to drop off those markers for my mother. i then went to belmont where only my father and hailey were home. i took a tour of the backyard:

i like how there are so many different varieties of irises growing in the western garden: 2 rhizome irises (one deep purple, one light violet), and 1 bulb iris. the 2nd year snapdragons look like they're preparing to bloom.

after folding 2 barrels of smelly grass clippings into the compost heap i returned to cambridge while my father was busy pruning the hedge next to the garage. yesterday our next door neighbor cut down an evergreen that'd been growing in between our two front lawns and also trimmed some bushes. the pruners didn't do a good job and now their yard looks worse.

back in cambridge, i tried on the pearl izumi bike gloves (midnight blue, small, $17.47), which made me feel pretentious. i would never wear them riding my grocery getter but maybe one of the road bikes. i wear gloves when i ride the motorcycle, but i've always thought that's to protect my hands in case of an accident. i also tried those helly hansen voss rain pants (medium). reviewers said they ran long and that's definitely the case. even with the snaps at the closest setting they still tend to clump up at the ankles. but at $14.99 (they were on sale) i can't complain too much. it's a weird fabric, kind of feels like goretex even though i know it's not. it's entirely not breathable but that just means it'll definitely keep out the rain. they're surprisingly comfortable, and big enough to wear over pants. reviewers also complained about the lack of pockets, and at first i thought it was strange too, but i don't have pockets on my sweat pants either. i can't wait for the next big rainstorm so i can put these to good use.

not much else happened in the early evening. my roommate came home around 7:00 when it was still light outside. he finally figured out his itinerary: leaving for hawaii friday the 18th at 7:50 in the morning, coming back from new mexico wednesday the 6th at 5:30 in the late afternoon. he spent the rest of the night cleaning up his room, doing some laundry, and even taking a shower.

the celtics game began at 7:00 so my whole evening revolved around watching basketball. i made some hot dogs but realized i didn't have any ketchup in the house; luckily i found a few fast food ketchup packets and used those instead.

this was game 3 between boston and atlanta. celtics narrowly lost game 2, a game they could've won. game 3 in atlanta, boston totally dominated. all their shots were falling while the hawks had a hard time scoring. even then the game was close, each team ratcheting the tension. by halftime it looked like the celtics would win if they played with the same intensity and accuracy as the first half.

that when i received a phone call. i wasn't going to answer it at first (443 area code, maryland?) but picked up anyway. a girl was talking on the other end. at first i thought it was the girl who was supposed to rent out my place for 2+ weeks but didn't (it was suspicious because her english was perfect). then she said something about craig's list. i've got several craig's list feelers out there, so that didn't narrow things done. was it for a bike? or a free bed? when she told me it was for a bed, i still couldn't remember what it was. when she told me it was for a mattress, box spring, and frame in central square, that's when i finally remembered.

her person never showed up to pick up the free twin bed, so i was next on the list. i told her i had time early tomorrow morning. "i was hoping you'd be able to pick it up tonight, because i'm moving tomorrow, and i'd like to clean the apartment." i hesitated, trying to figure out the best solution. she told me if i couldn't pick it up tonight, she'd try a few other people on the wait list, and if none of them could do it either, she'd let me have it tomorrow morning. i checked the time: 8:30. i told her i'd call her back in a few minutes. my mother was still at the cafe cleaning up, and since she had the bigger car, that was my ticket. my seller was willing to help me move the bed, so i didn't need anybody else to come with me. i just needed the car. i called my mother to make sure i could take it, called back my craig's list person (told her i'd get there around 9:00) and went out to speed ride my bike down to the cafe.

that's when i noticed the front tire of my trek bike had gone flat. suddenly it all made sense, that weird noise i heard earlier. thinking back, i also remembered a popping sound on my way to the supermarket, that must've been the fatal blow. fortunately i have more than one bike and quickly pulled out the fuji from the basement.

at the cafe i tried desperately to removed the rear seat on the honda element to make more room in the back. my futile attempt was further hampered by the fact that i was operating in near darkness, the little overhead car light not enough to see what i was doing. after several sweaty minutes of struggling with the straps and buckles and levers, i finally gave up. i just folded up the seat against the side of the windows and clipped it to the overhead grab bar.

tamar (my freebie seller) lived on magazine street, right behind that big church. central square was raucous with people, and many restaurants had outdoor seating which patrons gladly took advantage of on this 60°+ night. something was happening by the church (an AA meeting?) as large groups of people were crowding outside. great, i have to park here with all these people around to see what a terrible parker i am. i parked a little bit farther. i was late, but tamar called right when i was outside her apartment.

she lived on the top (3rd floor) of the building (i noticed the mezuzah on her front door). she helped me move the mattress first, and waited outside while i moved the car a bit closer. the boxspring was light enough that i could carry by myself, so i moved that downstairs while tamar followed behind me with the collapsible metal bed frame. she was moving to new york to get married and couldn't take her bed. she thanked me for coming so last minute, i thanked her for the free bed.

the bed fit inside the honda element but i couldn't close the back so i tied down the hatch door with a piece of rope. i was afraid the metal frame might possibly slide out the back so i held on to it with one hand while driving with the other. i returned to the cafe, where my mother (and aunt) were waiting for me. we stashed the bed in the cafe basement. i then returned home.

unencumbered by bags, i can move pretty quickly on the fuji. that makes me reconsider the idea of putting rear baskets which would make the bike heavier. i forgot to wear my helmet and felt a little unsafe traveling so fast (in the dark no less). i was using my mini-torch which makes for a great bike light. i didn't like the purple at first, but the front of the flashlight becomes slightly translucent when turned on, and viewed from the side it gives a cool purplish glow. after storing the fuji, i wheeled in my trek as well; looks like i'm going to have some fun tomorrow patching up the front wheel. i've only replaced tubes before, never patched anything even though i have at least 2 patch kits.

all this free bed drama cost me from seeing the second half of the celtics-hawks game. i went to nba.com and was relieved to discover there was no surprises and that boston had indeed won the game, taking the series to 2-1.

after i took a shower (sweaty from all that running and riding and driving around), i went online and ordered another mini-torch. those things are great! i'm really hoping for a blue this time. or red. anything but black (which was the color i would've wanted before i realized this translucent glowing effect).

my june-july roommate got in touch with me after i told my current roommate that his coworker friend should contact me directly so we can finalize her summer living arrangement. when i told her about the rent, she actually asked me if i could lower it. fussy indeed! i was tempted to tell her that if she can find a better deal she should take it but i didn't. it's a small world because she knows at least 2 other chinese astrophysicists from shanghai who've lived at my place before. my place has sort of become a cambridge outpost for them. i told her she should get my house key from one of the previous tenants because he forgot to return it to me when he left.

i needed to have keys made. i've done it a few times at the porter square ace hardware store, but i wanted to see if i can get a different key style. the one i use (until it broke) had a brass color. the keys made at ace are nickel-plated and branded with an ugly ACE logo. ace hardware keys also have a large trapezoidal keychain hole which means you're actually getting less key material for your money. i knew my local bike shop (park bike shop on somerville avenue) made keys as well (they also sharpen ice skates because there's a rink nearby). i never tried them before so i gave it shot.

the rotund owner (reminded me of a beardless george r.r. martin) made the keys for me. i couldn't tell if he recognized me even though i've been in his store many times over the years. i was happy to see him using brass-colored blanks. i made 2 keys at $2 a pop for a total of $4.25 after taxes. they're actual 50¢ more expensive here but i prefer the brass keys over the branded ace variety; it's also nice to support small local businesses and hopefully get to a point where the bike shop guys will see me as a regular customer, be it for bike fixing, key making, or skate sharpening.

i actually think i know what happened to my house key: i believe my roommate broken it. he probably turned it the wrong way in a desperate attempt to leave the house and ended up twisting the key. or perhaps it was just the accumulative damage of years of roommates turning the key the wrong way (my suspicion points to bram, who was a strong guy). it's not a big deal since it's easy to get replacement keys made, and the key fortunately didn't snap in half inside the lock (sparing me the trouble of having to call a locksmith). i did have some sentimental attachment to my old key (those were the original keys i received when i bought my place 10 years ago) but i'm sure i'll get over it. i ordered some rubber key covers online last night; once i dress up my new key it'll be as good as the old key.

i made myself a turkey-dijon mustard-lettuce-wheat bread sandwich. the turkey was going bad but i ate it without incident.

i went down to the community garden to plant a few more seeds before the rain arrived in the late afternoon. sharon was there, relaxing in her plot. i noticed the wheel-chair accessible plastic raised bed was gone; the remaining plot looks to be a great sunny spot if it ever becomes available. i planted a mound of cocozelle squash (harvest in 43 days), a mound of acorn squash (58-75 days to harvest), and some zucchini squash (57 days). i also planted some chives and cilantro.

my 2nd mini-torch usb flashlight arrived today (ebay $3.08). it came in a random color and i got purple. this one is the genuine version, with 3 modes (off, on, flashing) and usb-charging light that turns from red to green when done. paired with a velcro handlebar-mounted flashlight holder, this makes for a great bike light.

i microwaved a trader's joe lamb vindaloo for dinner. i was hungry soon afterwards and fixed myself another sandwich, finishing the rest of the turkey, going with some honey mustard this time. i should put more lettuce in my sandwiches, i like the crunchy and juicy texture and it never hurts to eat more greens.

a change of plans: the couple that'd been living in one of my great uncle's upstairs bedrooms moved out this past weekend. that means my super short term 2+ weeks roommate arriving later tonight won't have to live in a closet this week and can stay in the newly vacated bedroom until the end of the month. bad news is i won't get to collect any extra rent money but the good news is i'll be roommate free until the first week of june. i'll probably need all that time to air out the guest bedroom.

so i went down to the cafe around 11:00 to prepare the room. the couple that'd lived there took everything except a dresser, a desk, and several dozen empty shopping bags. all the room really needed was a bed, which my father had a spare in cafe basement. my 2nd uncle helped me carry the mattress and the box spring while i hauled and assembled the metal frame myself, cutting my leg in the process (when was my last tetanus shot? i think i'm safe). it wasn't all that much work but i was sweating afterwards. there was nothing left to do except wait for the tenant (no longer my roommate) to arrive.

riding to belmont, i had one of those aggressively spandexed cyclist race right up behind me, riding in the middle of the street because he couldn't wait for the cars to get going. despite his speediness, i still managed to catch up with him while he was stopped at the traffic lights. he looked back at me with disdain. to make matters worse, it was an asian guy, and i hold them to a higher standard of excellence that this poser obviously wasn't living up to. when the light turned green i managed to get the jump on him and rode ahead. i was waiting for him to blow by me again; what i didn't expect was to infuriate him enough that he shouted, "get a helmet!" as he flew by. it took me a few seconds to register what he was saying and that he was saying it to me. no time for a witty comeback, i shouted back weakly, "well...well...you should slow down!" but he was already maybe 100 yards ahead of me.

i had some belgian waffles for lunch. my mother made some this morning for my father and had perfected the pour so it wouldn't spill out so much.

i dumped the 2 barrels of grass clippings onto a tarp on the driveway in an attempt to dry them off before composting. the grass was already decomposing and parts of it were steaming. there was also the strong odor of hot grass which given enough time would eventually putrefy. i don't think we can make any good compost the rest of the summer because we just don't have enough dry/brown ingredients. our best bet is to saving all those bags of raked leaves after autumn and use them for next year's compost. maybe grass clipping compost might work if we had a tumbler that we could turn daily to easily aerate the grass.

when my father returned home in the afternoon, we dug up the bamboo runners in the yard, some as far as 8 feet away from our bamboo groves. the bigger shoots we broke off so my father could cook them for dinner. it began to drizzle so we put away the grass clippings. i also covered the compost to keep it dry.

the sage flowers have begun to bloom. they're not that pretty since the flower stalks aren't compact but stretched out, so you hardly even notice the flowers. maybe when more buds blossom it'll look different.

the pale purple irises seem to be doing well post-transplant, even though i planted some of them lopsided so the flower stalks are pointing at an angle instead of straight up. they made an interesting addition to the rows of deep purple irises that are already established. we also have some blue/purple irises which are actually supposed to bloom first; not sure what happened this year (maybe the plot could use some fertilizer).

finally, the peonies! these are my proudest gardening accomplishment this season so far. there can be no doubt now that some of the flower buds will blossom this year; the only question is how big will the flowers get? i noticed some of the lateral flower buds have shrunken in size, as most the nutrients seem to be focused on swelling the main buds. i'm just a little worried that the area is getting too crowded, with a quince bush on one side and a japanese maple on the other; in a few more years the peonies will be eclipsed again and once it loses the sun it'll go back to becoming dormant again.

my love of gardening has destroyed my hands; more exactly my love of digging without tools. dry, chapped, splintered, and fingernails caked with dirt no matter how many times i wash my hands. hopefully things will get better once everything is planted and no more digging required. i think there's another round of planting this weekend (squashes and cucumbers, some flowers) and i should be done.

i didn't think it'd rain today and i was confident the drizzle would soon stop. so when the sky darkened and suddenly there was a torrential downpour, i was surprised. it was already too late to put the rain cover on my bike seat; at least my motorcycle back in cambridge was covered up.

the raw bamboo shoots were tender like the ones from the stores, but slightly bitter. after boiling they were better, and placed in a pork soup stock they actually weren't bad. i'm just glad we managed to get something out of the bamboos other than a pockmarked lawn and potential future lawsuits from disgruntled neighbors.

the rain had stopped by the time i went home, although the doppler radar showed an ominous swath of rain clouds slowly drifting towards eastern massachusetts. my front door lock felt a little weird when i tried to open it until i saw that my key was nearly torn in half from the accumulative torque. that's kind of surprising because i've never had to turn the key very hard and i didn't think metal could fatigue like that (brass?). i was lucky the key didn't just snap in half and i was able to remove it. besides the key my roommate uses, i only have one other spare key; i'll have to get a few more made tomorrow.

watched some basketball: even though the celtics lost it felt like a victory because they didn't go down without a fight, and even in the final seconds boston was dropping 3-pointers to put the game within a single point. the other game was between the lakers and the thunders, and los angeles received a serious beat down (30+ point deficit). i don't know if the celtics can win another championship this year, but so long as neither miami nor los angeles wins, i'll be happy.

not having heard from my 2nd aunt or the new tenant, i was beginning to get a bit worried. the new arrival finally wrote me an e-mail later in the evening; apparently her flight was delayed in new york and she's only just arrived. she seemed happy with the new arrangement and not have to sleep in the closet.

my mother wanted to go to IHOP for mother's day. but why wait in line and spend all that money when good breakfast can be easily and cheaply made in the comforts of home? so i woke up early this morning and went down to market basket to get a few ingredients. it was about 8:00 but the place was surprisingly busy despite the early hour. i was going to make belgian waffles and it took some time for me to track down the 3 essential ingredients: krusteaz belgian waffle mix, canned strawberry syrup, and whipped cream. ingredients secured, i went home to gather the rest of my things (including all the plants i got from the garden swap yesterday) and biked to belmont.

by then it was well passed 9:00. my mother was glad to see me so early because she was already hungry. my father was at work and my sister was still sleeping and probably wouldn't wake up until 12:00.

one of the first kitchen gadgets i got when i moved to my cambridge place was a waffle maker. my love of belgian waffles began in college, when said waffles were only available sunday morning and only in one particular dining hall (carmichael). it was worth getting up early on sundays just for the waffles. i used to use my waffle maker quite often, when i was entertaining lady houseguests for brunch, but i haven't used it in many years now.

besides the waffle mix, the waffle batter also contains some oil, eggs, and water. i had a hard time stirring the batter until my mother realized i didn't add any water yet. it's been a while so i forgot, but my cheap waffle maker has a bad habit of leaking batter from the sides. we ended up using some dessert dishes to catch the batter. the waffles came out pretty good and didn't stick to the iron despite not having greased it. we made 3 pairs of waffles, my mother and i each had 2 while we saved the 3rd pair for my sister. i had mine with dusted confectionary sugar and whipped cream and strawberry syrup while my mother added some additional maple syrup. my mother also cooked a while package of bacon while we were making our waffles.

my new replacement bike pedals arrived last week, a set of avenir resin, which is just a polite way of saying plastic. i finally got the chance to install them, removing the temporary triple trap pedals. the great thing about the avenir pedals is removable reflectors on one side, good for if i ever want to install some toe clips/straps (not that i need them for my trek grocery getter).

my next project was to plant all the plants i picked up yesterday. i couldn't decide where to plant the hostas. most of the shady spots were already occupied from that large hosta infusion back in april. i decided to wait until my father came home so we could strategize; in the meantime i soaked the hostas in a bucket of water.

i had a clump of pale purple irises which i broke up into 4 individual rhizomes. i planted them by the western side of the house, in a row parallel to the preexisting iris (but rhizome and bulb varieties).

before i could plant the bleeding hearts and the solomon's seals, i first had to clean up eastern shade garden 2. because it's a shade garden i normally don't have to do too much since only certain plants will tolerant the shade. i pulled up some violets that've gotten out of hand, relocated a few lily-of-the-valleys, and carefully dug up some wild japanese maples (migrated from our next door neighbor's yard) and put them into pots. also saved were a few elm seedlings. 2 money plants i tried to transplant to southeastern corner garden didn't make it and wilted in the sun by day's end.

when my sister finally woke up, i could hear her scolding my mother for not waiting for her before we started eating the belgian waffles. my sister is notorious for getting into fights with my mother on special occasions. when my mother turned 60 years old back in december, my sister was supposed to take her to IHOP but they ended up not going after a fight. i'm not sure what my sister was so angry about, since we saved some waffles for her, and had enough leftover batter to make more - which was exactly what we ended up doing, as my mother and i had an encore serving of hot belgian waffles. my sister - probably realizing she jumped to the wrong conclusion - volunteered to eat the older (cold) waffles.

i mowed the lawn just 2 weeks ago but already the grass needed another mowing; must've been all that rain we got. i also wanted to collect the grass clippings for the compost bin (although i might need to dry them out first because wet grass will get stinky and slimy). the temperature hit the 80's but it didn't feel bad because it was a dry heat. towards the end though, i did start getting chills, which i knew was a sign of dehydration. after i finished mowing the lawn, i went inside and downed a can of seltzer before taking a shower. since my clothes were all sweat-soaked, i borrowed some from my father's wardrobe (including a "i climbed the great wall" t-shirt).

when my father came home after 5:00, i showed him the hostas and he said they'd look good at my great uncle's garden. i wanted to keep them for myself, but after thinking about it, there's really no more room for shade plants in my parents' backyard so i told my father my great uncle could have the hostas.

with 25 minutes to go before we were supposed to go to my aunt and uncle's house in arlington for a mother's day dinner at 6:00, my sister decided she wanted to bake some cookies to bring. we ended up arriving 15 minutes late because we had to wait for her cookies to finish baking.

my aunt and uncle went with a middle eastern theme for tonight's dinner, with the exception of the soft shell crabs, which was a first for many of us. immediately after dinner was over, my sister told us she wanted to go home. nobody was ready to leave yet, but since we came in her car, she would essentially be stranding us if we didn't leave with her. i was already kind of annoyed with her for not turning off her new cellphone which was beeping every few minutes with text alerts. i glared at her and reminded her it was mother's day and that seemed to shut her up; besides, there was still dessert, and she couldn't leave without her 2 slices of pie.

back in belmont my sister was feeding her dog a piece of flatbread she smuggled out from dinner. my father was cleaning 2 dehumidifiers. i was out in the backyard with a flashlight trying to see if slugs were eating the vegetables (particularly the radishes and asparagus beans; i didn't see any slugs).

mad men: fat betty is back! and spiteful as ever! a sexy episode, as when betty catches megan changing her clothes, or when fantasy rory gilmore housewife comes to pete's office naked underneath her coat to show her admiration. don has definitely lost his mojo, getting into a pissing contest with ginsberg over who's more creative, purposely jettisoning ginberg's ad pitch over his own.

i went to bed early last night (sometime after midnight) and woke up early around 8:00. i stayed in bed listening to a geek out girls podcast before finally getting up around 9:00. my gravel-covered trays that i set outside finally dried so i dumped the rocks into 2 plastic buckets, saving them for next season. since i was already out in the backyard, i swept the flagstones and weeded some grass poking up between the cracks.

i didn't realize my parents were calling me because i left my cellphone inside. i only saw them when they'd already pulled up to the front of my house. my father had dug up some fresh bamboo this morning and thought they might be a hot item at the plant swap i was going to later. they dropped them off on their way to chinatown for a supply run.

i was going to make a turkey sandwich for breakfast but my leftover roll of white bread had unexpectedly turned moldy. so i made a quick run to market basket to get some whole wheat bread and some lettuce.

i left close to noontime for the mid-cambridge plant swap at fayette park. it was my first time so i didn't know what to expect. in my mind i was thinking it'd actually be a genuine swap, where people would go around trading plants. how it works in practice however is people just leave their plants and whoever wants them can take them even if they don't have anything to swap. i don't like this system because the good plants were immediately snatched up, sometimes before they even made it to the "show room" floor.

besides a box of bamboos, i also had 2 trays of garlic ("chinese") chives and a batch of chinese lantern plants. i ended up taking a large clutch of hostas, several pale purple irises, some bleeding heart seedlings, half a dozen strawberries, and several solomon's seals. i ended up hanging around a bit longer, just to see what new plants might show up; i wasn't the only one, as there were several other "vultures" like myself.

some of the other gardeners were none too pleased that i'd brought some bamboos. "you better write it's invasive," one of them told me, and i did as instructed onto the name card. apparently that wasn't enough because then somebody else wrote "INVASIVE" on much larger print, and another person added "VERY INVASIVE." i could see them hovering over my bamboos, grumbling their displeasure. one lady in particular wanted to make sure nobody took any, following each person who'd picked up a bamboo and besieging them with bamboo horror stories. later i noticed the box was gone. "did somebody take the bamboo?" i asked them. no, apparently they hid the box as a service to the other gardeners.

at least one person took some bamboo that i know of before the garden gestapo threw the rest away. earlier somebody had already taken my chinese lantern plant, and by the time i left there was only one tray of garlic chives. i even tried to push the chives onto people who might not have been interested.

i'm kind of glad i didn't bring my good plants like the flowers i started from seeds (delphinium, shasta daisies, snapdragons) because i wouldn't want to share with these mean gardeners anyway. i still would've rather preferred a trade/barter system instead of a free-for-all. i wonder if there are other swaps (like in somerville), with people who are more appreciative of my plants?

riding back, i bumped into bruce and jack on their way to revere beach on this 80°F day. "last chance!" bruce told me. in hindsight i should've gone with them, but i went to belmont instead (via motorcycle) since i had a baby shower to go to later in the afternoon. but when i arrived in belmont there was nobody home and there wasn't any real gardening stuff to do so i was pretty bored for the next few hours - time that could've been spent on the beach!

i was only able to bring the strawberries from the plant swap; when my father came home around 4:00 we planted them by the peonies by expanding the brick border by a few inches. currently there are already strawberries growing there but they're the wild type that produce small and tasteless berries. we made good use of our compost and spread some underneath the peonies as fertilizer.

i left for cambridgeport close to 5:00 for rob and anya's baby shower, traveling down mt.auburn street from watertown and cutting across harvard square. this was the reason why i took my motorcycle, which made for faster travels.

their apartment wasn't anything to look at from the outside, but behind the house was an amazing secret garden with a bamboo fence and 2 small ponds including a working fountain and koi fishes. it's the kind of place where i just want to come back and hang out in the garden.

other than rob and anya, the only other person i recognized was shannon (from rob's barbecue last year). i had a lot of questions for rob but he was busy entertaining guests so i didn't get a chance to ask. for instance: a baby?! i only heard the news a few weeks ago when i got the invite for the baby shower. i'd seen them last december, and if my math is correct, they must've known about the pregnancy but just didn't tell me.

unfortunately i couldn't stay long and left soon after 6:00, to return to belmont for dinner. i picked memorial drive but there was some serious congestion approaching harvard square so i didn't get back until almost 6:30.

my mother made some squid nugget soup which in itself was already enough; but on top of that there was also a dish of braccoli, some thin-sliced pork with special soy pasta dipping sauce, some chicken, and some pan-fried raviolis.

i raced back to cambridge after dinner so i could catch game 1 between the 76er's (8th seed) and the celtics (4th seed). it's common knowledge that the only reason philadelphia is in the 2nd round of the playoffs is because the chicago bulls (1st seed) lost their 2 best players to injuries and basically imploded. i think the celtics were perhaps overly-confident and didn't play as aggressively as the 76er's, who grabbed the early lead. celtics were behind as much as 13 points but the game was competitive and boston would get their chances. celtics pulled ahead in the 2nd half, only to quickly lose the lead again. with minutes to go, the celtics finally regained the lead for the last time and won the game by a point. it should've never been this close, but hopefully boston learned their lesson (don't underestimate your opponents) and can quickly close out this series with a sweep (too optimistic?). it was an exciting game though, and in the final minutes i couldn't even sit down anymore, had to lie down on the floor in front of the television.

there's been a pair of wald folding baskets kicking around craig's list for a few weeks now. at $30 it's more than what i paid last year ($20 pair) but still at least $10 cheaper than buying a new pair. i figured somebody would've purchased them by now but i kept on seeing the posting, tantalizing me with ideas of installing folding baskets on my fuji road bike. i've resisted because i want to keep the fuji light, but i just couldn't resist having a spare set of baskets in case i ever get another bike. so i contacted the seller this morning.

the seller called me back around noontime. i didn't answer the phone because i didn't recognize the number but when i heard the voicemail message i called her right back. she lived in arlington right on the arlington/cambridge line. i told her i'd swing by in 10 minutes. the address was on broadway street, and i'd never been on the arlington side of broadway. broadway is surprisingly long, stretching from arlington center, right by tufts university (powderhouse circle), to sullivan square in charlestown.

the seller was an old woman sporting a pair of matching white thermal underwear in that unself-conscious manner senior citizens have about the way they dress. she looked at me and asked where i was from. "porter square," i told her, but she meant my ethnicity. turns out she was cooking some kind of macrobiotic japanese dish with chinese roots. i asked her specifically what she was making but she never told me. she started talking about how cancer is an unnecessary disease caused by all the chemicals we ingest.

since i was already on the motorcycle, i decided to take it to the bike shop in union square to get my annual inspection done ($15). a young man ahead of me was also getting his inspection. we chatted while waiting. he had an old 1982 1000cc kawasaki CSR (?). he bought it off of craig's list from a guy in new hampshire for $1500 who delivered it to him in somerville. this kid had never owned a bike before, but had motorcycling experiences from friends and family. the bike was old, with a bit of backfire when he started the engine and the inspector noticed his left fork was leaking fluids. the chrome looked faded and there was a little bit of rust. this was going to be his project bike. i had a feeling he was regretting his purchase.

back at home, i swapped my motorcycle with my bicycle (trek) and made my way to belmont to pick up some more chinese chives for the mid-cambridge plant swap tomorrow afternoon.

my 1st year snapdragons look very different from my 2nd year snapdragons that've been left outside during the winter. last year's plants have multiple tall woody-like stems with smaller leaves but more of them. the new ones i started from seeds indoor this season are single floppy stemmed plants with big leaves. they don't look like much now but hopefully they'll put on a colorful show when they eventually bloom.

the basils have shown some cold temperature damage in the old leaves (pale spots) but the new leaves are all healthy.

some of my hot peppers and cherry tomatoes have prematurely developed flowers. i'd be surprised if the bear fruit (that'll mean tomatoes in june when most other people have just put their tomatoes in the ground).

we sowed the radishes too close together again because some of them don't seem to be bearing any radishes below ground (just a tiny red stem); it's not that big a deal because my parents actually prefer to eat the leaves over the actual radishes.

the ever-swelling peony flower buds leave me guardedly optimistic that we'll see flowers this year. it's probably been decades since these plants last flowered. getting these peonies to bloom has been a long project, started back in fall 2009 when i dug them out of my eastern shade garden 2 and moved them to the western side of the yard with more sun. they were nothing but pieces of roots. when they emerged in spring 2010 i was just happy to see them alive. i'd read it takes them a year or two after transplanting for flowers to bloom. spring 2011 i was excited to see flowers bud; but by the end of may the buds all shriveled up and died. this year the flower buds have returned; what's different is some of them are pretty big, hinting at a possible happy outcome.

we never planted creeping buttercups in the backyard but they just showed up one day by the gerbil graves. they considered an invasive weed but i'm allowing them to grow for the time being because they brighten up an otherwise gloomy area of the backyard. they do contribute to dermatitis so i have to remember to wear gloves when i prune them back a bit.

i made a brick border around the newly-transplanted chinese chives at the southwestern corner of the yard. i put a mesh fence around the whole setup to prevent the dog trampling through the chives when she's chasing after squirrels.

i stopped by the cafe to drop off a revlon file-n-smooth for my mother (i got her one yesterday when she saw the one that i had). it was almost 4:00 and i didn't have anything to eat yet all day. they had some leftover sushi which they gave me.

back at home i washed the chinese chives outside (learned that lesson already, they make a terribly muddy mess in the kitchen sink), rearranging them into 2 large plastic rectangular crates. besides the chives, i also have a vase of chinese lantern plants i want to give away as well.

i finally ate lunch, some inarizushi (fried tofu pouch stuffed with sushi rice) with some edamame beans.

my neighbor renee knocked on my door right when i was getting ready to relax with a quiet evening of backlogged shows and a box of candy. her new printer was going crazy and she asked for my help. the problem: she was scanning (it's one of those all-in-one printers) instead of actually printing. before i left, she told me all this stuff about her 24-year-old developmentally-challenged son who's having problems with his also-developmentally-challenged roommate that escalated into the police being called on several occasions. having told me all this, she asked if i had an opening in my guest bedroom. i should've lied and said just no, but i told her my place would be free for a month in august. that's when she asked me if i'd be interested in housing his son for a month and also being his primary caregiver when she's not around. as tempting an offer as that may be (because everyone knows i love socially-awkward roommates obsessed with porn with a potentiality for violence), i told her i didn't want to get involved. "just think about it," she said as if there was even any possibility. i swear, the next time she knocks on my door, i'm not here.

i finished the other box of sushi while watching the season finale of fringe. they should've just ended the series with this episode because the show kind of sucks now. i'll still keep on watching it, because the storyline of a superpower olivia - she's the chosen one, just like how peter was also the chosen one last season - is just stupid. i liked that one episode of a watcher-dominated future, and i'd totally watch that show instead.

it all started because i wanted to make glycerin soap. one key piece of equipment is a double boiler, so on a whim, i went onto craig's list looking to see what's available. just my luck, somebody was selling a 2 quart double boiler for $10. so i got in touch with the person (mary) last night and made an appointment to meet around noontime to buy it.

turns out mary lives just a few houses down from me on the somerville side of the camberville line. not only did i buy the double boiler, but i also got an 8" square pyrex dish ($4; somebody had asked her about it earlier but never wrote back); a digital cooking thermometer ($5); and an unadvertised old-fashion candy thermometer ($3). she also had a cast iron skillet but she already promised it to somebody else.

the double boiler was smaller than i expected, but looked new. it was a weird brand i never heard of before (definitely not a name brand): main ingredients signature. it almost seems a same to sacrifice it to make soap so i might reconsider (although i really don't have a good use for a double boiler otherwise). the digital thermometer was another off-brand item (thermo-tech) and i couldn't find a manual online. i tested the candy thermometer by boiling some water. it got stuck on 95°C, until i realized i could change the reading by slightly adjusting the sliding glass rod.

having reach at least $20 in change, it was time to redeem my coins at the coinstar machine inside star market. i'd done it once before so it wasn't anything new for me. i felt a little embarrassed making all that racket as i pour my loose change into the collection feed. just like last time, once i clicked the confirmation button, i heard the machine dialing somewhere using a modem (younger customers might not even recognize the telltale noises). my coin jar told me i had $21.49 in change but i knew that number was wrong because it occasionally mixes up pennies with dimes. the actual tally was $22.04, more than i expected. it printed out an amazon.com gift card number which i promptly entered once i returned home.

for lunch i made some scrambled eggs and my remaining strips of bacon. i had the window fan running to pump out some of that greasy smoke and used a splatter guard to diminish the mess on the stovetop, but even then afterwards i could feel the oily precipitants on the bare floors.

i took down the 4 set of fluorescent lights from my closet and put them in the basement, ready for next season's closet growing fun. i made sure to tape down the chains and hooks so they won't get lost. finally i moved some boxes from my bedroom back into the closet.

i did a massive cleanup of the tub today. i noticed some mildew stains in the wall tiles and one thing lead to another and before i knew it i was soft scrubbing both the walls and the bathtub. the curtains still need a bit more work, a combination of soap stains and a weird strange of pink mildew.

i rode the motorcycle to market basket to pick up some drinks before riding to belmont with my used long plastic planter strapped to the back of the bike. i planted 5 small lavenders (raised from seeds last season and kept indoors over winter) into the planter, making sure to put down a layer of compost at the bottom.

the rain-soaked compost pile wasn't heating up like it was last weekend. we might cover it next time. during the summer it's easy to get green material for composting (grass clippings) but difficult to find a lot of brown (dry) material (until the fall leaf season). we can always use shredded newspaper but i use an electric document shredder to do that and it's quite tedious and prone to jamming. maybe i can just mow a stack of newspapers?

chris from ultra safe called me this morning. i'd never met him before so i didn't really know who he was, but he was suddenly telling me that baits weren't going to work at my parents' place because an exterminator would have to come by regularly to check on the traps and that'd cost extra; he told me that we'd have to move the raised bed gardens so they could pump termidor into the remaining southern side of the house. this went contrary to what mark and ron told me when they came by to treat the termites a few weeks ago. knowing that baiting is more expensive and time-intensive, i specifically asked both of them if the amount we were paying would cover these additional visits, and they both told me yes. chris said he'd talk to them and called me back minutes later, saying that they'd continue with the bait treatment (for the extent of the 5 year warranty) since mark and ron had already promised me they would. an exterminator should be coming by next week to place the traps.

my sister came home and gave me some presents from her california trip, including a disney star wars vinylmation figurine. the boxes are sealed so you don't know which one you'll get but i'm glad i got the boba fett one, which is one of the only few good ones in the series (all the human characters are ugly).

i left soon afterwards, making a quick stop at the cafe to discuss the arrival of my short-term roommate next week. originally i was told the 15th, but now it looks like she'll be arriving on the 14th, monday evening. i just hope she'll be able to find an apartment in the 2+ weeks she'll be living at my place.

in the early evening (6:00) i walked down to harvard square to meet elias and company to watch the avengers in 3D. i made a quick stop at the bank to get some cash first. after buying my ticket i waited outside the theatre. elias was the first to show, followed by megan, and then amanda. megan's fiancé scott would join us sometime later. we got some quick dinner at the crema cafe (i think it used to be a pizza place at one point?). i got the herb roasted lamb sandwich ("house roasted lamb with walnut aioli, roasted tomatoes & arugula, pressed on focaccia"). it was an okay sandwich but i didn't love it. the bread scratched the roof of my mouth and as megan so succinctly stated, there's a lot of things happening in that sandwich. maybe a few less ingredients so i could really taste that lamb (also i'd never had thin-sliced lamb before). we sat upstairs and behind us was a girl who was a doppelganger of kirsten dunst working on her laptop.

scott met us at the theatre. ushers issued 3D glasses when they ripped our tickets. my one piece of contraband was a box of candy dots which i quickly finished once i opened it. the screening room was surprisingly crowded, but i felt like the oldest person in the room since most of them were twentysomething kids.

the avengers wasn't on my radar of must-see movies this summer. there's something about superhero movies that seem immature, that the idea of costumed protagonists with supernatural abilities fighting evil has any basis in reality. but that's the whole point of a superhero movie, that suspension of disbelief and just going along for the ride. at the very least i was intrigued by the film after hearing so many positive reviews from critics, who are usually opposed to movies like this. after having seen it myself, i can honestly say i was entertained, but i don't think it's one of the better movies of the year. there's a weird dynamic since many of the characters helm their own movie (franchise?): iron man, thor, captain america, even the hulk. but in the avengers they're now all supporting members. i still don't buy scarlett johansson as black widow, and jeremy renner's hawkeye is the weak link of the ensemble (at least black widow is there to keep it from becoming a sausage fest; hawkeye's power is that he's really good with a bow and arrow?). i love the humor of the film though, that it goes out of its way to show you a good time. the destructive sequence of midtown manhattan was a little too much, made worse by the 3D where at a certain point my mind was checking out from the choreographed CGI mayhem.

afterwards i walked with megan and scott across the harvard campus as elias and amanda headed in the direct of central square. we split off at oxford and kirkland.

when i got home i asked my roommate if he knew when exactly he was leaving and when he'd return. i remembered he said the 17th, but now it looks like it'll be the 18th, which means my short-term roommate will have to stay at my great uncle's "closet room" for an additional day or two. i wrote her e-mail letting her know the situation but she was happy with the arrangement; i guess she has very little choice anyway since she'll be leaving shanghai on sunday.

i managed to catch the final 5 minutes of hawks-celtics game (6). i was relieved to see boston with the lead but not surprised when they lost it on an atlanta run. in the end however boston managed to win the game, but only by the seat of their pants decided in the final seconds. with that the celtics advance to face the 76ers, who have no reason to be in the 2nd round other than the fact that the chicago bulls imploded with injuries. the path seems cleared for boston to at least make it to the finals in a showdown with miami.

finally, i cashed in my spare change money to buy a pair of rain pants and some bicycling gloves. my days of wet pants in the rain looks to be finally over!

for the time being it'd stopped raining: from the basement i retrieved my trek grocery getter and went out to run errands in the early afternoon. i had trouble traveling my usual shortcut because the somerville road crew were repaving the streets. first stop was rite aid, my usual spot for securing sugary contrabands.

i was also searching for a nail file. i give my nails the most cursory of care, cutting them when they get long which is about it. the nail file wasn't actually for my nails though; i wanted something to take the dead scratchy skin from my fingers. dry skin combined with my habit of digging in the garden with my hands (shovel? trowel? what's that?) have left my fingers in rough shape. i notice it most often when i run my hands across my clothes and they snag on minute pieces of dried skin. an inexpensive emory board would've probably done the trick, but i opted for the fancier revlon file-n-smooth™ (on sale $2.39, normally $3.99).

rite aid was followed by a trip to the bank in union square to deposit a rent check. last stop was market basket, where i picked up a few ingredients for making some hoppin' john for dinner. more rain was expected for later tonight so back into the basement went my bike.

i tried the file-n-smooth on my hands and it did a pretty good job. it files in one direction but smooths in the other. it took a few passes to get rid of the dead skin but afterwards my fingers no longer catch on my clothes. the stainless steel file-n-smooth also comes with a lifetime guarantee.

"susan" - that shanghai astrophysicist that i housed the summer of 2010 - wrote me an e-mail this morning. a coworker friend of hers was coming to boston on the 15th and needed a temporary place to stay for about 2 weeks so she could look for a more permanent apartment (she's here for the next year). just so happens that my guest bedroom will be available for the final 2 weeks of may; except my current roommate isn't leaving until the 17th, so there's a 2 day gap where susan's friend would be homeless. i wrote her back to tell her as much. later i talked with my father, who said there's an empty room at my great uncle's place that this person could stay for a few days until my place becomes available. to call that space a room is generous, since it's more like a closet with no windows and a bed. i wrote back susan to let her know about this option.

who knew my guest bedroom would be in such high demand? i've got bruce's friend arriving in september for 4 months, my current roommate's referral showing up for 2 months beginning in june, and now out of the blue a possible 2 week stay from susan's coworker friend. i was kind against susan's proposal at first, but it's easy income, why not take it?

i did a load of laundry in the early evening, including my bedsheets. while my clothes were tumbling in the dryer i began making some hoppin' john for dinner. i was following a quick recipe that's essentially 3 main ingredients: long-grained rice, black-eyed peas, and bacon. while the rice was cooking in chicken broth, i cooked my bacon then sauteed some garlic and onion in the bacon fat. i added the beans and some water, then mixed in the rice. my roommate was already home by that point and i talked him into having some of my hoppin' john.

i'd made hoppin' john before and i remember it wasn't that great. this second attempt was better, but still not there yet (nothing like what bruce made). there's a certain blandness to it all. i read you can also make this recipe in a slow-cooker, which might impart more flavor; people also use ham hocks instead of bacon, and dry beans instead of canned. maybe i can ask bruce about his recipe when he returns to cambridge later this month.

i found out this morning that my next next door neighbors jen and franz's house was burgled over the weekend while they were away. the thief came in through a basement laundry window and then gained entry to their first floor condo. things stolen included a laptop and jen's wedding ring. i feel awful; first my next door neighbor margot had her house broken into back in january, and now this. i wonder if it's the same person? the only things i have of value in my own home is my laptop and my camera, and usually when i go out i take my camera. i should start hiding my laptop when i'm not home.

today i officially shut down my grow closet for the season; full disassembly will come later when i have time. i moved the last of my flower seedlings to my community garden plot. i was stopped by 2 lady landscapers who were curious to see what i had growing in my box. one of them warned me that it was still too early to plant some of the smaller seedlings, since they needed 2 inches worth of roots to survive. i'd never heard that before but there was no turning back for me.

after i finished planting i went around taking photos of the flowers in the garden. my favorite time to do that is on cloudy and semi-rainy days. raindrops on petals and leaves make for more dramatic plant photos. also when the weather is like that not too many people come out to garden so i usually have the whole place to myself.

a met another new gardener: 2nd year lynn. she's actually in a new plot this season, having suffered under a tall norwegian maple all last year. unfortunately her new plot is only one square away from her old one, but at least she has more sun now.

my mother called asking me to go to belmont to let the dog out. i was planning on going anyway to finish planting the flowers in the southeast corner garden.

i discovered that snapdragons like to be planted close (6"), since they're not particularly bushy plants. while it's too late to rectify that in my community garden plot, i made sure to group them closer together here in belmont. i worked the soil a little bit more, uprooting hidden chinese chives and grass clumps with a cultivator, making sure i wasn't digging too close to the house where they pumped termidor. i also tossed any rocks i found. i formed another row of bricks in the back, partly as a marker to show where the exterminators did their trenching work, but also so i could step across the garden area without walking in the soil. i actually quite enjoy laying down bricks in the garden; reminds me of days long ago playing with lego blocks.

my father planted some 'cosmopolitan' lilies in a container last year that i wanted to transplant into the southeast corner garden. dumping them out of the container exposed a mass of roots. i had to divide everything with a small saw. unfortunately the roots are somewhat delicate and most of them fell off when i tried to clear away the dirt from the lily bulbs. i was surprised to find many baby bulblets; not all of them produced, just a few. i picked them off and planted them on the western side of the house with the other bulbs and perennials. there were 7 adult lily plants but since they didn't fit my arrangement, i removed the 7th to the southwestern corner of the yard along with the orange daylilies.

as for the lily bulbs we purchased yesterday, they seem like leftovers because they weren't the best-looking of bulbs, but at least a few should survive. they had to be planted 6" deep so i ended up using my hands to dig the holes. fortunately the soil was relatively soft from not being stepped on.

finally i planted the snapdragons (11). i put a cage over them so hailey won't accidentally step on them. i also planted some daisies (4) on either side of the nearby rain barrel.

my mother came home around 4:30. i left soon after that, hoping to avoid the rain. it was already drizzling a little bit, but light enough that it didn't even soak my clothes. i brought home some food my mother picked up from the cafe (strapped to the rear rack of my fuji with bungie netting) which i later had for dinner.

my roommate told me tonight that he's going to hawaii next week to do some work at the mauna kea observatory, followed by a trip to new mexico, before returning home the first week of june. the life of an astrophysicist!

i ran into elias' friend megan while riding my bike this morning; it looked like she was returning home from yoga. i was on my way to porter square veterinarian in davis square to pick up some heartworm medication for hailey.

i found myself sneezing so i used some nasal spray when i got back home, figuring it might be allergy-related.

i gathered up a box full of plants and walked down to the community garden to transplant them into their new home. i wasn't planning on staying long but ran into sharon (the gardener i met yesterday at the may fair) and had a nice long chat, despite being distracted by what she was wearing (a polka-dotted bikini halter top underneath a see-through shirt she nonchalantly tried to cover herself with unsuccessfully). she's one of the few gardeners that had their soil tested early, and she discovered high lead levels in her plot so decided on a bioremediation course to draw out the lead using cilantro and sunflowers. i have a feeling my lead level will be high as well once my soil test results come back.

i planted a row of hot peppers (4), a square of thai basil (4), and interspersed some sweet basil (2) between a few tomatoes. the remaining transplants were flowers, including my one healthy delphinium, a few of snapdragons (2), and a bunch of shasta daisies (6). i still have more snapdragons in my grow closet and a few small daisies; i'll transplant those next time.

i met laura for the first time, who's into her 2nd season at the plot next to mine. she thought i was new because she'd never seen me before, and commented about how whoever had my plot last season left it a mess, not realizing that person was me. when i told her she managed to hide her embarrassment but naturally she didn't make a good first impression. the reason why we never saw each other last year was she'd visit the garden in the mornings before work and i usually came in the afternoons.

i told my mother i'd be in belmont my noontime but didn't leave cambridge until 1:00. i took the fuji bike because i heard it was going to rain tomorrow and i got a really good parking spot for my motorcycle and didn't want to move it. i actually ran into my father who was driving back home from the cafe. i was ahead of him for half the trip (due to the fact that i ran a few red lights) but eventually he caught up and drove ahead of me.

while cleaning the house, my mother spotted more wings in the computer room, the same place that had the swarming last time. we were told this might happen again (not by ultra safe but by another exterminator) and now that i think about it, maybe that's why ultra safe called me this morning asking if everything was okay (and to let me know they'd send someone over soon to install the termite baits). the colony itself could be dying; the swarmers might've already been primed to leave the nest when the weather warmed up again (like it did yesterday and today). the key is whether or not there'll be swarming next spring. i did check the garage - site of the other swarm attack - but there was no swarm activity there.

my mother wanted my father and i home early because she wanted to go to target and figured we might want to visit nearby home depot as well. earlier my father was at the doctor's office getting treatment for his gout which hasn't entirely gone away since he came back from taiwan and recently had been flaring up again even more severely. entirely hobbled, he opted to stay in bed while my mother and i left for the arsenal/watertown mall.

first stop was home depot where i was looking for flowers to grow both in the shade garden and the partially shady southeastern corner garden. i wanted some ferns to replace the ones that'd died, but couldn't find any. i ended up going with a bag of mixed caladiums. they're tender perennials but if we did another mild winter like the one we had, they'll probably survive to another season. maybe one day we'll plant some peonies in the southeastern garden, but my mother picked out some lily bulbs instead, plus a bag of freesia.

after a visit to target, we returned home. a neighbor was throwing out a twin-sized mattress. my mother stopped to investigate; seeing that it didn't look too shabby, she asked for me help to load it into the car. once we got it back home, we realized there was a reason why the owner tossed out the mattress: pee stains! we prompted threw it back out onto the curb (just a few blocks away from where it was originally).

i took the car out on a mini-errand to hillside garden on blanchard road to see if they had any salt marsh grass (which i use as garden mulch). i didn't see any when i got there, but when i asked, it sounded like they had a lot. i paid first (only $10 a bale) then took the receipt to the delivery boy who was already out in the parking lot with my grass. i still have about a bale's worth saved from last year; this will be enough for my parents' garden as well as my own in cambridge.

my father was okay enough to help me plants my vegetables in the garden. into raised bed 4 (RB4) we planted 4 tomatoes (2 best boy, 2 cherry), 8 hot peppers, and 4 basils (2 sweet, 2 thai). he created a way to water the raised bed using water from the rain barrel being funneled through canals.

in RB2 we planted 4 tomatoes as well (2 best boy, 2 cherry) along with 6 basil (4 thai, 2 sweet). i planted the freesia on the western side of the house, and the caladiums in the shade garden. i'm returning tomorrow to plant the rest of my flower seedlings as well as the lilies.

after dinner my father helped me repair the power supply for my electroluminescent wire. for some reason it kept on cycling through the various modes seemingly on random. at first we thought it was because the AA batteries don't exactly fit inside the compartment, so my father filed off some plastic bits with a dremel tool. batteries fit now, but it still kept cycling through the modes. we even took apart the power supply but couldn't figure out how to fix it.

the daytime temperature approached the 70's today, but by the time i was leaving belmont the temperature was 59°. i wore shorts so i was a little chilly at first but warmed up quickly. back at home, my roommate paid me the final month's rent without me having to ask him (even though he's a few days late).

when i saw on the news that it was going to rain overnight and into the early morning, i went outside to cover up my motocycle and to put the fuji in the basement. normally i wouldn't care about leaving the bicycle in some rain, but because of the electroluminescent wire, i figured i wanted to keep the bike dry. while in the basement i plugged in the power supply just to see what would happen. i was surprised to find it working normally, no longer cycling. so there actually wasn't a problem: when you run the power supply without the wire, it cycles, but once combined with the wire, it works fine.

there was a package on the back porch (sometimes a delivery person will do that if they don't feel safe leaving it on the front steps). i thought it was mine at first but turns out it was for my roommate. it was 11:20 by that point and my roommate was already in his room preparing to sleep. the lights were on so i knocked on his door to delivery his package. when he opened the door, i caught a brief glimpse of tighty whities and regretted not waiting until tomorrow to give him his stuff.