it's a nice feeling being completely exhausted and falling asleep. LJ was already up by the time i woke up, stewing something on the stove and working away on my loaner desktop PC. i used the bathroom and took a shower. i packed up my bike and left for belmont, a case of soda and 2 dishes of pulled pork strapped to the rear rack.

my father and i noticed a mysterious fragrance in the air last week, something almost tropical in nature. i figured it out last thursday: it's linden trees. not all of them smell though, or maybe those had already finished blooming. the ones still flowering are definitely marking their scent territory, most noticeable on warm nights.

i wasn't sweaty from the bike ride (i purposely went slow) but after spending some time in the backyard weeding and watering the plants, i had to take another shower. my mother dug up some radishes. although the asian watermelon radishes had big healthy leaves, none of them seemed to have developed any actual radishes, until my mother pulled them out of the ground and discovered a few the size of golf balls. when sliced open, they're magenta red on the inside, like their namesake.

i had some leftover fried rice for lunch and helped out with some of the cleaning.

jack and his girlfriend arrived around 3:30, more than hour ahead of schedule (everyone else arrived at 5:00 or later). they were dazed from have spent the day looking at half a dozen open houses. they came early to help with the barbecue, since my mother decided my father would relinquish his grill duty since he never gets to eat when he operating the barbecue.

hailey for some reason hates jack and wouldn't stop barking at him. we tried to bribe her with treats and bubbles, which calmed her down for a while, only for her to return to her barking. at one point she even charged at jack, and my sister had to put her inside the house. back outside again, she wandered underneath the table and brushed up against the citronella candle, barking again at jack thinking maybe he was the cause.

my father returned home with my 2nd aunt; my 2nd uncle decided not to come. my godmother showed up but without weiwei who had to work. my aunt and uncle arrived at the same time as bin bin and her boyfriend. my aunt gave me a box of turkish delight. bin bin told us about her new live community access show on CCTV premiering wednesday night.

the weather was perfect, given the heat wave of last week and then the rain. temperature was in the upper 70's, with a balmy cool breeze. for some reason there was also almost zero mosquitoes.

i ended up working the barbecue along with jack and his girlfriend, so we three probably ate the least. they were cooking xinjiang kabobs and steaks on the griddle while i was in charge of the barbecued corn. i also had a foiled packet of previously-soaked frozen mesquite wood chips but they never smoked up. because i made pulled pork there was no burgers this time. my mother also made an assortment of chinese zongzi but with so much barbecued foods available, i don't think anyone had any so many took some home afterwards when people started to leave around 9:00.

i made it back home close to 10:00. LJ was in her with the door closed so i never saw her, just heard her a few times using the bathroom while i was in the living room.