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woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat and couldn't go back to sleep. maybe it was the mouth breathing that did it when my nose became congested from my intermittent allergy symptoms. or maybe it was sucking in all the paint fume for 9 hours yesterday. whatever it was it left me restless for the remainder of the wee hours as i tossed and turned until the sun came up.

first thing i did this morning was to make a garden inspection. i didn't have time yesterday so i was curious to know what happened to my caterpillar friend. after a few minutes of looking i still couldn't find it. the only new thing i saw was a quarter-eaten green tomato.

i came home, got dressed, and rode the motorcycle to belmont. normally when i ride it's just jeans and a t-shirt, but i like the dichotomy of business casual combined with motorcycle riding. i left with my father to ayer for the pre-rehearsal lunch followed by the actual wedding rehearsal to happen later. for those who need to get caught up to speed, jerry asked me a while back if i could do some photography for his wedding (which is happening tomorrow). my father was there as well because he's actually presenting the bride since her parents can't make it to the wedding from china.

though google map estimated 50 minutes to drive to ayer along route 2, it took us just 30 minutes so we were ahead of schedule. waiting in the parking lot of the woo jung restaurant, cars started to arrive, additional members of the wedding party. besides myself, jerry had asked no less than 3 other friends to help photograph his wedding. basically anybody with a digital SLR and a set of lenses was qualified. i met sherman, who showed me his lenses. i was most impressed with his fast 50mm f1.4. he had the canon 350d as well but was considering upgrading to the canon 5D (full sensor) for christmas for the improved image quality. mounted on his camera was a sigma 18-50mm F2.8, the equivalent of my tamron 17-50mm F2.8. unfortunately he said he didn't like it, has an inaccurate focus, and would seriously reconsider ever buying another sigma product again. once jerry arrived, we all went inside for lunch.

the rehearsal (and the site of the actual wedding) was at the nearby shaker hill golf club in harvard. olivia (the bride to be) was already waiting there with some other guests, and we arrived with korean takeout. since there was another wedding that afternoon, we only had until 2pm for the actual rehearsal, less than an hour. i took some test shots, made some mental notes as to where to stand depending for best lighting and vantage point. although i appreciate the coverage, there were so many other photographers there that i'm afraid we might be bumping into each other tomorrow. i still have some reservations about being selected as one of the wedding photographers. although some people might be up to the task, i feel like if i can't do a good job, i shouldn't be doing it at all. with weddings, there are moments that happen only once so there's a lot of pressure to get the shot on the first try since there's no do-overs. if only these were flowers or vegetables or caterpillars, i could shoot them and showcase all their glory! nevertheless, it's still an exciting opportunity; normally at weddings i'm one of the periphery shooters, grabbing a photo when the opportunity presents itself. i've never been at a wedding where i'm one of the main photographers, and have all the access (and responsibilities) normally attributed to those of their ilk. i'm sure the wedding couple doesn't want to hear this, but this is all still practice for me; hopefully, i can make it perfect on my first try.

my father and i got back to belmont by 2:30pm. after visiting the cafe briefly, i went to microcenter to return the neoprene camera case i got for my mother. i flirted with the voluptuous employee, if by flirt you mean we talked abut how hot it was outside. afterwards i went home, but not before visiting the garden one more time.

after some more searching, i'm pretty sure the tobacco hornworm is no longer there. most likely what happened is it crawled to the dirt where it dug itself underground to become a pupa. whether it'll stay there all winter i can't be sure, since there's still some more growing days left in the season (which means more tomato plants to eat). so that's the end of my tobacco hornworm adventure! maybe i'll get some more next year.

i wonder if anybody knows i'm growing tomatillos? other than the two other gardeners i've told (mary and joel). i wonder if casual browsers of the garden even know what it is, although the balloons are very obvious. i squeezed a few today just to make sure there are definitely fruits growing inside.

the tomatillo plant is so productive that it tries to set down roots from any nicks and scratches on the stems, almost like an unstoppable weed. as a matter of fact, i read that tomatillo plants often grow from the side of the road in places in mexico. and i keep on taking photos of my rosemary, but i've yet to try any of it. it's a slow grower, and even though it's definitely bigger than when i first got it, it's still remained as a small bush. maybe i was just expecting it to grow out of contol, much like some of the other garden plants i have growing.

now the only insect (actually arachnid) i have still living in my garden (that i know of) is that the funnel web grass spider which has made a home on top of one of my tomato plants. it's obviously doing well because it hasn't relocated, but i never see it with any prey and i think most flying insects aren't stupid enough to land on its web (they're mostly hovering by the tomatillo plant). i picked a few more tomatoes before i went home.

after a shower, i vegged out by watching a movie on my computer. despite the 95 degrees temperature outside, it was bearable inside my house, even with the windows closed (maybe that's the reason, keep all the hot air out). i didn't even open the AC, although i did finally turn it on late into the night. watching the sox game on the couch, i fell asleep, waking up to eat the rest of my leftover rotisserie chicken for dinner. for dessert, a bowl of salad. sad, right? just that i got this bag of salad and that thing is quick to spoil so i have to finish it all before it goes bad. besides, i'm all out of ice cream!