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i came head to head (on my motorcycle) with the front of the belmont memorial day parade this morning as they made their way to the cemetery. i paused, thinking there was a road block, but only for left turns (fortunately i was taking a right). the last time i went to a memorial day parade was in the 4th grade. some friends and i went down there to see them fire the cannons which for a kid is probably the best part. i remember seeing all the flags and worried that they might get stolen. i thought about going down and seeing the parade but it's not the usual parades i go to so i didn't go.

besides watering the plants, the only other garden thing i did today was clear out a northwestern plot for a possible peony transplant and my father and i planted the japanese maple on the western side of the yard. the location was selected because of its partial shade but also the tree can act as a screen once it grows bigger. it took a while to dig the hole because it was next to the maple tree so we encountered many buried roots that had to be dug out. my father used an old steel chinese meat cleaver to chop off the roots but he whacked it so hard the handle snapped off. we dug the hole in the early afternoon but didn't actually plant the tree until hours later (close to dinner time), after i went to home depot (crowded!) to pick up some manure/humus. i also got two packets of radish seeds for some fall planting.

my father was playing around with the ipad for most of the day; my sister was in the living room downloading music; the dog was sleeping in front of the air conditioner after getting a bath (outside temperature was close to the 90's); and my mother was catching up on episodes of game of thrones after i told her it was starting to get good (she stopped watching after the 2nd episode; now we're on episode 7 of a 10-episode season).

i came home with a bag of frozen fruit tied down to the back of my motorcycle with a bungie cord netting. fortunately i remembered to bring it today, instead of hauling the heavier saddle bags.

it's my last night of being roommate-free until the end of summer. last night to hang out in the house in just my underwear, or leave my stuff lying around the house, or using the bathroom with the door open. my new roommate arrives tomorrow night, so i'll have at least most of tuesday to spruce up the house.