i felt much better this morning, my fatigue was gone. it rained overnight, the cool moisture breeze blowing into the bedroom window. the patter of rain drops was noisy but i didn't mind, it's been a long time since we heard rain. boston ended up getting 0.9" of precipitation. i don't know how much of a dent it'll make in our drought numbers. rain is good, but too much rain too fast means it doesn't penetrate into the ground and most of that water will just run off into the sewers instead. our next scheduled rain event looks to be on friday.

john the carpenter finally arrived today to do some little fixes around the exterior of the house. he was supposed to be here back in june but that never happened. i already paid steve my share of the bill, but he never cashed the check. john kept rescheduling, from days in july, to the latest being last tuesday, then postponed to thursday, then finally to today. the sort of work he's doing doesn't seem so hard, i could probably do it myself if i had the DIY inclination, but it's easier just to pay someone who has the expertise. he started with steve's backyard door before moving to the front porch. there's some wood rot along the right handrail and i watched as he pried apart the pieces with a small crowbar and a hammer.

i motorcycled to belmont in the afternoon. i brought the wood filler so i can patch the bare wood window frame in their bedroom, which has been unpainted since the window was replaced during my yearlong china sojourn. the surrounding walls also need to be sanded and repainted.

after dinner i returned home. for the first time, the weather felt a little brisk with temperature in the 70's. could be time to bust out the longsleeves for those evening rides. when i got back i took some photos of the front porch, was in a state of disrepair. i figured john will come back tomorrow to finish the job.

cristina came home later in the evening around 7:30pm. i haven't seen her since saturday afternoon, when i left her at the galleria mall, more than 48 hours ago. she ended up spending several hours at the mall before finally returning home. along the way she stopped at whole foods and said that it was cheaper than organic produce back in spain. later on saturday she went to a barbecue followed by a reggaeton night dance club. sunday she left the house by 7am, so i must've just missed her when i woke up around 7:20am. instead of going straight to quincy (as was the original plan), she went to rendezvous with the friend who was driving who just happened to live on elm street, across the train tracks from our place. i thought they were going to provincetown, but they ended up parking at falmouth and taking the ferry to martha's vineyard instead, bringing with them their own lunch/dinner. obama might've been still on the island, and there was also a sailing boat event, so traffic was pretty crazy. elsewhere, hillary clinton was holding a fundraiser at p-town, so a busy time to be on the cape. she returned home by 11pm but was surprised to find me already asleep (i went to bed at 10pm).

only today did i hear the news that somerville is banning plastic bags next week. cambridge already enacted this ordinance back in march, but i hardly do any shopping in cambridge. somerville however is where all my markets are located (star market, market basket, rite aid). i usually use canvas shopping bags for groceries (a habit i actually picked up from a roommate long ago), but every once in a while i like to get a few plastic shopping bags so i can recycle them as small garbage bags. now it looks like i will need to buy small trash bags as well.

it was cold enough tonight that i slept with the window closed. i tried not to sleep on my back to prevent myself from snoring (and subsequent dry mouth). i look forward to seeing what my doctor has to say about my condition on wednesday.