breaking news this morning: the death of 77 years old roger ailes, disgraced former fox news chief/unrepentant sexual predator, from a head injury sustained from a fall in his house. as if that wasn't enough, 52 years old chris cornell on soundgarden died today as well, from an apparent suicide (hanging). then shortly afterwards there was news about a man on drugs going on a vehicular killing spree in time square (as of now, 1 killed, 23 injured).

even as recent as monday - the middle of may - i had the heat on (30 minutes). and during this past weekend i fired up the furnace for an hour each night. it was really for karen's sake: had i lived alone, the heat would've been off by mid-april and i wouldn't bother turning it on no matter how cold it got. it was just that the past few weeks had been unseasonably cold, although in new england unpredictable weather should come as no surprise to anyone. but today the temperature hit 96°F. all this temperature change in less than a week.

karen wrote me an e-mail in the late morning, telling me that instead of going directly to work when she arrives at south station tomorrow morning at 7:30am (after taking the overnight bus from montreal leaving midnight), she's going to come home first to shower and change her clothes. i wrote to mike our solar energy guy and told him we wouldn't be able to make a decision by the end of this week. direct energy solar contacted me around noontime, some guy asked me if were still on for our 12:30pm appointment. this was news to me, as i haven't received any notification. i informed him that were just looking for an estimate. he said he'd send it within the hour. it never showed up.

after a bowl of cereal and a cold slice of leftover pizza for lunch, i went to the community garden to water my plants. i planted some cupcake cosmos and zinnia seeds, hopefully they'll emerge in about a week, so i won't forget them and accidentally dig up that area. all this recent heat must be great for hot loving plants - eggplants, tomatoes, peppers - and hopefully they can take advantage of these past few days because the forecast for next week is warm weather during the daytime - 60-70's °F - but cold at nights (50's °F).

back at the house i planted a clutch of star-of-bethlehem flowers i pulled out from the community garden DMZ. i also watered the plants.

i left for belmont via motorcycle to water the plants there. while watering the eastern perennial bed, i noticed some new bamboo stalks. i spent some time digging out the rhizomes, but i only managed to finish working a corner before i had to stop because it was getting too hot (even though i was in the shade). i'll come back to it either tomorrow or this weekend. bamboos can grow fast, so the quicker you remove the expanding rhizomes the better it keep them in check.

i planted some zinnias and cosmos seeds in the RB3 perennial flower bed. i also planted some mammoth dill seeds on the left half of the RB2. the only seeds i've yet to plant are the korean melons. i need to find a good spot for them. unfortunately i don't have anymore fertilizer left, but i can just create a pile of manure.

i stopped by the cafe at 3:20pm. my grandmother and aunt were already there. my mother made me a thai bubble ice tea. earlier i'd planted some nasturtium seeds in the parking lot plant, then later i added a gazania daisy seedling (i gave it to my sister yesterday so she could bring it to the cafe). my father showed me the new the sidewalk trees the city planted: a few gingkoes and an armstrong red maple. my sister showed me her backyard garden. it's a lot shadier than i thought, but her plants do well there because of the rich soil. she has a slug and snail problem though. she also proudly showed me her poppy patch, until i told her those were probably poplar seedlings from a nearby poplar tree. i finally returned home by 4:10pm.

i did some sprucing up in anticipation of karen's return tomorrow, including putting away the dishes and washing the dining tablecloth (along with some clothes). i also put away my growhouse gravel into 2 plastic buckets. tomorrow i'll take down all the grow lights and put then away from next year.

for dinner i heated up some of that pozole i made on tuesday. it's edible but has no character, just a mishmash of different ingredients. the hominy itself seemed to have absorbed more of the liquids as there was hardly any left. i have many more servings of this dish, so i'll be eating it the rest of the weekend.