we knew something was up when we arrived at restaurant depot and the parking lot was full. there were so many customers, there wasn't enough shopping carts, and you basically had to wait outside and follow someone to their car so you can get their cart when they're done. why was it so busy? restaurants traditionally close on mondays since its the least busiest day of the week, so monday is a good supply run day. but we've been on mondays in the past and it was never as crazy as this. i actually saw it as a sign of the beginning of the end of the pandemic. with people getting vaccinated and venturing out to eat, restaurants are ramping back up again. these are all the survivors, who despite all the tribulations of this past year, have managed to stay open while many other restaurants have closed. if you're in the restaurant industry, you deserve a medal for sticking it out this long, despite not being able to have customers in your store, and braving the risk of contracting the coronavirus.
when it came time to checkout, the wait time was insane, 40 minutes. my father said my mother and i could wait outside but i decided to stick around. the line was so long, the person who had the cart in front of us simply abandoned it and left. my father kept on pushing it as the line slowly advanced, before i decided to pull the cart out of circulation. it was kind of interesting looking at the other shopping carts, trying to guess what type of restaurant they owned. when it finally came close for us to check out, i heard a commotion a few lines down. "get out of here!" some men were shouting, as a man carrying two bottles of cleanser was trying to cut the line. his reasoning was he shouldn't have to wait just because he was buying two things. he went down the lines, trying to find an easy mark, perhaps an immigrant who wouldn't say anything when he cut the line. he tried to get in front of my father but we both told him no. instead he went to an asian man to our side, who didn't say anything while this guy simply cut in front of him. "don't let him cut the line!" i shouted, but the man pretended not to here. later some other guys behind me started getting angry as well, but the man simply ignored us. the asian man simply shrugged his cowardice. a guy behind me jokingly said he was going to beat up the asian guy for letting the man cut him in line.
when we finally made it out (the credit card machines were also broken, every credit card purchase had to be entered from a different working register), we found my mother playing mahjong in the car. a friendly man approached us which initially made me suspicious until i realized he just needed the cart. he waited as we loaded up the supplies in the trunk.
our original plan was to visit the chelsea market basket but there was nothing urgent we needed so instead we went to the malden 88 asian supermarket.
i was afraid it'd be busy as well but it was actually very quiet, just a handful of customers compared to the thunderdome that was restaurant depot. they actually sold sichuan paocai jars, which was a surprise: $20 for the medium, $16 for the small. the small is actually the more standard size for these jars.
we left malden 88 by 12:40pm. we made one last stop at bianco & sons sausage. my father and i waited in the car while my mother went inside. it took her a long time because she was behind two ladies that were buying 7-8 bags of sausages.
on our way back i was shooting every single flowering tree was passed along the way.
we made it back to the cafe by 1:15pm to drop off the supplies. not having lunch yet, we decided to use the burger king app on my father's phone and order something for the drive-thru. we picked it up on our to belmont and finally had lunch by 2pm.
later in the afternoon i was out in the backyard taking a survey of the plants. i relocated a few lupine seedlings behind the garage. hopefully there's enough time for them to grow to produce some flowers but i doubt it. at the very least it'll start the ones for next season. i'm still not sure why a bunch of lupines from last year suddenly disappeared this year. cultivating a persistent stand of lupines is just one of the many work-in-progress gardening project.
the krauter vesuvius cherry plum has started to blossom. redbud flower buds are swelling. while the kwanzan cherry still needs a few weeks for the buds to swell.
i also relocated two errant foxgloves below the cherry plum to underneath the grapevines. despite just a drizzle, there was enough rain to increase our rain barrel level by an inch. no need to conserve water though, the weather forecast shows a nor'easter by the end of the week that will dump nearly 3 inches of rain thursday night into saturday.
julian edelman was cut from the team today after failing his physical before he announced his retirement. i heard getting cut was just a formality, so he could continue to keep his health insurance. 
it made sense, because he'd already prepared a farewell video that was filmed at foxborough stadium. edelman was definitely a fan favorite, and i hope he continues to be involved with football in some capacity, maybe as a commentator. wide receivers don't last very long in the league, and his body has taken enough punishment that it's no surprise he's retiring a month before his 35 birthday. and even better that he retires as a patriots, unlike some people (cough *tom brady* cough).
after dinner my father gave me a ride back to cambridge. inspected my tomato seeds, a few of them have finally germinated. out of the 28 seeds, only 3-4 have sprouted. it was too late to transplant them, i'll do it tomorrow morning.
