it was street cleaning on my side of the street this morning (it was the other side yesterday, but because of patriot's day, it'll be postponed until next week). first street cleaning of the year is always a tough time as i saw a handful of cars get ticketed and towed. i didn't know who they belonged to, otherwise i would've tried contacting the owners. tow companies are modern day criminal enterprises, and one of them even ripped off the license plate off of a car bumper and simply left it behind in a puddle of water as they towed the vehicle away.

i removed the plastic cover on my germinating nigella seeds, they seemed too warm under there. there were also some dry spots on my other seedlings and i made sure to properly hydrate them all. not all the tomatoes-peppers-eggplants have sprouted, so might need to sprout new seeds. usually i plant 2-3 seeds, as insurance in case not all of them will sprout; but i took a chance thinking most of the seeds would germinate.

i biked to walgreens this morning to pick up 2 prescriptions. one of them had been ready for more than a week, i was afraid they might take it back. for some reason they took down the bike rack, so i had to lock my bike to a signpost.

we barely had any customers at the cafe today, must've been the bad weather. we got some torrential rain overnight (over an inch), enough to fill our rain barrels according to my father (though not the ones in front of the house, as we didn't hook those up yet). so this morning was wet, cold, overnight, and very windy. it started to get better later in the afternoon, intermittent sunshine, but the wind never stopped. it was so windy in fact, it kept blowing open the cafe door, tricking us into thinking it was a customer. more than 90% of all the door opening today was due to the wind.

i made some more tea eggs today - 5 - to add to the existing 9. my father had changed out the spice packet. i also collected ice from the ice machine in the basement, scooped them into containers and put them in the freezers.

i left by 2:30pm because i had a 3:30pm doctor's appointment at MGH. i probably could've left earlier since it wasn't very busy. i stopped by the house to drop off my things and left for boston by 3pm, not bringing anything with me.

with the mask mandate seemingly changing overnight (masks no longer required at airports, on planes, and public transportation), it's still good to know that they still make you wear a mask at the hospital. in fact, MGH makes you change out your mask for a new surgical mask (i've since graduated to KN95 and KF94).

i came here to get my right arm checked out. it's been more than a month and i still have pains in my elbow joint. my normal primary care doctor wasn't available, so i saw a nurse practitioner (stephanie), which is basically the same. she did some tests and diagnosed me with tennis elbow. normally it heals on its own, as long as i rest the elbow. that's a little hard to do, because i strain the tendon whenever i type.

nevertheless, it's good to know it's not something more serious, like a torn tendon or nerve damage. she said if it doesn't get better in a few more weeks, then i can call their telemedicine orthopedist for advice, including physical therapy if i need it. i also asked her about my back pain, whether it was a cracked rib or not. she did some probing with her fingers and right away said she felt tightness in the left side of my back, which meant i pulled a muscle there. for the elbow she advised cold press, but for the back something warm. they also sell these braces online specially designed for tennis elbows.

i left MGH by 4pm. i stopped by the veterinarian to pick some medication for hailey. i also took a detour and went to market basket, where i had a craving for sushi and cheese. i ended up picking a package of chicken teriyaki sushi, and some brie cheese with a fresh baguette.

i stopped by properzi way to admire the flowering blossoms again. only today did i realize what they are: they're flowering peaches. i never made that connection because i thought peach flowers were light pink with a deep pink interior, but there are also a lot of varieties with peaches, and some can be pink like cherry blossoms, but only peaches (of the prunus family) can have that deep pink color. just a few days ago online i came across the 'red baron' peach tree, which showed me what other colors peach blossoms can be.

this morning at the cafe i had a slice of toast with peanut butter and some beef broth soup, but that was a farcry from a decent meal, so i was looking forward to the sushi. i didn't realize i got chicken teriyaki (would've preferred some kind of fish), but it tasted pretty much the same. afterwards i cut up some baguette slices and ate them with a brie cheese spread.

around 9pm i got around to planting a second batch of seeds: 9 white bitter melons, 9 buttercup squashes, 6 blue beans, 6 long beans, 6 hyacinth beans. it took a long time to pack the potting soil then soil them in water before planting. in all, it took 1-1/2 hours and i wasn't finished until 10:30pm. i went with white bitter melons because they're more special, as taiwanese bitter melons are typically white. i didn't bother soaking the seeds, it's hard for the water to penetrate the seed shell anyway. i am however using the heating mats to speed up germination. there's some controversy regarding starting bean seeds indoors. last year, the ones we grew inside and transplanted didn't do well, but i think part of it had something to do with the fact that we planted them too early, when the weather was still cold. long beans in particular do best in warm weather. we have enough seeds to plant them outside.

after i finished planting my seeds, i made dinner: spicy korean buldak noodles with a poached egg. i didn't eat until almost 11pm, the delay because i called my mother to give her an update on what's been happening in boston. she said they're leaving for hualien tomorrow.