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with our next snowstorm scheduled for tomorrow, i made my way to the supermarket to pick up a few grocery items in case i'm stuck at home for the next few days due to the snowy road conditions. i even went to the korean supermarket in union square to buy a head of napa cabbage.

after a short stop back at home, i made my way to my parents' place for another night of hot pot. before i left, i bumped into bruce, in town visiting jack for the valentine's day weekend, on his way to the airport back to pittsburgh, when dennis offering to give him a ride to logan.

on my way to belmont, behind the harvard-smithsonian center for astrophysics building on manassas street in cambridge, i heard a distinctive bird call high up in a tree. at first i figured it was just a mockingbird, but the call was strangely unfamiliar (a repeating kyeer call). i stopped the bike and saw the silhouette perched on a tree branch. from what little i could make out, there was enough color to know it wasn't a mockingbird. a cedar waxwing? as i quickly pulled out my camera and changed the lens for a telephoto shoot. the view from the eyepiece told me it was a northern flicker, a species of ground-feeding woodpeckers. i snapped off a few dozen shots before the bird flew away. i followed it to wear it flew off, hoping maybe i could get a clearer look. i looked up on the brick building saw it clinging to the side of the wall. i snapped another dozen photos.

flickers are beautiful birds: striped back, polka-dotted belly, black bid, red triangle on the nape, and males have moustaches. and when they're in flight, they have a yellow underwing. i've seen them before a couple of times at the mt.auburn cemetery.

nobody was home except hailey. i let her out in the backyard, picking up some poop in the process. my sister had bought a paper shredder, which was sitting in the living room. she's grown paranoid about identity theft even though i don't think anyone is trying to steal the few hundred dollars from her bank account. hours later she came home, back from watching a movie with a friend. when my parents came home in the evening, we fired up the induction cookers for more hot pot action. for dessert i brought out the carton of cream puffs i'd purchased earlier.

loaded with some frozen food supplies (my parents had gone to costco earlier), i bicycled back to cambridge before 8:00, eager to get back so i could watch the couples figure skating finale.

france gall - "samba mambo"