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this morning i went to rite aid for altoids ($1 a box, regular price $2.29), häagen-dazs ($3 a pint, regular $5.29), and deet-free bug spray ($4.99, regular $6.79). i go there so often the cashiers all recognize me now so i was relieved to find the weekend crew who didn't know who i was ("yeah, that's the guy who comes in here during the middle of the day to buy unhealthy snacks").

i went to the community garden briefly to water my plants. there was about half a dozen people there, including past garden leader anne-marie and current co-leader karen. sharon was there as well; for a woman who's leaving her plot fallow because of high lead levels, she seems to be there quite often. results of my soil sample arrived a few days ago. it was sent to the head of the garden committee who released it to everyone, which i thought was kind of embarrassing. what if i have crappy soil? i don't want that to be public knowledge! fortunately my lead level was low at 274 ppm, but my soil pH was higher than desired (7.0) for vegetables (which is surprising, because underneath a mulberry tree my soil should be more acidic). i think i may get a simple soil pH test kit to double check the results.

the construction on the harris-beacon lot is making fast progress. i see men working there monday through saturday. this being sunday they took the day off, which allowed me to gawk at these rapidly-assembled houses. my biggest concern is whether or not there will be parking on the property. with 6 units going up and assuming each unit will own a car, that's 6 additional cars in the neighborhood that's already strapped for street parking.

riding to belmont, i heard an unusually rattling sound coming from my rear racks. i kept tapping them with the heel of my shoes to see if anything was loose but all seemed solid. only when i finally got to belmont did i see the problem. those special nuts and washers i put on the attachment bolts to keep them from slipping out? well, they didn't work. actually, they had an unintended effect: one bolt actually managed to thread itself all the way in while the other bolt worked itself loose. i don't quite understand the mechanics of what's going on but it appears that the nuts and washers don't work.

my mother was making belgian waffles; i could smell them while i was outside inspecting the garden.

after i finished eating i went back outside to do some work: i turned the compost (constant aeration keeps the rotting grass smell at bay); i moved the blue wheeled recycle bin to the unused southeastern corner of the yard; cleaning up this corner i found a dead died headless squirrel; i trimmed the ivy/periwrinkle ground cover edging of the eastern side of the yard (they're starting to encroach across the brick border and onto the lawn); and i watered the garden twice (until the soil didn't turn dry after a few minutes). i didn't plant any new seeds, i wanted to wait until tomorrow when we buy some fertilizer (manure).

no peony blooms yet. i thought they'd flower last week, but they didn't. the longer the wait, the bigger the buds, which means bigger flowers. i haven't seen any peony flowers in the community garden so it's still not time yet. did i mention these plants haven't flowered since the late 80's early 90's?

those pale irises are all spent, while the western side of the yard is a profusion of deep purple rhizome irises. my decision to split these irises back in fall 2009 was a good idea; now they're doing better than before. i've transplanted some of those irises to the southwestern corner of the yard (besides the orange daylilies) but those haven't flowered yet. not sure if they'll coincide with the daylily blooms but purple and orange make an attractive color pair.

super tired again, i fell asleep on the living room floor watching the heat-pacers game. miami ended up winning, tying the series 2-2 and getting all the sport pundits who prematurely called their demise to revise their standing. the big event is tomorrow night, when the celtics play the 76ers in a best out of 3 series, while the lakers are a game away from elimination.

for dinner my father brought home so leftover sushi that didn't sell today (sushi don't keep well, they had to be eaten today or would go to waste). he also made some scallion pancakes. my sister baked some chicken with rosemary. we also ate some of the kale i bought on friday. kale has never shown up on our home menu before so it was actually a treat. reminded me of spinach or chinese bok choi. it'd probably go well in a soup. you can't go wrong eating more kale!

i returned home with a large bag of salt marsh grass mulch strapped to the back of my bike. my father helped me tie it down with some plastic twine when we couldn't find any bungie cords. it looked heavy but was actually very light, almost like having a pillow for a back rest.

i'd almost forgotten what day it was: sunday = mad men + game of thrones! GOT was setting the pieces for the final 2 episodes. my favorite part was tyrion and varys talking while looking over the castle walls. "one game at a time," tyrion said, loved that. on mad men, i can only say HOLY HARE KRISHNA! paul kinsey returns! so many things to love about this episode, hare krishna being one of them. this was one of those fun episodes, like don and joan "borrowing" a jaguar and going out for drinks, kinsey wanting to write an episode of star trek, and don's speech at the end rally the troops like he's regaining his mojo. the only thing that was sort of serious was discovering lane embezzling from the company to pay his taxes back home in england.