 |
 |
 |
so i went down to the cafe to see if i could find a bigger box. earlier my father had gone to the belmont victory garden to water the plants (it's been almost a week). bacterial wilt continues to spread on some of them: the melons are still hanging in there (about 7-8 fruits might make it) but the cucumbers seemed doomed. he also brought back 2 of the largest zucchinis i've ever seen, one of them the size of my upper leg. i did find a large enough box in the basement and returned home with it.
after packing everything and filling out the USPS custom declaration form, i had some quick yogurt-granola for lunch before finally going to the porter square post office in the early afternoon. there wasn't a line and i managed to get immediate service. this package turned out to be 26 lbs. which cost $96 to ship to norway.
i left for boston soon after returning home, to get a few things from haymarket (mostly to cheaply replenish my supply of blueberries for my breakfast). 
i was originally going to go to chinatown as well, but since my sister and aunt were down there treating tangtang to some dimsum, i asked my sister to check if they had any longans at the chinese supermarket. a simple roundtrip to haymarket takes about an hour. i ended up getting: 4 boxes of blueberries ($2), 2 boxes of strawberries ($3), 2 pineapples ($3), 3 scallions ($1), and 2 lbs. of ginger ($2).
back in cambridge i took a quick shower before taking the motorcycle to belmont, where my mother was already home. i was there to eat some leftover barbecue (2 bbq corn and a hamburger) for an early dinner and then take some home.
my caladium experiment is doing exceptionally well. a nearby neighbor has a caladium as well but it's so stunted one wouldn't 
even recognize them as the same plants. even though i've planted the same variety in the front and the back, they look different: the front caladiums have more green, 
while the back caladiums are more white (which is what they're supposed to look like). i think it's because the front caladiums actually get a few hours of direct sunlight in the early morning, which changes their color; the ones in the back are always in the shade. caladiums are naturally shady plants.
beginning last night i noticed my bathtub was draining slowly. it seems like just 2 weeks ago i treated it with some drain cleaner. i wonder if pau did somebody when i wasn't here? like maybe dump all his frying oil down the bathtub drain? 
because i noticed when i returned home that my bottle of drain cleaner was on the kitchen counter and nearly empty. maybe it clogged and he tried to open it up unsuccessfully. anyway, i went to the dollar store to get some more, this time determined to get a stronger and better brand. i went with the pro-strength liquid-plumbr urgent clear ($5.50).
i home and tried it out, using hot boiling water from the electric kettle once the liquid-plumbr had enough take to eat away the clog. it worked, but now i have to see for how long. as long as nothing weird goes down the drain, i should be fine. i've gone years without having to unclog the drain, and as soon as LJ and her long hair began living here, i've had all sorts of bathroom plumbing issues.
in the evening i went to star market an hour before closing time to get some seltzer (polar pomegranate seltzer, $3/case) and to look for some yogi tea. i had some at the cabin up in maine and it was really good, but i don't remember ever seeing it in stores. turns out they're found in the organic "wild harvest" department of star market. a box of 16 bags cost $6, which is kind of pricey for tea. i'll check whole foods which also carry the stuff, or maybe buy online.
for dinner i heated up a leftover hamburger and watched the preseason football game between the patriots and the buccaneers.
1 i even checked my basement, where i have a collection of empty cardboard boxes for just such an occasion, but none of them were big enough.