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i bumped into one of the new owners of the former LG restaurant at haymarket this afternoon. she asked me what i was buying and took me to a few of the vendors she knows so i could get a better deal. they knew her well enough to let her rummage through their boxes behind the counter, picking the best produce. i also got some free samples, which i refused at first, but fresh fruit was literally shoved into my face so i couldn't say no. later i helped her carry some boxes to the parking garage, where she parked her car. she was very apologetic for making me working (even though i volunteered), and gave me a bag of cherries as compensation. afterwards i took a tour through the north end again, cutting across the greenway, which on a sunny summer day get crowded with sunbathers (not sure if that was the original intention of the park designers). from the shoreline of the north end i could make out a few tall ships in town for the weekend. ships really aren't my thing and seeing the crowd of people, i didn't really want to wait in line to get onboard.

i made my way to the cafe to drop off some supplies. my father took me back to LG, where renovation work had already begun in the basement. i then went to belmont, to see the dog and tend to my garden.

a new variety of caladium joined the ranks of the white queens, the john peeds, the candidums: i think it's a "fire chief," with its green margins, red veins, and splotches of white, pink, and green on slightly peach-colored leaves.

hailey never goes down into the basement because she's afraid of the long stairs. but the backyard stairs are much shorter so i carried her down to let her know it's okay. she seemed kind of freaked out and ran right back outside, having no problems navigating up the stairs. we managed to coax her back down with some dog biscuits. she then went around the basement smelling everything. we tried to get her to go up the longer set of stairs leading into the house, but she was too afraid. we finally had to let her out through the back.

my parents already ate by the time they came back home in the early evening, but brought me some leftover noodles for dinner. my father was trying to disassemble a dead toshiba laptop he found at LG, to see if the motherboard was fried or maybe just the power adapter needs resoldering. later the whole family went to the newly renovated watertown target. somebody forgot two cases of soda on the bottom of an abandoned shopping cart; my parents quickly procured said soft drinks. we spent the next hour and a half just browsing the multitude of aisles, accumulating a carriage of stuff. target expanded so much that they didn't have enough products to fill all the store shelves. they bulked up their food section and created the most extensive frozen food selection i've ever seen. lit by white LED's, the lights operate on a motion sensor that turn off when nobody's around. there's even a new diary section and shelves of fresh bread. if they ever decide to add produce and fresh meat, you won't be able to tell it from a supermarket. we finally left around 9:30, passing by an in-store starbucks cafe.