a busy day in the community garden as a lot of gardeners were taking advantage of the nice weather to work on their plots. i was there to plant half a dozen nasturtiums.

some of the morning glory seeds i planted in the community garden have emerged. they're different from the wild morning glory seedlings i have in the garden with their longer leaves. not sure if they'll survive though, the place is a killing zone for young seedlings; i noticed bits and pieces of the leaves have already been eaten.

i have chinese lantern plants growing in my garden. there was a time when i thought they'd been killed during the winter, but left undisturbed, they've resprouted once again, bigger than before. i can see how they can become invasive. chinese lantern flowers are white, but become orange when they mature into the lanterns. related to potatoes, they've attracted the unwanted attention of 3-lined potato beetles, and a severe infestation could defoliate the plants. i'm thinking about whether i should do some hand picking of the beetles and their eggs.

giving my legs a rest, i motorcycled down to belmont in the afternoon. i went with my mother to fresh pond to do some shopping at cvs and trader joe's.

the hot weather triggered a flash thunderstorm. i was a little worried about my motorcycle; since i got it last fall, it's barely touched the elements, spending rainy days safe and dry under cover. after the rain, my mother convinced everyone to take hailey out for a walk. she promised my sister, who's away this weekend at an indian wedding. my mother has also been obsessed with peonies since returning from china ("mudan" flower in chinese), and wanted us to see some nice ones she's spotted around the neighborhood. my father had a hard time controlling hailey, who wanted to jump into traffic and chase every single car that drove by. my father also informed me that the chinese peony seeds we've been trying to induce germination have all grown moldy (meaning the seeds were bad to begin with).

my mother made "three cups chicken" (sanbeiji) after watching a how-to video online. she used the package of basil i got yesterday from haymarket.

when i came back home my favorite parking spot had been taken. i ended up parking in front of my house, taking up a whole car space. i watched game 6 of the western conference finals. it only got interesting in the final minutes. as much as i hate kobe bryant, he consistently delivers in the clutch. laker wins the game and the series. game 1 of the lakers-celtics final starts on thursday.