i received a community garden e-mail yesterday saying that if you don't properly maintain your garden, you risk losing it to somebody on the long waiting list. even though it was framed as a general notice, i felt like it was directed at me. it's true, i haven't been taking good care of my community garden plot. i was so demoralized by this season's barrage of falling mulberries that i almost gave up.

so i was due for a garden visit. i figured i'd be the only person in the garden on a friday afternoon, but the woman who has the plot next to mine was there too, sitting in her garden with her denim overalls and her yankees cap. she was "trimming" her weeds with a garden clipper instead of just pulling them out by the roots. i'm a good judge of character so when i met her for the first time last year, i knew she was an asshole. true to form, she basically ignored me the whole time we were there. she threw me a phony sounding "hi!" when i was about to leave, like she didn't notice me before. i tried to engage in some chit chat, but she had a terrible habit of challenging everything i said. i gave her several seconds of awkward silence and turned around, telling her i was going back to work.

i'd forgotten that i'd planted some vegetables in the garden. the cucumbers were a failure, but i still had basil and tomatoes. i also had an assortment of hot peppers. i picked off what i could, a pair of ripe tomatoes, a green jalapeño, and a red anaheim.

earlier i went with my father to market basket. i didn't get anything other than a case of soda for him to bring back to belmont. the place was crowded with shoppers stocking up for the weekend. back at home, temperature was in the low 80's and i turned on the air conditioner intermittently. the weather was getting better though, the humidity had gone down.

i had some leftover macaroni and cheese for dinner. chatting with my roommate, i learned a few more things about her: she taught herself to swim a few years ago, finally learned how to ride a bike while in college, has an utter disdain for all things apple and mac, thinks chinese intellectual property theft is a good thing for the US ("now everyone [in china] is more receptive to american culture"), and finds jimmy fallon irresistibly hilarious. by the time i went to bed, it was a comfortable 76 degrees in my bedroom.