even though the temperature was in the 50's this morning, i wore shorts anyway. i'm on a shorts kick after discovering 2 long-lost pairs at my parents' place. i figured if i wore something long-sleeved it would provide adequate thermoregulation. besides, if it rains when i return home, i won't be caught in wet pants (just wet shorts).

it was already drizzling ever so slightly when i biked to belmont. i wore just enough so i wasn't even sweating when i arrived. even though i had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, my mother still made me some rice noodle soup.

once it began raining steadily in the early afternoon, i went out into the backyard a few times to investigate the garden. the rain barrels were getting a good workout. i noticed the triple barrels weren't connected yet so only one of the barrels was actually filling up with rain; i turned on the remaining spigots to tie the 3 barrels together. i think one of the black barrels is leaking but it's too late now to fix it; i have to wait until it stops raining to check, and then recaulk the spigot base with some silicone.

the rainstorm meant not having to water the garden today. if the raised beds seemed dry, they'll be plenty satiated once the rain stops sometime tomorrow around noontime. the official prediction is the greater boston area will get 2" of rain. that's still not enough to get back to normal since we're 8" below the average rainfall amount for this month.

all the shasta daisies have germinated indoors. that didn't take long, just a week. i have 12 containers, but it looks like these daisies have a high germination rate because all the seedlings have sprouted. i've learned my lesson, i'll thin them out early before i can too attached. something i've never seen before are sage flowers. several buds have developed, i'm curious to see what the flowers look like.

just from seeing them in my neighborhood, i knew the lilacs were out. also the wisteria are beginning to bloom (no photos yet). this season there doesn't seem to be as many money plant flowers; i saved a few seeds from last season (to grow in my own garden) but i can't seem to find them now. i'm astonished by how fast the peonies are growing. they definitely like their new sunnier western home instead of their old shady eastern home. last year was their 2nd year at this new location and they produced a bunch of flower buds so i was ready for a show. little did i realize, every single one of those buds would shrivel up and die. now in year 3, hopefully these peonies are bit stronger this season to produce a few viable flowers.

in the late afternoon i got in a fight with my sister. she's been going on another spending spree with money she doesn't have. i told her to return a few things. at first she agreed, then she changed her mind. she went out and when se came back with more bags from another shopping trip (including the place i told her to go to return things from her previous purchase), i just lost it. i was so mad i could've torn out fistfuls of hair. i collected all her things from the living room (and there was a lot, the house is pretty much filled with her things, and my parents just have a little space for themselves) and tossed it into the small bedroom which has been her horder's cave since forever. instead of confronting her problem, she packed up her dog and left the house. maybe in past she could've spent the night at some friend's place, but she's burned most of her bridges so we knew she couldn't get very far. she came back later after we finished dinner.

the storm coverage was so massive that there wouldn't be a break in the rain until sometime tomorrow. i had no choice but to ride back home in the pouring rain. nobody volunteered to spare me such a fate by giving me a ride home; i would've probably refused anyway, since i relish in suffering the elements. i came prepared, with trash bags to cover up my things and a poncho to keep at least my upper body dry. it was cold and wet and dark and i was also wearing shorts. the time it took me to load up my bike i was probably already soaked. at one point i wondered if it'd be easier if i just rode the bike in the nude, since my waterlogged shorts felt heavy and wet. i did warm up after a while, but it was still miserable, as i listened to the raindrops beating on the hood of my poncho with the additional soundtrack of my sputtering panting.

i changed out of my wet clothes when i got home and took a hot shower. even though most of my body was soaked, the poncho kept my t-shirt dry. think of how much dryer i could be if i had a pair of rain pants! i promised myself i would buy a pair, but i say this every time i ride in the rain and it hasn't happened yet.

finally, a weird episode of mad men. roger is dropping acid, peggy is giving handies in dark movie theatres, and don is in search of his wife who may or may not be dead. i really thought megan might've been murdered, but in hindsight that probably wouldn't have happened, given how howard johnson was prominently featured and the hotel chain would've been angry if one of their inns was the location of said killing. the whole episode left me sort of confused and kind of questioning what the showrunners were trying to accomplish. if any good can come of it, at least finally don is being officially called out (by cooper no less) for not having his head in the advertising game. watching a complacent don is not the reason why i signed up to watch this series in the first place!