by then it was well passed 9:00. my mother was glad to see me so early because she was already hungry. my father was at work and my sister was still sleeping and probably wouldn't wake up until 12:00.
one of the first kitchen gadgets i got when i moved to my cambridge place was a waffle maker. my love of belgian waffles began in college, when said waffles were only available sunday morning and only in one particular dining hall (carmichael). it was worth getting up early on sundays just for the waffles. i used to use my waffle maker quite often, when i was entertaining lady houseguests for brunch, but i haven't used it in many years now.
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besides the waffle mix, the waffle batter also contains some oil, eggs, and water. i had a hard time stirring the batter until my mother realized i didn't add any water yet. it's been a while so i forgot, but my cheap waffle maker has a bad habit of leaking batter from the sides. we ended up using some dessert dishes to catch the batter. the waffles came out pretty good and didn't stick to the iron despite not having greased it. we made 3 pairs of waffles, my mother and i each had 2 while we saved the 3rd pair for my sister. i had mine with dusted confectionary sugar and whipped cream and strawberry syrup while my mother added some additional maple syrup. my mother also cooked a while package of bacon while we were making our waffles.
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my new replacement bike pedals arrived last week, a set of avenir resin, which is just a polite way of saying plastic. i finally got the chance to install them, removing the temporary triple trap pedals. the great thing about the avenir pedals is removable reflectors on one side, good for if i ever want to install some toe clips/straps (not that i need them for my trek grocery getter).
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my next project was to plant all the plants i picked up yesterday. i couldn't decide where to plant the hostas. most of the shady spots were already occupied from that large hosta infusion back in april. i decided to wait until my father came home so we could strategize; in the meantime i soaked the hostas in a bucket of water.
i had a clump of pale purple irises which i broke up into 4 individual rhizomes. i planted them by the western side of the house, in a row parallel to the preexisting iris (but rhizome and bulb varieties).
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before i could plant the bleeding hearts and the solomon's seals, i first had to clean up eastern shade garden 2. because it's a shade garden i normally don't have to do too much since only certain plants will tolerant the shade. i pulled up some violets that've gotten out of hand, relocated a few lily-of-the-valleys, and carefully dug up some wild japanese maples (migrated from our next door neighbor's yard) and put them into pots. also saved were a few elm seedlings. 2 money plants i tried to transplant to southeastern corner garden didn't make it and wilted in the sun by day's end.
when my sister finally woke up, i could hear her scolding my mother for not waiting for her before we started eating the belgian waffles. my sister is notorious for getting into fights with my mother on special occasions. when my mother turned 60 years old back in december, my sister was supposed to take her to IHOP but they ended up not going after a fight. i'm not sure what my sister was so angry about, since we saved some waffles for her, and had enough leftover batter to make more - which was exactly what we ended up doing, as my mother and i had an encore serving of hot belgian waffles. my sister - probably realizing she jumped to the wrong conclusion - volunteered to eat the older (cold) waffles.
i mowed the lawn just 2 weeks ago but already the grass needed another mowing; must've been all that rain we got. i also wanted to collect the grass clippings for the compost bin (although i might need to dry them out first because wet grass will get stinky and slimy). the temperature hit the 80's but it didn't feel bad because it was a dry heat. towards the end though, i did start getting chills, which i knew was a sign of dehydration. after i finished mowing the lawn, i went inside and downed a can of seltzer before taking a shower. since my clothes were all sweat-soaked, i borrowed some from my father's wardrobe (including a "i climbed the great wall" t-shirt).
when my father came home after 5:00, i showed him the hostas and he said they'd look good at my great uncle's garden. i wanted to keep them for myself, but after thinking about it, there's really no more room for shade plants in my parents' backyard so i told my father my great uncle could have the hostas.
with 25 minutes to go before we were supposed to go to my aunt and uncle's house in arlington for a mother's day dinner at 6:00, my sister decided she wanted to bake some cookies to bring. we ended up arriving 15 minutes late because we had to wait for her cookies to finish baking.
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my aunt and uncle went with a middle eastern theme for tonight's dinner, with the exception of the soft shell crabs, which was a first for many of us. immediately after dinner was over, my sister told us she wanted to go home. nobody was ready to leave yet, but since we came in her car, she would essentially be stranding us if we didn't leave with her. i was already kind of annoyed with her for not turning off her new cellphone which was beeping every few minutes with text alerts. i glared at her and reminded her it was mother's day and that seemed to shut her up; besides, there was still dessert, and she couldn't leave without her 2 slices of pie.
back in belmont my sister was feeding her dog a piece of flatbread she smuggled out from dinner. my father was cleaning 2 dehumidifiers. i was out in the backyard with a flashlight trying to see if slugs were eating the vegetables (particularly the radishes and asparagus beans; i didn't see any slugs).
mad men: fat betty is back! and spiteful as ever! a sexy episode, as when betty catches megan changing her clothes, or when fantasy rory gilmore housewife comes to pete's office naked underneath her coat to show her admiration. don has definitely lost his mojo, getting into a pissing contest with ginsberg over who's more creative, purposely jettisoning ginberg's ad pitch over his own.