a quest to purchase another skein of stitch studio mystic waves yarn momentarily diverted me from painting this morning. it took me forever to get to assembly square - stuck behind a slow-driving minivan then crossed path with a funeral convoy. getting across somerville and cambridge to belmont was delayed again by yet another funeral convoy. was today an auspicious day for interment? i didn't get to belmont until 10:45am.

today was more edge painting: my father with the large brush, me with my smaller stain brush and foam brush. we worked on the southwestern corner of the house. we're filling in the edges because that's the hard part; rolling is easier and much faster, so we're saving that for last. besides, efficient rolling requires pouring the paint into a tray, which has a tendency to waste paint. nevertheless, we got enough edging done that there was nothing else left but to roll. so my father used a smaller roller - one that can fit into his paint bucket without requiring a tray - and started rolling the western side of the sunroom.

my father stopped working around 2pm (to get ready to leave for the cafe), while i manned the roller, painting the wall from the rear entrance to the back of the garage. when the paint in the bucket wasn't enough for the roller, i used what was left and edges a few high areas of the western wall until there was no more paint left. i finally stopped working by around 3pm.

i went out again briefly to coat the old doorbell plate with some black spray paint. maybe it would've been easier to buy a brand new doorbell kit. but the old plate was perfectly fine, just needed a fresh coat of paint, so i only needed to replace the doorbell button itself. i was in a rush to get this done because we needed to install the doorbell for tomorrow night, when the trick or treaters will be out.

my mother brought home some leftover peking duck heads from the restaurant to make some duck broth. at one point she asked me to go outside and pick some kale leaves from the garden. after she washed the leaves, she put them into the broth. later she saw a small green caterpillar crawling in the sink. when we looked at the mesh strainer, there were 2 more caterpillars. at that point i came to two realizations: 1) so that was what's been eating up my kale, and 2) chances are there were probably more caterpillars on the kale that's now cooking in the broth. long story short, we eventually did find a few more cooked caterpillars.

i have no qualms about eating insects, and a caterpillar that's been feeding on nothing but kale is essentially kale anyway. but after i finished eating my duck broth rice noodles, i did feel a bit nauseous. my mother stopped eating halfway through. but at least now i know what's been eating my kale (cabbageworms). nothing that an application of BT won't kill off organically.

i had a feeling ana wouldn't be home in a friday night and sure enough the house was empty. i went out briefly to the dollar store to get some parchment paper i saw the last time i was there (for my membrillo recipe). i came home, took a shower, then spent the rest of the night watching television and surfing the web.