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at what point does a person become a gardener? or maybe there's no definite marker, and being a gardener falls on a spectrum, from having some houseplants on a windowsill, to keeping a large outdoor plot you tend daily. the earliest gardening memory i have is from high school, where i grew some morning glories after learning (from the anarchist cookbook no less) that LSD can be extracted from the seeds. i wrote about it extensively in a nature journal for my biology class. nowadays i grow the typical things one grows in a garden - primarily vegetables like tomatoes and peppers and a few herbs - but my passion is for growing unique plants.

i set out my plants for another day of outdoor sun, in what might be the last day of real sunshine for a while as the weather will be grey and cold all next week.

i went to the community garden in the afternoon, my first visit since the end of march, when i transplanted some larkspurs. the previous gardener contacted me a few weeks ago to let me know she finally moved out all her plants. one great thing about inheriting someone else's garden plot is discovery the plants already growing there. it's been more than a month and a lot of perennials have emerged.

i did some weeding, pulled out some celandines, ground ivy, grass, and mint. there seemed to be a mixed variety of mints, so i didn't pull them all out, saving some until i can get a better id. there are enough preexisting perennials that i have less space for my own plants. but like i said, i don't want to pull anything out just yet, give it a season to see what comes up before making that decision.

as the city hasn't started work excavating my old plot yet, i managed to salvage a few more perennials. i transplanted some more larkspurs/delphiniums and created a new border of garlic chives.

they're paving huron avenue again. not sure if this means the completion of their neverending construction work, but hopefully all lanes of the road can finally be opened.

today house republicans managed to eke by a bill repealing obamacare by the slim margin of one vote. naturally trump gathered all the house republicans for a photo opp. trump was introduced by vice president pence, who seemed more presidential than the actual president, at least more articulate. i couldn't help noticing that they were almost entirely white, and almost entirely male. everyone seemed to be in good spirits, laughing on their pedestals as they pass a bill seeking to take away health insurance from millions of poor and sick americans. i doubt republicans are this heartless, but i think they wanted to pass something - anything - just so they can have a "victory" under their belt, to stop the ridicule, even though it may come back and hurt them come election time. i don't understand why trump thinks obamacare repeal is a done deal when the bill still has to clear the senate by 60 votes, and word on the political street is the senate will not pass the house bill, looking instead to draft a more measured bill of their own, due date unknown.

i did a bit of gardening work in belmont, pulling out dandelions and invasive creeping bellflowers. at what point does an invasive species go from something desired to a nuisance? as far as invasives are concerned, the bellflowers don't seem all that bad, and they thrive in an area of the backyard that doesn't get a lot of vegetation anyway. while i was at it, i pulled up some underground bamboo rhizomes. talk about a nuisance, it's like pulling out a thin pipe from the ground, and it ruins the lawn in the process. the bamboos aren't entirely dead, but as long as we're vigilante for the next few seasons, we can finally remove it. we still have one last clump that we're saving but we're going to dig a moat to keep the rhizomes from spreading.

my parents walked to the auto repair place at the intersection of belmont and grove street to pick up the toyota getting fixed there. a pair of rear disc brakes were getting replaced. my mother ended up returning by herself as they hadn't finished fixing it yet.

karen didn't come home until 9:30pm. she said her work group will be going to providence (rhode island) tomorrow, leaving at 7am. originally she told me provincetown (cape cod), which i thought was unusual, and even asked if she made a mistake and meant providence instead. but she was sure they meant provincetown.