if it's the weekend it must mean my opportunity to get out of the house for a few days to get away from my always-home-roommate kevin. temperature dipped into the 30's last night so i had to turn on the heat this morning. just for a few days, as we're experiencing record breaking cold this weekend. it even snowed early this morning, but i wasn't awake to see it, and nothing stuck around as the ground was too warm.

by the time i left for belmont around 11:30am, temperature was in the lower 40's. that in itself wouldn't be so bad except there was a strong headwind. i had my phone clipped to my handlebar so i could replenish my pokemon supplies. i had 2 wash basins i bought yesterday strapped to the back of my bike. midway in the ride, everything came crashing, including a large glass jar that miraculously only suffered a few scratches and wasn't shattered into pieces. the bins also weren't cracked. in my backpack i was transporting my lotus seedlings, one of them now nearly 7" long; i decided to grow them in belmont, in the 72 degrees warmth of the grow room under led lighting.

i also brought the chinatown supplies i got yesterday. when i arrived my mother made beef noodle soup for lunch. i transferred my lotuses from the quart-size canning jar into the larger jar. it was too cold to do any yard work, though i did take a quick backyard survey. i introduced my mother to ozark and she spent the day watching season 1, nearly catching up to where i am in the series.

my father made shaanxi-style guokui bread. we had it along with hot & sour soup for dinner.

i knew some of our orchids had developed flower stalks but i didn't realize how big the flower buds were getting. whatever we've been doing in the basement seems to suit them well. we give them indirect light from nearby led grow lamps, it's always around 70's in the grow room, and the humidity is pretty high - perfect orchid growing conditions. we didn't even fertilize, yet they manage not only to survive but thrive.