i went down to the community garden in the late morning. even though i was there on tuesday, i didn't do any watering then, and the past few days have been relatively dry. i was also there to trim back some overgrown mints. there was a large hispanic woman with frizzy dyed blonde hair wandering through the garden. strangely enough, she was carrying an empty wire basket decorated with fake flowers, which made me suspicious that she was there to steal vegetables. i kept an eye on her, and maybe because i was in the garden, but she left empty-handed, just took a few selfies with flowers. i managed to collect a few more mosquito bites, one on the neck behind my ear, and a few on the back of my legs. i left with some tomatoes and an eggplant, using my gardening gloves as a makeshift bag to carry them all.

when i returned home it was nearly noontime. since i drank all my milk yesterday, i couldn't make a matcha latte. instead i just boiled some water in the electric kettle and had a maruchan instant cup of noodles for lunch.

i set out for chinatown and haymarket by 1pm. i didn't need anything from the asian supermarkets, but i had a craving for a vietnamese sandwich. the weather was nice, not too hot, not too cold, although later in the afternoon there could be spot showers or even thunderstorms, i wanted to go there and back soon. i visited the new saigon sandwich shop on washington street, which according to google maps was closed permanently, but they were definitely open, though with limited selection. there were 3 people ahead of me in line and space was kind of cramped so i waited outside. the asian woman in front of the line wearing a tank top with tattooed arms was buying something like a dozen sandwiches, that's why it took so long. she laugh embarrassingly as she left the shop.

i remember bánh mì used to cost around $3; now they're $5.50. it's still pretty cheap, but to be honest, you're getting mostly baguette for that price with a little bit of filling. i ordered the special sandwich because i couldn't decide what i wanted. two grandmas were working behind the counter, feverishly assembling sandwiches. one of them asked if i had a dollar when she saw i was holding a $20 bill in my hand. i thought she meant if i gave her $21 it'd make it easier for her to give me change, but then i realized she meant they were all out of dollar bills, and asked if i had anything smaller. fortunately i had smaller bills, and when she saw i was holding $6, she asked if i wanted a spring roll. i thought she meant she'd give me a spring roll so she wouldn't have to give me change, but she still charged me $6.50, so i ended up fishing out another dollar bill. it was pretty confusing.

from chinatown i continued on washington street through downtown crossing, down milk street to post office square, to haymarket. say what you will, downtown is still relatively empty due to the pandemic, so it makes for easy biking, very few cars, and even fewer pedestrians. most of the people is see now are tourists.

last week seems like every vendor was selling cherries; this week a bit fewer, but still plentiful and could be had for cheap. i stocked up: 2x 2lbs. boxes of rainier cherries ($4), 5x 1lbs. boxes of rainier cherries ($10), and 2x 2lbs. bags of bing cherries ($4). i topped them off with some white nectarines (5 for $2) and magenta dragon fruits (4 for $3). i padded my grocery bags with bath towels so the produce won't get bashed on my way home. my mother asked me to also get mini cucumbers but none of the vendors had them this time.

i left haymarket by 2:20pm, got back home by 2:40pm, record time. there were serious cumulous clouds in the sky and rain looked imminent. my mother called asking to see what i bought from haymarket. she said my father was coming over to drop off some pan-fried dumplings in exchange for haymarket cherries and other produce. i had the raviolis around 3:40pm. i went out on last time at 4:40pm, to score some concession prizenewman's own lemonade on sale at star market ($1.47 a carton). i had the pink virgin lemonade and virgin pomegranate lemonade a few weeks ago for the very first time and found them surprisingly good. this time around i got the virgin limeade and half and half ice tea lemonade.

my kenda kenda kwest 26x1.5" replacement tire ($25) arrived today. i was disappointed to see it wasn't the version with the reflective side, but i wasn't surprised; the one that i currently have (with reflective sidewall) was most likely sent by mistake. i'll need to replace the old tire at some point, along with the replacement chainwheel i bought back in march.

i watched the first episode of the second season of ted lasso. i still like the show, but it's starting to feel saccharine. they introduced a new character - the sports psychologist doctor - and so far i'm not a fan.

i didn't have dinner until 8pm, my bánh mì sandwich along with a box of rainier cherries and some half and half ice tea lemonade. the half and half is good stuff, that's now my new favorite drink. the sandwich was just as i feared, a lot a bread but very little filling. the cherries were the consolation prize. i bought so much cherries, i need to eat a pound a day just to finish them all before they go bad. i ate while watching the yankees-redsox game. i feel like i'm getting back into baseball, made easier by the fact that the red sox are currently first place in the division. once again like last night, boston managed to beat new york in dramatic fashion, off of 2 rafael devers homeruns.

i also finished watching zola. movies about strippers and sex workers always seem depressing and never end with a happy ending. this film was actually good though, scary at times, but also very funny.