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i warmed up a chicken bake in the oven for lunch, as i prepared for the hasty pudding parade that would happen later this afternoon. normally it'd be on a thursday, but for some reason they moved it to a saturday. last year they had a woman of the year celebration as well (viola davis), but there was no parade due to the pandemic. this year they selected jennifer garner. (in 2020 it was elizabeth banks, 2019 bryce dallas howard).

today is day 3 of my 2nd mung bean experiment. i haven't peeked underneath the cheesecloth yet, but most of the beans seemed to have sprouted. roots have also appeared through the colander holes, i take that as a good sign of germination. i water the beans every 3-4 hours.

i left for harvard square by 2pm. i also packed the rest of my gear as i was planning on taking the bus to belmont afterwards: my computer and drone in the messenger bag, my camera equipment in the lumbar bag. i was shooting with the EF-S 55-250mm, figured having a long telephoto reach was more important than having a wide angle. i left a little early figuring the roads would be icy, but i made it to harvard square in good time.

there were already a sizable amount of people waiting along the parade route, which was surprising; typically not that many show up to the hasty pudding parade. maybe it was the draw of jennifer garner, or perhaps having the parade on the weekend allowed more people to show up.

i waited on that little triangle of land formed by mass ave and harvard street. because the sun was out, i made sure to stand where the sun wouldn't be behind people's heads. so there i waited, as more and more people began to show up. i wore my KN95 mask, even though i saw most people were maskless. normally i probably wouldn't wear a mask outdoors, but the tight crowd made it a risky location. unfortunately my glasses kept fogging up and i kept having to take it off and wipe it clear with my fingers.

the parade started a few minutes after 2:45pm. another source had said the parade was at 3pm, but if you arrived at that time you would've missed most of it. because of the pandemic, i was afraid jennifer garner would be wearing a mask, so all we'd see would be her eyes. but as an actress, her face is her moneymaker, so of course she wasn't going to be wearing a mask, despite the crowd of people.

jennifer garner was a good sport, engaging with the crowd of people cheering her on. at one point she event got them to stop the convertible she was riding in so she could turn back and wave to all the people following her down the street to the theater. the whole procession last probably less than 10 minutes. afterwards i kept on walking, straight underground to the bus stop.

i have a variety of choices when it comes to buses to belmont, but i grabbed the 75 because it was the soonest to arrive at the station. i thought maybe it'd go by the cafe so i can check out the new sign, but the 75 runs down huron avenue instead so i didn't get to see it. i got off at blanchard-washington street and walked the familiar suburban streets to my parents' house.

since i had lunch back in cambridge, there was nothing to do but wait for dinner which would be in a few hours. my father had already cleared the ice from the roof, with the exception of the sunroom, where the ice was firmly attached. hopefully there'll be enough melting that we can trying to remove the ice again tomorrow. i went into the backyard looking for rabbit tracks. i saw some but realized i can't really tell the difference between squirrel and rabbit tracks, so they could be all squirrels.

after dinner my father gave me a ride home.