my parents arrived before the agreed up 10am pickup time. lauryn was up by then, preparing breakfast, when i told her i was leaving and wouldn't be back until the evening. i was surprised to see my mother, she said she wasn't coming, but couldn't trust us into getting everything. it was supposed to rain all day today, and i even put the cover on my motorcycle for the first time this season, but it was so dry (though still overcast) that my mother seemed to lose faith in my weather forecasting skills.

we were going to baifu in south boston this sunday for a supply run. instead of our usual route of storrow drive into kenmore square then down mass avenue, i looked up a new route on google map that told us to drive to the science museum, and then get onto interstate 93 to get to foodpak express. we cut through inman square and lechmere, saw all the new construction and businesses popping up in east cambridge.

we got to baifu around 10:15am, spent half an hour checking off items from the grocery list. the only thing they didn't have were medium-sized wumu chinese noodles. we currently still have a case and 4 boxes, which should last us a month or two, but if they don't get new stock soon, not sure what we'll do.

we returned via mass avenue, then onto storrow drive from the berklee music school area. we got to the cafe by 11am, dropped off the supplies, before heading to belmont. we did all this before even noontime.

my father and i were in the backyard inspecting the garden. last night temperature dropped into the 40's and i was worried about the pileas and prayer plants, but they were fine. chinese money plant are surprisingly tough, despite their rather succulent-like appearances.

we also pulled up most of the bokchoi growing in the raised beds as slugs and snails continue to wreak havoc in RB0 and RB1. it wasn't just slugs: a few bokchoi showed signs of caterpillar droppings, though i couldn't find any caterpillars. i did notice baby slugs and snails were living in the rotten corner posts so i removed them from the raised beds.

when we came back inside, my mother had already made lunch, left them for us on the dining table while she retreated to the bedroom to watch her newfound favorite series, FBI. fresh soy milk, braised eggs, ho fun noodles, and youtiao.

earlier i brought in the leaking handle of our old melnor watering wand. there was nothing wrong with it besides the leak. so my father and i tried to fix it. the handle is a solid piece of plastic encased in a rubber grip. we discovered the grip can be removed to an extent, but the thumb flow control was in the way. we tried removing the control by hoping to pry off the cover caps hiding the screws, but the caps wouldn't bulge.

instead my father said if we just cut the rubber grip, we can get to the plastic handle. once we didn't that, we took the handle back outside and connected it to the garden hose. when we turned on the water, it was obvious where the cracks were. the fix would be easy: apply super glue in the cracks, then apply some JB weld epoxy over that to completely seal it. unfortunately our supply of super glue gel had all dried up, so we need to get some tomorrow during the second half of our weekend (though a monday) supply run.

it finally did rain a little bit in the afternoon, but nothing like what we experienced yesterday, even though i thought it was going to be raining for much of the day.

my father made dinner, cooked up the bokchoi we dug up earlier, pan-fried some mackerels, stir-fried some jumbo shrimps. the shrimps were similar in style to our outdoor wok-prepared shrimps, but didn't have that wok-hei flavor. it also stunk up the kitchen something fierce, and we were all choking from the spicy smoke.

i got a ride home back to cambridge. it was raining a bit more now. i found a beautiful garment soaked on the sidewalk, rinsed it off when i got back inside. i discovered it's actual a dog bandanna from a company called lucy & co, and they cost $20.

lauryn seemed to be asleep, even though it wasn't even 7:30pm yet. could she still be jetlagged? even though she'd been here since wednesday night? i didn't see her the rest of the night.

i used the bathroom and took a shower, and got ready to watch game 2 of the NBA finals. the more i watch, the more i like the miami heat. the trick is to forget that they beat the celtics, and to watch the series objectively, and appreciate that they are the underdogs with a real possibility of taking the championship this year. anyway, the heat won, even though the nuggets came roaring back, and nearly stole the game away from miami.

i discovered lockwood & co. on netflix and watched 2 episodes in bed before falling asleep. i like it, despite the fact that it's a YA fantasy. the girl who plays lucy carlyle - ruby stokes - reminds me of florence pugh. unfortunately netflix cancelled the series shortly after its premiere a few months ago, so season 1 (8 episodes) will be all there is.