the temperature was already creeping into the 80's by the time i got to my parents' place by 10:45am. today was going to be a hot day, but not so humid, so it didn't feel that bad. my father came with us as well. originally i thought we were just going to walk to watertown (maybe visit a few ethnic local markets or two) until my mother said we were heading to fresh pond to see the birds. by that she meant the green herons in black's nook, amongst the lotus garden.
round trip it took us 1-3/4 hours to and back. we walked out to burger king, where the entrance to black's nook was conveniently located right across the street. my father walked the slowest, trailing far behind us, but got better the longer we walked. walking the perimeter of fresh pond golf course, we spotted numerous lost golf balls behind the chain-link fence. there was even a ball next to the fence that only my mother could fit her hand through the chain link to attempt to grab it but the rest of her arm wouldn't fit. out on concord we saw an old leathery asian man with long white hair stubbling along the sidewalk seemingly on drugs.
there was an unfriendly asian woman standing on the boardwalk taking photos with her phone. she seemed to be annoyed that we were there and left soon afterwards without saying a thing. we then had the place all to ourselves for much of the time we were there. however the white hair asian druggie came to sit on the boardwalk, and nearly fell into the water. he was rocking back and forth as we ignored him, before he left as well for mellower climes.
my mother spotted a green heron right away, nearly motionless in the middle of the pond, balancing on a large round floating lotus leaf. something crashed into some tree branches near the shore and my father spotted another bird with the binoculars he was wearing. i didn't realize we were going to fresh pond so i brought my shorter 18-200mm lens, instead of my usual 55-250mm, or even the longer 70-300mm photo lens i rarely use. besides the blooming yellow lotuses, the lilypads i saw the last time i was here have also bloomed as well, their flowers floating on the water surface instead of raised on a stalk like the lotuses. as the fauna got used to my presence, i started seeing frogs reemerging from the waters, balancing on logs and lotus leaves. in the water i saw what appeared to be elodea waterweeds, and if i looked closer, tadpoles and fishes. as a trick i head my phone camera up to the binoculars to get some closer photos of the green heron. the other bird hiding in the branches i thought was bittern but turned out to be another green heron.
we headed back home. along the way, my father kicked away some dirt underneath the chain link fence so i could stick my hand through it and grab a golf ball for my mother. we might come back another time so i could hop the fence and collect more balls.
we got back by 12:30pm. my mother said she wasn't cooking today (not lunch, not dinner, suggested i get food from burger king as well left the area), so my father pan-fried some korean beef raviolis. unfortunately they got stuck on the pan so they were all broken up, beef sausages with a pile of stuck-together dumpling skin. i ate them anyway, washed down with some orange-flavored japanese ramune ball soda. it took us a while to figure out how to open it, until my father realized you split the "tee" from the cap to use as a bottle opener. it's kind of a unique design for a soda bottle, not sure what the reason was. i let my mother tried some, she said she saw these drinks as a kid but her family was too poor to afford them. i also had some sesame-filled glutinous rice balls.
i did nothing the rest of the afternoon. too hot to be outside, i decided to water in the early evening before doing some light yard work. instead i took a nap around 4pm, waking up an hour later to spray some immunox fungicide on my plants as i think the serenade i used last weekend had already expired because there was still powdery mildew on the squash leaves. i mixed up 2L (1/2 gallon) of rain water with 1 tablespoon (1/2 fluid ounce) of concentrated immunox solution. i then used my handheld sprayer to first douse the osmanthus before working on the squashes. later i realized that for powdery mildew, you only need 1/4 fl. oz. per gallon of water. perhaps a higher concentration turned out to be a good thing because soon after i finished spraying, the sun disappeared and dark clouds formed overhead, before a brief bout of torrential rain began to fall. once the immunox dries it's safe from rain but i can't be sure if dried properly.
some after the rain stopped - around 5:30pm - i bolted outside to check for a rainbow. sure enough, i saw one on the horizon. it was the perfect refraction scenario: misty rain drifting east while the setting sun shone in the west. excitedly i told my mother about the rainbow but she wasn't the least bit interested. i ran down to the park where i had a more unobstructed view of the sky. it was still raining a little bit, but the clouds were drifting away. ever since i started running again this summer, running short bursts is easy for me and i wasn't the least bit tired or winded. not only was it one rainbow, but there was a faint second rainbow above it. the rainbow seemed to end on the tall huron avenue tower. there was nobody else in the park, i was the only person who seemed to be witnessing this rainbow in progress.
we ended up getting thai chicken rice for dinner, i ordered online, my father and i left to pick it up around 6pm. on the horizon was a monster-sized cumulus cloud, i kept trying to get a better view of it. had i been home, i would've definitely set up the drone to take some photos. what da chick seemed pretty busy, with their dining area filled with southeast asian customers. my order was already ready, i grabbed it and left.
today was the last day of tax free weekend. i ordered a new mattress and box spring for the guest bedroom: sealy essentials sudley 8.5" firm mattress ($250, retails for $500) along with a small size box spring for $200. at the same time i registered with the city cambridge to have my old mattress and box spring taken away. both the disposal and delivery will happen on thursday. after that i helped my parents buy a new kitchen fridge. they got the maytag 21 cu.ft. top freezer refrigerator in white (MRT311FFFH) for $748. add another $50 for old fridge disposal. i measured one last time to make sure the fridge will actually fit before ordering. unfortunately it was on back order and the earliest we can get the fridge won't be until late mid-september, about a month away. that was fine, we weren't in any hurry, and having a few weeks to clean out the old fridge is less stressful. finally i ordered some stuff from temu: a new timer for the one i ruined by dropping it in water on saturday; another wifi temperature sensor; a dog bed (that my sister wanted); a backpack rain cover (free gift). later i added a few more items to the delivery (temu allows you to pad orders as long as it hasn't been processed yet): a smart light switch, and two salt & pepper grinders.
the electric spice grinder arrived. i saw it'd been delivered but forgot about it, until i went outside and saw it in the rain. my father opened it up, said it seemed like good quality - heavy, stainless steel (should be for the $36 we paid for it). we didn't have any spices to grind though, maybe i could assemble some tea egg spices tomorrow for testing.
i didn't go home until after 9pm. with 3 hours left before tax free weekend was over, i did some more shopping. i went to the basement to see what kind of tires i needed for the red spirit 3-speed bike i found a while ago. both tires are in pretty bad shape and needs to be replaced, but after that the bike should be ready to ride. they are 26 x 1-3/8" tires (37-590). i found a set of a pair of tires along with a pair of inner tubes for $47. also with just minutes left before midnight, i bought a set of twin italian striped bed sheet set in burgundy ($26).