i rode to belmont by around 11am. there was a large gaza ceasefire protest outside of senator warren's house. it was quite the production, with a big gaza banner and folding tables set up alongside the sidewalk. i was tempted to get a photo but didn't want the hassle of doubling back nor giving these people any more attention. when i got to my parents' place they weren't home, most likely out taking a walk. i was in the middle of cleaning up the sunroom when i heard my parents and my sister. apparently they set up an appointment to meet up with my sister at fresh pond while she was out walking esmei.
we let esmei out into the backyard. the weather today wasn't bad, temperature in the 50's though a bit windy. i was throwing the ball when i heard rustling sounds nearby and saw a rabbit bolt out from some leaf debris. esmei saw it too and gave chase, not even realizing what she was chasing, just gave in to dog instinct. i don't know if she was trying to catch the rabbit or play with it. the rabbit ran through a hole it'd dug underneath the fence.
we went back inside to eat lunch. my father and sister were eating and it was my first time hearing esmei bark because she wanted food to. unlike hailey we took a long time to figure out what we were doing at the dining table, esmei knew right away we were eating and was angry she wasn't getting her share. later when my mother was eating a croissant sandwich on the rocking chair, esmei sat in front of her watching. she was being very quiet, but then suddenly started barking and jumped on my mother. we all got up to scold her, she cried, then laid down on the floor. esmei has a surprisingly loud bark for a small dog, or maybe it comes as a shock as she's normally very quiet. the only times i've ever heard her bark is when she sees someone eating something and she's not getting her share, or when she hears other dogs barking in distress.
my sister ended up taking esmei home because she hadn't had lunch yet, maybe that's why she was so hangry.
my father and i continued cleaning the sunroom. i brought down all plant related equipment to the basement. i also relocated all the houseplants except the holiday cactuses. the sunroom was still cluttered, but much better than before, with plenty of room to move around and an empty folding table ready to take up all our thanksgiving foods on thursday.
i sprayed neem oil on that one orchid with a slight mealybug issue. i also ended up repotting it because it was tilted and then watering it with some rain water. i organized the pileas i wanted to give away for free and brought them outside so i could remove any dead leaves before watering them. i couldn't find my square led light that normally goes above the water reeds, so i ended daisy-chaining another led strip light. i like the white light anyway, easier to see. eventually i want to phase out all my blurple lights (hard to see) and replace them with white led's.
the last plant related thing i did today was to sort all the seeds we harvested from the backyard: buttercup squash, long beans, giant japanese red mustard, baby bokchoi, cilantro, and of course blue beans. we had hundreds of blue bean seeds, though not of all them were good quality. i ended up dividing the good seeds from the bad ones. i'll still save the bad seeds, they still might have a chance to germinate.
my father made dinner: pan-fried shrimps, salted white fish, and chicken gizzards. the shrimps were okay, but after having tried outdoor-wok-prepared shrimps, i could never go back to shrimps prepared any other way.
i left belmont around 6:30pm. my parents are going on a baifu supply run tomorrow while i'm going to go to the cafe and search for my ramekins. they didn't turn up after we cleaned the sunroom, so i don't know where else they could be. my sister remembered seeing them at the cafe, but when she went to look for them today after returning home, she couldn't find them either. if i still can't find them i'll be forced to use my backup ramekins. passing by senator's warren house, i saw there was a police SUV with blue lights turned on parked outside. the protesters were gone, but looks like the city put a police detail outside in case they come back.
celtics faced the grizzlies at 8pm. this was the first time boston was facing marcus smart after the trade, but unfortunately marcus wasn't playing tonight, out for 3-5 weeks due to an ankle sprain (not to worry: grizzlies play the celtics again feb.4th, hopefully marcus will be healed up by then). memphis is tied for last place along with the spurs and trail blazers, though memphis had the infamous distinction of being the last team in the NBA not to have won a game this season until very recently. anyway, this should've been an easy game for the celtics, but turned out to be a classic trap game. celtics didn't play well - poor offense - while the grizzlies showed some toughness and were out to win tonight. there was also some questionable referee calls that put a halt to any momentum boston was hoping to build. in terms of quarters, celtics lost 2, tied 1, and only won 1. yet still they managed to win, but the last 10 seconds was crazy and the ball was batted around and the grizzlies definitely had an opportunity to either win or send it into overtime. final score was 102-100. the two jays didn't play well, but it felt like we could count on porzingis to "right the ship," and to some extent jrue holiday as well. derrick white can do no long, and sam hauser continues to showcase his talent, going 5-for-5 from the 3-point arc. it was an ugly win, but still a win. celtics extend their winning streak to 6 games with a record of 11-2. porzingis is doing some amazing things on both defense and offense, watching him play is a thing of beauty. and then to think he's actually on our team!
patriots had a bye this week, which meant we were guaranteed not to lose today.