By the Beautiful River

After almost a week of killer heat and/or humidity (and previous weeks of more heat), I opened the door this morning to find an 80-degree day. By the time I'd finally made it to breakfast, any remaining humidity and clouds had dissipated, and the sun shown through the trees bending gracefully over my porch.

I spent the morning reading The Stolen Sapphire and Gangsters at the Grand Atlantic and listening to summer/vacation-themed Broadway cast albums. I also got to vacuuming my apartment; I'll dust on my day off tomorrow. I ran the Shirley Booth 1953 vehicle By the Beautiful Sea and Carol Channing's first major hit Gentlemen Prefer Blondes this morning and the 1971 cast album for the famous revival of No, No, Nanette when I got home from work.

I liked Gangsters and Sapphire (which were, interestingly, written by the same author). I enjoyed Gangsters somewhat more for an unusual storyline involving rum-running and what people will do to keep up with the rich (and because I'm more into the 20s than the Victorian era), but Stolen Sapphire has a touch of Indiana Jones mysticism to it's plot about a sapphire disappearing during a cruise and Samantha and Nellie getting involved with the mystery when their French teacher is accused of the crime.

Work was on-and-off steady, not a surprise on a beautiful day. Also not a surprise was a few people calling out or not showing at all. It's a good thing we were dead when I left. My relief still hadn't arrived.