"The Falling Leaves Drift By My Window..."

Today was my early work day, 9-2. It was surprisingly steady for a day in the middle of the week and the end of the month. Some people must have gotten their money early. It was much busier than when I worked this early last Tuesday. People were in a somewhat better mood, too. Maybe it had to do with the weather. Though it was cloudy and damp all day, it never rained.

People had some great stories. One older fellow talked about doing carpentry and mechanics work for RCA's Camden broadcast division before they were purchased by GE and shut down in the mid-80s. Turns out the father of the woman behind him had worked for RCA as well, and she still had several collectible items with the little "His Master's Voice" dogs listening to the phonograph on them. The man was wearing an old red "His Master's Voice" jacket. (And yes, I know what the dogs are listening to, and it's not an over-sized hearing aid.)

I bought sugar after work (the sugar container was low), then went straight home. Miss Ellie asked me yesterday if I could clear out more acorns from in front of her side of the house, which I did. After that, I swept my porch as best I could. My porch is still pretty wet. I couldn't get all the leaves off, but it looks much better than it did.

Spent the rest of the evening in the kitchen. My cookie jar was empty again. I began a dough for roll-out gingersnaps before I did my outdoor chores. When I finished, the dough was nice and firm and ready to be flattened and cut into shapes. I used the small American Girl cutters. The star cookies burned too easily, but the circle, half-moon, heart, and gingerbread man shapes mostly came out nicely. (A few browned too much around the edges; that's what I get for not paying attention.)

After I finally finished the gingersnaps, I made myself a nice dinner of pan-fried Rosemary Chicken Breasts, mashed turnips with brown sugar, and a spinach salad. Watched the first Ghostbusters movie and the two horror-oriented episodes of The Muppet Show with Vincent Price and Alice Cooper while I baked and ate.