Glory Days

Though it was still fairly hot when I awoke this morning, it wasn't anything like yesterday. There was a wonderful breeze as I ran the Casey Kasem American Top 40 re-run on WOGL and ate breakfast. The haze was gone, and it was sunny and clear again.

It was a gorgeous day for bike riding. There were tons of yard sales again. I stopped at one in Collingswood on Linwood Avenue and picked up a Lena Horne CD. I rode around Knight Park looking for more in the neighborhood, with no luck. I did get to see a local marathon, though. I think it was either just starting, or just beginning. I saw people walking and jogging around the park, and a crowd of people with tons of water at the baseball fields.

Went to the farm market next. Oddly enough, it didn't seem as busy as usual. Maybe it was just because I was there earlier than I have been over the past few weeks, around 9:30-quarter of 10. Plums were gone, but I was able to easily get apples, pears, cucumbers, green beans, carrots, tomatoes, peach butter, and the first acorn squash of the year.

I saw a sign for a yard sale on East Knight Avenue, just off Haddon Avenue in Collingswood. I took a few wrong turns, but I finally found East Knight...and discovered the second street-wide yard sale in two weeks. As with East Clinton last week, every couple of houses had items for sale. Once again, I really hit the jackpot. I found a cute hand-made shamrock-print dress with green rick-rack trim for Molly at one house. (Perhaps making up for missing the AG clothes at the yard sale last week.) Another house yielded two American Girls books I didn't have, Happy Birthday, Felicity and Changes for Kirsten. I got three Care Bears for two dollars at a house near Haddon Avenue - a sparkly Friend Bear, a small Good Luck Bear with Velcro on his paws, and Loyal Heart Dog the Care Bear Cousin.

Speaking of Care Bears, my best find was at a house on the other end of the block. They had a whole basket of 13-inch stuffed Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins from the 80s. Alas, I only had the room and the money for one. I chose Gram Bear. The grandmother figure in the 80s movies and Care Bears Family is a sweet gray bear with a gorgeous tummy symbol of a rose bouquet with a golden ribbon. Gram is one of the few original 80s Care Bears who hasn't been seen in any of the subsequent revivals, including the 2007 one, which is why I opted for her.


Here's what my Gram looks like. She originally came with a pink shawl in the 80s. I could probably crochet her one.

I was low on money and on space by the time I left East Knight Avenue. I made one more quick yard sale stop on Ridgeway Avenue in Oaklyn, then went home. I put everything away. I had yogurt, peanut butter, and tomatoes for lunch. I watched Bowery Boys movies.

I hadn't planned on going anywhere else this afternoon...but it was a beautiful day and I got bored sitting inside. I decided to head to Westmont to check out a street fair I saw mentioned on a banner near the Haddon Township High School.

After a few wrong turns, I finally arrived at the street fair on Crystal Lake Road and West Park Road. It was really fun. Part of West Park had been blocked off and filled with booths for various community activities, games, food vendors, and a few craft tables. There were tons of bouncy houses and a couple of small rides for the kiddies, including a real working merry-go-round. There was a short classic car show. I loved the magenta-and-white 1955 Chevrolet.

I headed for the Haddon Commons Shopping Center on Cuthbert Road next. I first checked out Dollar General. That place was disappointing. Other than some decent Halloween decorations, they were really cleared out. I hope that doesn't mean they're closing. I really like that place. They have great decorations, the area's widest assortment of cheap spices, and they're the only place I can find a dollar shower curtain that matches my bathroom.

My next stop was the Westmont Acme next-door. I forgot eggs, canned pumpkin, canned tomatoes, and oatmeal on my trip yesterday. I like the Westmont Acme. It's smaller than the Audubon Acme, but clean. It doesn't look as modernized. It reminds me a lot of the Cape May Acme when I was little. The registers are really cool. You can turn the bottom half so you can bag groceries without having to reach for them.

Since I now had eggs, I decided it was finally time to go home. I rode back to Oaklyn via Newton River Park, enjoying the gorgeous day. This time, when I got in and put everything away, I opted to crochet and watch Arsenic and Old Lace instead.

Arsenic is about as close as I get to classic horror. It's apparently based after a hit stage farce, and very much looks it. A drama critic who has written several books against marriage has just married the girl next door. He goes home to celebrate with his maiden aunts and crazy uncle Teddy, who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt. But as the night wears on, he discovers that Uncle Teddy may be the sanest person in the house as more than one skeleton comes out of the closet, including a brother whose face has been remade to look like Boris Karloff's. And those sweet elderly aunts of his aren't as sweet as they look...

This is one of the very few movies I've ever seen to be out-and-out set around Halloween, and as such, is quite a bit of fun if you're a fan of farce. Cary Grant has a fine time with all the door-slamming and phone-slamming, and Raymond Massey and Peter Lorre make for as ghoulish a pair of comic sociopaths as one could wish.