A Rather Blustery Day

And it was an absolutely gorgeous morning to enjoy community events. Though the wind remained, the clouds had mostly vanished, and it was sunny and in the lower 60s when I turned on today's Casey Kasem American Top 40 re-run.

I learned two big lessons after my long trip last week. First of all, I started with a short ride around Oaklyn. I didn't see anything on Kendall and moved on. The next stop was the bank. It had just opened and was dead; I was in and out.

The Farm Market was far from dead. In fact, I think it was busier than last week. This was despite my arriving earlier than I did last week, around 9:30, the wind, and the fact that several booths are already gone for the season. I didn't really need much, anyway. I picked up apples, bananas, kiwi, mushrooms, molasses, and the first New Jersey cauliflower of the season.

The other lesson I learned last week was to stick to the main roads when I'm actually going somewhere. Unless I'm following a sign, I get lost too easily in the back roads. I rode through Newton River Park and down to Cuthbert Road, then crossed Cuthbert, went down to Newton, and rode over Newton and into Audubon.

Audubon was having its town-wide yard sale today. I made a find right away. One of the row houses next to the bridge going over Nicholson Road was having a sale. I picked up the DVD of the first Care Bears movie for a dollar.

I made a few other good finds elsewhere in town. One house had a huge collection of Muppet toys and memorabilia. Most of it was Kermit-related. He's not my favorite, however, and the puzzles weren't in good enough shape to give to my nephews. I got a picture book about Baby Fozzie.

There were sales up and down Chestnut and Atlantic, but I didn't see anything good. I rode over to the high school. Picked up a soft pretzel at the high school's sale for their graduating class. Found the video for Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving at a sale behind the school. That was just re-released on DVD last year, but as with many Disney DVDs, it's overpriced. I will eventually replace it when the price goes down. Got three records (James Brown, the Coasters, John Cougar Melloncamp) at a sale near the Black Horse Pike.

By this time, it was almost noon. Since I was on the Pike anyway, I made my way to the Acme. No, I didn't go in. They were having that big yard sale/bake sale I mentioned yesterday. I didn't get anything at the yard sale, but I did buy a small chocolate cupcake from the bake sale. The proceeds were going to breast cancer research, and I figured I did so much riding in the wind today, I probably rode most of it off anyway.

I rode around Audubon Park and Oaklyn, looking for more yard sales. I found a few behind Kendall, but they didn't have anything interesting. It wasn't until 12:30 that I finally decided it was time to go home for rest and lunch.

I had scrambled eggs with mushrooms, spinach, and Cheddar Cheese from the farm market for lunch. After that, I decided to warm up a bit and do some baking. I made the dough for Cocoa Drop Cookies out of The Betty Crocker Cooky Book and added coconut to the recipe.

I ran Little Miss Broadway during lunch and while I was working on the dough. Typical Shirley Temple vehicle for this era, though a bit more musical than many of them. Shirley is an orphan who is adopted by a man who owns a hotel for vaudeville performers and other show biz-type folks. Trouble is, the crotchety owner (Edna May Oliver) doesn't approve of the noise or what she considers to be "riff raff." She puts out a court order to throw them out of the hotel and sends a detective after Shirley. It takes intervention from the owner's good-natured dancer nephew (George Murphy), her gentle brother (Donald Meeker), and the hotel's pianist (Jimmy Durante) to get Shirley back where she belongs.

Not Shirley's best by a long shot. The songs are mostly bland, the story rather old-hat. It's the cast that saves this one, and is really the reason I rented the DVD. Jimmy Durante doesn't have much to do; George Murphy has more fun, especially dancing with Shirley in the finale and the charming "We Should Be Together."

Since the cookie dough had to chill for an hour, I went for a walk. It was still blustery by this point, but the clouds from the morning had vanished, and it was a bit warmer. I stopped by Uncle Ken's first. Said "hello" to him and Dolores, who were getting ready to watch the Rangers-Yankees game. I apologized for the incidents Thursday and told him I'll be able to see the first half of the Eagles game tomorrow, thanks to my working at 3.

I had a nice little walk. I went to CVS next; needed brush picks. After that, I strolled down to WaWa for milk and a fountain Coke Zero. It was fairly quiet for a Saturday afternoon, but a lot of people may have been getting ready for sports events or out and about with their families.

Spent the rest of the evening at home. I baked the Cocoa Coconut Drop cookies. The batch made so many, I kept half for myself and still had plenty to bring to the Eagles party at Uncle Ken's tomorrow. I also baked a spice cake for the Eagles party. I made chili with ground turkey breast and farm market peppers and watched Bowery Boys movies.

(And at press time, the San Francisco Giants just barely have the lead over the Phillies at the bottom of the 8th, 4-3.)