Balance In the Snow

I felt well enough by early this morning to go to yoga today. I overslept and just barely made it, though! I'm glad I finally decided to go. We worked on hip openers, back stretches, and hand stands today. Not my best moves, but I'm trying.

Went straight to the Collingswood Library after class let out. There was a big pile of DVDs to put away and shelve when I got in. The DVDs needed to be organized, too. The kids' shelves and the drama section looked awful. (The dramas had a lot of action movies mixed in, for some reason.)

It was sunny and very cold today! Made for quite a brisk ride. The main roads are completely clear, though. Not so much the back roads. I still had to dodge a lot of ice on Manor and other side streets, especially this morning. It was a little better this afternoon.

I finished watching The Inspector General and made Dark Chocolate Mint Chip Cake (Betty Crocker Dark Chocolate Cake mix with mint and dark chocolate chips) after I got in. The Inspector General is another Danny Kaye vehicle. This one reminds me a lot of The Court Jester set in 19th-century Hungary instead of medieval England. Kaye is a bewildered, illiterate peasant who is mistaken for the king's Inspector General by a corrupt town. At first, Kaye is just happy to have a meal and the attention of the flustered mayor (Gene Lockheart) and his delighted wife (Elsa Lanchester). When his former master Yakov appears (Walter Sleazak), he encourages the peasant to help the townspeople...but he may have something else in mind for the bribe money the mayor gives him.

One of the things that I like about Danny Kaye is that, unlike many comedians, he's a natural for period pieces and is as at home with a sword as he is a microphone. Indeed, along with Court Jester and Hans Christian Anderson, this is one of his best and sweetest vehicles. I like how he just can't lie about the real Inspector General at the end...and how that touches the Inspector.

I ran one of the Bowery Boys movies, Trouble Makers, while the cake was in the oven and I was having a peanut butter and apple butter sandwich for lunch. The Boys spy a man being strangled through the telescope they're using to drum up money and tell their friend Officer Gabe Moreno about it. Unfortunately, the "corpus delicious" is gone by the time they arrive at the room. After meeting the deceased's grieving daughter, Sach and Slip decide to work there themselves in order to flush out the killer.

Went to work right after Trouble Makers ended. Work was exactly the same as yesterday - steady during rush hour, otherwise dead as a doornail. My relief was on time, and there were no major problems.

There was a package on Miss Ellie's porch when I got in. My Land's End order had finally arrived! When it became quite apparent to me that those snow boots Miss Ellie gave me last summer were lemons, cracked and old and not likely to keep the water from a tiny puddle out, I finally broke down and ordered a pair of real snow boots. These are made of waterproof suede and jacket material, with fashionable big buttons on the sides. They're turquoise, the only color I liked that came in an 8. I checked them tonight, and they fit just fine, snug but with room for thick socks. I also ordered a terracotta (ie, soft orange) mock turtleneck.