Welcome Back, Library

Started off my day with my first official volunteering session at the Haddon Township Library in two and a half months. They finally re-opened yesterday. I had to square something with them, too. For some reason, someone forgot to sign in a Calvin and Hobbes comic book I know I returned...right before they shut down. Yes, the comic book was on the shelf, where it's probably been since they closed. Thank goodness they got it off my record.

I worked on organizing the children's DVDs, then took out several myself. I grabbed one of the shorter Max and Ruby sets, an collection of Angelina Ballerina episodes on working together, and the newest Shaun the Sheep collection. The adult movies I took out were the 1974 The Great Gatsby with Mia Farrow and Robert Redford, the 1950 Father of the Bride with Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor, and National Treasure 2 with Nicholas Cage.

After a brief stop at Dollar Tree for cards for my nephew and biological father's birthdays, I rode over to Audubon. It was such a nice day for a trip, I thought I'd eat at Simply Soups near Willie the Woodsman and Wife's. Though it was in the lower 90s, it didn't feel like it. It was beautifully breezy, with absolutely no humidity at all. I enjoyed my cup of Italian Wedding Soup, breadsticks, and can of Coke Zero.

Went straight home after lunch. There were a lot of things I wanted to do around the apartment. I glued a couple of new recipes into my recipe file. I finally stuck the pieces onto the Acme Giveaway Game board. I listened to my new Golden Treasures oldies record set. I dusted the apartment. I tried to make a zucchini-carrot "griddle cake," that is, a cake cooked in a pan on the stove...but I think I made too much batter and couldn't turn it over. It got mushy and a bit burnt on the bottom.

Ran Max and Ruby and Sean the Sheep after the records ended. Only two of the Max and Ruby episodes were new to me, but they were really cute. "Super Max's Cape" had Max and Ruby babysitting for their neighbors' baby while they set up their picnic. Baby Huffington seems to be cranky and unhappy with his old blue blanket. Could Super Max (and his red cape) help out? And in "Emperor Max's New Suit," Max and Ruby put a spin on "The Emperor's New Clothes" when Max refuses to choose a new outfit.

Sean the Sheep and his pals had some noisier fun. In "The Big Chase," Timmy the Lamb steals the farmer's new motorcycle...which leads everyone in the barnyard, from Sean and Bitzer the dog to the Naughty Pigs (in a pink car!), on a wild ride after him! Bitzer has his own messy problems in "Bitzer from the Black Lagoon" when he falls in a mud-puddle and the sheep mistake him for a monster. Sean and the other sheep hide a mouse from the nasty cat in another horror spoof, "Hide and Squeak." The cat and his claws provide some nice ribs at slasher flicks and jump-and-boo scares.

Put on the more genial Father of the Bride as I made chicken mini-cheeseburgers, sweet farm-market-fresh corn-on-the-cob, and ratatouille for dinner. If you've seen the 1994 version of this film, you know the drill. Dad (Spencer Tracy) is shocked to hear his beloved daughter (Elizabeth Taylor) is getting married to a guy they hardly know. Mom (Joan Bennett) is fine with it; her beau is sweet, and he really does love her. As the bills mount and the wedding gets bigger, will Tracy learn to cope with losing his little girl..and the woman she's become?

This is one of the few films where I equally recommend the original and the remake, for the same reasons - both feature excellent casts having a fine time with a rare comedy to show something that many real-life fathers go through.

Put on Angelina Ballerina as I cleaned up from dinner. Learning to work together is the theme of In the Wings. My favorite was "Two Mice On a Boat." Angelina isn't a happy camper when she's assigned to work with local bully Sammy on the decorations for the local boat pageant. Angelina wants to be a swan princess; Sammy's determined to build a pirate ship. Will their boat end up in shallow waters...or will they learn to compromise?