Blue and Gold Autumn

It was as perfect of a fall day as one could wish when I rolled out of bed this morning and switched on the American Top 40 re-run. We moved a year to late October 1980 this week. Hits included the title song of the bizarre movie musical Xanadu by Olivia Newton-John, "Upside Down" by Diana Ross, "I'm All Right" by Kenny Loggins, "Give Me the Night" by George Benson, and "Woman In Love" by Barbara Streisand. The number one song that week was one of Queen's biggest hits and most iconic songs, "Another One Bites the Dust."

There couldn't be a nicer day for riding around to yard sales and attending farm markets. The Farm Market was quite busy when I arrived around quarter of 10. They're in their last month and are starting to wind down for the season. The wool yarn booth with the live alpacas is already there. Kids were gathered around a booth for a local animal shelter that was showing off a sweet cocker spaniel mix. Thanks to last month's rain and warmth, there's still plenty of produce around, more than usual for this time of year. I picked up Brussels sprouts, apples, broccoli, cranberries, honey from the honey booth, a green pepper, and bananas from the wholesaler.

I made my best yard-sale finds in Collingswood and Audubon. After I left the Farm Market, I rode to Frazer Avenue a block from the Collingswood Library for an estate sale. Turns out the house had belonged to a dedicated musician who had recently passed away from old age. His children were selling off the contents of his huge, gorgeous, recently remodeled Victorian home...including a massive collection of records! There must have been nine or ten piles of records there, mostly dating from the 50s and 60s. The majority of them were classical or instrumental organ collections (not a surprise, given the large and beautiful organ I saw in the living room), but I did find a few things I liked:

Firestone Presents Your Favorite Christmas Carols, Volume 3 & 4 - I have fond memories of Mom playing her mother's copies of these as we decorated the tree when I was a kid. Turns out I already had Volume 4, but I've never seen 3 anywhere.

Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly

The Greatest Hits of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

Ray Martin & His Orchestra - Witchcraft...!, a collection of instrumental songs related to witches, magic, and/or spells that I thought would be nice for Halloween.

Rode over to Audubon after I finally left Frazer Avenue. Though I didn't find anything at the sale on South Davis Avenue, there was a big blue sign there that pointed out two other sales on the other side of town. I hit paydirt at the one on Maple Avenue. They had a small plastic container filled with vintage 80s My Little Ponies, including several I remembered my sisters and I owning as children. I bought Meghan (the Ponies' human friend), Sundance (who originally came with her), Baby Firefly, and a purple and blue Sea Pony (sea horse-shaped pony you could play with in the bathtub - they even had her pink shell holder). I'm going to clean them up and give them to my five-year-old cousin Faith for her birthday next month. She adores My Little Ponies and really liked the yard sale Ponies I gave her a few years ago.

When I got home, I made a Leek and Broccoli Omelet for lunch, then spent the rest of the afternoon working on the inventory for my holiday music. I got off with plenty of time to get ready to go to work for once.

Work was busy when I arrived, slowing down enough when I left that I was able to head out easily with no relief. I'm glad I switched hours with another cashier who wanted more time with her kids. It was nice to be able to head out at 7PM to have a decent dinner at Arby's, instead of eating at work or having leftovers at home!

I had debated Applebee's for dinner...but this is Saturday night. Applebee's is both a bar and a popular family restaurant. Arby's is always much quieter. I tried their new Angus Beef Deli wrap. The thing was GIGANTIC, with tons of meat, lettuce, and relish in a tasty whole-wheat wrap. It was the best sandwich I've had at Arby's in ages, but it was so big, I couldn't finish it.

And good news and bad news about the schedule this week. Good news - only one day of more than 4 hours (Wednesday) and one day of really late hours (Monday). Bad news - also only one day off, Tuesday. That doesn't leave me a lot of time to get my foot looked at or rest the darn thing.