Keep On Tryin'

Started today with the American Top 40. Casey went back to 1976, this time moving to the fall of that year. Among the hits from early October were the Bay City Rollers' cover of "I Only Wanna Be With You," "Say That You Love Me" by Fleetwood Mac, and "Rockin' Me" by the Steve Miller Band. That week's #1 hit was, according to Casey Kasem, 170 years in the making - "A Fifth of Beethoven," the disco version of "Beethoven's Fifth Symphony" by the Walter Schuman Orchestra.

I had a very long morning. I made a few yard sale stops in Oaklyn and Collingswood, but I didn't do nearly as well there as I did last week. All I found was a copy of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre that I'll probably dub next week. (And that'll be the last dubbing for myself that I intend to do for a while. I've been dubbing things since early August! I want to do a disc for Lauren's birthday in a few weeks, and Mom and Rose have asked for a few things, but I won't be doing any more mass-dubbing until I do the holiday videos in November. After that, I probably won't do anything until the yard sales start up again in the spring.)

Next stop was the Collingswood Farm Market. It was busy but not too bad when I got there, maybe because I was there a little earlier than the past few weeks. I picked up the first New Jersey cranberries and broccoli of the season. Also needed apples (I got the sweetest, tartest little Gala apples!), pears, Colby cheese from the dairy booth, honey from the honey booth, and red Romaine lettuce from the organic booth.

I made a long ride up to Haddon Heights for their town-wide yard sale after I left the farm market (after a few fruitless stops in Collingswood). I didn't get up there until past 11, but the town was hopping. I made all my best finds there.

Picked up nine records:

Two Disney kids' LPs, Mousercise (complete with the original booklet detailing all the exercise moves to do to the songs) and Mickey Mouse Disco. My family had Mousercise for years in the 80s. My favorite song was always "Get the Money (Uncle Scrooge's Money)," miming the Beagle Boys trying to raid Uncle Scrooge's bin!

Neil Diamond - Tap Root Manuscript

Billy Joel - Streetlife Serenade

Hall & Oates - H2O

An RCA Vintage series LP of rare songs from 10s and 20s performers Fannie Brice and Helen Morgan

The soundtrack for the movie version of Cabaret

The Mary Martin original cast album for The Sound of Music (I already have the movie soundtrack on CD.)

A CD of winter/Christmas-themed jazz-New Age music, On a Winter's Night.

The two-disc DVD set for the movie The Aviator, with Leonard DiCaprio as Howard Hughes and Cate Blanchett as Katherine Hepburn. I'm not normally fond of DiCaprio, but the movie is set during the 20s and 30s and sounds like it's right up my alley.

Two books, the 80s Wuzzles story Eleroo's Big Surprise and the paperback novelization of Superman Returns.

A woman in Haddon Heights was selling off her daughters' old dance costumes. Amid the ruffles and spangles was a red cape in nice condition that fit me. I decided it would be perfect for a Little Red Riding Hood costume. I could provide a basket, a blouse, and a stuffed wolf myself, and I could probably find red shoes and a red skirt somewhere. (I need new good winter shoes anyway.)

By 1:30, my bad knee was getting sore and my foot was killing me. It was time to call it a day and grab lunch. Since it was on my way, I stopped at Simply Soups in Audubon for a nice, filling meal. I had a cup of creamy Turkey Pumpkin Soup with Wild Rice, two breadsticks, and a can of Diet Root Beer. It was tasty, just like all Simply Soups meals are, and it went a long way towards refilling the gas tank after riding around three towns for four and a half hours.

I spent the rest of the afternoon at the apartment. I was too pooped to go anywhere else! I hung out online until around 5:30. After that, I baked brownies and made Honey Whole Wheat Bread, the first bread I've made in months. I had salmon, Sweet and Sour Swiss Chard, and an apple for dinner while watching the very strange Rankin-Bass movie Mad Monster Party? and the Bowery Boys horror comedy Spook Busters.