Whither the Weather

It rained on and off all day, a light rain that didn't really do much besides make everything damp. I ignored the weather and rode into Collingswood for my first Collingswood Library volunteer session in over a month and a half. I'm still going to take time off from yoga because of my foot, but I miss it when I don't do all of my library volunteering. I'm glad I did it today, too. There was a very big stack of DVDs to file and shelve and a lot on the shelves that needed to be organized, especially the kids' and classics sections.

My library visit also confirmed that my decision to switch internet providers was the right one. FA, the librarian who was behind the counter this morning, told me that the Library's internet had been down for all but one hour of their day. Yes, they use Verizon. I should have switched from them ages ago. They can't even keep their business lines up and running, much less residential.

After I finished at the Library, I headed across the street to Frugli, a resale clothes shop. Like the thrift shop before they shut down, they rely on donations for their inventory. Unlike the thrift shop, they don't just take any old thing. They only keep the nicest, newest, most decent clothes, books, videos, DVDs, and accessories, along with some vintage items in good shape.

I made my first find among the vintage items. Hanging with the polyester 70s dresses and 60s paisley blouses were a really cute apron and pot holder made of red and blue cotton. The apron had a flower print on the blue fabric and was trimmed with red rick-rack. The pot holder has beautifully embroidered flowers on the front. I can always use another pot-holder, and I thought the 40s-50s style apron would be great for my Red Riding Hood costume!

As I explored the store, I also came up with a thin but soft Lane Bryant sweater and a pale orange-peach Land's End t-shirt. Neither item looked like it was ever worn. The sweater still had the buttons in their bag dangling on the inside collar! I found a lightly used jean skirt with ivory and green trim on the bottom on sale with the skirts. It's a little tight around the middle, but I'll just wear a shirt that covers it. It'll be a wonderful year-round skirt (I can wear something warm under it in the winter) and look really cute with the apron for my costume. Everything but the apron and pot holder came up on sale, too. I bought all four for about 31 dollars.

The rain was starting to pick up as I headed down to Newton River Park. It was cloudy, humid, fairly warm for this time of year, and not too windy. In fact, I was too warm as I headed for the CVS across from Newton River Park on the border of Collingswood and Oaklyn. In addition to the strained left heel, I've also had a callus on my left big toe for quite a while now. I finally bought some callus pad removers to get rid of it, along with orange juice to make Orange-Cranberry Muffins later and milk.

Not surprisingly, given the weather, I spent the rest of the afternoon at home. Ran some more Get Smart while I had leftovers for lunch. In the fifth season two-parter "House of Max," Max and 99 travel to London to discover that a wax figure who resembles Jack the Ripper has been seen around town committing murders. This leads them to French scientist and sculptor DuVal's "Cave of Wax," with its gruesome set-ups involving both famous Hollywood figures and scary horror icons. Max does his best to find out DuVal's plot and avoid becoming a waxwork himself!

Switched to The Black Cauldron after lunch while I worked on the Cranberry Orange Muffins. Most people probably don't think of "Disney movies" and "Halloween" in the same sentence. This lesser-known Disney animated feature isn't technically a horror film, but the dark atmosphere is forbidding enough for me to have watched it every Halloween for the past four or five years. A young man in a fantasy kingdom is sent to hide his oracular pig from the evil Horned King, who wishes to use her to find the fabled Black Cauldron. Taran learns an lesson in friendship and what really matters in life when he, a princess with a glowing magic ball, a goofy old minstrel, and a perpetually-hungry little creature, look for the Cauldron and try to keep it out of the Horned King's hands.

This was a first for Disney in many respects. It was their first animated movie to feature nary a song, be rated PG, and go in for really heavy action. Alas, for all those "firsts," it's far from a masterpiece. Taran and Elonwy are not the most exciting characters, the all-important pig is barely mentioned after the first half, and a lot of it just seems jumbled or doesn't make sense. It was adapted from the Chronicles of Prydain series of novels by Lloyd Alexander, and trying to condense a five-book series into one short movie really did not work.

On the other hand, the dark, spooky atmosphere is spot-on. The animation is really quite well-done, especially the Horned King and his castle and his Army of the Undead. There was apparently to have been more of the Fair Folk, but a lot of their sequences got cut.

I have fond memories of seeing this in the theater when it first came out in 1985, but I can really understand why it wasn't well received by critics or most movie-goers at the time. Fantasy fans and older kids who think they've seen every Disney movie out there may enjoy this...but please, it's not for little guys. It earns that PG rating with action movie violence, ghoulish scenes of the walking undead, and at least one character who jumps into the cauldron to destroy it.

Ran two horror-themed Tiny Toons episodes as I did the dishes and a few chores around the apartment. "Stuff That Goes Bump In the Night" and "The Return of the Acme Acres Zone" are anthology episodes with myriad spoofs of science fiction and horror cliches. "Acme Acres Zone" has my favorites - a dead-on spoof of Blade Runner and film noir, a take on old-haunted-house movies with Plucky and Hampton being spooked by a poltergeist working the day shift, and a hilarious take on "Duck Dodgers" that marks the only appearance on Tiny Toons of Marvin the Martian and his protege Marsha.

The weather had changed significantly by the time I headed to work. It was a bit colder and much windier! The clouds had darkened as well, but it wasn't doing anything besides blowing. I made it in and out of work with no problems. I wasn't working a very long shift tonight, anyway.

I heard people at work mention snow. Yes, it looks like we may be getting some snow Saturday night. I hope it doesn't make people go crazy. First of all, it's late October in southern New Jersey. Even if we do get snow, it probably won't stick. Second, even if it did, it's only three inches. It's not like it's the end of the world.