Balance In Philadelphia

It was an absolutely gorgeous day when I awoke this morning. The humidity and hazy sunshine had been replaced by gentle breezes and a sky so blue, it hurt my eyes to look at it. I listened to the Peter Pan Alice In Wonderland record while I had breakfast. To my surprise and delight, it was a really sweet musical version of parts of the first book. My favorite numbers were Alice's "A Curious Thing," the Heart Court's "The Queen Has Commanded," and the dreamy title song that bookends the recording.

After the record ended, I rode over to Collingswood to make a short trip into Philadelphia. I mainly needed to return the pair of jean shorts I bought from Macy's last week with Lauren. They turned out to not fit as well as I'd like...and we both somehow missed the rhinestones stitched onto the back pockets. Ugh. I hate anything on the back pockets but basic stitches. It looks silly. What's wrong with plain old jeans?

The lady at the counter was really nice. I had the receipt and hadn't taken most of the tags off, so she was able to ring up the shorts and return the money to my account with no trouble. She even gave me a card for a free perfume sample. I don't use perfume and didn't get the sample, but it was sweet of her.

I strolled to Reading Terminal Market next for an early lunch. It was only about 11:30 and not nearly as busy as it usually is when I'm there. After strolling the area, I finally plopped down on one of the vinyl-topped stools at the Olympic Gyro booth. I hadn't had a good gyro in ages. Mine was huge, with lots of sauce. Amazingly enough, though, only a little dripped onto my hand, which isn't anything I could ever say about the gyros on the boardwalks in Wildwood. I also stopped at one of the Amish bakeries and bought a red velvet cake roll.

As I had the last couple of times I ate at Reading Terminal Market, I went across the street with my snack to the patio with the odd stone pillars next to Marriot Philadelphia. It was so crowded there, I had to sit on one of the cylindrical lights! I guess I wasn't the only one who felt like enjoying the beautiful day. It was mostly tourists waiting for sightseeing buses and trolleys, but I did see one kid trying to get people to sign some sort of environmental petition.

I made my way down 10th Street to Washington Square, home of one of my favorite stores in the planet, Russakof's Used Books. As usual, they were stacked to the rafters with piles of books, DVDs, videos, and CDs on every subject imaginable. I spent over an hour trying to choose something, but I didn't have much money left, especially if I wanted to do yoga later in the day. I just ended up with a paperback mystery set in modern Key West, Blue Moon.

I still had a little time before I wanted to head back to Collingswood. It was so nice, I settled under a tree in the grassy area outside of one of the Jefferson Memorial Hospital buildings and across from the 9th and 10th Street PATCO entrances and read my book. After a while, I got thirsty, so I backtracked to a Starbucks on 10th Street and picked up an unsweetened tall green iced tea.

When I got back into Collingswood (on a surprisingly full train for 2:30 in the afternoon), I went straight to the Library for my first volunteer session there in ages. There were lots of kids and teenagers arriving even as I organized the DVDs. By the time I went upstairs to shelve non-fiction, there were kids everywhere. The Teen Area had a circle of young people studying together; adults worked with younger kids in groups.

It was still so nice when I left the library at 3:30, I went for a short bike ride in the back area of Collingswood between Haddon Avenue and Cooper River Park. I really enjoyed it. I enjoy my back road rides. Everyone always has something different to decorate their homes, from lavish gardens to blow-up pools for the kiddies to colorful pinwheels and banners waving in the wind.

Stopped really quick at Rite Aid to get a bottle of water, then headed for my first yoga class in over two weeks. The nice weather must have brought people out of the woodwork. There were seven women in Lee's class today, the most I've ever seen in the late-afternoon Gentle class. There was still plenty of room to work on standing and balance poses. I'm getting better at balance poses - I can actually do tree mostly without bobbling now.

It was quarter after 5 when the class finally let out. I went straight home to make a decent dinner of chicken burritos with farm market lettuce and cheese, Strawberry Flummery, and leftover vegetables. Since the weather was cooperating, I whipped up Mint Chocolate Chip Muffins using the Nestle Mint/Dark Chocolate Chips I found at the Acme and the last of the peppermint extract for dessert.

Dubbed the first half of the 1948 Superman serial while working in the kitchen. I've heard a lot of bad things about this, including in the To Be Continued... book on serials I take out periodically from the Oaklyn Library. It's cheesy, the production values are terrible, the special effects are primitive, the casting isn't great, the villain isn't Lex Luthor.

Yes, it's cheesy, but so are most serials. It's all part of the charm. Actually, the casting isn't that bad. I especially love Noel Neill's take-charge Lois Lane. (I don't believe Lois would be portrayed this tough again until the mid-90s Lois and Clark show). I think I like the diabolical Spider Lady even better than Lex Luthor. Mad scientist tycoons who plot to take over the world are sooo overdone. The effects, most done with animation (including Superman flying), were actually pretty nifty. Kirk Alyn was ok as Superman, but was really more convincing as Clark Kent. He and Lois have some nice banter. You can also finally see why she doesn't realize Superman and Clark are one person. She spends most of the serial mad at Clark because he keeps scooping her.

If you like old-time action and don't mind the unusual effects and somewhat cheesy dialogue, this is a heck of a lot of fun for fans of serials or the Man of Steel.