Mother Earth and Father Time

I felt a distinct sense of deja-vu when I awoke this morning and saw a heavy downpour out my window. It rained for most of the morning. I spent the time baking Dark Chocolate Chip-Oatmeal Cookies and watching two of the Looney Tunes movies, 1001 Rabbit Tales and Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie. By the time the latter was done, the rain was down to a sprinkle, the sun was coming out, and my cookies were a little burnt. I hadn't been paying attention. Oh, well. I had other things to do besides worrying about burnt cookies. I had a ham and spinach wrap, a pear, and an Emerald Trail Mix bag for lunch, then headed out to run errands while Mother Nature was behaving.

First on the list was the Oaklyn Library. I haven't been volunteering at them as often lately. I just haven't had the chance to get there...and they're the closest to me! It was pretty quiet when I arrived, just a few people on the computers. I organized the children's picture books and DVDs. Put the Rainbow Fairy Magic series together - for some reason, they were separated all over the series shelves.

It was still raining a little bit when I went in. When I left, I got quite a surprise. The rain was gone, the clouds were breaking up, and the sun was out...and it was hot and humid. It was now too hot for my blue raincoat. I stuffed it, my purse, and a bag of videos, cassettes, and CDs I was bringing to the Haddon Township Library into my basket and moved on.

I rode through Newton River Park on my way to the library. That may have been a mistake. The park is on low ground beneath a hill, and I found myself riding through huge puddles. Despite the rapidly improving weather and the gorgeous greenery, I only saw an older lady jogging and one dog walker out this afternoon. The dog gazed longingly at a pair of Canadian geese on the other end of the park, probably hoping for goose pate for a snack.

There were only a few children's books to shelve today, but they did have a nice pile of DVDs to do, for kids and adults. The rain brought a lot of people out of the woodwork, too. Even as I left, I saw kids coming to the library after school to look for books to read and do their homework.

Made two quick stops at the Westmont Plaza next. I was originally going to buy parchment paper at Super Fresh (I ran out after doing the cookies this morning), but the Acme has a better price. I did get some things to make a nice surprise for Lauren. I moved a few doors down to the Dollar Tree for another surprise for Lauren and sponges.

I thought I saw someone moving in the main building when I passed by Kayla's Garden Center. Apparently, the ice cream parlor was now open. Kayla's sells flowers and other garden paraphernalia in the spring and fall, and Christmas trees and wreaths during the holiday season. (Dad-Bruce says he's bought his tree from them for years.) In honor of my upcoming vacation, I treated myself to a soft-serve German Chocolate milkshake. I settled down in the picnic table swings with the sherbert-striped canopy and rocked back and forth...until I realized I was getting wet! My rocking the seats had sent rivers of water from this morning gushing down. It was actually kind of cool-looking, as long as I stayed away from the worst of it.

It looked like it was getting cloudy again, so I just went straight home. I still had spring cleaning I wanted to do. I ran Sailor Moon fourth-season episodes while scrubbing the inside of the refrigerator. The first was a Japanese take on Roman Holiday - the Sailor Soliders rescue a duchess who has fled her stifling entourage for one day as a normal tourist. In the second, Serena and Rini help a fashion designer who seems to be blocked. Fish Eye of the Amazon Trio wants to be his one and only model, but Serena's request for a wedding gown of her own helps the designer more than she'll ever know.

Switched to dubbing Charlotte's Web as I baked Chocolate-Mint Muffins. (I.e, "what you do with ten candy canes leftover from Christmas - crush them and put them in muffins.") This is the 1973 animated adaptation of the famous E.B White children's book about a sweet-natured pig named Wilbur. To the delight of his beloved human Fern, he's saved from becoming dinner by the very smart title character and her fabulous web-weaving ability. When Charlotte becomes a mother, he becomes determined to help her, and in the process, learns a great deal about life, death, friendship, and real miracles.

This was one of my favorite books as a child (my own copy has been read so much, it's literally falling apart). E.B White supposedly wasn't thrilled with how it condensed and sugar-coated the story, but I've always liked this version. The great voice cast includes Henry Gibson as Wilbur, Debbie Reynolds as Charlotte, Agnes Moorehead as the Goose, and a very well-chosen Paul Lynde as Templeton, the disagreeable rat.

E.B White's complaints aside, the best thing about this one is some really gorgeous music. The Sherman Brothers came up with one of their best non-Disney scores here. One thing I give them credit for is being able to come up with beautiful ballads for stories without traditional boy-meets-girl plots, as they do here and in Mary Poppins. Two of the loveliest songs they ever wrote can be found here, the title number as Charlotte does her amazing work, and the gorgeous "Mother Earth and Father Time."

My vacation officially starts tomorrow. Since Lauren isn't coming in until 6:14, I intend to treat the rest of the day like a normal day off. I'll hit the gym in the morning, then do things around the apartment and run errands in the neighborhood.