A Windy Place

It was surprisingly windy and cool when I headed out today, barely in the 70s. It looked like it rained overnight, but by the time I finally rolled out to the gym around 11:30, it was barely spitting. No matter. We needed any rain we could get. The gym was pretty busy, too, possibly because of the improved weather. There were quite a few people doing cardio with me this morning, especially on the bikes. I had fewer problems getting the arm weight machines.

The Acme wasn't too busy when I arrived to do this week's shopping. Even so, they'd apparently wanted to call me in at 2 - there was a call-out. It was almost 1 when I got there! I still had to get to the bank, too. I wouldn't have time tomorrow. Besides, I needed a lot of groceries. I finally ran out of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, whole wheat flour, and brown sugar. Acme's having good chicken and seafood sales. I picked up skinned chicken breasts, chicken tenders, and a container of shrimp for lunch today. Grabbed blueberries; restocked milk, buttermilk, and fruit concentrate (which was on a good sale).

When I got home, I put everything away and had shrimp and leftover ratatouille and Blackberry Flummery for lunch while watching more Three Stooges. "Three Pests In a Mess" puts the boys in a cemetery, burying a dummy they think is a dead body. Things really get scary when three cops in costume show up to see just what they're doing! And in "Idle Roomers," the Stooges are bellhops who hope to impress pretty customer Christine McIntyre (in her Stooge shorts debut), but wind up tangling with a wolf man who hates music instead.

I made a very quick run to the bank after lunch. The weather remained cloudy and windy, which was fine by me. It was also still very humid...but the rain continued to hold off. The bank was a little busy, but there was no line, and I did get in and out.

When I got home, I had enough time to get some things organized, pack lunch, change, and start A Summer Place. Oh boy, are we in both the 50s and soap opera territory. A wealthy couple (Richard Egan, Constance Ford) and their daughter (Sandra Dee) come to a dilapidated Maine inn owned by a lush (Arthur Kennedy) and his sensible wife (Dorothy McGuire) and their son (Troy Donahue). MacGuire and Egan were lovers years before, and while they renew their affair, the kids fall heavily for each other, too. Trouble is, their conniving spouses won't let the kids go, and Ford has repression issues wide enough to fill the Atlantic Ocean. Will the lovers ever find a "Summer Place" of their own?

If you love other Technicolor melodramas of the 50s and early 60s like Madame X or Peyton Place, you'll adore this one. There's no denying that it's dated as heck, but some really good performances (including Egan and Dee) cut through the mush at times. There's also the lush Max Steiner score, which is probably the best-known aspect of this today; the instrumental theme tune was a huge hit in its own right.

Work was far less fun. The cashier who took my order this morning insisted it hadn't been busy, and it wasn't bad when I was there...but I came in at rush hour, and it was packed then. One of the managers said it was busy before that, too. Everybody must have come out of the woodwork now that the weather is more tolerable. It was crazy up through the end of rush hour, off-and-on busy thereafter.