Hiking Through Philadelphia

It was killer humid but thankfully cloudy when I turned on the American Top 40 this morning. They flipped back to 1979 for R&B, pop, and lots of disco. Among the hits from early August of the first summer of my life were "The Main Event" by Barbara Streisand from the movie of the same title, "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer, "Makin' It" by David Naughton from Meatballs, "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" by McFadden & Whitehead, and "Mama Can't Buy You Love" by Elton John. Donna Summer also had the other big hit of the week, the title number from her smash album Bad Girls.

My errand run was quite a bit shorter today than it was last week. I had other things on my mind. After a fruitless peek at a yard sale on West Park Avenue in Oaklyn and a quick run to PNC, I headed to the Farm Market for this week's produce shopping. Despite the heavy humidity, there were lots of people and dogs out and about. I saw a cute Westie and Labradoodle playing together, a handsome old golden retriever, and an elderly bloodhound joined by several kids.

The summer harvests are at their height. I saw grapes and plums for the first time this year. There was a peach pie competition just about to start as I was leaving, too. I ended up with white peaches (cheaper than yellow), grapes, cucumbers from the organic booth, carrots, a big tomato and a pint of cherry and plum varieties, mushrooms, and a patty pan squash.

I made my only yard sale find at one of the two Belmont Avenue sales. They had a pile of records for a mere quarter. I came up with four:

Olivia Newton-John - If You Love Me, Let Me Know

Andy Williams - Born Free

Chicago - Chicago Transit Authority

The cast album for the hit 1974 Broadway revival of the comic opera Candide

This time, I went straight home after making my finds. I put everything away. Watched the rest of Garfield: His 9 Lives and Babes and Bullets while making Chicken Marsala and Cucumber-Tomato Salad for lunch. The other two specials on the Fantasies set are even stranger than Feline Fantasies. Babes and Bullets is a film noir spoof with a fairly realistic mystery; His 9 Lives is a series of shorts depicting Garfield in many different animation styles and stories, from typical comic shenanigans with Odie to high drama to dark action.

After lunch, I rode over to the PATCO Station in Collingswood and hopped on a train into Philly. I made lots of different stops today! I got off at 10th Street first to hit Russakof's Used Books and DVDs, one of my favorite stores in the world. Ironically, one of my finds was the comic book adaptation of Babes and Bullets. The other was the last Peanuts specials set I wanted to buy (unless I see something that I really, really want), Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown.

It had rained while I was on the train, and rained hard...but the rain lasted for a mere few minutes. The sun was out when I was pounding 10th Street on my way to Market, and I was hot. I stopped at Starbucks for their new Berry Hibiscus Cooler. Not bad; kind of fruity-tropical, and not too sweet.

Macy's was my next stop. The only clothes I need right now are underthings. I'm fine with everything else until we get into the fall and I pull out the winter clothes. I bought two on a good sale, then went right back out on Market and through City Hall to FYE.

The big FYE on the Avenue of the Arts was a tad disappointing. I didn't find what I was looking for. Neither The Artist nor Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows were on sale for decent prices. (I don't need a digital copy, and I'm not buying one movie for 22 dollars, no matter how badly I want to see it.) I did find An American In Paris new and The Road to El Dorado used for cheap.

Backtracking to the Gallery Mall proved equally disappointing; found nothing at either their FYE or Books A Million. It took me a while longer to get to Barnes & Noble in Rittenhouse Square. City Hall's west entrance was in the midst of repair; I had to go all the way around. After that, I somehow managed to go two blocks past it. I did find a nice little soft-serve frozen yogurt place called Sweet Endings on this trek. It was smaller than the Yogo Factory, but larger than Kiwi Yogurt. I tried the Green Tea flavor with white chocolate chips, coconut, and sprinkles. It was rather tart, and not too sweet; tasted like green tea with too much lemon. The price, thankfully, was on a par with Kiwi.

Barnes & Noble was incredibly busy when I arrived, especially for a weekend. Good thing there was only one item I was looking for. They still didn't have The Three Stooges FAQ, so I ended up with The Three Stooges Scrapbook after all. I peeked at the American Girl books, but I think I'll wait for Caroline's release before I pick up anything new from them.

I was so dead tired when I finally got into Collingswood, I had dinner at Tortilla Press instead of making it at home. I had a delicious salad and fresh salsa, both probably made with farm market veggies. My Chicken Burrito was so big, I ended up taking half of it home with me.

When I got in, I read The Three Stooges Scrapbook and watched Lucy Must Be Traded. Like most of the later Peanuts specials, this is a series of skits, this time revolving around Charlie Brown's infamously bad team. Chuck finally trades the notoriously terrible Lucy for Marcie after Snoopy protests his being traded, but he questions his decision when it's discovered that Marcie isn't really into the game.