I Love to Cry at Weddings

There were still clouds leftover from last night when I started this week's American Top 40, and it looked fairly damp on my porch. Casey Kasem warmed things up nicely with the most popular songs of mid-August 1976. Hits from that Bicentennial summer included "Afternoon Delight" by the Starlight Vocal Band, "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight" by England Dan and John Ford Cooley,  "Let Them In" by Wings, "This Masquerade" by George Benson, "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" by Lou Rawls, and "A Fifth of Beethoven" by the Walter Schumann Orchestra. The number one hit that week, and for three weeks prior, was the classic Elton John/Kiki Dee duet "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart."

By the time Elton and Kiki were winding down, the weather had turned from dismal to gorgeous. It remained a tad humid, but the clouds were rapidly vanishing, replaced by sunshine, gentle breezes, blue skies, and lower 80s temperatures. I made a quick stop at the bank, then went looking for yard sales. I didn't find much, but that's common for this time of year. One sale on Oakland was at the same apartment complex I found Belle at last week. They had new items out, but this time, there was nothing of interest. I couldn't even find the one at Lees Avenue in Collingswood; they must have been scared off by the weather earlier in the morning.

My next stop was the Farm Market. It was very busy there, as usual. Several more varieties of apples and plums debuted this week, including the first Galas of the year. I just ended up with blackberries to make cobbler later, the small Gingergolds, white peaches, cherry tomatoes (I liked them better than keeping the big ones around!), plums, more Chinese beans, a large Valencia onion, and garlic.

I was surprised to encounter a great deal of traffic as I rode up and down Stokes and Lees Avenues looking for yard sales. I couldn't figure out why until I saw the orange detour signs and remembered what today was. I left my bike at the rack near the Farm Market and walked two blocks down to Haddon Avenue and this year's Crafts and Fine Arts Festival.

The Crafts and Fine Arts Festival is basically a more elaborate version of the craft shows Wildwood and Cape May have on their respective boardwalk and promenade during the summer. Local artists come to Haddon Avenue to sell their wares, and there's food booths, too. I saw all kinds of interesting art on display. One woodcarver painted his intricate little mushrooms and gnomes as people watched. A metal sculptor had some truly awesome figures, including a life-sized ET that was letter-perfect and an octopus. There were handbags of every shape, size, and description, including bags made from recycled fabrics. A remodeling company not only showed off what they could do by sawing and nailing boards for the crowd, but gave out plastic "hard hats" for little kids.

(It was nice to be able to really see all of this without rushing, too. I think this may have been the first year I haven't had to work on the day of the Craft Festival.)

I didn't get as lucky as I did at the May Fair and didn't see anything I liked. After I left the show, I rode further down Haddon Avenue to find one more yard sale. They were mostly selling books, purses, shoes, vintage 70s and 80s appliances, and tons and tons of school supplies. I just ended up with a treasury of all of the Paddington books.

After I left the yard sale, I returned to Oaklyn. I really needed a drink, so I stopped at Doria's Deli for a Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi. I had a chat with her about my uncle's delicate health, my current financial problems, and that I'd still like to start some kind of an at-home business. As we talked, Mrs. Doria saw a pair of young men in tuxedos strolling past the shop together. That's not a normal sight. We both tried to figure out why the two would be so dressed-up and finally concluded there must have been a wedding at one of the near-by churches.

I found out what was going on when I finally rode home. A young woman had stopped me when I was going to Doria's and asked me where the VFW is. I just told her to keep going straight. The VFW is often rented out for parties, so I didn't think anything of her request until I saw all of the well-dressed people making their way down Manor Avenue.

Mrs. Doria and I were right about the wedding, but not the location. The wedding was being held next-door to me in Veteran's Park, right in the shade of my favorite tree. There were chairs set up on the slope, a DJ blasting jazz and R&B ballads, and a small arbor decorated with white netting. That was all the trimming they needed. By this point, the weather was amazing...and the park was even prettier, all green and gold and deep brown in the late summer sunshine. I strolled around the park, looking out over the shining river and watching everyone set up for the festivities.

The ceremony took place around quarter after 1. I watched most of it from my porch, though I was in and out throughout the events to have lunch and missed the actual bridal procession. I could hear most of the deep, young-sounded priest's voice clear as a bell, even through the thick trees. I haven't been to a wedding since two of my parents' close friends and neighbors in North Cape May were married in the mid-90s, so even just being able to hear and see this one was a treat.

It was too nice to stay inside after the wedding party retreated to the VFW for the reception. I went for a slightly longer walk around the neighborhood than I did the other day. I made my way down to West Clinton, then to Landis and around to the school playground again. This time, I had it to myself. The only other people there were two teenage boys who were completely absorbed by their basketball game on the other side of the park complex. I listened to their "Awww" and "Aw man!" and the ball thumping off the backboard as I slid down slides and relaxed in a swing.

By the time I made it back to the apartment, it was very late, past 3PM. I finished The Tale of Castle Cottage, then ran Stagecoach while working on a Plum-Apple-Berry Cobbler in the kitchen. The western version of the all-star movies the 30s was so fond of, this has a far grittier feel than something like Grand Hotel. A diverse group of people - a former prostitute (Claire Trevor), a wanted outlaw (John Wayne), a boozy doctor (Thomas Mitchell), a quiet little priest (Donald Meek), a pregnant mother (Louise Platt), a man in an awful hurry to get to town (Berton Churchill), and a gambler (George Bancroft) - are thrown together on a cramped stagecoach traveling across Monument Valley. The navigator (John Carradine) and driver (Andy Devine) find themselves navigating these disparate people through rough waters and across hostile Apache territory. Can they learn to work together, no matter who they are or what they do, for the good of all?

A true classic that many consider to be the first really mature western, a harbinger of the more adult oaters of the 50s and 60s. Mitchell won a supporting actor Oscar as the liquor-swilling doctor, but it was John Wayne, after 70 B-movies and serials in the 30s, who was finally thrust into the limelight as the tough-but-tender Ringo Kid. He and director John Ford would go on to make a whole series of equally thoughtful westerns in the 40s and 50s.

Switched to the moodier To Have and Have Not while whipping up a Chicken Teryiaki Stir Fry and Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Rosemary for dinner. Lauren Bacall and Humphery Bogart met and fell in love while making this action-romance. Bogart is a boat owner in Martinique shortly before the US entered World War II. He makes his living hauling fishermen around and refuses to help the French Resistance or take sides. He changes his mind when his latest client is killed by the Vichy and he meets the attractive Slim (Bacall), a singer and pickpocket who wants to return to the States. Along with his often-drunk first mate (Walter Brennan), Bogart agrees to take a group of Resistance fighters to Martinique from Devil's Island, but the Vichy are hot on his trail...not to mention, Bacall's now so hot for Bogart, she doesn't want to leave.

 It's really a Caribbean-flavored rehash of Casablanca, but it's worth seeing for the chemistry between Bacall and Bogart. Sparks flew from the get-go; everyone from director Howard Hawks on down could tell that there was something going on between the two of them. My copy includes the Looney Tune short "Bacall to Arms," an accurate and well-animated spoof of To Have.