A Visit to Philadelphia

Started off a chilly, sunny morning with The Secret World of Arrietty. In this sweet animated film from Japan, a family of tiny people called "Borrowers" live under the floorboards of an old house. They live on bits and pieces of things that are "borrowed" from the main house, like sugar cubes and sheets of paper. Feisty Arrietty (Bridgit Mendler) first encounters a human boy named Shawn (David Henrie) in the meadow outside the house. Her mother (Amy Poehler) is worried that he'll hurt her. She couldn't be more wrong. Delicate Shawn has a heart condition and can barely run, much less hurt anyone. He's at the house to rest for a heart operation. The elderly housekeeper Hara (Carol Burnett) is supposed to be watching him, but she may be more interested in the stories of the little people who live under the floorboards and steal things when no one's looking. The small girl and the sickly boy develop an unlikely friendship that takes an adventurous turn when Hara gets too close to Arrietty's family for comfort.

I have a mixed track record with feature-length anime. I loved Ponyo, found Kiki's Delivery Service cute but underwhelming, and didn't get into Spirited Away. I'm now 2 for 4; this was a really sweet movie. Burnett, Poehler, and Will Arnett (as Arrietty's taciturn father) were the stand-outs of the English-language cast. Some of the animation was lovely, too, especially in the meadow and all the details of the Borrowers' diminutive home.

Headed out after Arrietty ended for this week's Haddon Township Library run. It was around 11 when I arrived, and there wasn't a whole lot going on and almost nothing to shelve. I organized the kids' DVDs (and had a much easier time of it than I have in previous weeks) and put away the few adult DVDs and picture books that were there.

Dodged the noon traffic on Cuthbert Road after leaving the library and made my way to Cafe Antonio's in Collingswood for lunch. By the time I arrived, it was 12:30, and they were very busy. Two sets of men were getting their pizza even as I came in. A family with young kids arrived shortly after I did. I ate my slice of square-shaped Sicilian Pizza and Diet Pepsi as quickly as I could.

Cafe Antonio's is only a few blocks from the PATCO train station. I hopped a fairly full car into Philadelphia for my annual February trip into the city to do some shopping. I got off just a half a block from Russakoff's Used Book Store in Washington Square. There were a couple of men replacing a burnt-out florescent light bulb in the back of the tiny room, so I really didn't get a chance to look at much of the romance or travel books. I ended up with Half-Full: Meditations on Hope, Optimism, and the Things that Matter, a hardback book on having a positive outlook.

I got lost a little bit as I made my way across Washington Square, but I finally did make it to the Avenue of the Arts and FYE. They're still having that "Buy 2 Used, Get 1 for $1" sale. It took me a long time to choose, but I finally ended up with the "4 Movie Collection" set of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, two Paramount Marx Brothers movies (Horse Feathers and Animal Crackers), and Brave. (Horse Feathers was the dollar movie.) I also splurged and bought The Avengers. I've been dying to see this since it came out last summer, and I'm tired of waiting for it to turn up at the libraries. I grabbed that WebKinz Rockerz Hippie Cow that I passed up in December, too. How could I resist when FYE dropped the price to $1.22?

It was getting late as I made my way through City Hall to Market Street. I wanted to hit Macy's and check out their jeans. My older pair of jeans is too tight for me and is starting to get holes in the back. It figures that the pair I liked was on the wrong rack and wasn't the price I thought they were; I bought them anyway. They were the only jeans in the color blue I wanted. Most of the jeans were black.

I made my way down a busy Market Street to the Gallery Mall. I couldn't resist stopping in Books-a-Million. I found an American Girl historical character mystery there that I haven't seen anywhere else offline, Kirsten Larson's one and only mystery, The Runaway Friend.

It was 5:30 when I finally squeezed into a tightly-packed PATCO car. I was very lucky to find a seat! It was like sardines in there. I'd meant to go home earlier, but I got so caught up in FYE. When the train rolled into Collingswood, I bundled up and rode home.

A box with another DVD set greeted me at the house's front porch. I won the three Warner Brothers Popeye cartoon sets in a fancy Walt Disney Treasures-style tin on eBay last week. Popeye is one of the last major theatrical characters I have any interest in. I was thrilled to get all 3 sets for about $30...especially as I've seen the first, 4-disc set go for as much as $64 at FYE. The back of the tin was really dented, but that was a bonus item. The sets themselves were just fine.

I had just enough time to make chili for dinner and watch Horse Feathers when I got in. As with Hold That Line!, this also deals with nutty comics who make a mockery of college football. Groucho is Professor Wagenstaff, who has just been made the head of Huxtley University. Zeppo is his crooning son, who would rather chase the college widow (Thelma Todd) than pay attention to academics. Chico works in a speakeasy (where the password is "Swordfish," by the way), Harpo is a dog catcher, and somehow, both end up as students. Todd tries to get the Marxes to throw Huxtley's big game, but the boys have more than one way to chase and outwit her at the same time.

Not the boys' best at Paramount, but there's some classic bits - the "swordfish" routine, Groucho singing "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It," the boys all serenading Todd with their own versions of "Everyone Says I Love You," and the hilarious football finale.

Oh, and meet Melanie, the gentle and totally groovy folk-singing bovine! I created her own eclectic room next-door to Cyndi the Punk Cat's. She'll probably be one of the last WebKinz I buy for a while; I have a ton of them.

And even as I write this, it's snowing lightly yet again. The clouds must have come in after I got home. When I was riding from Collingswood, there were not only few clouds in the sky, but a beautiful sunset.