Long Morning's Journey Into Haddon Heights

Started a sunny but windy and chilly morning with this week's American Top 40 re-run. I would have just been 7 years old in late April 1986, when these songs were rocketing up the charts. The tunes I heard on the radio included "Rock Me Amadeus" by Falco, Janet Jackson's first Top 10 hit "What Have You Done For Me Lately?", "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer, "West End Girls" by the Pet Shop Boys, and "I Miss You" by Klymaxx.

While Prince's second movie vehicle Under the Cherry Moon was a huge flop, the music from the film was not. That week's number one song was one of the more popular numberss from that soundtrack, "Kiss."

Left for this week's yard-sale run as soon as I could. Swung by Dad's first. I left the birthday cards I got from Rose and Khai at his house last night. Dad was working in the new flower beds around the pool. I said "hi" to him and saw how progress was coming with the pool.

After that, I headed right to Haddon Heights for their spring Town-Wide Yard Sale. While I didn't do too badly, I did run into some disappointments. A beautiful hutch that would have been perfect for my apartment was sold right before I arrived. Another sale that advertised American Girl items sold out well before I finally found them. Never found any really great collectible toys, like Butterbear last week.

I did make some good finds. Many of the sales were donating their proceeds to good causes. A sale for cancer research yielded six Wilton Cake Decorating yearbooks I didn't have (1985 to 1988, plus 2004 and a mint-condition Christmas book from the 70s). Two multi-family sales for the local Rotary Clubs on Prospect Ridge Road yielded 7 videos for dubbing - three Laurel and Hardy vehicles (Blockheads, A Chump At Oxford, and Way Out West) and a collection of spooky-oriented Laurel and Hardy shorts, the Will Smith vehicle Wild Wild West, and two animated films, The Snow Queen and The Land Before Time.

Found two records at a sale just off Prospect Ridge Road, the soundtracks for Dirty Dancing (replacing an aging cassette copy) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

My best find of the day was back at the cancer research sale. A huge, heavy photo album had been stuffed into the crate with the Wilton Cake Decorating Yearbooks. I couldn't figure out why until I flipped through the book...and saw clippings of recipes from everything from old newspapers to 80s magazines to Betty Crocker.com arranged inside! I bought it for 75 cents. I'll go through it more thoroughly sometime next week.

It was even harder to explore Haddon Heights than it was to ride around in Audubon. Haddon Heights isn't called that because it sounds pretty. It's on steeper hills than most of the surrounding area, which makes it a hard slog on a bike normally. Coupled with high winds and heavy traffic in narrow old streets that weren't meant for it, and I was worn out when I finally made it home around 12:40. I quickly browsed through the photo album cookbook and ate the pizza leftover from last night and a spinach salad while watching Disney cartoons and the Dr. Seuss 70s special The Hoober Bloob Highway. The special was just winding down when I quickly packed my dinner, pulled on my uniform shirt, and hurried off to work.

Work was busy for most of the night. Rather frustratingly, this time, we didn't have enough help to deal with the crowds. They had to call managers to help, including one to come in for me for my break. Thank heavens it was just starting to slow down when I left at 8:30.