An Evening With the Bath 

It was cloudy and cool when I finally headed out the door late this morning for this week's Haddon Township Library run. Despite the iffy weather, Newton River Park was busy with dog walkers, joggers, and even other bikers (and one lone Canadian goose). While the river is starting to get a little green around the gills, the park itself is beautiful, lush and colorful. The flowers are largely gone from the trees, but the leaves are bigger and greener now.

The Haddon Township Library was rather busy when I arrived. I didn't have much luck organizing the DVDs. Once again, both kids' and adult titles were overflowing, to the point where I couldn't get any more kids discs on the shelves. I did better with the children's picture books, which are fairly easy to shelve when you know what goes where.

I did take out three movies this week. I've wanted to see the 60s-set Moonrise Kingdom since I first heard about it last summer; it sounds kind of sweet. As a classic rock fan, I've always wanted to see Monterey Pop. And the Library finally got the most recent installment of the Ice Age series, Continental Drift, in. I also took out four of Josefina's books that I don't have, plus her short stories collection.

With the skies darkening, money lacking, and other things to do at home, I opted not to eat lunch out today. I first stopped really quick at Dollar Tree for sugar, coconut, and vinegar, then at WaWa for a small roast beef hoagie and milk. Surprisingly, neither place was terribly busy, and the traffic on Cuthbert and the White Horse Pike wasn't too bad. It actually started to shower a little on the way back to Oaklyn, but it stopped shortly after I arrived.

I wasn't going to take chances. I spent the rest of the afternoon at the apartment. I first dubbed the last Laurel and Hardy video while cleaning the kitchen. This one consisted entirely of four classic shorts with mild horror themes. The Laurel and Hardy Murder Case has Ollie pushing Stan into accepting an inheritance, but it proves to be more difficult than they expected when it turns out Stan's uncle was bumped off. The  two are forced to work aboard a ship that's supposedly haunted in The Live Ghost. Ollie almost loses his head to a woman who has killed seven men named Oliver and intends for Oliver the Eighth to be her next victim. The less gruesome Busy Work has the two employed as chimney sweepers for a mad scientist who is looking for a formula to reverse aging.

Since I'm low on flour, I decided to try something. I made Vanilla Coconut Cookies using coconut, white cake mix, egg whites, and canola oil, leaving out the water the cake mix calls for. They came out pretty well, delicate and crunchy. While I made the cookies, I ran an episode of Perfect Strangers from the seventh season. In "The Gazebo," Balki and Larry attempt to put together the title building from scratch. Their efforts are literally turned into a latter-day Laurel and Hardy short, including the "Time of the Cuckoos" theme, the black-and-white film, and the two in perfect costumes. (Bronson Pinchot made such a convincing Stan, he played him in a TV movie several years later.)

After the cookies were out of the oven, I went straight into the bath. Oh, did that feel good. I hadn't had a bath since my last day off. I read Josefina's short stories and Peace and Plenty while listening to one of my jazz CDs. I really needed the relaxation.

Made a black bean "Santa Fe" sauce for my seared chicken, along with asparagus and mashed sweet potatoes, while watching Yolanda and the Thief. This odd MGM musical from the late 40s has Fred Astaire and Frank Morgan as con-artists out to bilk naive heiress Lucile Bremer of her considerable fortune. Astaire pretends to be her guardian angel in order to get her to sign, but has second thoughts when he begins to see her as more than just a mark.

This unusual musical fantasy was a flop on first release and continues to divide audiences today. Vincent Minellei had a field day with the colorful, lavish designs and dance numbers here. I especially love Bremer and Astaire's jazzy "Coffee Time." Those of you expecting a more straightforward musical or Astaire vehicle may not jive with the fantasy, and Bremer doesn't really make much of an heiress. If you're a fan of Astaire or more adventurous musicals, look it up at the Warner Archive and give it a whirl sometime.