Lost In Haddon Township

Though it was cloudy, cool, and a little humid when I awoke this morning, it was neither as humid nor as gray as last Saturday. This week's American Top 40 was just as dark and soulful, as disco gave way to New Wave, British punk rock bands, country stars, and romantic ballads. Hits in mid-May of that year included "Another Brick In the Wall" by Pink Floyd, "Funkytown" by Lipps. Inc, "Love You Inside and Out" by the Bee Gees, "You're the Biggest Part of Me" by Ambrosia, "Little Jeannie" by Elton John, "You May Be Right" by Billy Joel, "Ride Like the Wind" by Christopher Cross, the classic duets "Don't Fall In Love With a Dreamer" by Kim Carnes and Kenny Rogers and "With You I'm Born Again" by Billy Preston and Syreeta, and the first top 10 hit from Aussie soft rock favorites Air Supply, "Lost In Love."

The top song that week had been number one for five weeks prior, and would go on to be the biggest smash of that year - "Call Me," one of the biggest hits of British New Wave group Blondie.

I had a long, busy farm market/yard sale run today. I started out at the Farm Market this time (after a quick look at a yard sale in Oaklyn produced nothing but a cup of lemonade). It wasn't quite as busy as it was the last two weeks. I still suspect many folks may have gone down to the shore this weekend. I didn't really need much under any circumstances. I just bought zucchini, a small head of organic bibb lettuce, and the first strawberries of the season.

After last week's weather disappointments, the Haddon Township Community-Wide Yard Sale defaulted to today. I say "community-wide," because Haddon Township is really several communities, including Westmont, Haddonfield, and West Collingswood Heights. I roamed around in Westmont, the Bluebird section on the edge of Collingswood, the development behind the Haddon Township High School, and the area near Ritz Theater. At one point, I found myself out at Cooper River Park with no idea of how I'd gotten there! Haddon Township is so meandering. I have a hard time figuring out the area even when I'm not dodging cars and treasure-hunters.

My haul included:

Three books, the Dear America late 60s story Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, and two Christmas books, the craft/recipe book Ultimate Christmas and a collection of stories on how many holiday customs got started, A Treasury of Christmas.

One of the earlier Scooby Doo direct-to-DVD movies, Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost.

The big find this time was 11 CDs, nine from a house in Westmont with a huge collection of more than 200. I'm glad I snapped mine up when I did. One fellow in a van that was blaring classic rock wanted to buy all 200 of them, but said he'd come back in an hour. I left with my stack ten minutes later.

Journey - Greatest Hits

REO Speedwagon - The Hits

Stay Awake - A collection of songs from earlier Disney films, performed by artists as wide-ranging as Bonnie Raitt and Ringo Starr

Harry Connick Jr. - We Are In Love (I actually had this as a kid; don't remember what happened to it)

Bangles - Different Light (cassette replacement)

Paula Abdul - Spellbound

Bruce Springsteen - Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ

Billy Joel - Cold Spring Harbor

Rod Stewart - Storyteller (2-disc set of Stewart hits from the 70s)

America: A Tribute to Heroes (9/11 tribute album)

(Incidentally, I passed the man who wanted to buy all of them as I was leaving the house. He was going through boxes and boxes of CDs in his van! Probably a professional eBay reseller.)

I rode home through the area near the Ritz Theater. While I had no luck with yard sales there, I did run into this year's Strawberry Festival at St. Mark's in Oaklyn, across from what used to be the PNC Bank. I didn't see any interesting used items, so I just bought strawberry cookies from their bake sale and headed home.

Though it hadn't rained yet when I got in, I'd been riding all morning and have had a long couple of weeks, not to mention it was getting more humid by the minute. I went nowhere else today. I made a Strawberry-Peanut Butter Smoothie inspired by an episode of Max & Ruby, "Max's Berry Patch." Ruby tries to get Max to gather berries for Grandma's surprise dessert, but Max would rather eat them! Strawberry Shortcake has her own "berry" big problems when she and the Purple Pie Man are both determined to win a big bake off in Strawberry Shortcake In Big Apple City. The Pie Man cheats at every turn, but Strawberry encounters a group of unusual urban pals who help her out.

Spent the next couple of hours dusting and chatting with Rose. She's still trying to get her new house settled. Supposedly, they'll be in there by the end of the month. We'll see how things go. She also wanted to know how my savings were coming. While I haven't been as regular about making a budget as I probably should have, I have been transferring between 20 and 40 dollars a week into my savings account. Rose says that isn't enough. I really should put more in. I think I'm doing fine, especially compared to what I was getting at this time last year.

I slid into the bath after I finished dusting the apartment. I needed a bath. My legs were so sore. I read Simple Abundance while I soaked in the tangerine-jasmine bubble bath and listened to jazz. The entry about job burnout hit so close to home, I started crying. I know I'm burnt out. I have been for years. I feel tired, worn, and frazzled. On one hand, I was so happy just being home last fall, I wish I could have done it indefinitely  On the other hand, I was broke and afraid that I'd never make any money. The things that I do just don't earn money, and I don't know what to do that will earn money.

I cheered myself up with a dinner of Sloppy Joes with real sauce and Caesar Salad with home-made dressing and farm-market fresh lettuce and radishes, with Strawberries n' Cream Mousse Pie for dessert and Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost. This time, Mystery Inc. is in New England, visiting the home of Ben Ravenscroft, a popular horror writer. The small town is agog over their big fall festival. Not only have they built a pilgrim town over the ruins of their old town, but a local goth-rock group, the Hex Girls, are going to be the main attraction. But are the Hex Girls more than just goth chicks? What's with the mayor and his sneaky activity around town? And was Ben Ravencroft's ancestor Sarah a healing woman like he keeps insisting...or was she really a witch? And is that her ghost that's terrorizing the festival?

This is probably my favorite of the early Scooby movies. While not as spooky or as horror-oriented as the previous Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, this is scarier than many of the later ones, and thus not for the youngest fans. For slightly older kids and horror fans, this one has some great moments, and an even better guest cast, including Tim Curry as Ben Ravenscroft. The Hex Girls proved to be so popular here, they would later turn up in several episodes of What's New, Scooby Doo? and Scooby Doo Monsters Incorporated.

Oh, and it did rain this afternoon...briefly and lightly. The heavy rain didn't arrive until about an hour and a half ago. It don't think it's coming down anymore at press time. Looks like it's pretty much going to rain all week, too.