Started off a sunny, breezy morning with this week's American Top 40. We jumped back a few years in the 70s to 1975. Country, folk, pop, and hard rock reigned supreme...but disco was the new sound that got everyone's feet moving. Hits in late June of that year included "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" by John Denver, "The Hustle" by Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony, "Sister Golden Hair" by America, "Wildfire" by Michael Murphy, "I'm Not Lisa" by Jessi Coulter, and "When Will I Be Loved?" by Linda Rondstat. The Captain and Tenille became only the third husband and wife team to have a number 1 hit on the charts with their classic "Love Will Keep Us Together."
It was still fairly comfortable outside when I made my run to the Farm Market. They were busy with people shopping for produce for barbecues and birthday and graduation parties. No wonder - the summer harvest was finally out. While strawberries and asparagus are gone, they've been replaced by a heady array of the first cherries, grape tomatoes, patty pan squash, corn, raspberries, blackberries, and New Jersey blueberries of the year. I ended up with cherries, blueberries, two spring onions, snap peas, raspberries, and cherry tomatoes.
I had just enough time when I got home to put everything away and eat lunch while I took another quick look at my new laptop. Ran Dr. Seuss specials all morning. The grouchy Grinch tries to get the best of Seuss' most famous feline in The Grinch Grinches the Cat and the Hat, but the wily Cat thinks of a way to turn the tables. The Hoober Bloob Highway takes us into the far reaches of space, where Mr. Hoober Bloob teaches a new infant pupil the ins and outs of what makes us what we are.
Work was busy for almost the entire afternoon. It was especially bad during the first half of my shift, as people came out of fairs and farm markets and into the grocery store. Some kind of fair or give-away going on in our parking lot only caused more confusion. Thankfully, everything had settled down by the time I left, though it was still so busy that I just barely made it out with no relief.
When I got home, I had leftovers for dinner, then worked on a crocheted dishrag while watching A Boy Named Charlie Brown. From a kite that doesn't want to fly to a dandelion-covered pitcher's mound to Lucy's constant torment, Charlie Brown just can't catch a break. That is, until he joins the school spelling bee. Suddenly, he's coming up a winner, and even Lucy's impressed. While he tries to keep the streak going - and retain the respect of the others - Linus is pining for his blanket, which he gave to Chuck for good luck. He misses it too much, so he and Snoopy go after it.
The first and by far best of the four Peanuts full-length outings is also the most purely Peanuts of the lot. In fact, if you want to introduce your kids to the Peanuts, you may want to pick this up before you go to the holiday specials. It's a bit more episodic and somewhat lighter in tone than most of the other Peanuts features, and the spelling bee story fits in better without getting too dark.
If nothing else, I love the awesome jazz score by Vince Guaraldi (deservedly Oscar-nominated), with lyrics by Rod McKuen (who also sings the sweet title song). Guaraldi really gets to shine in three beautifully animated but rather bizarre extended numbers. Chuck, Linus, and Snoopy rehearse the rules of grammar in the catchy "I Before E." We get a series of psychedelic images as Schroder plays a Beethoven sonata and Snoopy ice skates and plays hockey in a sequence set at Rockerfeller Center.
Recommended for Peanuts fans, animation fans, parents who want to introduce their kids to the Peanuts universe outside of the holidays, and those looking for well-written and unusual family entertainment.
And I just discovered how out-of-date my last laptop was. Not only is Rough Draft discontinued, but so is Microsoft Works...and that's what the majority of my inventory databases are in. I'll go back on the other laptop and see what I can do about converting them to OpenOffice tomorrow.
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