Berry Sweet Spring Harvest

It was still cloudy, cool, and a little humid when I awoke this morning. The American Top 40 warmed things up nicely as we skipped ahead a decade to early June 1984. While my family and I were helping Mom prepare for the new arrival in the fall (who would eventually become my sister Anny), the rest of the country brought ballads, New Wave, pop, and R&B to the fore. Hits that week included "Against All Odds" by Phil Collins from the film of that title, "Hello" by Lionel Richie, "Breakdance" by Irene Cara (1984 was the height of the breakdancing craze), "Let's Here It For the Boy" by Denise Williams from Footloose, "The Reflex" by Duran Duran, "Jump (For My Love)" by The Pointer Sisters, "Oh Sherrie" by Steve Perry, "Borderline" by Madonna, "Sister Christian" by Night Ranger, and "The Heart of Rock n' Roll" by Huey Lewis and the News. Colorful Cyndi Lauper was on top of the charts that week with the ballad "Time After Time."

I went straight to the farm market today. I didn't really have the time or money to look around for yard sales, and Oaklyn will be having their town-wide yard sales next week anyway. Despite the gathering clouds, the farm market was elbow-to-elbow packed when I arrived. Thankfully, yesterday's deluge didn't seem to have done the farmers much harm. Strawberries and asparagus have been joined by an array of late-spring vegetables, including radishes, turnips, and snap and sugar peas. I ended up with snap peas, strawberries, organic romaine lettuce (the organic lettuce bunches are much smaller...and sized right for a one-person household), four turnips with their tops, scallions, and blueberries. (The blueberries are from North Carolina, but there just isn't enough Jersey-grown fruit available at this time of year.)

I had just enough time when I got home to put everything away, check a few things online, and watch cartoons while having pan-fried turnips and turnip greens with the last of the leftover Italian Chicken for lunch. One of the most bizarre Looney Tunes prime time specials was Bugs & Daffy's Carnival of the Animals. New footage of the two trying to out-do each other with animals rhymes joins limited animation music videos representing each segment of the piece and live-action sequences of a real orchestra.

Ran a couple of classical-themed shorts after it ended that were a tad less weird. An opera singer destroys Bugs' instruments when he disrupts his rehearsals in "Long-Haired Hare." Bugs is annoyed and decides to get even on the singer at his concert...which literally brings the hall down. "The Rabbit of Seville" has Elmer and Bugs performing the famous opera, right down to the shave and a hair cut. "Baton Bunny" pits conductor Bugs against a fly that's determined to wreck havoc on his performance.

Work was very busy early on, steady later. It did slow down a little later in the afternoon, as the sun came out and it became apparent that it wasn't going to rain for the time being. There were no really huge problems, and I was in and out.

Which was a good thing, as I had my own grocery shopping to do. Not a lot of it, though. I was mainly restocking my baking ingredients, including cake mix (Betty Crocker was on sale), flour, baking cups, brown sugar, and chocolate chips. I'm almost out of cereal. The store's having a good Quaker Oats sale; I went with the Cinnamon Oatmeal Squares. Needed melon slices, cooking spray, and paper towels, too.

It was so nice by quarter after 6, I decided to eat outdoors. I had a grilled chicken sandwich, cherry limeade, and those wonderfully crunchy onion rings at Sonic. It felt wonderful. I wasn't the only one who wanted to take advantage of the pale blue sky and soft breezes, either. Several families left their cars to eat.

When I got in, I ran a few more Looney Tunes shorts. Marvin the Martian made his debut (with a slightly different voice) in "Hairdevil Hare." Bugs once again has to save the Earth from Marvin's attempt to blow it to bits. In "Hair-Raising Hare," Bugs has his first encounter with Gossamer the Monster. Goss' creator wants Bugs to be his dinner! In the end, it's the least-likely creatures that finally send Gossamer fleeing.