Me and Lauren In Philadelphia

I was awoken on a cloudy, humid morning by the sound of the garbage trucks...and remembered that I hadn't taken the trash out last night. Yes, I did make it in time. When I got back in, I read in my journal for a while. Thankfully, I did not wake up Lauren, who slept until about 9:30.

By that point, the clouds had grown much darker, and it had gotten windier and even more humid. Lauren was awake and I was having breakfast when the rain started coming down. We'd planned on heading out at 10:30, but the monsoon was really horrible. Thankfully, Lauren had weather apps on her iPad; they clearly showed that the storm was intense but small and fast-moving. We watched the Paris and French Riviera episodes of Rick Steves Europe until the rain calmed down enough for us to head to Collingswood.

We got into Collingswood by 11:30, which was only a little later than we'd planned. We had lunch at Tortilla Press, the Mexican restaurant in Collingswood, as we did last year. Lauren had pork tacos, rice, and beans. I had a chicken, cheese, and beans burrito and jicama slaw. We shared a basket of tortilla chips and salsa that were made on the premises. It wasn't really busy that early; there were only one or two other couples there.

We headed straight for the PATCO Station after lunch. The clouds had vanished, replaced by sunshine and humidity. A nice breeze kept it from feeling unbearable. We hopped on a full but not stuffed 12:50 train to Philadelphia. 

The 10th and Locust stop is literally only a few doors down from Russakoff's Used Books in Washington Square. We made that our first stop. They were the same wonderful, cramped jumble of books, DVDs, CDs, and records (though fewer of the last-named than there used to be). I ended up with Simple Pleasures, a book on finding delights in everyday small things. Lauren got a collection of Yogi Berra's many quips. 

We got turned around on our way to FYE. Lauren had to look up a map in order to get us to the one on Broad Street near City Hall. I took advantage of that buy two used items, get one free sale to pick up Warners' (non-public-domain) collection of the Paramount/Fleischer Brothers Superman cartoons, a box set of all five Paramount/Universal Marx Brothers movies (I know I already have two, but it's cheaper than buying the rest of them), and the stage musical version of The Secret Garden on CD. The newest Tiny Toons set and The Three Stooges Meet Hercules weren't on sale, but I'm trying to finish out the Toons, and Hercules is the last Stooge film of any interest to me (besides the public domain 60s cartoons). Lauren picked up the Toons and sets for Animaniacs and the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

Macy's is less than five minutes from FYE. We didn't have nearly as much luck there. The cute striped dress I liked wasn't on sale and was more than I was willing to pay. Lauren's been shopping more often at her local Macy's and had pretty much bought the clothes that she wanted there. I bought an orange t-shirt and a floral one. 

We were going to stop at the Starbucks at the 13th Street corner of Macy's to get a cool drink, but the line was so long, we figured it wasn't worth the wait and just headed out. We hiked down 13th Street to the 13th and Locust PATCO stop. Surprisingly for around 4PM, the train going back to New Jersey was only somewhat full. (As I said to Lauren, if we'd waited even one more train, we might have been lucky to get a seat.)

Lauren suggested a snack and something to cool off at the Pop Shop when we got back into Collingswood. I thought it was a brilliant suggestion. The sun had once again been replaced by clouds, but it was still hot and humid. I needed something to cool off, and Lauren said she was hungry. I ordered butter pecan ice cream with honey and blueberries. I've had that before, and it was just as delicious this time around. Lauren had mozzarella sticks and the most perfect-looking chocolate ice cream soda in the world. Once again, we timed it well. It was 4:30 when we were having our snack. There were a few families there at that point, but it wasn't nearly as busy or noisy as it usually is during dinner hours.

The clouds were growing even thicker as we made our hot way across Newton River Park and past CVS. It just started to shower as we were a block from my apartment. Luckily for us, the shower waited until we'd been inside for 20 minutes to pick up speed. It's stormed on and off for the rest of the night.

I fiddled with my new Kindle Fire (Lauren gave me hers; she prefers Apple items she can sync to her Apple laptop) while we ran The Three Stooges Meet Hercules. This one spoofs the cheesy sword-and-sandals films that were popular in the 50s and early 60s. The Stooges, a nerdy young inventor, and a pretty chemist are thrown back in time on the inventor's time machine. The evil king takes the chemist for his wife and sends the inventor and the Stooges to the galley. When all the rowing builds up the inventor's muscles, the Stooges promote him as Hercules...until the real Hercules protests and challenges him to a duel!

One of the better movies made when Curly Joe was the third Stooge in the 60s. I still recommend newcomers start with the shorts, but fans will have a lot of fun with the great gags in this one. 

I switched to my larger laptop as Hercules ended. The rainy weather inspired me to put on Radioland Murders, and then Clue, which is just winding down it's last ending. I'm going to put on the somewhat similar Murder By Death next. 

Tomorrow, we're mostly going to do errands. I need to hit the grocery store and want to take a look at laptops at Staples, and we both need to do laundry.