Rockin' On the New Moon

Started a cloudy, warm, and humid morning with Blueberry Molasses Pancakes and Brunch With the Beatles. "Rock and Roll Music" - that is, Beatles songs that were pure rock, or covers of earlier rock songs - were the focus today. Covers included "Twist and Shout," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Rock and Roll Music" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy." Among the rockin' Beatles originals were "Paperback Writer," "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Revolution."

Called Mom while my pancakes were cooking. Mom was preparing lunch while my nephew Skylar played Kirby on the Wii. She generally seemed to be in a better mood than last week. For one thing, my stepfather was out riding on his motorcycle for the day. For another, she had a surprise visit from my brother Keefe. He took leave from the Navy for a week to attend the funeral of a beloved high school teacher. He also confirmed that he'll be taking an apartment with a couple of friends of his for a few months in North Carolina while he finishes his training and he wanted to take all the stuff left in his room with him. Evidently, he (barely) passed the written exams, but the hands-on parts of the testing are backed up due to three of the four prototypes they're supposed to work on being out of commission. He and his friends can get their apartment organized.

This means my parents now have a spare room to play with. It doesn't sound like they've decided what to do with it yet. Mom wants to get a new TV and DVD player to replace Keefe's sound system and possibly turn it into a den or playroom, or expand her office/workroom. Another idea is as a spare room for Dad, who tends to pass out in front of the TV downstairs instead of attempting to go upstairs to sleep.

I ran the Seekers' Georgy Girl record while fooling around with the laptop after breakfast and the Beatles ended. It was ok, mainly covers of 60s hits and kind of disappointing given I love the title song. Coupled with several scratches in the beginning that caused skips, I opted to put it in the back room to donate it to the local libraries.

The clouds had been building all morning. It was just starting to shower lightly as I headed for work. While it was fairly busy, especially early on, the rain kept it from being as crazy as yesterday. My relief was on-time, and I got out with no problems. Grabbed sponge cake dessert shells and Acme generic whipped topping to make berry shortcake when I got home.

I made an omelet with spring vegetables, then had my Raspberry Shortcake while listening to the New Moon record I found at Oaklyn's Town-Wide Yard Sale. This is a collection of recordings made for the original London cast of this venerable 20s operetta. I love it. It has far more music and more of the original stouthearted swashbuckler romance feel than either my shorter studio cast album on CD or the MacDonald/Eddy movie.

And I'd like to say a final farewell to Paul Mathis, a long-time and much-loved English, drama, and humanities teacher at Lower Cape May Regional High School, who died suddenly last week. I had him for Humanities my senior year, and was coached in the school play and musicals by him. He was the only teacher at Lower who let you choose and argue for your own grade. I remember him driving me home from school and the conversations about old movies and musicals we used to have. He will be much missed.