It was absolutely gorgeous when I climbed out of bed this morning around 8 or so. The heat and humidity had completely vanished, replaced by warmth, dryness, and temperatures probably in the upper 70s-lower 80s. I did a couple of episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures while having breakfast. In "Sawdust and Toonsil," Buster and Babs rescue GoGo the Dodo and several of his fellow Wackyland citizens from an evil sideshow owner, while Plucky sees the sideshow as his way into show business. Babs (and the audience) learn a lesson in Warner Brothers animation history in "Fields of Honey." Babs is one of the few Tiny Toons who is largely an original character...which means she has no mentor to show her the art of being animated. When she goes seeking a previous female character in the Warner vaults (besides Granny and Witch Hazel), she comes upon Honey, the girlfriend of Warner's first cartoon star Bosko in the late 20s and early 30s. Trouble is, Honey vanished years ago after hers and Bosko's popularity waned. Babs builds a theater to show the public how much fun those old black-and-white shorts could be.
(A personal and historic note on "Fields of Honey": I encountered Bosko and Honey not long before I first saw this episode, in shorts on the Nickelodeon Looney Tunes show. In real-life, they were Mickey and Minnie Mouse imitations whose shorts could occasionally be fairly inspired. Their popularity didn't end because of Porky Pig; actually, their original creators, Harmon and Ising, left Warners and took their characters with them two years before Porky's debut. They continued appearing in MGM shorts into 1938, redesigned somewhere around 1934 to look more like real African-American kids.)
I headed out after the Toons ended. It was a perfect day for an errands run, starting with a trip to the Oaklyn Library. Needless to say, the library was empty. The only other people besides me were the librarian and two men discussing fundraising ideas for the library. Just as well. I had a lot to do. The adult DVD shelves were a mess, with more than half the DVDs out of place. The kids weren't much better. There were kids' books to shelve, too.
Rode into Audubon for an early lunch around 11:20. Between the early hour and the nice day, Simply Soups was also quiet. No matter. I had a lovely lunch of breadsticks, a can of Diet A&W, and a small cup of Sweet Potato Soup with Carmelized Ham and Pecans. Yuuuummmm. Sweet and a little spicy, the soup was basically sweet potato puree with glazed ham and pecans. I love pecans and sweet potato and can handle ham in small doses (my stomach doesn't always deal with pork well), so I loved this.
I took the long route across Audubon and past a busy Paul VI Catholic High School instead of dealing with the traffic on Cuthbert. Other than school seemed to have let out early and there were quite a few cars coming out, I had a pleasant ride. It was nice to be able to enjoy the scenery and the peace.
Made a quick stop at Thriftway for peanut butter, but decided I liked the Acme's prices better and left with nothing. Went to the Haddon Township Library after that. Unlike the Oaklyn Library, they were very busy with kids out of school and parents looking for ways to amuse younger children who no longer had siblings at home to distract them. I shelved the largest pile of DVDs I've seen at the library in months. A lot of people must have taken movies out during the long, wet holiday weekend.
(And I didn't take any DVDs out myself. I work for the rest of the week after today and probably won't have time to watch them.)
Headed straight home after that. Stopped long enough to pick up a new American Girl catalog, then went indoors. Spent the next hour and a half cleaning the bathroom and the kitchen. The bathroom was especially grungy. I ran records by The Who (Odds and Sods) and Bruce Springsteen (Nebraska) as I scrubbed.
It was too nice to be inside all day. I went for a short walk around quarter of 5. While most of the area is pretty much still in summer, trees and gardens are beginning to show the first rough signs of fall, including some trees that are already losing leaves. There were lots of people and animals out and about with me. I stopped and petted a large, handsome German Shepard and chatted with his owner and was barked at by an adorable beagle puppy through his fence. Picked up skim milk at WaWa and treated myself to a Coke-Kiwi Strawberry Icee. Wanted to say "hi" to Rose at her house, but even though hers and Craig's cars were there, I didn't see anyone.
When I got in, I took a long, relaxing bath. Digging around in the back room, I discovered a small bottle of Strawberry Shortcake-scented bath gel that came with the recipe box/toiletries holder Rose gave me several years ago. I'm glad I didn't get rid of that. It smelled wonderful in the water and created lots of bubbles.
My bath was so late, I didn't get to making dinner until 7! I whipped up flounder poached in wine sauce with leftover green salad and macaroni salad from Jodie's party and a farm market corn on the cob. I ran The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh while eating dinner, and later while making Zucchini-Chocolate Chip Cookies. I love this classic anthology of the three original Pooh shorts. It's pretty much what the title says - lovable teddy bear Pooh and his stuffed pals in the Hundred Acre Woods have some really fun adventures, from Pooh's attempts to get honey to Tigger's perpetual bouncing getting on Rabbit's nerves.
Obviously necessary if you're a fan of Pooh; also nice for very young kids who may not be up to some of Disney's faster-paced and more goofy fare. Disney's released this one three times over the last 12 years or so, including a Blu-Ray copy a couple of weeks ago, so it's pretty easy to find.
(Oh, and the cookies came out perfectly, soft, chewy, and just sweet enough. Who every thought Zucchini would make a great addition to a chocolate chip cookie?)
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