Autumn Blue and Gold

I awoke to a blustery blue and gold fall morning as I switched on this week's American Top 40 re-run. Early November 1981 was all about pop, New Wave, country, soul, and ballads. Hits that week included the title song from the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only by Sheena Easton, "The One That You Love" by Air Supply, "Arthur's Theme (The Best That You Can Do)" from the original Arthur by Christopher Cross, "Endless Love" by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, "When She Was My Girl" by a revived Four Tops, "Waiting For a Girl Like You" by Foreigner, the instrumental theme tune from the popular TV cop drama Hill Street Blues, and "I've Done Everything For You" by Rick Springfield.

The number one hit that week was one of my favorite songs from local boys Hall & Oates, "Private Eyes."

Once again, I kept my errands short. I had a long week of work this week and will have an even longer one next week. After a brief stop at the Collingswood WaWa to use the ATM machine, I went across the street to the farm market. The farm market continues to wind down its season. There were even fewer fruit and vegetable booths and more craft booths, and another food booth mentioned this was its last Saturday. The first frost of the year ended many crops and shortened others - peppers are apparently on their last week as well. There was still plenty around to choose from. I ended up with kiwi, small apples, Brussels sprouts, turnips with their greens, and broccoli.

I made a few short stops on the way home. The Oaklyn Baptist Church was having a small bazaar in its basement. I did see my friend Cassandra selling her book and bought some Magic Bars, but otherwise didn't come across anything of interest. A yard sale on Newton Avenue a block from the library had even less I wanted.

When I got home, I put away my purchases, then had ham soup with turnip greens for lunch while watching the rest of Gravity Falls. I love how incredibly creative this show's supernatural tales get. In "The Inconveincing," Dipper has a crush on Wendy and talks her into taking him and Mabel with her teen friends to a local abandoned convenience store. The other kids are too busy gorging on untouched ice cream pops to notice the strange things Dipper's been seeing. It takes Dipper admitting that he's still just a kid to get the ghosts that haunt the store to let them all go.

Dipper's maturity for his age also plays into "Dipper Vs. Manliness." Tired of being teased for his lack of muscles and love of disco, Dipper joins a group of "man-itars" in the woods to prove how "man" he really is. Meanwhile, Grunkle Stan goes in the opposite direction as Mabel tries to find his soft side so he can woo the owner of the diner Lazy Susan.

I returned to Tiny Toon Adventures for more tales of weird science as I prepared for work. In "Hair-Raising Night," Buster is assigned to stop mad scientist Dr. Gene Splicer from creating mutants from spare animal parts. He fibs to the others and tells them it's the Emmys to get them to join the adventure. Plucky goes right along with the ruse, even when Splicer's after his brains. Hampton and Babs are less amused, especially when they're chased by Splicer's huge dog-bat mutant with a crush on Babs.

Work was slightly less annoying than yesterday...and at the very least, shorter. It was still busy, but the nice day did seem to have put people in a somewhat better mood. One of the teenage boys went in for me so I could get out on time.

I went straight to Sonic for what'll probably be my last outdoor dinner of the year. It was a nice day for it, too. There were some clouds in the afternoon, but they were mostly gone by 6PM, leaving a beautiful rosy sunset. I enjoyed the view while kicking back with my favorite Sonic meal, Grilled Chicken on Ciabatta Bread, onion rings, and a cherry limeade. Nothing finer.

I finished the cherry limeade as I returned to the Acme for this week's grocery shopping. The Acme's having a big mix-and-match sale. If you buy six of the listed baking items, you'll get 3 dollars off. This allowed me to stock up on Betty Crocker cake mix, Nestle chocolate chips, Pam cooking spray, and pineapple rings for a good price. The Acme's having a huge store-wide buy-one, get-one deal on hundreds of items. I hardly need two of most things, but I found spiced chicken legs and lightly breaded chicken breasts for a good price. My mouthwash is almost empty, and I wanted to buy more grapefruit after I enjoyed them so much last week.

Ran a quick supernatural-themed episode of Night Court when I got home as I got organized and put things away. In the second season episode "The Gypsy," Harry Stone sentences a fortune teller to prison when she disagrees with his leniency on one of her more aggressive clients. Harry doesn't believe in her magic or threats, until Bull drops paralyzed in the court room and Dan's accountant has a heart attack in the middle of an audit. Harry then puts on a little show of his own to prove to Bull that magic is really just make-believe. (Dan never does get his money back, though.)