I'd only been up for a few minutes when I got a phone call. It was my sister Rose. Would I like to babysit Khai for an hour or so after work? She had a meeting, and Craig would be finishing work at Anthony's in Haddon Heights. Sure! My only plans for tonight were watching movies and finally getting the Valentine's Day decorations down. I don't get to see any of my nephews nearly enough. She'd pick me up after work and take me right to her place.
I did end up walking to work. This time, I made sure I left early enough to not have to rush. It was a beautiful day for a walk, too. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and it was probably in the upper-40s-lower 50s, the nicest weather we've had since December. The snow is rapidly melting from all but the largest, dirtiest piles. It sounds like we might get a tiny bit of snow next week, but nothing like the last couple of months or so.
Work was almost exactly the same as yesterday - quiet when I came in, crazy when I left, with a lot of cranky people. It didn't help that my relief was late, and I barely made it out on time. I hurried into the bathroom to change into a regular shirt, then outside to meet Rose and Khai.
We were greeted at Rose's house by her two noisy dogs, Kelsey the miniature pincher and Toby the big, sweet mutt. Bob the black and white cat hid under a table before finally taking off for quieter parts of the house. Three-year-old Khai wanted hot dogs and French fries for dinner. We had Ball Park Beef Hot Dogs (good - pork gives me indigestion) and "Smiles," big French fries made from mashed potatoes molded into smiley faces. Khai was fussy at first and didn't want to leave his mommy; the food distracted him enough for her to head out.
We ended up spending the hour or so on our own watching the Nick Jr. shows Peppa Pig (British show about a pig girl and her family) and LaLaLoopsy (animated version of popular button-eyed dolls) and playing games on Rose's iPad. The first round were preschool coloring and number game apps we couldn't finish because Rose didn't own the full game, and I sure wasn't buying it for Khai that night. He finally switched to a Cars 2 game shortly before Craig came home. We continued playing as Craig had coffee and settled down. He and Khai took me home around quarter of 7.
When I got in, I finished The Desert Song while having the last of my chili for a more complete dinner. This 1955 TV version of the beloved 20s operetta is somewhat more faithful to the original than the 1953 movie I dubbed a few years ago. Here, The Red Shadow (Nelson Eddy), leader of the Riffs against the French in Morocco, is actually Pierre, the wastrel son of Captain Bierabeau. Margot (Gale Sherwood) is the fiancee of Captain Paul, who wants the romance of the desert...and gets more than she bargained for when the Red Shadow sweeps her off her feet and into the Riffs' camp.
While there's a lot more story and score here than there was in the 1953 Desert Song, it's hampered by the limitations of early TV and Eddy being far too old for the role. Not bad if you're into the cast or the score, but others will be better off looking for Eddy's acclaimed recording of the score with Doretta Morrow on CD or LP.
Ran a few Three Stooges 60s cartoons as I took down the Valentine's Day decorations. I don't usually leave holiday decorations up this late, but I've had a long week, and I put them up late. "The Little Old Bombmaker," the pilot cartoon, has the Stooges discovering a nest of German spies during World War I. Moe becomes "Dentist the Menace" when he does everything possible to pull Curly Joe's sore tooth but take him to the dentist. The Stooges hope it'll be "Safari So Good" when they're ordered to hit the jungle and bring back a beatnik "wild man."
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