Finding Hoppo

Began a beautiful, sunny morning with a bagel with raspberry preserves and two slices of fresh farm market cantaloupe for breakfast. Ran a couple of episodes of Max & Ruby while eating. "Max's Froggy Friend" may delight Max with his jumping, but Ruby insists that frogs have no place at tea parties! Max keeps trying to sneak the frog home anyway. "Ruby's Hiccups" may prevent her from rehearsing for the big Bunny Scout concert unless she and Louise can find a cure, and fast! Meanwhile, Max just wants to find his monster mask. Ruby wants to get Max in "The Big Picture" for Grandma, but Max keeps getting dirty. "Max Gets Wet" when Ruby insists on him watering her plants, but he keeps trying to fill his kiddie pool. And "Ruby's Stage Show" gets more complicated than the participants planned when Ruby wants Max to play a prince, but he'd rather be a dragon!

It was just gorgeous outside today. The sky was a brilliant blue. The breeze was nice and cool. It couldn't have been more than the mid-70s. It was the perfect day for a long bike ride. I started at the House of Fun up on the White Horse Pike, which hadn't been open when I was there yesterday. Not only were they open this morning, but they had a whole display of 80s girls' stuffed animals and dolls in the middle of the main room, most still in their original packaging. Among them was one I had as a child - Hoppopotamus, the blue rabbit-eared diva who was my favorite character in the 1985 Disney cartoon The Wuzzles. I had my original Hoppo for over a decade. The one I found was in mint condition, still fuzzy and with perfect eyes and ears. The picture book she came with was mint, too. Her box was a mess, but at least it was there. She cost me $34 with tax, but I was thrilled to find her again. She's one of the few childhood stuffed animals I ever really regret letting go of.

Hoppo's box was a little awkward to carry in my bike basket. I took her home, then headed back out again. Stopped at Simply Soups in Audubon for lunch. Despite the nice day and it being about 1 when I arrived, I was the only diner. I guess everyone was ordering out. I had my usual small cup of soup (turkey pumpkin wild rice), breadsticks, and can of soda (Diet A&W) while watching the traffic and a train chug by.

I spent the rest of the afternoon checking out thrift shops and Goodwills. Barrington Antiques was actually a bit busy. I saw three retired American Girl dolls that aren't easy to find, the 2008 Girl of the Year modern doll Mia, Felicity's best friend Elizabeth, and Samantha's best friend Nellie. I might have considered Nellie or Elizabeth (I don't have any blond AGs) if they hadn't been between 100 and 125 each! I could buy a doll new for that. Josefina's bed, which they were all sitting on, was overpriced, too. I ended up buying nothing there and moved on.

I rode up to Lawnside originally, but decided I didn't need anything at Shop Rite or Hallmark. Headed down Clements Bridge Road to the Black Horse Pike. The Bellmawr Goodwill was a block from where I came out. I did better there than I did the last time I went there in early June. I picked up the CD of the original cast of Legally Blonde: The Musical, plus five Christmas-related items:

Christmas With Anne, a collection of short stories (and at least one chapter from Anne of Green Gables) by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

A Christmas Carol, a 50s TV movie musical version with Frederick March as Scrooge and Basil Rathbone as Jacob Marley

A box set of three FHE videos of Christmas specials from the 80s, including one I've been trying to find for years, The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas.

It was past 4:30 by the time I left Goodwill. I took the back roads home to avoid the traffic on the Black Horse Pike and Clements Bridge Road. Just a few streets down from the Goodwill, I found a nice little playground. It was surrounded by some blue and black material that seemed foamy and almost kind of bouncy. It was faded, but seemed sturdy enough; I couldn't resist trying the wavy slide.

Since I passed through Haddon Heights going home, I decided I'd wet my whistle with a treat from Cabana Water Ice. I couldn't decide between water ice or ice cream, so I got a small pumpkin-vanilla gelati and had both. The pumpkin was nice and creamy, with large pieces of gingerbread...but the water ice wasn't very good. The ice chunks were big and rocky, and it didn't really taste like vanilla. I ate it outside to enjoy the dad and observe the older women chatting on a bench and the kids getting their own treats on their way back from school.

When I got in, I headed upstairs, then made Merlin's Magic (Baked) Chicken and sauteed Chinese beans for dinner while watching the East Side Kids. Kid Dynamite is the second of three movies in the series that has Danny (Bobby Jordan) and Mugs (Leo Gorcey) at odds. Mugs thinks Danny set him up when he's kidnapped before he can take part in a big boxing match and Danny takes his place. The rest of the movie has Mugs doing whatever he can to come out ahead of Danny, ignoring the fact that his friend is innocent and only wants to be nice.

And the darn Warner Archive movies still haven't shown up. If they aren't in by tomorrow, I'm calling the post office in Camden to see what the hold up is.