Winter Rain

I started a gray morning with a couple of cartoons. Frosty Returns isn't technically a follow-up to the Rankin-Bass Frosty tales; it's a stand-alone special from 1992. Jonathan Winters narrates the story of how Frosty, with the help of a little girl named Holly and her friend Charles, stops a nasty corporate executive from eliminating all the snow in town before their winter carnival.

Moved onto Max & Ruby winter tales as I got ready for work. "Ruby's Snowbunny" is a masterpiece to its creator, but her brother would rather be sledding. "Ruby's Snowflakes" are cookies that she's trying to make exactly alike. As usual, her hungry brother doesn't make that easy! Max wants to play "Duck Duck Goose," but Ruby, Louise, and Valerie have to look for winter birds for their Bird Finding Badge. Max helps them find the last two birds they need.

Work was crazy-busy for most of the day. It's the beginning of the month, and people are getting their money. Other people may still be having New Year's parties, or are restocking after the holidays. People weren't in the best of moods, either. Thank heavens my relief was right on time. I was tired of all the fussing. It didn't help that it was showering lightly when I came to work and apparently poured on and off all day.

I forgot to use that 5 dollar gift card from the Acme yesterday. One of my customers mentioned the joys of frozen quiches. I haven't had one in years, so I thought I'd make my own. I used the gift card on frozen pie crust, large soft bakery shortbread cookies, and a bottle of Acme's generic sparkling fruit water.

When I got home, I changed, then started dinner. Julie's Cooking Studio has a recipe for Bacon and Cheese Quiche. It was easy to exchange the bacon for ham leftover from New Year's and add spinach and mushrooms. Mom used to make us quiche for dinner a lot when we were kids. They were easy to throw together from eggs and whatever leftovers she had around the house. I'm not usually good with pies, but this one didn't turn out too badly, a little watery and soft on the bottom but still tasty.

Ran Texas Carnival as I worked on dinner. Red Skelton is back with Esther Williams, this time in the story of a pair of fair workers who help a drunk, wealthy oil baron (Keenan Wynn). The oil tycoon invites them to his hotel. When they arrive, he's gone for a few days with his sister. They end up posing as the duo when the hotel guests think they're them. Williams falls for the foreman of the oil baron's ranch (Howard Keel); Skelton winds up with the sheriff's brassy dancer daughter (Ann Miller). Skelton, who has lost 17,000 dollars in a poker game, has to win it back in a wild chuck wagon race. He almost loses the race when he gets drunk the night before, but Keel and Williams help him out.

Short but sweet, and slightly more fun than Bathing Beauty. Williams makes up for appearing in a land-locked setting with a nicely done bit of special effects that allows her to be Keel's "underwater dream" in the film's best sequence. Other than her introductory number in the hotel's convention room, Miller is barely used. Like Rhythm Romance, this is cute fluff that's worth a peek if you're a fan of the stars or if you run into it on TCM on a lazy afternoon.

Incidentally, it was raining when I was riding home, but not heavily. I arrived damp but not soaked. It picked up about a half-hour or so after I got in and has been going ever since.