As the Snow Vanishes

I awoke late to a glorious, sunny, windy day. The snow was rapidly disappearing from my porch; I could hear it dripping, even as I ready Penny From Heaven and wrote in my journal. Penny is smart tomboy living in the North Jersey suburbs in 1953. She spends the summer getting used to her mother's new boyfriend and learning more about her father's Italian-American family, their unique traditions, and how her favorite uncle (who lives in his car) is involved in the death of her father a decade before.

It was nearly 11 before I got to breakfast! I ran my first Easter special of the year as I ate Life cereal and a half of a grapefruit fast. The Easter Bunny Is Coming To Town is my favorite of the three Rankin-Bass spring tales. This one is a straight-up origin tale. Sunny the Bunny is raised by the orphaned residents of Kidville to regard himself as one of them. It comes as quite a shock when he tries to sell their eggs to the gloomy all-adult Town and discovers that animals, kids, and any food that isn't beans are outlawed by the nasty Lady Lily Longtooth and her shy ward King Bruce. Sunny and the Kidsville residents do what they can to get around Lady Lily's laws, and invent many Easter traditions in the process.

I didn't head out until around 12:30. By that time, it had to be in the upper 50's. The wind was still a little chilly, but the sun was warm to the point of being balmy. I cut through Newton River Park on my way to the Haddon Township Library. It surprisingly wasn't that busy, despite the nice day. There were a few people out for a stroll and a family with two little boys who wanted to look at everything. The snow was mostly gone from here, too. I could see all of the yellowed, straw-like grass for the first time in weeks. The water was still mostly frozen solid (which tells you just how cold it's been for the past three weeks or so).

The Haddon Township Library was surprisingly busy when I arrived around 1. A librarian said they'd been even busier over the weekend and were swamped on Saturday. That would explain the piles of DVD's and CD's on the return racks. For once, I got all but 6 Scooby Doo titles on the kids' shelves, and everything in the adult racks. There was lots of non-fiction DVD's, CD's, and audio books to put away, too. I didn't take anything out myself. I still have some movies I haven't gotten to, and it's just going to be too nice for most of this week to spend it watching anything inside.

Went across the street to Thriftway to pick up peanut butter and apple cider vinegar. Their vinegars are only 89 cents (as opposed to the $1.39 for the smaller bottles at the Acme). Skippy peanut butter was on sale for $1.99. I bought their Natural Super Chunk. I just ran out of peanut butter yesterday. Thriftway was dead as a doornail. It was too beautiful out to be doing a lot of shopping.

Had lunch at Friendly's. The first thing I saw was a flyer stating that today's 5 dollar special was a bacon cheeseburger with fries. That was fine for lunch. It was pretty decent. The burger was a cheap patty, but it was cooked well, and their fries are cooked just crispy enough. In honor of the warmer day, I had a Hunka Hunka PB Fudge sundae with hot fudge sauce, whipped cream, and a cherry for dessert.

I was originally going to go straight home after that...but it was just too nice out to spend the rest of the day in the apartment. I cut across the park and through Collingswood instead. I was going to put off doing my hair until later in the month, but it's been a frizzy, poofy mess for weeks. I just wanted to do something with it.

Ended up at the Hair Cuttery between the WaWa and the Rite Aid in Collingswood. This time, I got an older woman with a short blond bob. I got exactly the same thing I got last time. I wish I'd gotten it a little shorter. It would have helped with the poof, and we are getting closer to permanently warm weather. At the very least, it's shorter, the curls are more obvious, and hopefully it'll be a little easier to manage now.

Stopped briefly at Rite Aid for a Sparkling Ice Cherry Limeade, then finally headed home. When I got in, I made that Pink Velvet Cake and had leftovers for dinner while watching The Great Muppet Caper. Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo head to London, England to catch the robbers who stole Lady Holiday's (Diana Rigg) jewels. Kermit mistakes Lady Holiday's new receptionist Miss Piggy for the famous fashion designer at first. A trip to a nightclub reveals both Miss Piggy's occupation and that Lady Holiday's brother Nicky (Charles Grodin) is up to no good. The Muppets have to figure out how to catch Nicky in the act, before he steals his sister's costly Baseball Diamond.

Probably the funniest of the three original Muppet specials, with more fourth walls broken than in your average Looney Tunes short. Plus, there's the amazing musical number with Piggy and Kermit riding bikes together...and then we see a whole parade of Muppets on bikes. If you have kids, musical fans, or Muppet fans, this one is a no-brainer.

(And darn it. The cake didn't come out. It fell apart when I tried to take it out of the pan. It's too greasy, too - I think I overdid the oil. At least it tastes pretty good.)