It was just cloudy and cold when I got up this morning. I combated the gloom with another Easter special. Bugs Bunny's Easter Funnies is another Looney Toons holiday special made up of mostly bits and pieces of classic cartoons. The wrap-around story is the flimsiest yet. Granny has to find a replacement for the ailing Easter Bunny among the Toons. Possibly to make up for the weak storyline, the cartoons excerpted are among some of the best ever made by Termite Terrace, including three Oscar winners, "For Scentimental Reasons," "Birds Anonymous," and "Knighty Knight Bugs." (Other favorites seen here include "Robin Hood Daffy," "Hillbilly Hare," and "The Rabbit of Seville.")
Work was on-and-off busy, but mostly quiet. The clouds from the morning had mostly subsided by late afternoon. We weren't quite as busy as yesterday, and we had a lot more help, too. This time, I was able to shut down easily with no relief and no problems.
Good, because I had a lot of grocery shopping to do today. I needed meat, but there weren't any really good sales. I did get a small tube of ground turkey for $3.49 and two packs of salmon cakes for $1.58 each with two manger's coupons. Most of it was restocking - tomato sauce, diced tomato, peanut butter, parchment paper, brown sugar, chocolate chips, coconut, oatmeal, bananas, sweet potatoes, apples, grapefruit. I found a bunch of DVD's in the clearance shelves. Grabbed the first How to Train Your Dragon for $2.99 and a set with the first two American Tail movies for $3.99.
Oh, and my schedule for next week is pretty similar to this week's with slightly more hours. I do have a 7-hour day on Tuesday. Otherwise, nothing really late or really early, Monday and Wednesday off again.
The light on my phone was blinking when I got in. Rose called while I was at work. We'd be going to the show at 7:30, after she dropped off Khai at Craig's mom's house. Ok, that was fine. I could have a chance to eat, change, put everything away, and watch How to Train Your Dragon 2.
Hiccup, his beloved dragon Toothless, and the other Dragon Riders of Berk now live in harmony with their new friends. Hiccup is nervous about taking over as chief from his father, Stoick. He's even more scared when he, Ingrid, and the other riders discover a group of dragon poachers who are rounding up dragons for the evil Draco. Draco wants to create his own dragon army and destroy Berk. While escaping the poachers, Toothless and Hiccup make a huge discovery in an ice cave. Another dragon rider has been making raids on the poachers, and Hiccup gets the shock of his life when he finds out who this person is! Meanwhile, his father is searching for him, and the other Riders are trying to rescue their dragons from Draco. Hiccup wants to reason with Draco, but he gets a huge reality check when he discovers that his dad was right, and there are just some people in this world you can't reason with.
I was just as impressed with the second movie as I was with the first. This is a touching, rather dark tale of a boy and his dragon who both learn that family is closer than you think, and while not everyone will be reasonable, that doesn't mean you don't still try to make peace. If you loved the first movie or the TV show or are a fan of animated action, this is very highly recommended.
The movie was ending and I'd just cleaned up the dishes from my salmon cakes and vegetable stir-fry dinner when Rose called again. She was picking me up early. She had decided to pick me up first, then drop off Khai. Fine by me. We dropped him off at his grandmother's house in Haddonfield, then headed down the highway to Woodbury, dodging more road repair on the way.
Woodbury is a lovely old town in the heart of Gloucester County. It's the county seat, as well as having the local hospital branch. The Sketch Club Players turned out to be a small theater in an old house on the edge of town. We parked in front and, after some confusion over where to go, headed in. The stage was small, so small you could sit in the back and probably see everyone pretty clearly. We took seats in the middle. We were there more than a half-hour early. We had time to look over Playbills and check cell phones before the show began.
The All Night Strut was a revue based around 30's and 40's music. Three women and two men performed popular standards from the era like "Minnie the Moocher," "As Time Goes By," "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" and "Jukebox Saturday Night." The backdrops were just simple curtains and mid-20th-century Art Deco trim, with a movie screen occasionally showing projections of Hollywood stars of the era or scenes from Depression breadlines or World War II (and some newer wars, too).
Rose's friend and fellow lawyer Tiara was the one who suggested the show to us. She performed an especially lovely "I'll Be Seeing You," the finale of Act I. She made a great Minnie the Moocher, too.
The two cutest numbers both revolved around troubled relationships. One of the guys tried to chase two of the girls...and ended up getting into trouble with both....in "Ain't Misbehavin'." Both guys tried to woo two of the girls in "A Fine Romance," but they weren't having any of it. "Java Jive" reminded me of "Coffee Break" from How to Succeed In Business as everyone chased that all-important cup of Joe. (They even had a stage manager who brought them the cups and broke up the girls fighting in "Misbehavin'.")
As you can tell, I really enjoyed the show and am glad Rose invited me. She seemed to have fun too, and musicals usually aren't her thing. I wish we could have told Tiara what a fine singer she was, but Rose couldn't figure out where to meet the performers and wanted to get home to Khai anyway. We had to dodge a lot of traffic slowly making its way around the repairs on the Black Horse Pike, especially down by the ramp into Oaklyn. Rose picked up Khai first (in his cute dog-print pajamas!) before she dropped me off.
Oh, and I got my eBay order for Josefina today. Most American Girl dolls up through Kaya had mini-dolls made for them and their time periods. Josefina's Nina is especially meaningful because, in the story, her mother made it and passed it down from girl to girl. Josefina's sister Clara didn't want to give her up originally after her mother died, but she finally decided to honor the tradition and clean her up for her sister.
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