Return of the Farm Market

Today was the first day of the Collingswood Farm Market. It was a beautiful day for it, too. The sky was sunny and perfectly blue when I headed out. The farm market was PACKED! I could barely inch my way around. I guess everyone wanted to buy produce, cheese, and bread for their Derby Day barbecues and Cinco Del Mayo parties. Not that there's a lot there at this time of year. It was mostly flowers and herbs. I did manage to pick up asparagus, an onion, a garlic bulb, organic scallions, and fresh rolls from MacMillian's Bakery's booth. (Fruit probably won't be out for another three weeks to a month.)

I finished Deep In My Heart before I left. When I got in, I ran various action-themed cartoons while making peanut butter and blueberry preserves on a bakery-fresh roll for a very quick lunch. The Paramount Popeye short "Ancient Fistory" is a retelling of "Cinderella." Popeye is a servant for Bluto, who goes to a ball to woo Princess Olive. Popeye's Fairy God-Pappy helps him become the best-looking guy there. "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" is the last of the three "featurettes" the Fleischer Brothers did with Popeye in the late 30's and early 40's. Popeye is the title character, who retrieves a lamp with a genie inside from a cave. He uses the genie to help him woo the fair Olive. A wizard is determined to get the lamp and Olive at any cost!

Switched to Mickey Mouse for a black-and-white medieval spoof, "Ye Olden Days." Here, Minnie is the princess who refuses to marry Prince Goofy. Mickey's the minstrel who woos her. When King Pete catches them running away, Minnie convinces him to let Mickey fight Goofy for her hand in marriage.

Work was crazy for most of the afternoon, a decided contrast to yesterday's calm. There were quite a few annoying people too, including one of those groups who buy a cart full of expensive items, then suddenly realize, oops, even though we knew we didn't have the money, we can't afford it, but we can hold up the line. On the other had, I got another 5 dollar card for getting praise from a customer yesterday. I bought things I forgot yesterday - cake flour and muffin papers - along with a new red-violet vinyl grocery bag.

I once again took the long way down Nicholson home to avoid the road repairs on the Black Horse Pike. Besides, it was still too nice to rush home. The traffic was a bit of a pain on Nicholson by the Viking Pest Control and the Spanish church, but once I got over the hill and onto Atlantic, everything was fine. West Clinton and Manor was a little backed up with people going to the Oaklyn Bar to cheer on their Kentucky Derby favorite.

Continued with more black-and-white Mickey as I changed into regular clothes and put my groceries away. "Shanghaied" is one of my favorite "Mickey rescues Minnie from Pete" shorts. Here, Pete is a pirate holding Mickey and Minnie prisoner. Mickey breaks free and first fights with a swordfish, then with anything in the kitchen he can get his paws on, including the stove. "Mickey In Arabia" is more-or-less the same thing. This time, Pete is a Bedouin, the pirates are replaced by extremely non-PC Arabian locals, and Mickey has to contend with a drunk camel along with Pete grabbing his girl.

Spent the next hour or so cleaning. The vacuuming really needed to get done. This is pollen season. The yellow dust gets really bad in here, particularly near the window that overlooks the park. I also used the long vacuum tube extensions to get out some spoons and spatulas that had fallen in the gap between the kitchen counter and sink and the kitchen wall. Hopefully, that gap will disappear once they replace the counter. For now, I need to be more careful about where I put the longer utensils in my drying rack.

Ran Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown as I cleaned, and then while making Carrot Cake Muffins. The third of four Peanuts films takes the kids to camp for two weeks. While the girls try to do be democratic and vote on every little thing, the boys deal with a group of obnoxious bullies who cheat at every game. They're determined to beat the bullies at the big river rafting race. When Woodstock gets lost in a storm and Snoopy and then the kids go after them, they realize that they're going to have to work together - whether they like it or not - to survive in the wilderness and win the race.

I have no idea why it took so long for Paramount to get the remaining Peanuts films out on DVD, but it was worth the wait. While this isn't the most exciting Peanuts special, there are some nice bits, especially once the kids get into the actual race. I loved them all going down a log chute - that was really cute. I was bothered by the fact that no one ever did anything about those bullies. Nowadays, the kids probably would have reported them to the counselors the moment it became obvious that they cheated at the sack race. Otherwise, this isn't entirely essential but is a pleasant way to pass an hour and a half, especially if you're a Peanuts fan.

Started the animated Disney Robin Hood as I made molasses bacon lamb chops, roasted farm-fresh asparagus, and brown rice for dinner. We head to the woods of jolly old England as Robin Hood and Little John (Phil Harris) swipe money from whiny Prince John (Peter Ustinov) and his snake counselor Sir Hiss (Terry-Thomas). Robin is almost caught at an archery tournament, but he does manage to get Maid Marian out during the resulting chaos. Matters come to a head when Friar Tuck (Andy Devine) and half of Nottingham lands in prison due to taxes. Robin and Little John have to find a way to rescue everyone without ending up in jail themselves. Not the best-animated Disney film, but one of the funniest, with quips flying fast and furious. If you love Robin Hood stories or comic action, this is much better than its reputation would suggest.