Rock Around the Doll

Started a beautiful, sunny, though slightly warmer morning with Peach Brown Sugar Pancakes. Thankfully, they turned out much better than the ones I made last week. They were perfect, soft and sweet and chunky and just right on both sides.

Work was on-and-off busy, busier than it has been, though still not quite as bad as it could be on a Sunday. I once again spent the down time writing and shelving items, though not for as long as during the weekdays. We should be picking up a bit this week as we get closer to Labor Day and the beginning of the month. Thankfully, by 4 PM, it had slowed enough that I was able to leave with no relief and no need for one.

As soon as I got home, I changed into regular clothes, grabbed my tiny laundry load, and rode over to the laundromat. It was crazy! I'd never seen it so busy. I did get a washer and a drier, but the only seats left were across from the vending machines, where hot late afternoon sunlight was pouring in. Even when it slowed down a bit later, it was still busy. Good thing my load was so small. I was in and out in under an hour.

In honor of the debut of American Girl's newest historical character, Maryellen Larkin, on Thursday, I ran music from the 50's and early 60's all day. Maryellen is supposed to be a Florida kid in 1954 with five other siblings. If any of those siblings are older, or her parents are a bit more liberal, she may have heard some of the music from the American Graffiti soundtrack. Although I think most of these songs are from later in the decade (the movie is set in 1960), it still gives you a good cross-section of what early rock-and-roll and R&B sounded like.

I suspect she would have been more likely to be swooning over the High Society soundtrack. This film musical was a huge hit in 1955, thanks to an excellent Cole Porter score and a cast that includes Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm, and Grace Kelly. Standards from this one include "True Love," "You're Sensational," "Well, Did You Evah?" (borrowed from Dubarry Was a Lady), and my personal favorite, Sinatra and Holm's comic number "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?"