Look to the Rain

I slept in this morning. It had been showering all morning, and the rain continued when I finally headed out around 12:30 to get the laundry done. The laundromat wasn't busy. There were a few people there watching the news when I came in. I just worked on my story notes. By the time I left, the rain was down to sprinkles, and it was just me, one other person, The Chew, and my small load.

Went home and put everything away, then went right back out again. First stop was lunch at Jalapeno's Grill. It was past 2 by then, and the place was quiet as can be. I had a nice, simple Chicken Quesadilla with a shredded lettuce and tomato bits "salad." Two college students did arrive shortly before I left.

The rain was long gone by the time I made my way down Cuthbert Road to the Haddon Township Library. Once again, they were overloaded with DVDs. There were so many kids titles that needed to be shelved, there wasn't anything resembling enough room to get them all on, even with tons of organizing. I had more luck reorganizing the kids' CDs. One of the librarians mentioned they just bought a third rack for the adult DVDs and are debating picking up a fourth one for the kids' discs, but the spinning racks used in the kids' area are expensive.

(And as you can guess, I didn't take anything out this week. I'll barely have the time to do what little else I have planned.)

Made a brief stop at Dollar Tree on my way home. My friend Kelly's birthday was last weekend. Mom's is this weekend. I needed cards for both of them, along with sponges. Treated myself to a Blue Bunny Party Cake Ice Cream Sandwich, too.

Headed straight home after that. I made tortilla-crusted salmon and roasted Brussels sprouts for dinner while watching Finnian's Rainbow. Fred Astaire is Finnian, an Irish immigrant who is convinced a pot of gold planted near Fort Knox will somehow grow. The leprechaun he stole it from (Tommy Steele) just wants it back. He's turning human without the magical gold. Finnian's daughter Sharon (Petula Clark) is more interested in the head of the sharecroppers' union where they're living. The group is racially mixed, not a popular concept in the Deep South. Their land rights are being threatened by a bigoted senator (Keenan Wynn). It takes three magical wishes to unite the lovers and make everyone realize the importance of racial tolerance and believing in one's dreams.

Bizarre but mostly enjoyable musical from 1968. There's some nice numbers, including Astaire's "When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich," Steele and Clark's adorable "Something Sort of Grandish," and the hottest "Old Devil Moon" on record. The racial/social backstory does get preachy at times, and Steele's overacting can grate on one's nerves. Still, if you're looking for something different for older kids and teens on up for St. Patrick's Day, you can do far worse than this.