Put On Your Sunday Musicals

Kicked off a beautiful morning with Blackberry Oat Bran Pancakes for breakfast. Listened to two summer and travel-themed musicals while I ate. I Had a Ball is a musical comedy from the mid-60s, one of the last of the long line of star comic-driven vehicles that stretched back to the late 1800's. Buddy Hackett is a medium/psychiatrist who uses his crystal ball to play matchmaker at Coney Island.

While I Had a Ball is largely forgotten, Hello Dolly! remains an all-time favorite. Coincidentally, it also involves matchmaking in New York. We jump back to the late 1890's to meet Dolly Levi, a widowed matchmaker. She's off to Yonkers to find a husband for the daughter of cranky millionaire Horace Vandergelder. What she really wants is to pair off his clerks with two young ladies in New York, her daughter with her artist beau...and Horace with herself. My favorite number here is the ensemble that takes everyone to the Big Apple, "Put On Your Sunday Clothes."

Headed to work shortly after Dolly! ended. Work was unusually quiet for a Sunday. Gorgeous weather probably contributed. Though it was in the upper 80's, it was also sunny, breezy, and dry as a bone, perfect weather for early August. We also had tons of help, for once. I spent my entire four hour shift doing returns with no problems whatsoever. It was the most pain-free afternoon I've spent at work in weeks, if not months.

As soon as I got home, I changed into regular clothes, packed up the laundry, and headed to the laundromat. They, too, were largely quiet, and certainly more than they were last week. Though I did have towels to wash, there wasn't much else. I was in and out in an hour.

When I got home, I put everything away and did a little writing. I decided I'd do that Star Wars 80's summer-set story. Why not? I do have some good ideas. Leia and Luke Walker just arrived in a fictional southern Jersey Shore community, where their Uncle Ben (not really their uncle, but a close family friend) owns a row of cottages by the beach. Leia's dismayed with how dilapidated they've gotten, but Luke's just happy to be at the beach.

Broke for leftovers really quick around quarter after 7. Listened to Once On This Island while I ate. This Haitian-set fairy tale from 1993 tells the story of TiMoune, a girl rescued from a storm by a childless couple. She falls in love with a light-skinned rich boy from the other side of the island. Trouble is, she's a darker-skinned peasant. Even the gods aren't sure this romance will work out. This is  a lush, tragic, romantic tale, with some wonderful music by two of my favorite Broadway tunesmiths, Lynn Aherns and Stephan Flahtery.