Wednesday, September 07, 2016

Fall Harvest Fun In Westmont

Started the morning with another early work session. Thankfully, this one was far less painless than the past few days have been. I did the carts when I first came in, but another bagger arrived an hour later who handled outside duties for the rest of the morning. Got stuck in the register once for about 10 minutes and rounded up baskets, but I mostly did returns. For once, I got really far on them. I was almost done when I headed out at 1.

Put on There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown after I got home while I got dressed and ate lunch. Despite the title and this being found on the Charlie Brown Valentine DVD, the special has more to do with learning than love. The first half is a series of vignettes about the Peanuts gang at school and the troubles they have. The second takes the kids on a field trip to the art museum. Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Sally, Snoopy, and Chuck somehow mistake a grocery store for their real destination.

Headed out around quarter after 2 to run a couple of errands. It was a wonderful day for it. While it was hot, it was windy and not really humid, with a beautiful bright blue sky. Surprisingly, despite the nice weather, the Haddon Township Library was fairly busy when I arrived. The shelves were overloaded with media items! It took me an hour just to get the DVDs shelved.

Took out a few movies I'd been wanting to see this week. The Hunger Games has sort of lost its shine, but I figured I might as well finish the series with Mockingjay Part 2. The Hateful Eight is violent, but could be intriguing. And with school back in session, I think this is the right time to check out National Lampoon's Animal House. Also grabbed a Force Awakens kids' book with good pictures.

Westmont holds a small farm market on Wednesday evenings, on the block across from Primo's Water Ice, next to the (former) Westmont Theater. It's kind of like Oaklyn's Final Friday Festival in that there's more food trucks and booths than farm tables. They do have some farmers there, including the folks with the fancy heirloom tomatoes and Chinese beans I regularly see at Collingswood. The fall produce is starting to roll out. I saw plums, pumpkins, and winter squash for the first time this season. I got two little tomatoes from the tomatoes and beans booth, plus plums and a cucumber.

Since I was there, I opted to buy dinner from one of the tables. I had fish tacos from a cafe booth. Bought a can of Diet Pepsi from the cart selling hot dogs. Their drinks were cheaper. I'd never seen such colorful tacos. The grilled fresh fish lay in two soft taco shells, covered in bright red-purple cole slaw and a green jalapeno dressing. Thankfully, the dressing wasn't too spicy. I enjoyed my meal at a series of wobbly wooden tables, listening to a man behind me covering hits from the Who and Bruce Springsteen on his guitar.

Took the long way home across Collingswood and Oaklyn. I had considered getting water ice for dessert at Primo's, but I didn't want to dodge the traffic on Haddon Avenue for longer than I had to. Ended up at Phillies Yummies in Oaklyn instead. I'm glad I waited. Yummies' Wednesday special is 50 cents off all sizes water ice. The small neon-green, very minty Mint Chocolate Chip water ice was more than sufficient. I sat at one of the wooden tables on West Clinton and enjoyed it while watching little girls stream into dance class at Ovations a few doors down.

As soon as I got home, I went right in the bath. Ahhh. That felt great after my long ride. I listened to one of my jazz samplers and looked over a few Christmas craft books for gift ideas.

Finished the night with a little writing. Luke, Leia, and Wedge are meeting Ben Kenobi at the Boardwalk. Maz Kantana runs their favorite local amusement park. Hank and Charlie are late joining them, but they do finally arrive. Maz is a friend of Ben's and of Hank and Charlie, and she owns this place, managing it and selling tickets. She's tough, but she's one of those Shore characters everyone knows.

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