Plundering the Book Sale

It was still sunny and a little too warm for the time of year when I got up this morning. Did some Captain Jake and the Never Land Pirates while eating breakfast. A rescue in a snow land takes the kids "In the Heart of Coldness" when a penguin tells them that his friends have been kidnapped by a frozen pirate. The pirate wants them to find "The Heart of Coldness," a gem that'll allow him to freeze all of Never Land.

"The Remarkable Beardini" is a magician who was released by Hook and Smee. They want him to tell them how he works his magic, but a magician never reveals his secrets. He's not happy when he learns the kids have found his invisibility ring and attacks them to get it back...until Jake apologizes for taking it.

Started out around 10:30 for today's errands. The Oaklyn Library looked like it was hosting a knitting club when I arrived. A group of older women sat around the main table, discussing pearls and needles and pulling colorful knitted squares out of handbags. I didn't want to get in their way (or listen to their political talk), so I organized the DVDs and left.

Besides, there were other things I wanted to do today. I made a quick stop at WaWa to use the ATM machines, then rode back down the White Horse Pike to Oaklyn's City Hall. Locked my bike behind City Hall at the fire house, then waited for the bus to Voorhees at the shaded bench. Thankfully, they were actually close to on time, for once. There was no traffic on the way, and I had no problems getting off at the Voorhees Library.

Twice a year, the Voorhees Library holds the Camden County Library System's annual system-wide book sale. They started a day earlier this year, on Thursday. They were already a little picked-over when I came. I saw no good DVDs or CDs. Wish they'd organized the fiction better. I really had to search for fantasy, sci fi, and mystery novels. On the other hand, they weren't nearly as busy as the last few times I went there, either. (It being noon by the time I arrived may have been part of the reason.) The kids' books area was actually empty.

I finally walked out with three records:

The original cast of the 1978 burlesque revue Sugar Babies, featuring Ann Miller and Mickey Rooney

Soundtrack for the 1950's TV musical The Adventures of Marco Polo, with Broadway star Alfred Drake

Collection of Laurel & Hardy material, including songs and routines from their films and shorts

And four books:

The Spirit of Christmas Book Six (craft/cook book collection)

Betsy-Tacy and Tib, by Maud Hart Lovelace (I heard people at the AG Playthings board mention this tale of a trio of best friends in the early 1900's and thought I'd try it)

Shadows of the Empire, by Steve Perry (Basically, what happened between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I've read this, but not since it came out. At one point, Keefe had the Xizor and Dash Rendar action figures. They're long gone - they weren't among the ones he gave me.)

Laced, by Carol Higgins Clark (one of her few books I hadn't gotten to)

And the lady at the table up front gave me the whole pile for 3 dollars. Not a bad haul for what they had, really.

Had lunch across the street at the Voorhees Town Center's food court. There wasn't really much to choose from. Several of the booths were closed, including the barbecue place Lauren and I ate at the last time we went to the Book Sale together. I considered Qdoba, but I just had tacos for dinner last night. Ended up with Burger King's Homestyle Burger, fries, and a Diet Coke. Very disappointing. The fries were ok, kind of big for fast food fries, but the burger was flat and obviously fake, with nuclear cheese and practically no vegetables.

The rest of the Voorhees Town Center wasn't much better. The only remaining stores were Bath and Body Works, an Italian import store, Claire's, the Hot Topic/Spencer's imitation Adventureland, the cookie booth, Victoria's Secret, the arcade, Kay's Jewels, PayLess Shoes, and the anchors Boscov's and Macy's. Even that great Hallmark was gone. Except for Boscov's and Macy's, the second floor is entirely local offices or medical services. A lot of the decor is dark and drab, and quite frankly, no arcade or cookie booth can keep the place from looking a bit depressing.

I did browse in Boscov's and briefly in Bath and Body Works and bought a few mini-cookies, but I really don't have much money left. I ended up taking the 2:14 back to Oaklyn. They were a ten minutes late arriving. When they did arrive, the driver told me her money feed machine was broken. I ended up getting a free - and very full - ride home.

After I got off in Oaklyn, I turned around and went back a couple of blocks. I'd remembered that I badly needed light bulbs. The halogen bulbs at Family Dollar were expensive, but they were still cheaper than buying one CFL bulb. Also grabbed a can of mandarin oranges for 80 cents.

Did some writing when I got in. Rey and Artie end up getting along like gangbusters, thanks to Rey's mechanical bent. They finally head out after finding out from Artie that Luke is at Skywalker Manor and is up to something. Hank offers to take Leia home, then talks her into going to the party with him, much to her amusement and delight of the kids and Charles.

Broke for oat bran and roasted Brussels sprouts for dinner while continuing Captain Jake. "Escape From Ghost Island" has both Hook's crew and the kids ending up at the title island, which only appears at night. Smee and Hook turn into ghosts when they touch a ghost pirate's treasure. The pirate turns Jake into a ghost, too. He wants them all for his ghostly crew! Jake, Hook, and Smee finally turn the ghost's own powers against him.

"The Island of Doctor Undergear" introduced me to a mechanical pirate the kids apparently found floating in the sea and put together. They go to an island shaped like a gear to find a new part for him. Turns out he was originally intended to be a henchman for Dr. Undergear, a mad scientist. Undergear's parts make him into an evil lackey! Jake makes a mechanical body of his own to fight robot to robot.

"Rise of the Pirate Pharaoh" takes us to the desert, where a mummy pirate is giving the kids a tour of his world. They accidentally unleashes a mummy pharaoh who sends a hoard of scarabs to scare the kids and their wrapped up friend away. They fight off the scarabs, then find out why the pharaoh really wants them gone.

Captain Hook gets involved in a take on "The Midas Touch" in "The Golden Hook." Unlike King Midas, Hook becomes obsessed with his new hook that can turn anything into gold and doesn't listen when the kids and Smee try to explain it's a bad idea. Jake has to use his own magic to get the hook away from him, before he turns them all into gold!

Finished the night with a call to Mom. I hadn't heard from her in ages, since I visited the family in July. She's still working long hours at the Ferry. The nice weather has kept them unusually busy for mid-fall. Dad's a bit better, at least enough to go visit Grandma Ann with Anny. I told her about the remodeling and the changes at the Acme and having dinner with Dad and Jodie. She mentioned she made a French apple pie. She was the recipient of most of the apples Anny and her brood gathered on that apple-picking trip last week (just like Jodie got Rose's apples).