May Fair Affair

I was grateful to see a warm sun when I awoke this morning. Celebrated with breakfast and a couple of Universal wartime shorts. Woody Woodpecker's only war-related cartoon was "Ace In the Hole." Woody wants to fly planes, but his sergeant has him shearing horses. Woody does finally make it into the air...with explosive results. "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" is the tale of a popular jazz trumpeter who lands in the army and keeps his unit humming with his swinging tunes. (This may be awash in stereotypes, but it also features a really nifty version of the title song and is one of the few shorts of its era to depict minorities in the military.) "Pigeon Patrol" gives a country bumpkin bird a chance to shine when he helps a downed flyer get an important message past the enemy.

Finally headed out around quarter of 10. I wanted to at least briefly check out this year's Collingswood May Fair, but I first needed money. Along with hitting the ATM machine at WaWa, I found another limited edition Pepsi flavor. "Dew S.A" It's a combination of their three bright-colored fruit flavors, White Out, Voltage, and Code Red. Not bad. A very pleasing berry flavor.

The Farm Market is absorbed into the May Fair for the week, taking up a side street. Even with fewer booths, they were still elbow-to-elbow busy. Though I did see the first snap peas of the season, I settled for small organic heads of Boston and Red Romaine lettuce. Also grabbed strawberries and bananas.

Strolled around the fair for a little bit. The May Fair is Collingswood's big Memorial Day Weekend community event, covering most of Haddon Avenue. Though there's rides for the kids and an antique car show, I basically just had time to peek at the craft booths. Mainly saw art and hand-made jewelry, but I also noticed wood carvers, photographers, knitters, stuffed animal and pillow makers, doll clothes and children's clothes seamstresses, carpenters, and several local businesses. There's also a ton of food booths, from fresh-squeezed lemonade to funnel cake, and bands playing at a couple of stages.

Had enough time to hurry home, eat Apple-Cinnamon Muffins and strawberries for lunch, and change while watching a couple of Popeye shorts. Popeye entered the war several months before the US did, in "The Mighty Navy." Most of his adventures at sea, like "Fleets of Strength" or "Blunder Below," shows how hard a time he has with following the Navy's orders...before taking on their attackers in his own way.

He and Bluto continue to compete for Olive in the exotic "Kicking the Conga Around." They want to show off for Senorita Olive, but Popeye can't dance the conga like Bluto. Spinach turns him into a dancing and fighting machine!

Got my schedule right when I arrived at work. I figured I'd work on Memorial Day, but not this early, or early on Sunday, either. And while I don't have off again until Wednesday, I do get Wednesday and Friday.

Work was a bit of a pain. Despite it being one of the major holiday weekends of the late spring, I spent most of my shift cleaning the bathroom, doing returns, organizing soda coolers, and sweeping up cigarette butts...and I never did get a chance to finish the first two. I kept getting called to do other things, including during my break. The other bagger was scrubbing the soda coolers when I finally realized how low the carts were getting. We gathered carts for the last hour, which we probably should have been doing all afternoon.

Headed home after picking up an onion (which I forgot at the farm market) and using two Monopoly free coupons to buy aluminum foil and hot dog rolls. Did a little writing for the next few hours. Leia kicks and screams, but it does no good. Fettson finally drags Henry away. Meanwhile, Luke and Rusty have arrived. Charles and Leia try to warn them, but they take off anyway. Rusty suggests they split up, with Luke going after Henry and Rusty following the others.

Luke does start after Fettson, until he notices a rustling black cape in the garden. Determined to eliminate Vader once and for all, he makes his way up the stone staircase and into the winding mountainside greenery.

Broke around quarter of 7 for crusted salmon and a green salad with home-made honey mustard dressing for dinner. Finished the Popeye wartime shorts, with a few extra ones, as I ate. Though Popeye and Bluto continue to pursue Olive in "Olive Oyl and Water Don't Mix" and "Aloma of the South Seas," they also deal with more (and a few less) typical Navy matters. When Olive leaves Sweet Pea in Popeye's care, the child wanders all over the ship, sending his sitter on a frantic search for him in "Baby Wants a Bottleship." Popeye finds himself temporarily in the Army in "Many Tanks" when Bluto switches places with him so he can land a date with Olive. He makes his way past the Nazis to deliver "Spinach to Britain." Bluto claims he's "Too Weak to Work," but what he really wants is time in the hospital to avoid his duties.

Also did two non-military shorts while I cleaned up from dinner. Popeye's saying "Nix on Hypnotrics" when a nefarious hypnotist uses his powers on Olive and tries to bring her to him. "Cartoons Ain't Human" is one of my favorite shorts from this era. Popeye goes about as meta as you can get and creates his own version of a typical Popeye/Olive rescue romp, much to the delight of his nephews.

Made a Banana Cake while watching Shaun the Sheep: The Movie. Shaun is bored with his typical routine and wishes the Farmer would go on holiday, or at least do something a bit different. He gets a lot more adventure than he bargained for when an accident lands the Farmer in the hospital with amnesia. First Shaun, then Blitzer, then all the sheep on the farm go after him. While they try to jolt his memory, the nasty head of Animal Control is determined to capture Shaun and the others

An action-packed send-off to Shaun and his fellow farm animals, with more movie and TV references than you can shake a razor at. For all the shout-outs, I was surprised at some of the darker moments, especially after the Farmer vanishes and when he doesn't recognize them. If you're a fan of Shaun or his series or other Aardman projects, this is a really enjoyable way to send off a great show.