Pumpkin Music

Began the day with work. Even with the Eagles off this week, we were still really busy. In addition to this being the beginning of the month, we're having a lot of really big sales. The Acme just rebooted their online coupon and gas rewards program to include grocery rewards as well...and some of those rewards and online coupons include free items. I tried to help the other bagger do the carts early in the day, but we couldn't keep up with them! They kept vanishing, and neither side was ever full. I had more luck doing outside trash and recycling. At least it was a nice day for it, sunny, chilly, and breezy without being as windy as yesterday.

After a brief stint being stuck in the register and I took my break, I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon shelving two full carts of returns. It had slowed down somewhat by then, but was still fairly steady. I bagged twice when the lines got really bad.

As soon as I got off, I did my own grocery shopping. Good thing I mostly ate out of cans or the fridge last week and didn't really need much. Took advantage of those big sales and got free eggs and French bread, along with free flour and a dollar off from the new grocery rewards. Sugar is 99 cents this weekend, and I had a coupon for 49 cent frozen vegetables. Restocked honey, soup, brown sugar, skim milk, and yogurt. Got bananas and pears for fruit.

As soon as I got home, I put everything away, then made carrot pancakes for lunch. (I left in too much of a hurry to have them this morning.) Oh yum! They came out beautifully, spicy and just sweet enough. I even cooked them perfectly.

Listened to the original Broadway cast album of Newsies while I ate and got organized. There's quite a few changes to the stage version of the Disney cult musical. Jack, the head of the Newsies, has a deeper relationship with the disabled Crutchie, which makes him feel worse when he's arrested after the first strike and put in a boys' home. The sister Jack fell in love with that had no personality was combined with the reporter to become a girl writer who is looking for her first scoop. The older Swedish singer who performs for the Newsies' rally is now an older African-American singer. There's a song for the villains ("The Bottom Line"), for the girl reporter (my favorite of the new numbers, "Watch What Happens"), the singer ("That's Rich"), for the Newsies from the Boroughs ("Brooklyn's Here"), and two love duets ("I Never Planned On You" and "Something to Believe In") for Jack and the reporter.

Honestly, if you're a fan of this show, I recommend both the Broadway cast album and digging up the film soundtrack. They're equally fun, with casts that are just as good either way.

Decided to try something different after lunch while finishing out Newsies. The pumpkins I've been using for decorations have begun to get mushy black spots. The older one from the Collingswood Farm Market in particular was really bad. It's entire upper rim around the stem and part of the back was obviously rotting. Instead of throwing it away, like I usually do with my pumpkins after the season, I cut away the bad part, then roasted the seeds and baked the rest. One of the wedges was small enough to have with dinner tonight. The remaining three will be used for meals for the rest of the week.

Did a little bit of writing after the pumpkin seeds and parts were out of the oven. Poe and Finn warn Rose that a wolf has been seen in the area. He may not even be a wolf, but an evil magician in disguise. Rose shrugs them off. She can take care of herself. She's started down the path again when she encounters a huge black wolf with shiny red eyes...

Broke for dinner at quarter of 7. I wanted to make Tuna and Peas in a pan, but I put in too much water and it got too soupy. Oh well. I had cream of tuna soup with peas, baked pumpkin and seeds, and crusty bread with apricot jam.

Listened to Call Me Madam as I made my meal. This includes both the RCA Victor cast album that used the entire original cast but star Ethel Merman, replacing her with the very different Dinah Shore, and the Decca album that had Merman singing most of the score solo (though Dick Haymes does join her for "You're Just In Love"). I skipped most of the Shore versions of Merman's numbers in favor of the real thing, with the exception of a genuinely lovely duet on "Marrying For Love" with Paul Lukas. As cute as the Merman/Haymes version of that song was, I think I might have liked the British version with a brassy Billie Worth even more. (There was a nice version of "It's a Lovely Day Today" included as well.)

Finished the night with the 2000 revival of 42nd Street. This version of the story of the chorus dancer who makes good in a 30's revue and becomes a Broadway star adds two more Harry Warren/Al Dubin songs, "With Plenty of Money and You" and "Keep Young and Beautiful," along with the classic ballad "I Only Have Eyes for You." As much as I love my original cast LP for this one, the revival is a lot of fun, too, especially "With Plenty of Money."