Winter Was Very Warm

I awoke to a phone call. It was Charlie...but no one was there when I picked up the phone. I finally shrugged and went back to bed for another hour and a half. (He called me later and told me his cat walked across the phone and accidentally pushed call back.)

It was pouring, warm, and black as tar when I rolled out of bed early this morning. Thank heavens the rain ended as I ate breakfast, and the clouds were vanishing by the time I went to work. I did some returns and briefly got stuck in a register, but I was mostly outside with the cards. It ended up being a great day for it. By noon, the sun was shining, and while it was still windy, it was also still warm, probably in the mid-60's. We were steady for most of the morning; thankfully, it didn't really start to pick up until I was on my way home.

Changed into regular clothes, then made buttermilk pancakes with cranberry compote for lunch while listening to Winter Memories. This was another find from that box of free records I ran across in November. It's part of that series of LP collections of seasonal-themed songs sold by various stores; looks like JC Penney put out this one. To be honest, most of the songs only had the vaguest connection to winter, including Jerry Vale's "My Way" and Ray Conniff and The Singers doing the Broadway standard "My Cup Runneth Over." On the other hand, we did get Andre Kostelnetz and His Orchestra doing a rollicking instrumental "Sleigh Ride," Jim Nabors crooning a lovely "Try To Remember," and Doris Day's "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm."

After lunch, I went straight to bed and took a nap. I spent the morning running around, and I didn't get to sleep last night until late. Thankfully, Charlie and Richard mostly seemed to be messing around in the side garden and not near my room. I slept like a baby until 4:30.

When I finally got up, I worked on some writing. Bill the wolf does not like how Ira is hitting on Marcia and nudges his way between them. Charles doesn't like it, either. Ira tells him to stick to his music and mind his own business. He talks baby talk to Bill and call him a doggy, then threatens to send him to the pound when he snaps at him.

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Ate leftovers while listening to the original cast album for 42nd Street. Tammy Grimes is the ailing star and Jerry Orbach the driven director in this 1981 take on the Busby Berkeley film spectaculars of the early 30's. Orbach's "Lullaby of Broadway" and several big chorus numbers, including "Dames," "We're In the Money," and "Go Into Your Dance" are the stand-outs, though Grimes also gets to have fun with "You're Getting To Be a Habit With Me."

Tried playing video games for the first time in a while. I picked up Lego Batman 2 from Goodwill last month, but didn't get around to playing it until tonight. It seems to be a later release, closer to Lego Pirates of the Caribbean and Clone Wars in game play and graphics, and even featuring voices for the characters. Bruce Wayne is competing with Lex Luthor for "Man of the Year" at Gotham. Bruce wins...but the Joker and his rogues gallery burst in and take over before he can receive his award. Batman and Robin follow Harley Quinn, the Riddler, Two-Face, and the Joker through a complicated theater level. It takes so long, it includes save checkpoints. It was fun, though, but also very complicated - you have to get certain suits to do certain things and push certain buttons so see through blocks and turn levers or zap a character.

Finished the night online. I've been looking forward to Buzzr's marathon of Body Language for a couple of weeks now. I'm a bit surprised I never heard of this one. This 1984-1985 game is a cross between charades and Password Plus. Contestants guess the movements celebrities make to allow them to guess a word. The words eventually get loaded into a Mad Libs-type paragraph that describe a person or object. If contestants guess the puzzle, they go on to the bonus round. They have to guess 10 words. However many words they guess is the amount of money they play for in the last round.

Buzzr showed three hours of episodes from three different weeks. Diminutive Lauri Hendler made for an odd couple with towering Richard Moll during the first hour. The contestant got so crazy and jumped around so much after he won the bonus round, Lauri and host Tom Kennedy put up their chairs to hold him back! Betty White and Jamie Farr (the latter in pants) had a lot more luck - and fewer crazy folks - in their week. We ended with the even less-likely pair of psychiatrist Dr. Joyce Brothers and comedian Brad Garrett, who did some hilarious moves in the second round.

Seems this one will be replacing Split Second on Sundays starting next week. While I have enjoyed Split Second, I suspect this will make a better companion to the equally ribald Match Game PM.

Oh, and my cousin Mark must be very happy right now - I know the Eagles probably are. The Packers just squeaked past the Seahawks 28-23 and will play the equally good 49ers in the NFC Championship next week.