Saturday, May 13, 2023

Spring Flings and Farm Markets

Started off the morning with breakfast and more Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood for Mother's Day. Dan Sr. takes his son out for a guy's day out to the beach, to the Enchanted Garden to gather apples, and to his job at the Clock Factory. Little Dan is disappointed when they don't find tiger shells at the beach; his father's not happy when the clocks at the factory don't go off on cue. They still admit that "Daniel Likes to Be With Dad," even when it doesn't go perfectly. "Daniel Likes to Be With Mom" and help her fix her old wagon. They eventually add a cardboard top and turn it into their own kid-sized trolley.

Headed to Collingswood after Daniel ended. The damp streets indicated that it may have rained earlier in the morning, but by quarter of 11, it was down to a very light shower. Not that this stopped people from coming to the farm market. They were once again mobbed with people buying produce and flowers for Mother's Day. I did see green and wax beans, along with greens, asparagus, and beets. I ended up with strawberries for me and asparagus for a friend.

Hurried straight home as the rain picked up a bit. Changed while watching The Cat In the Hat Knows a Lot About That. Sally wants to grow a flower for her mom, but all it does is droop. The Cat takes her and Nick to Finola's farm to meet her "Secret Super Digger" - Diggory the Earthworm, who eats the soil, allowing water to moisten the roots, and creates compost. The kids want to learn to whistle, but they can't manage a tune. The Cat takes them to Rocky the Winter Wren and his son Ricky, who teaches them to "Pucker Up and Blow" and practice until they get it right.

Went out again, ignoring the ongoing humidity, clouds, and light showers. The Oaklyn School had its annual Spring Fling fair on West Clinton and Kendall outside of the school today. I arrived just in time to see troupes from Oaklyn's dance school, Ovations, performing their spring recital on the street just outside the school. Two young ladies about 10 performed "Jet Set" from the Broadway musical version of Catch Me If You Can dressed as miniature stewardesses. The Junior class, probably about 13 and 14, were game-if-unlikely Tina Turners in glittery blue and silver spangled fringed minidresses, doing a lively, acrobatic "Rolling On the River" from Tina - The Tina Turner Musical.

The Spring Fling usually consists of mostly activities for the kids, but I was more interested in the craft and food booths. I only grabbed a little money on the way out, though. I had enough for a pretzel and a soda. I only ended up admiring the booths before moving on.

Work could have been a lot worse, considering this is Mother's Day Weekend. I wonder if the off and on rain scared a lot of people away. It was steady until about 3 PM, after which everyone got to their barbecues and birthday parties, and we died rather quickly. We were so dead, and for once, had so much help, I spent an hour shelving candy. It died down again enough by 6 for me to get out without a relief. Other than a few annoying people who had to put back their orders or quibbled over sales, there were no problems.

(Oh, and thankfully, though it was cooler and remained humid, it wasn't raining when I got out of work. The relatively dry streets indicated it hadn't rained in some time, and I don't think it's rained again since then. And we never did get the thunderstorms they predicted for today.)

After I got home, I changed and had dinner while watching The Little Colonel. I go further into this classic post Civil War-set Shirley Temple movie with Lionel Barrymore as the grandfather she never knew at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.


Finished the night on YouTube with this week's Match Game Productions marathon. Many mothers, both real ones and those who played mothers on TV, made appearances on the show. Brett Somers was the mother of two sons and a grown daughter, Leslie. Leslie turned up in the audience of an episode where Brett proudly pointed her out, and Gene flatteringly insisted she looked more 13 than the late 20's I believe she was by that point. (She also looked a lot like a younger, blonde version of her mother.) We meet Patti Deutch's son Max in an adorable episode from 1978 where Gene comes in carrying Max and Gary Burghoff's daughter Gina, leading the panel to make jokes about whose kids the cuties were. Patti and Jo An Pflug appeared on the show while clearly pregnant, as did several contestants. 

Fictional mothers made occasional appearances as well. Bonnie Franklin from One Day at a Time, Donna Pescow from Out of This World and Even Stevens, Susan Richardson from Eight Is Enough, Hope Lange from The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, and Esther Rolle from Good Times all turned up at one time or another. Jamie Lee Curtis appeared for a few weeks in syndication years before she switched places with Lindsay Lohen in Freaky Friday. 

See if you and your mom can match along with these famous matriarchs!


Lawrence Welk also celebrated mothers on his shows in the 50's and 60's. The 1967 episode kicked off with a funny "Ma, He's Makin' Eyes at Me!" Bobby Burgess and his then-partner Barbara Boylen perform a salute to "The Horseless Carriage," while Jo Ann Castle really gets into "Hello Dolly!" on her upright piano. Joe Feeny croons about "That Wonderful Mother of Mine," while the Lennon Sisters sing about how "I Remember Mama." The older episode from Welk's first season on TV is less devoted to the theme,  beginning with a nice "I Got Lost In His Arms." The very young Lennon Sisters perform the folksy "Fly Away" here. 

Bring your mother to sing along with Lawrence Welk and his musical family!

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