Heartburn Waltz

Began the morning with breakfast and The Busy World of Richard Scarry. When a soccer ball knocks a bird's nest out of a tree, "Huckle's Feathery Friends" prove to be quite a handful after he ends up taking them home. "The First Valentine" is written by a shy bear in ancient Greece in an attempt to court the Emperor's daughter. Dennis the elephant is nervous about "The Sleepover" in Sprout's barn, until his big trunk is able to sniff out a fire in the orchard and catch it before it spreads.

It was originally supposed to rain later, and while my stomach is feeling a bit better, it's not a hundred percent there yet. I called Uber again. No problems whatsoever. The guy who picked me up this morning arrived in less than a minute. The one coming in the afternoon took 12 minutes. No traffic or anything on the road.

Though the Acme wasn't busy today, I worked hard all morning and afternoon helping the floral department manager and two other employees set up the flowers for Valentine's Day. I dusted shelves around stuffed animals and vases. I twisted pink and red silk ribbon around vases to make fancy "corset" vases. I helped a nice lady who was looking for a small bouquet for her daughter's last basketball game of the season. I wiped down two tables, then loaded them with bags of candy, flowers, and stuffed animals and mason jar flower arrangements. I helped make smaller arrangements of red roses and baby's breath and larger ones of a really pretty red, yellow and orange flower mix that included roses and sunflowers. I gathered bouquets that had wilting or broken flowers to be thrown away or used for smaller arrangements. 

Soon as I got home, I got changed and organized while watching Happy Days. Joanie's excitement over her first real boyfriend leads her to a series of romantic musical daydreams in "Be My Valentine." Ralph croons "My Funny Valentine" to his clown date. Sailor Potsie insists "Save the Last Kiss for Me" to his island girl. Lori Beth and Richie do an Apache dance (and do very well with it, too). Chachi does a cane and top hat bit with chorus girls to "Thank Heavens for Little Girls." Fonzie recites his idea of romantic poetry to several swooning co-eds. Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham pretty much steal the show with their hilarious and spot-on rendition of "I Remember It Well." 

Switched to Porgy and Bess for a more tragic and romantic Valentine tale. I go further into this troubled version of the beloved Gershwin opera at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

My Tragic Valentine - Porgy and Bess (1959)

Moved to Match Game '91 during dinner. Charles Nelson Reilly directed Jo Ann Worley in a version of The Mikado, which led to a round of Mikado and Gilbert and Sullivan jokes that week. Meanwhile, Bruce Baum is slightly subdued compared to usual, and we have Bill Kirkenbauer, Gloria Loring, and voice actress Pat Musick. 

Finished the night after a shower with LPs that dug a little further into the romantic side of love. Heartbeat of the 80's is just that, a collection of ballads and soft rock from K-Tel Records in 1983. There's some big hits on here, including "Never Gonna Let You Go" by Sergio Mendes, the duet "Baby Come to Me" by Patti Austin and James Ingram, "Just Once" by a solo James Ingram, "Heartbreaker" by Dionne Warwick, "It Might Be You" from Tootsie by Stephen Bishop, and another hit duet, "You and I," by Eddie Rabbit and Crystal Gaye.

The soundtrack for Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown was finally released on physical media late last month. "Heartburn Waltz" and Snoopy's jangly "Paw Pet Overture" are the standouts here, but we also get the charming "Music Box Dance" that's a variation on Chopin. "Woodstock's Mambo" and "There's Been a Change" are also fun listens, and there's the extra jam in the finale "Last Call for Love."