This Magic Summer

Began the morning with breakfast and He-Man. It's "Like Father, Like Daughter" when Teela follows He-Man and Man-at-Arms after they go to find out what's going on with Skeletor's latest plot, even those her father told her not to. Man-at-Arms is glad his daughter came along after all when she's the one who rescues him from Skeltor's latest brilliant scheme, an animal and robot lizard army.

Spent the rest of the morning putting the new ink that came from Amazon in my printer and printing out some things I badly needed, including my train tickets for vacation in two weeks, the packet from Clarifi, and my tax return. I'm nervous. I don't know how to tell Clarifi that I don't have that many expenses. I live in an attic, and I only buy clothes and toiletries when I need them, not every month. I spend way too much money per month, too, especially on food. 

Listened to CDs from my July vacation as I worked. Yellow Submarine was the last original Beatles album I didn't have before July. The Beatles may have considered enjoyable music hall-style ditties like "All Together Now" and "Hey Bulldog" to be throwaways, but I think this is one of their most fun albums. In addition to the title song "All You Need Is Love," we also have George's pointed "Only a Northern Song" and "It's All Too Much." The Songtrack CD includes all of the music from the movie. Most of it is taken from the Beatles' earlier albums, with "Nowhere Man," "Think For Yourself," "Eleanor Rigby" and "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" coming off the best. George Martin's score from the film is lovely in its own right, notably "Pepperland" and "Sea of Monsters."

The Beatles were on the verge of splitting up as the songs on AM Gold 1969 debuted. Most of these are way lighter than you'd think coming from such a troubled year. As a kid, I always thought "This Magic Moment" and "Wedding Bell Blues" were from the decade before. Broadway got on the charts with three hits from Hair, its title song by the Cowsills, "Easy to Be Hard" by Three Dog Night, and "Good Morning Starshine" by Oliver. The Supremes also had two huge hits, "Someday We'll Be Together" and "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me," the latter with the Temptations. Dionne Warwick gets more romantic with "This Girl's In Love With You."

Ate a quick peanut butter and jelly lunch, then hurried out to Thomas Sharp. Fortunately, I got there in plenty of time. We had 20 younger kids today, 7 at my table again. The kids were fine in the bathroom, but things got a little crazier after lunch. For one thing, it was past 4:30 before any of them went outside. It was just too hot and humid for them to be running around. For another, they were there when the older kids were eating lunch in the cafeteria, which means everyone was yelling at once. I did read three different stories (and sang the lyrics to "Zip-E-Dee-Do-Dah" and "How Much Is That Doggie In the Window" in a Disney Princess board book) to two girls who kept holding each other rather tightly.

Things calmed down a bit when the older kids did go out on the blacktop. The younger kids didn't join them until past 4:30, when there were only five left. (And one stayed inside to read.) I had a wonderful time hopping from one number in a colored circle to another, following a very funny little girl across the board as boys shot hoops behind us. I was too hot and tired to chase her across the blacktop, though! In fact, they were just taking the last of the older kids inside when I left; the last younger kid went home when I did. I wonder if they should have gone inside a lot earlier. The older kids kept coming inside to fill their water bottles, and their faces were red as tomatoes.

Settled down with the second half of The Price Is Right when I got home. I arrived just in time to see a woman win at Penny Ante. I think she only used one giant penny. She also won the Showcase Showdown and made it to the Showcases. These Showcases were kind of on the chintzy side for Price. The story Showcase (about the other models trying to help Dian with her headache) ended with the girls taking Dian on a Mediterranean cruise. The big prize on the non-story showcase was a snow mobile.

Match Game '76 was a lot more fun during dinner. Gary Burghoff is joined by two hilariously crusty older character actresses this week, Mary Wickes and Betty White. Richard was happier to help a very sweet Asian student win money for her education.

Finished the night with High School Hero at Tubi. I go further into this school-set B-comedy about teens trying to give their school football team a boost at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Back to School Again - High School Hero

Only a Northern Song

I had breakfast quickly, then called Uber. It was getting late by that point, almost quarter of 12. That may be why I had a hard time getting a driver. The first one canceled. Fortunately, the second arrived in 8 minutes. He dropped us off at The Nerd Mall in Woodbury within 15 minutes, with no problems on the road.

Woodbury is a lovely little town in Gloucester County, not far from Deptford. It's one of the oldest towns in the entire area. Some of the buildings date back to the Revolutionary War era. The Nerd Mall is in one of the Victorian buildings downtown. It's shelves and shelves and boxes and boxes of comic books, collectible action figures, board games, vintage video games, role playing games, and stuffed toys related to all of the above. I was hoping to find Match Game or Family Feud among the board games, but I only saw the Feud DVD game. I saw vintage Password games (two of them going back to 1962), but none of the others.

Though there's no longer an arcade in the back game-playing room, they do still have small arcade cabinets there. Some of them are small enough for the pre-school kids from Thomas Sharp to have no trouble reaching the controls! I did mildly well on regular Centipede. At least I got to the second round, which isn't something I could ever pull off as a kid. 

While Lauren finished buying wrestling Nintendo games and a collectible figure at The Nerd Mall, I found a tiny little deli-variety store next door. It was so small and family-owned, it had one of the widest varieties of drinks I'd ever seen in a store. I ended up with Sunkist Zero. Lauren got the limited edition Berry Blue Powerade when she joined me. 

Our next stop was 2nd Chance Thrift Boutique in the next block over. They're always something of a mess. I couldn't find anything I wanted in the jammed-full racks of old clothes and piles and piles of toys, CDs, and DVDs. Lauren had more luck and picked up a few shirts.

We did better at the Woodbury Antiques store on the next block. Situated in what appears to have once been a Woolworth's, this has more in common with a one-story Haddon Heights Antique Center than with 2nd Chance. For one thing, they sell actual antiques. Unfortunately, a lot of what they sell is very expensive. Lauren found three mini Beanie Babies still in their McDonald's Happy Meal bags that were a reasonable price. Their records are way overpriced, but I picked up two CDs:

Elton John - Ice On Fire

Grover Washington Jr. - All My Tomorrows

LC's Family-Style Restaurant was on the next block. They specialize in Latin American cuisine...but I suspect they didn't have a lot of help today. I never saw anyone besides the one girl behind the counter and a woman having lunch with her baby. We watched two and a half episodes of Spongebob Squarepants on the TV in the side room, including "Bubble Boy" (Spongebob's bubble friend annoys everyone in Bikini Bottom), "Something Smells" (Spongebob and Patrick think everyone is running away from them because they're ugly - it's their breath that's the problem), "Big Pink Loser" (Patrick takes a job at the Krabby Patty, then imitates Spongebob to win awards), "Bossy Pants" (Pearl's new ideas for the Krusty Krab are losing her dad money...and Spongebob has to fire her), and "Spongebob BC." (SpongeBob and his crew are cave sea-dwellers.) At least Lauren's Cubano sandwich and my grilled chicken sandwich with thick fries were pretty decent when we did finally get them.

After lunch, we headed across the street to On the Record. This time, Lauren didn't make any finds, but I grabbed two records and two CDs I really wanted after I dodged a couple of music-lovers searching the local band albums. The records were:

Beryl Berney Tells Your Favorite Stories: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Dick Whittington (I have no idea who Beryl Berney is. I do know I've never seen a record retelling of the British folk tale "Dick Whittington.") 

Ben Bagley's Cole Porter Vol. III (Cost me $25, the most of anything today besides lunch, but I love these Ben Bagley collections.)

The CDs were something I've wanted for a while. Yellow Submarine was the last regular Beatles album I didn't have. I've been looking for a good price on it for ages. Not only did they have it on CD for $6, but they had the blue "Songtrack" CD from 1999 for the same price. I bought both. 

The original SNTM Thrift Shop is next-door to On the Record. They're more like 2nd Chance with slightly better merchandise...but apparently, they're moving to better digs in November. They've already moved some things to a charming Victorian building about two blocks down Broad Street. I didn't find anything at either location, but Lauren picked up tank tops for her and shirts for her father. 

We hiked back to The Nerd Mall to pick up Uber. By 4 PM, it was hot, humid, sunny, and hazy, probably in the upper 90's. Thank heavens the driver didn't cancel this time, even if it took a little longer than the listed 13 minutes for him to arrive. We weren't going far, anyway. He dropped us off at the Deptford Goodwill in a little over 5 minutes.

The Woodbury Goodwill moved to The Plaza at Deptford back in March...and no wonder. The store was enormous, easily three times the size of the Woodbury building. It took me 20 minutes just to sift through all of the records piled on a bottom shelf, but I came up with:

Sesame Street Story Time

"Mama" Cass Elliott - Dream a Little Dream of Me

Walt Disney Presents the Story of Robin Hood (Which, ironically, I also saw at On the Record for $10 - a slightly less-pristine copy at Goodwill was $2.49.)

Plato's Closet is on the other side of the Plaza from the Goodwill. It's another local thrift shop chain, this one specializing entirely in clothes and accessories. It's so big, there's two floors. The guys' clothes are on the lower level. Neither of us had any luck here...but I'm glad to know it is there the next time I do need clothes for a decent price.

We finished up at Mt. Fuji Hibachi Restaurant a few doors down from the Goodwill. We didn't go for the hibachi. As Lauren said, we just wanted dinner, not dinner and a show. Lauren was fine with sushi and a large salad. My shrimp with udon noodles, vegetables, and a small salad were yummy, too. We enjoyed them at the quiet, dark-paneled room with the fish swimming around a tank in the lobby. (A mother's tired little boy was utterly fascinated by those goldfish as we were heading out.)

Another thing I like about the Plaza is it has ample seating. We settled down at one of the wide benches as I called Uber. Thank heavens after the last two, there were no problems here. The driver arrived in the advertised 8 minutes and got us home in 15 with no trouble.

Put on Match Game '75 when I got home. This was the last of three weeks to feature Cuban bombshell Louisa Moritz, and the only one with producer and character actor Sheldon Leonard. I'm not sure Leonard entirely got the humor, but at least he took all of the gangster jokes like a good sport.

I finished the night watching News Hounds on Tubi. Sach (Huntz Hall) and Slip (Leo Gorcey) are working for a newspaper again, as a photographer and copy boy respectively. Slip would do anything to have his story in the paper, especially after he turns up evidence of gangster Dapper Dan Greco (Anthony Caruso) fixing boxing matches. Sach gets photos of the gangsters, but loses the camera with the pictures when they figure out who the guys are. Slip never intended for his story to be published, but his friend Gabe (Gabriel Dell), who was working with the gangsters but got thrown out, has it published under the name of the sports reporter John Burks (Tim Ryan) anyway. The gangsters slap the newspaper with a four million dollar lawsuit. Now the guys have to find those pictures, or everyone will lose their jobs...and the paper will get into a heck of a lot of trouble. 

With a Little Help From My Kid Friends

Began the morning with breakfast and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. "Happy Birthday, Toodles" gives the mouse-eared flying computer that brings the tools of the day a face and a (slightly annoying) voice. The others want to throw a surprise party for him, but it's not easy to keep something a surprise when you have to call on him constantly!

I did a few things online after breakfast, then called Alyssa at NJ Mortgage and Finance. She was supposed to hear from a woman who could help with the loan, but she went on vacation last week. Now that she was back, she was going to call her. She said she'd call me back later, but I never heard from her. Hopefully, I'll hear from her tomorrow.

Listened to the Beatles while I worked on the computer. The Blue Album and The Red Album were among the records I got in the box of 65 albums my biological father Bruce gave me for my birthday in 2006. They used to belong to my first stepmother Kaye before she died of cancer in 1997. I had enough time to listen to the first disc of The Blue Album. These were collections of the Beatles' greatest hits and any singles that hadn't been released on a regular album by 1973. My first Beatles album was the CD I got for my birthday in 1993 of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I still have that CD. This includes the title song, "With a Little Help From My Friends," "A Day In the Life," and "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds." Other numbers from the late 60's I love heard here include "Hey Jude," "Magical Mystery Tour," and "All You Need Is Love."

Frankly, by that point, I'd gotten bored with sitting inside and feeling a little down. I wish I could get a condo now! Not to mention, Lauren and her parents sent me 20 dollars for my birthday tomorrow. I went for a walk to Dollar General instead. It was warm, into the upper 70's, but the strong wind was still chilly. It spit a tiny bit as I headed down East Bettlewood Avenue. The rain stopped as I arrived at Dollar General, and it didn't really amount to much. It didn't even make anything wet. To my knowledge, it hasn't rained since. 

I didn't need much at Dollar General, either. Replaced my old hair bands, which I've had for a while, and got a card for my nephew Khai's birthday on Sunday. It wasn't that busy, and I was in and out with no trouble.

Went across the street to Sakura Japanese Steak House for lunch. For once, their dining area was open. In fact, there was a group eating lunch at a booth when I arrived. I had tasty teriyaki shrimp and vegetables with brown rice. Yum! The vegetables were perfectly cooked, and I'm so glad they used brown rice. It's much better for you. I washed it all down with a Diet Coke.

I wasn't at home for more than 20 minutes before I headed right back out again to the Thomas Sharp School. We had 25 younger kids to start, 9 at my table...which wasn't a good thing. We're short-handed. The older woman who usually helps with the elementary school kids got badly hurt in an accident over spring break. The head teacher took her place, and the sweet young woman and nice older lady went in for her couldn't arrive until 3:30. My group was fine cleaning up and only a little rowdy in the bathrooms. 

Once again, the trouble was in the cafeteria after snack time. One little girl pulled out the books her parents ordered from their book catalogs. I ended up reading Moana 2 by request, even though it belonged to her. The kids at the table with the rubber food kept throwing it around. Most of it ended up under the table. The ones at the table with the magnetic tiles wouldn't share them with their friends, even though there were plenty for all.

Things went much better after we got them outside. Though we did have to remind them not to play tag (the boys tend to turn it into a contact sport), they otherwise had a pretty darn good time. The head teacher brought them chalk to draw on the concrete walkway leading from the school to the steps leading down to the sidewalk. They had a merry, messy time tracing each other's outlines and coloring them in, or drawing hearts or houses. The others all chased each other to the tune of "Sharks In the Water" and songs from Trolls and KPop Demon Hunters. There were six left when we took them inside at 5, and four left when I headed out 15 minutes later.

Stopped briefly for a Propel and a treat at Speedy Mart on the way home. Went straight into dinner and Match Game '90 when I got in. Most of the night finished the week with Ronn Lucas and Fred Travalena and his one-man White House. Though Scorch was around for most of the week, Ronn did bring Chuck Roast for a day, who was only slightly less abrasive than he was on his first appearance. Beverly Garland made her first appearance on Match Game this week since 1973. Brad Garrett and Joe Alaskey (the latter then of Tiny Toon Adventures) appeared on the last episode of the night. 

Finished the night with more animated TV show episodes revolving around birthdays. Returned to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for their second birthday episode. This time, it's "Mickey's Happy Mouske-day!" The others have planned all kinds of fun things to do on his big day, like riding bikes and throwing balls with Pluto. Nothing works out like they planned, but Mickey reminds them that the important thing is he got to have fun with his friends on his big day.

"Birthday Bear's Blues" is the only Care Bears Family episode to revolve around the Bears' party-hearty holiday lover. Birthday's upset that the other Care Bears and Cousins are holding a party to celebrate their defeat of No Heart rather than his birthday. He heads down below to help a wealthy little boy who brags about his toys to his classmates, then wonders why they won't come to his party. Birthday teaches him that you don't need fancy toys to have fun when they help rescue the others from a thorny maze No Heart set up as a trap.

Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year

Began the morning with breakfast and Donnybrook! This 1961 musical version of The Quiet Man has Art Lund as the former prizefighter title character, Joan Fagan as the spirited Irish woman he falls in love with, Eddie Foy Jr. as a matchmaker, and Susan Watson as the village widow. Watson and Foy have the lion's share of the good material here, including their comic numbers "I Wouldn't Bet One Penny" and "Dee-lightful Is the Word." Most of Lund's songs are pretty dull, but Fagan does have a rather nice ballad, "He Makes Me Feel I'm Lovely."

Called Uber after the record ended. I hadn't been to Sprouts in ages, and I needed something at Target, too. Ironically, considering the cloudy and chilly weather and all the trouble I've had getting rides from them lately, they arrived in 4 minutes.

In fact, I started at Target. I was walking past the coolers in the grocery area when I noticed they had a lot of new Slice flavors I'd never seen at the Acme. I wanted all of them, but since I'd also have to carry them, I just got Apple and "Pacific Pop" (likely their version of Mountain Dew) to try. I was really there for a gift card for Mom. I didn't see what I wanted, but I still got her something. Stopped at Starbucks for a tasty Iced Double Berry Matcha (lavender berry foam, berry syrup on the bottom, very sweet). 

I saw a young woman holding a box of Thin Mints when I was at Starbucks. Sure enough, there were two Girl Scouts dancing around outside of Target, attracting customers by singing their idea of "Girl Scouts" horror sales songs with rather macabre themes. They were too funny. I had to get Peanut Butter Sandwiches and their new "Explorermores" (chocolate sandwich cookies with almond cream middles) with that kind of a sales pitch!

Sprouts was the busiest I'd ever seen it! Good thing I didn't need a whole lot. Their coconut milk is a lot cheaper than the Acme's, and they have smaller bottles of buttermilk, too. Raided the bulk bins for lemon-raspberry dried mangoes, dried cranberries, and raisins. Found one of those kids' lunch bags with a sandwich, applesauce, cookie, chips, and small bottle of water on clearance; grabbed the almond butter-jelly. 

I walked home. I won't be doing any walking tomorrow! It's supposed to pour all day. The weather today wasn't much better. It was cloudy, breezy, and chilly, into the lower 40's. Even so, I still sat at a black metal picnic table near a clearing for my first picnic of 2026. You'd never know we're so close to the first day of spring. Though green grass is sprouting through the yellow, the trees remain bare gray husks, and the flowers haven't bloomed. There weren't even many Canadian geese around. It was such a depressing scene, I hurried over the stone steps and down East Clinton to home soon as I finished lunch.

Spent the rest of the afternoon trying to focus on writing and listening to spring or Irish-themed music and Broadway cast albums. Finian's Rainbow debuted in 1947, when the story of a leprechaun who follows the title Irishman and his daughter to the deep south after his pot of gold and end up helping sharecroppers was a breath of fresh shamrock-scented air. Scotswoman Ella Logan headed the original cast, introducing "If This Isn't Love," "Look to the Rainbow," and "How are Things In Glocca Morra." Impish David Wayne joined Logan for "Something Sort of Grandish" and got the hilarious "When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love." 

The Music of Spring and Tune Up for Spring are two collections Columbia made to sell at tire dealerships in the early 60's. Ray Conniff's bouncy "Younger Than Springtime" is my favorite from both albums. Rosemary Clooney's "I Could Have Danced All Night" and Jerry Vale's "Camelot"  are a bit more out of place in Music of Spring. Leslie Uggams doing a lovely "April In Paris" and the New Christy Minstrels' "Green Green" are more fitting. Al Jolson's "April Showers," Polly Bergen singing "Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year," and the Hi-Lo's "Everything's Coming Up Roses" are the standouts in Tune Up. 

The Broadway version of Once was a surprise hit in 2012 that ended up winning the Tony for Best Musical that year. The 2007 film was already lovely, but it ended up making a rather nice intimate stage show, too, if bittersweet numbers like "Leave," "Sleeping," "When Your Mind's Made Up," "The Moon," and "Falling Slowly" are any indication.

The other famous modern Irish musical is probably The Commitments. I loved my cassette version of the soundtrack as a kid, and I was just as happy to find it on CD a while back. The cast's passionate renditions of "Mustang Sally," "Destination Anywhere," "Try a Little Tenderness," "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man," and "In the Midnight Hour" wound up being an even bigger hit than the film and introduced teens of the early 90's like me to classic R&B and blues.

Jessa dubbed Snoopy's Classiks - Beatles on Toys for me last Easter. This is exactly what it sounds like, Beatles songs played on toy pianos, with Sally and Chuck introducing the first number "Do You Want to Know a Secret?" "She Loves You" is just the kids singing that over and over. They do much better by a charming "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" and "Yellow Submarine." "Here, There, Everywhere" and "When I'm Sixty-Four" are the best of the instrumental numbers. 

I couldn't focus on the writing, but I did get a little done. C.J, Sir Scott Sherwood's squire, is guarding the oddly silent and closed gates. Hilary demands to know what's going on. King Rollie the Snake King has taken over, he tells them in a whisper. Lord Comstock opened the gates and let the snake men invade. Sir Sherwood and King Jeffery were supposedly killed in the invasion. Betty and her Heart-Quill are horrified. How could that happen? Scott had his men. He was overwhelmed, C.J softly explains. His men were out searching for Pavla, and he had little protection left at the castle. Betty doesn't believe him, even as he takes the ladies and their mounts through the silent gates and into a quiet, motionless town...

Finished the night with a late Match Game marathon. Handsome Robert Walden was playing a cocky young reporter on the drama Lou Grant when he first turned up on Match Game late in 1978. He had once been a pupil of Charles Nelson Reilly, and Brett Somers certainly had no problems ogling him either. Neither did Patty Duke when she ended up wrapped in his sweater after he stripped it off once. He was there for the infamous syndicated episode where the contestant Ginger gave an extremely strange answer for what a jock caterpillar buys, and he was the one who had to answer her when she gave an even weirder answer for "Cuckoo __" in the Head to Head. His most memorable nighttime appearance pit a handsome Naval officer against a pretty young Israeli woman who didn't seem to grasp the language very well. Marcia Wallace was much happier to match an unusual answer for "He's So __" in another memorable Head-to-Head. 

Go "cuckoo" for this disco-era hunk turned dedicated reporter in these hilarious episodes!

Match Game Sunday Classics - Robert Walden On the Panel 

Musical Matches

Began the morning with breakfast and the soundtrack from For the Boys. I reviewed the film back in 2022 after James Caan's death, but I've had the CD for years. I've loved this soundtrack since the movie came out in 1991. We get a wide variety of music, from "PS I Love You" done as a slow ballad to the rousing 40's numbers "Billy-a-Dick" and "Stuff Like That There" to a really sweet "In My Life." If you love Bette Midler, you'll definitely want to have this.

Called Uber soon as I got downstairs. I couldn't get a ride for 13 minutes, but I gave myself plenty of time to get it, and I got to work just in time. In fact, the first guy who was supposed to drive me canceled. It took 10 minutes for them to pick me up after work. No traffic either way.

Work was crazy when I first arrived. It was busy, the carts were empty, and I kept being called to do fifteen different things at once. I'd be sweeping, then would be called to clean up a broken gallon water bottle and put away eggs before I could even get outside. Things went better later in the afternoon, when it calmed down a little and a second bagger came in at noon. He took over the sweeping and inside chores, leaving me free to do the carts and enjoy a lovely afternoon. It was sunny and breezy, not as warm as yesterday, but still decent for this time of year, probably in the mid-40's. It was just starting to get busy again when I finished.

Vacuumed and Swiftered after I got home and changed. Finished For the Boys and listened to Please Please Me as I worked. This is the Beatles' debut album, featuring their earliest hits, "Love Me Do," "I Saw Her Standing There," "PS I Love You," "Do You Want to Know a Secret," and the title song would be their first singles. It was a smash hit out of the gate...in their native England. Us Americans wouldn't take to Beatlemania until after they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, and even then Capitol wouldn't release this album in full over here until 1987. Many people would be surprised to see how many covers there are, too. Of the covers, my favorites are their classic "Twist and Shout," Ringo's "Boys," and the charming "Anna (Go to Him)."

Finished the night with more musical Match Game. In addition to featuring many musicians, like Bill Anderson, Minnie Pearl, Jon "Bowser" Bauman of Sha Na Na, and Irlene Mandrell, the show had frequent questions about musicians and music. Elvis, who was in the midst of his Las Vegas residency years during most of the CBS run, turned up in a lot of questions that joked about how he does his famous hip-swinging dance. Others referred to his songs, like when "Heartbreak Hotel" was an answer to "Heartbreak __" in an Audience Match. There were also many questions about musical instruments. Musicians like Marvin Hamlisch, Jon Bauman, and Paul Williams would actually play songs on a toy piano on the show as well.

Play along with the Match Game Orchestra and learn more about the music of the 70's and early 80's in this harmony-filled marathon!

Match Game Sunday Classics - Elvis, Rock & Roll, and the Musical Orchestra Marathon

Malls and Games

Began President's Day with breakfast and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. There's "Fractures" in the Rebellion as they argue over how to use the Heart of Etheria super weapon. Adora and Bow think it's best to let sleeping weapons lie before they destroy the planet, while Glimmer thinks it could be harnessed to defeat the Horde. They're all shocked when Scorpia suddenly turns up to tell them that Entraptra is on Beast Island, but they don't trust her...until they admit that they're all misfits in one way or another, and she wonders if she's found a place where she can finally fit in. Meanwhile, Glimmer tries to get the truth from flippant Double Trouble, while Adora, Bow, and Swift Wing sneak out the rescue Entraptra.

Called Uber after the show ended. To my surprise, I got a driver in 3 minutes at quarter after 11. He came in a snazzy orange Jeep, too. No trouble getting to the Deptford Mall at all. There was no traffic anywhere, not even around the mall or on the highway.

Started off at Round 1 Arcade. There were a lot of games down, including Lane Master and Ring Toss. Thankfully, plenty of others were still going. I spent the next hour going from Tetris to giant Pac Man to giant Space Invaders to Bust a Move to skee ball to a Wizard of Oz wheel to Centipede Chaos. Couldn't get anything out of the cranes, but I did earn enough points for a cute little Beanie Baby French bulldog named Portia. 

After a quick peek at FYE, I headed to Red Robin for lunch. Considering it was 12:30 by the time I got there, I'm surprised they weren't busier. I didn't have to wait at all. I went with one of their big promotions, where you could get certain sandwiches with a side and a drink for a fixed price. I got a Red Robin Double Burger, steak fries, and an unsweetened iced tea for $10.50 (including tax but not tip). The burger wasn't bad, juicy if a bit flat. I always love their steak fries, though, nice and hot and perfectly seasoned.

Unfortunately, I also got a text from Jessa while I was there saying that she had to cancel this week, but we could do next week. Bummer. I look forward to our dinners together. I don't really have too many adults I talk to on a regular basis. Plus, her birthday is this week, and I have a Valentine's card for her, too.

I was in and out of stores after lunch. I looked at t-shirts in the Junior Plus section at Boscov's, but I just ended up getting Jessa a birthday present. Browsed at Toys R' Us, but didn't see anything I needed. Hit the jackpot at Box Lunch. They were having a buy one, get two for free sale on clearance items. I picked up a cute Wicked t-shirt, a Wicked pocket insert for mini backpacks, and Jacken the Squishmallow Sea Slug. (He's cute, but I can understand why he was only $3.99. And the pockets and Jacken were the freebies.) 

Headed across the street around 2:30. On one hand, it was cloudy, gloomy, and breezy. Though it's colder than it has been, probably in the upper 30's-lower 40's, that's still nowhere near the Antarctic temperatures we've been getting lately. It was actually a rather pleasant walk across the street, made even more so by the fact that it looks like they're finally moving something into the former Christmas Tree Shoppes building next to Aldi's. (Later research revealed it'll actually be three buildings, a Nordstrom Rack, a restaurant, and Blinds To Go.) 

Barnes and Noble was even busier than the mall. I didn't see any books I desperately needed, and I still have tons to read at home, but I did find two records for relatively decent prices. Until today, the only Beatles albums I was missing were Please Please Me and Yellow Submarine. I finally found Please Please Me today, along with A Boy Named Charlie Brown. (Later research reveals it's not the actual soundtrack. It's a reprint of an earlier Vince Guaraldi album that was originally titled Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Oh well. I'll put it in with the jazz albums and keep looking for the actual soundtrack.)

Since I got a dollar off tea or coffee coupon with the records, I went to Starbucks for a snack. Had a chai latte and an Oreo brownie. The Oreo brownie was thick and fudgy, filled with crumbly Oreo pieces and vanilla cream. The chai latte was sweet and slightly spicy. 

The Uber going home picked me up at Barnes and Noble in 10 minutes, not bad considering it was past 4 PM by then. There was traffic going over the still-under-repair ramp into Collingswood and Mt. Ephraim, but it moved faster than I thought it would. I was home by almost 5.

Took my laundry downstairs, put everything away, and did a few chores, then put on the first episode of Good Times in honor of Black History Month. I have at least 25 TV DVD sets I haven't gotten around to watching yet, many of them full series. Instead of trying to binge-watch all of them (many of them being very long-running sitcoms), I'm going to rotate seasons with the longer shows. In this case, Good Times kicks off with "Getting Up the Rent." Florida (Esther Rolle) and James (John Amos) Evans are shocked when they get eviction notices. Their children J.J (Jimmie Walker), Thelma (Bern Nadette Stanis), and Michael (Ralph Carter) try to help in their own way. Florida doesn't approve of James playing pool for the cash and goes to get it in her own way.

Switched to Match Game Syndicated next. Fred Travalena figured into two of the weeks, sitting next to Brett during the one with Betty Kennedy and Robert Donner and in the fifth "smart guy" seat next to Fannie Flagg. Fred's many voices prompted several jokes, including Brett wondering how his wife felt about sleeping with so many different voices at night.

Finished the night at YouTube covering the career of Geoff Edwards. Edwards had been a TV and radio host who did several unsold pilots before he finally landed Hollywood's Talking in 1973. Jack Barry's revival of the short-lived Everybody's Talking from 1967 had three contestants trying to guess who or what celebrities seen in short filmed segments were discussing. The segments were cute, but the game play was rough - it wasn't easy to figure out what they were talking about just from the segments. The show ran three months, ultimately being replaced by the far more successful Match Game revival. 

Edwards hadn't gotten along with Jack Barry, but found the wacky Chuck Barris to be more congenital. He hosted The New Treasure Hunt for Barris from 1973 through 1977. Ladies were called onstage to open up colorful boxes. They initially chose a box, then a card with money attached to the box. They could keep the money, or go for the contents of the box. The contents might lead to a big car or prize...or lead to a silly skit and much cheaper prizes called "klunks." Alas, both ladies hit "klunks" in the episode I saw. Edwards finally left when he thought his boss was getting a little too sadistic with the ladies on the "klunks." He'd briefly host a revival in the early 80's.

He also had trouble with Jackpot! in 1974. This Bob Stewart show had a group of people reading riddles for a contestant. If the contestant could guess the riddle, they would remain queen or king of the "hill." If they got it wrong, they'd have to step down, and the person who read the riddle would have their turn. The more the riddles were answered correctly, the higher the Jackpot got. There was also a Super Jackpot...and that was won in the only episode currently existing with audio and video intact. Apparently, the format was changed to a more typical question-and-answer show later in its run. The original NBC show only ran a year and a half. It would do far better on USA and in syndication in the late 80's. Edwards hosted the final, syndicated season of that run.

When the word-based Bob Stewart show Shoot for the Stars didn't fare any better in 1977, Edwards returned to syndication for Play the Percentages. This one had so much format trouble, it ran through three different versions of its format during the show's eight-month run. The format seen in this pilot episode would be slightly tweaked for the actual series. By March, the couples were replaced by solo players, and it would be more of a straight quiz. Nothing worked. Edwards was charming, but the rotating formats were confusing in any version.

Edwards was much happier taking over Starcade from Mark Richards in 1983. Unlike Richards, he was willing to study and learn about video games and those who played them. In fact, he did his homework so well, he became a gamer himself for the rest of his life. Two contestants answer questions about video games, then play a then-popular video arcade console. Whomever has the highest score gets to win prizes on a "guess the video game" mini-game, then plays one of the remaining games and tries to beat the game's average score. No wonder Edwards fell in love with video games after this. This show is really fun to watch even now, especially if you're a vintage video game nut.

Edwards' last non-lottery game show would be The New Chain Reaction. He took over from the blase Blake Emmons after a few weeks in 1986 and would host for the rest of its run. I used to love playing along with the contestants and watching them make word chains and seeing who could get all the letters first. This was Edwards' other Canadian/US cable show along with the Jackpot revival. I fondly remember seeing both on USA as a child and thinking how much fun they looked.

Avoid klunks, make word chains, hit the Starcade, and play the percentages with this jack of all trades charmer!

Hollywood's Talking Premiere (1973)

The New Treasure Hunt (1974)

Jackpot! (1975)

Play the Percentages Pilot (1980)

Starcade (1984)

The New Chain Reaction (1987)

Jackpot! (1989)

With a Little Help From My Matches

Began the morning with breakfast and one of my earliest CDs. Mom bought Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band for my 15th birthday in 1994, along with the original cast album for the Cole Porter show Can-Can. I've had both CDs ever since. This was my first real exposure to the Beatles outside of songs on the oldies stations, and it was a revelation. Though the title song, "With a Little Help From My Friends," and "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" occasionally turned up on the radio, this was my first time hearing other classics like "She's Leaving Home" and "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"

Hurried off to work even before the CD ended. No problems here. I spent the entire afternoon pushing carts, and wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else. The weather was gorgeous. It was sunny, bright, breezy but not windy like it has been, and much warmer, into the mid-40's. A college age boy and a high school boy did the sweeping and the trash and sometimes helped me with the carts. We were mildly steady, but nowhere near as busy as last weekend. I was in and out with little trouble.

Rushed straight home after that and into the shower. Spent the rest of the evening having dinner and watching tonight's Match Game marathon. Brett Somers and Charles Nelson Reilly weren't the only folks who wore wigs, hair pieces, or hats on the show. Brett and Fannie brought their Easter bonnets to the Easter episode the week Tom Bosley was on in 1975. Lee Merriweather sported a long, wavy red wig later that year. McLean Stevenson wore a curly blonde wig in imitation of Leslie Easterbrook next to him in one syndicated episode. Squeaky-voiced sitcom actress Sydney Goldsmith sported nifty hats and headbands the week she was on the syndicated show. Joyce Bulifant wore wigs during an earlier syndicated week so Gene wouldn't confuse her with Elaine Joyce.

Phyllis Diller was probably best-known for her unique wigs. She sported a beaded wig in one later syndicated episode and a huge poofy cotton-candy wig on an episode of Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour, complete with pink feathered blouse. She turned up in her most memorable wig on Match Game '90. She went punk rocker in a magenta mohawk that matched the one worn by Ronn Lucas' punk puppet Chuck Roast. I think Chuck had a bit of a crush on her (in so much as he seemed to like anyone). 

Phyllis wasn't the only one on Match Game '90 who wore a wig. Rip Taylor hit Fred Travelena with his toupee during Christmas week for doing a bad impression of him. Bill Kirkenbauer later wore two wigs, a Beatles-like hair cut in one episode and long red locks that made him look like a Sanderson Sister in another. 

Possibly the most memorable wig turned up on a later episode of Match Game PM. A personable, balding young man made such a good impression and was so funny, Charles gave him his toupee. It actually did make him look twenty years younger. Brett even grabbed him for a kiss after that!

Wig out with some of the most memorable hair fashions on the show in these hilarious and heartfelt episodes!

Match Game Sunday Classics - Let's Wig It Out Marathon

Stormy Day Blitz

Began the morning with breakfast and three of my album finds from Thursday. Ruggles of Red Gap was a 1957 TV musical adaptation of the famous play and 1935 Charles Laughton film. Michael Redgrave is the butler who is won in a card game and taken out west, only to fall for a girl (Jane Powell) and the charms of the US. It's too bad I think this one is lost or only found in museums at the moment. There's some wonderful songs in the score, including the gorgeous "Ride On a Rainbow" for Powell. "In Pursuit of Happiness" would eventually be re-written as "You'll Never Get Away From Me" for Gypsy. 

The stage show Walking Happy was also based on an antique play, in this case Hobson's Choice. Comedian Norman Wisdom plays a boot maker who tries to marry off his three daughters, only to see one wed a rival shoe maker. Not the strongest story in the world, but a few of the Sammy Cahn-Jimmy Van Heusen songs are charming. The title song was the biggest hit at the time. I also like "Think of Something Else" in the opening and "I'll Make a Man of the Man."

Beatles for Sale is where their music started getting a little darker and moodier after a meeting with Bob Dylan inspired them to look inward. John Lennon in particular was feeling introspective with "No Reply" and "I'm a Loser." Paul perks things up with the gentle "I'll Follow the Sun," and we get the hit "Eight Days a Week." The guys were so tired from all the running around and touring they were doing, they weren't able to write enough new songs for the album. Of the covers, Ringo's country-ish "Honey Don't" is the most fun, along with George's "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" and John really getting into "Rock and Roll Music."

Worked on the inventory after breakfast. I had just enough time to add those Classic Disney collections and finish the soundtracks. I found the fourth volume on cassette at a book store in Wildwood when I lived there around 2004, but I didn't get them all on CD until Lauren gave me a gift card to Giveanything.com for my birthday in 2007. Although these collections are almost 30 years old, I love them for the sheer variety of music on display. There's a lot of music you won't hear anywhere else, like two songs from Disney's Wonderful World of Color ("I'm Professor Ludvig Von Drake" and "The Spectrum Song"), "A Whale of a Tale" with Kirk Douglas from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and the title song of The Monkey's Uncle by Annette Funicello and the Beach Boys. I'll start listing the cast albums tomorrow. 

I was originally going to take my bike today...but then I looked out my window and saw it was raining. I wasn't getting soaked, so I called Uber. The drivers going to and from work both arrived within 8 minutes. No problems on the road either time. Though the rain stopped by the time I got there and the sun came out, it was still very humid. I knew we weren't done with Mother Nature.

No problems pushing carts at work and sweeping the store at work, either. It must have been a lot busier this morning. Despite it being fairly quiet, the carts were empty when I came in. I spent the entire time other than ten minutes where I returned cold items doing the sweeping and the carts. I heard noise up front when I was sweeping. I didn't see it, but the managers caught some lady trying to steal, and apparently she screamed and pitched such a fit, they had to call the cops. 

I wasn't able to avoid the weather, either. Turns out I was right about that rain. It started showering heavily around 3:30-4 PM. At least it waited until the last hour or so. I only got wet for a half-hour before I finished. Thankfully, it disappeared again when I went home. It's been off and on for the rest of the night. There was a really nasty storm at 11;30 with heavy rain and wind and booming thunder.

Soon as I got in, I had a quick leftovers dinner, then spent the rest of the night watching the second half of the Peter Marshall Tribute marathon. This one was so big and had so much going on, it started at 1 PM! I came in for one of the two weeks of Match Game that Marshall appeared on during the syndicated run. He joined Bill Daily, Marcia Wallace, and Bonnie Franklin during his first week. The second, except for Brett, featured panelists who had been game show hosts (Peter, Dick Martin, Bill Cullen), or would be in the future (Betty White, Elaine Joyce). I really wish Peter had done more than those two weeks and their corresponding nighttime episodes. He was charming, very funny, and actually a pretty good player.

Match Game wasn't the only show where he was a panelist. I got to see his second week of Password Plus, where a game Susan Richardson beat the pants off him. He was also one of "The Marvelous MCs" on a special week of Family Feud featuring game show hosts as teams, with Jim Lange, Bert Parks, Tom Kennedy, and Leslie Uggams. The one episode I saw was the only day that week that they actually made it to the Fast Money round. He did an early Liar's Club episode with Betty White, Larry Hovis, and original host Bill Armstrong in 1969. We also got one more episode of the 2002 Hollywood Squares Game Show Week with Peter in the center square. 

Marshall hosted other shows besides Hollywood Squares. All-Star Blitz from 1985 was one of Merrill Heatter's attempts to recapture that Squares magic. In this case, guessing the panelist's bluffs correctly allowed the contestant to uncover a word or letter. If they guessed the phrase those words led to correctly, they won the round. 

It didn't last a year, but at least it did better than Yahtzee. This complicated cross between Hot Potato, Match Game, and High Rollers had two teams of friends or co-workers guessing how five celebrities would answer a question. If they won, they got to roll dice to win cash. It barely ran a month and ended in a flurry of litigation between the producers when they tried to run off with parts of the set.

It's an all-star blitz of classic game shows, with more that I didn't see in the first half, including Tattletales, What's My Line?, and Fantasy, the show he hosted with Leslie Uggams. 

Peter Marshall Game Show Tribute Part II - Featuring Match Game, Family Feud, What's My Line, and More

Sunny Day Games

Began the morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. "Daniel and Margaret Visit the Farm" with their parents. Daniel's nervous about horseback riding for the first time, but his father walks with him until he's ok. His little sister Margaret is equally scared when she feeds the ducks for the first time, prompting her brother to hold her hand. She's scared of the "Fireflies and Fireworks" at the beach, too. Dan holds her hand until she's used to the fireflies, but the fireworks are too noisy for both of them. Their parents stay with them while they watch. 

Headed out to run errands after the cartoon ended. It was such a beautiful day, I thought I'd walk to Collingswood. It was too nice to rush! It remains slightly humid, but nothing to the degree of yesterday. The heat was now a far more normal for early July lower 80's, the sun was out, the sky was a perfect clear blue, and the wind felt wonderful. Those big green leaves at Newton Lake Park made wonderful shade as I passed by sparkling green water.

First stop of the day was PNC Bank to get money. There was already one person using the outside ATM, and as it was 12:30, I thought it might get busier. I went inside and used the ATM there instead. There was no line, and I was in and out.

There isn't a whole lot open in Collingswood on a Monday, but I did get to peek around Occasionette. The gift shop now has pizza cookbooks, colorful marble chopping blocks, and Collingswood and Philadelphia-themed gift items out. They're fun to look at, but expensive to buy, so I browsed and moved on.

Stopped at a very busy GrooveGround Coffee Shop for a much-needed drink. They had fruit-flavored iced tea for summer advertised on a sandwich board outside. I tried their watermelon green iced tea and a blueberry scone. Oh yum. The iced tea was wonderful, cool and tart without being too sweet. The scone was likewise a little crumbly and not too sweet, either. It was even dusted with flour on the bottom. They do carry a limited assortment of records, but I saw nothing interesting, and they were already so busy with people chatting and working on laptops that I moved on after I finished.

Innergroove isn't open on Mondays, but Collingswood Music is. I waited for a minute while the owner talked to someone before he opened the doors. Took almost an hour browsing, but I finally came up with these records:

The Beatles - Rubber Soul 

Spike Jones - The Best of Spike Jones

The Ralph Sutton Quartet - Jazz at the Olympics (More specifically, the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics, as all of the songs are winter-themed.) 

The Who - Face Dances

Soundtrack from La Bamba

Went across the street to WaWa to get something to drink for the walk home. Tried their Green Pineapple smoothie. Yum! Green tea, pineapple, and mango. Sweet, but very refreshing.

Speaking of the Olympics, I had lunch while watching Laff-a-Lympics. They started off in "India" with a tiger hunt that went spectacularly off the rails. Shaggy was too chicken to help Captain Caveman look for anything scarier than a cold, while Daisy Mayhem's attempt to pose as a tiger for the Dalton Brothers just ended with them not getting anything. Snooper and Blabber ended up being the winners by default. The Great Fondoo did manage to get his magic working well enough to win the elephant race, though. Speed Buggy naturally trounced the competition at sand sailing in "Israel," while Yogi had the least trouble keeping his boat together in the Reed race, winning the whole show for his team. 

Took the laundry downstairs, then did some job searching and added records to that inventory. Tried looking at some record organizing apps, but in the end, I just returned to making a list. One of the reasons I'm doing this is to figure out when I bought some of these. In addition to still having many of the 65 records Bruce gave me from his first wife Kaye's collection in 2006, I've been buying records from yard sales, thrift shops, and the many music and media stores in Philadelphia and South Jersey ever since. Some of my CDs go back to when I got my first player in high school, around 1995-1996. 

Listened to records while I worked. Rubber Soul was the only Beatles album I didn't have in one form or another. I didn't realize until I got home that this was the US Capitol version, which is missing several tracks. I have the missing tracks elsewhere anyway, and it's still hard to argue with some of the Beatles' best songs, including "Think For Yourself," "Michelle," and "In My Life." 

My love of Motown dates to the Saturday nights I spent listening to the oldies show on my local rock station in the 80's and early 90's. I would tie a ribbon around my waist and another around my head and pretend I was in the 60's or early 70's, when the songs by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and Martha and the Vandellas were new. Probably the two most famous Vandellas songs on their Greatest Hits album are "Love Is Like a Heat Wave" and "Dancing In the Street." Favorites on the Miracles' Greatest Hits Vol. 2 include "Going To a Go-Go," "The Tracks of My Tears," "I Second That Emotion," and "More Love." 

Finally broke for dinner and Match Game Syndicated at 7:30. Marcia Wallace began the episode by insisting Gene spray her dress to keep it from clinging to her. Brett, Charles, and David Doyle were more than happy to toss out quips about what that dress had to cling to.

Finished the night on YouTube after I finally remembered to bring the laundry upstairs with episodes of my all-time favorite game shows. I've watched game shows for as long as I can remember. Mom loves them too and would often watch them with us when we were little. She told me she watched the original Password and Jeopardy with her grandparents in the 60's and 70's. That's very likely how the revived Jeopardy and nighttime Wheel of Fortune became an after-dinner ritual for my family in the late 80's and early 90's. We'd even make a game out of guessing the Pennsylvania Lottery numbers on Channel 6 before Jeopardy started. We very likely saw the episodes listed here when they first ran.

I resumed watching Fortune and Jeopardy when I was in college, alternating the latter with the late 90's Hollywood Squares during commercials. Whoopi Goldberg led a who's who of wacky comedians, TV personalities, character actors, and comedy writers through delightfully goofy bluffs. Tom Bergeron played off her so well, it was disappointing when she finally left. This episode from 1999 is in honor of Martin Mull, the musician, host, and comedian who passed away over the weekend.

Name That Tune was another show I watched in syndication, in this case on USA Network. I've always loved music, so this one was right up my alley. It was a lot of fun to watch contestants try to guess the Golden Medley and dare each other to name that tune in one note! Loved watching Press Your Luck - and all of those wacky Whammies - on USA too. 

In the late 80's and early 90's, the Ray Combs Family Feud and The Price Is Right were virtually synonymous with each other. They ran one after the other on CBS, and I never missed them when I was home sick or on a summer day when it was too rainy for the beach. I'm pretty sure I watched the syndicated Feud before dinner, too. The two shows were among those that helped me through a very rough time in my life. The episodes I have here are emblematic of the ones I watched and enjoyed as a child, with the Price episode being especially funny. (Check out the huge guy lifting Bob Barker in the air!) 

Though I'm most familiar with the syndicated $100,000 Pyramid, I know I watched The New $25,000 Pyramid on CBS in the early-mid 80's, too. It was fun to watch the celebrities help their contestants guess a subject! Richard Kline nearly beats Billy Crystal's still-existing Winner's Circle record here. 

Of course, I also watched game shows made for kids. We saw one favorite of mine, Double Dare, last week. Fun House was another. Kind of the same deal as Double Dare, with no daring and a race on wacky vehicles before the big bonus stunt course. I actually preferred the run through the Fun House to the difficult Double Dare Obstacle Course. All but the very slowest kids were guaranteed to come out with at least one cool prize or a lot of cash, as they do here. 

Even now, I'm still running across shows I either don't remember well, or never heard of before the last few years. I very vaguely remember seeing the syndicated Match Game in the early 80's. I certainly don't remember it being the funniest, craziest, most delightful game show I'd ever seen in my life. Mom says she watched Password Plus and Super Password when we were really little, but I don't remember Plus at all, and once again only vaguely recall Super. And I definitely don't remember how challenging and fun to play along with they are!

Play along and revive a few memories of your own with some of my all-time favorite games! (And I enjoyed this so much, I will definitely be doing another all-time favorites marathon later in the summer.) 

Match Game (1976)

The New $25,000 Pyramid (1983)

The $100,000 Name That Tune (1984) 

Super Password (1985)

Jeopardy (1986)

Press Your Luck (1986)

The Price Is Right (1988)

Wheel of Fortune (1988)

Fun House (1989)

Family Feud (1991)

Hollywood Squares (1999)

The Long and Winding Road

Began the morning with breakfast and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. "Mickey's Show and Tell" will have each member of the crew showing off their favorite shapes. Martian Mickey arrives with his moving shape pets. After Donald accidentally scares the pets into running away, the rest of the gang has to chase after them while showing off their favorite shapes.

Karen picked me up promptly at 10 AM. I got a text from Bear Paddle Swim School late yesterday. They want to interview me for their job as Front Desk Receptionist! Now I just need to get my schedule tomorrow, so I can tell them when I can take that interview. We also applied for secretarial jobs at Seahawk Services, a marine supply store in Paulsboro, and the Deptford Center health offices.

She was kind enough to drop me off at Sprouts, so I could get some grocery shopping done before the weather got ugly. Honeycrisp apples were $1.77 a pound. Grabbed more Annie's Organic Granola Bars, too, and an orange. (I thought I was out of oranges, but I do have one left for tomorrow.) Found peanut butter cookies on the bakery clearance rack.

Headed to Target next before the high schoolers got off for lunch. Mainly needed to restock my fish oil vitamins here. Picked up thin pads too; had online coupons for disinfectant wipes and Made Good granola bars. 

Had lunch at the Westmont Bagel Shop after I got out of Target. I was greeted by a long line. Thankfully, they were either large groups, or were picking up orders. I was quickly able to get my egg white and vegetable omelet with provolone cheese and Blueberry French Toast bagel. Enjoyed them while listening to 70's and 80's hits on their intercom. 

I originally planned on taking Uber home. It was cloudy, humid, and a bit cooler when I got up this morning. Since it wasn't raining, or even windy, I walked back to Oaklyn. There were a couple of people also out for strolls that I had to dodge on Cuthbert Road. Even the kids at Jennings Elementary a block from Cuthbert were running around their school garden and playground, enjoying the unexpected weather.

Soon as I got back, I put everything upstairs, then went back out again. I mainly wanted to drop my Mother's Day card and gift card for Mom at the post office. Dollar General is a block from there, so I went that way next. Picked up pads for a better price than Target had them and a Coke Zero.

Took out the recycling, then went upstairs to watch Split Second. A young man who had gotten into a car accident less than an hour after getting his license really wanted a vehicle of his own. He won the first episode with no trouble, but missed the car. He was beaten in the second episode by a woman who managed to hold off her attacker in New York before he really hurt her. She just barely beat the kid in the regular and Countdown rounds, but also didn't get the car and opted to return.

I tried to take a nap after that, but despite it not being that hot, it was still really humid. Everything stuck to me. I finally gave up and watched Let It Be on Disney Plus instead. I go further into this documentary on the Beatles' last album and performance as a group at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Musical Documentaries - Let It Be

Since I just finished Let It Be, I listened to the second disc from The Beatles 1967-1970 (aka The Blue Album) for even more songs from this era. Frankly, I prefer the later, more mature Beatles from Revolver onwards to the earlier, less polished work, and these songs are a good example of why. Along with cuts from The White Album, Abbey Road, and Let It Be, we have singles that weren't collected on any other album at the time. John's catchy and frustrated "Ballad of John and Yoko" is my favorite of these. I also like "Get Back," "Don't Let Me Down," and the title song from Let It Be. 

Had a small dinner while watching Match Game '77. Polly Holiday of Alice and Fannie Flagg joined in for this southern-fried week. Charles is nervous when the contestant wants him to do "__ Tubes" for the Head-to-Head, but he's a lot better at that than he gives himself credit for.

Finished the night with the last of my recent record acquisitions. Orson Welles played The Shadow for the first two years of its 17 year run on radio. Ironically, considering he didn't have much to do with the actual show, I tend to find his episodes the most. "The Message from the Hill" and "Murders In Wax" are from the second season of his run, when Margot Stevenson briefly took over as his Margo Lane. 

Superman seems to be a kids' recording of Superman stories from the mid-late 70's, just prior to the 1978 film changing a lot of people's idea of the Man of Steel. The stories feature very little violence, and are mostly Superman scolding or directing some wayward character out of trouble (though The Mole is the villain in the slightly-more violent "P.O Box 65"). "The Mystery of the Mad Minnows" in particular gets a little too heavily into its environmental message as Superman finds out how giant sea creatures turned up at polluted Crystal Beach. These stories are as disco-era as you can get. Clark, Jimmy, and Lois even work at something called "Galaxy Broadcasting," rather than the Daily Planet. 

Oh, and it did finally rain, and rain hard...around midnight-1 AM, when I was long at home and chatting with Lauren. 

Autumn Blue and Gold

Started off the morning with Scooby Doo and the Gourmet Ghost while eating breakfast, and later while beginning my fall collage. The gang are in Rhode Island, checking out Fred's uncle Bobby Flay's new "Culinary Resort." It's a remodeled version of his family's old tavern, with a state-of-the-art "cooking arena" and huge kitchen. Shaggy and Scooby are in heaven...at least until they hear the story of the Red Ghost. It seems Flay's ancestor, Edward DuFlay, was a chef for a colonial tavern who fed both the American and British soldiers. His last words were heard to mention a "red ghost"...and it seems that the Red Ghost now haunts the Tavern.

When Bobby's big cooking show with fellow Food Network alumni Giada Di Laurentiis loses power, the gang leaps into action. Turns out that there's several people, including groundskeeper Jeremiah Noseworthy, who think DuFlay's actions during the Revolution were closer to traitorous. Others, like local historian Bradley Bass, believe DuFlay to be a hero. Shaggy and Scooby just want to get food from celebrity chefs, without getting constantly shushed by the Ghost.

I think I might have gotten more out of this one if I was familiar with the Food Network celebrities being parodied here. I really only know their names. Recommended if you love the Food Network or the famous chefs featured (there's a few other Food Network chefs in cameos). Perfectly harmless time-waster for everyone else.

Did three episodes of various Scooby shows that relate to food and cooking while finishing up the collage. It's a "Recipe For Disaster" in What's New, Scooby Doo? when Shaggy wins a trip to the Scooby Snack Factory, only to learn that security is high due to spies and a monster scaring off the workers. Needless to say, this is one mystery Shaggy and Scooby have no problems getting involved with.

The Scooby Snacks Factory is also in danger in the Pup Named Scooby Doo episode "Wanted: Cheddar Alive." This time, if the gang can't stop a cheddar-covered monster from scaring off the workers, the Factory and its famous recipes will be sold to the Acme Dog Biscuits company (whom Scooby is not a fan of).

"The Devouring" from Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated gets away from Scooby Snacks and back to celebrity chefs. Here, it's a parody of Paula Dean who is attacked by a monster made from bread dough. The kids have to figure out what it is that the monster's after.

Headed out around 1 to run errands. It was an absolutely glorious day for it. The weather couldn't have been nicer. While it was gale-force windy, the sun was out, the sky was brilliant blue, and the sun was relatively warm when you could get past the wind. It was a great day for a ride down Atlantic Avenue and into Audubon.

On my way down Market Street, I spied a new deli next-door to Abbie Road with relatively inexpensive daily specials on a dry erase board. Thought I'd give them a try for lunch instead of the more expensive fast-food places at the Audubon Crossings Shopping Center. I bought a junior roast beef hoagie, a can of Poland Spring cranberry-lime sparkling water, and a small bag of chips for lunch. I needed to buy 10 dollars worth of food to use my debit card, so I added a small container of broccoli salad and a white chocolate chip-macadamia nut cookie. The lady was really nice about it, too. She's the one who suggested the salad.

Yum! The sandwich and the salad were both a bit more filling than I thought. The sandwich was pretty darn big for a "junior" hoagie. I ended up saving part of it, the chips, and the broccoli salad for later. (The broccoli salad was ok. The tangy sweetness overpowered everything else, including the broccoli and the bacon and mozzarella shreds.)

Next stop was the new Five Below store at Audubon Crossings. I've only vaguely heard of this discount chain until recently. I think there's maybe one other location in this area. It's kind of like a department store version of Dollar General, with no food besides candy and lots of sundries like toys, stationary, Halloween costumes, makeup, hats, linens, and bath and hair supplies. I bought a new dry erase board to write my weekly schedule down on (the old one's been really scratched for ages) and a fizzing bath bomb.

Rode across the busy parking lot and over to the Acme. They're having a "stock up sale." I grabbed the buy one, get two free mustard and bought two Betty Crocker cake mixes (went with carrot and Rainbow Party Chip) and Progresso soups (tomato and butternut squash). Had an online coupon for picante sauce and thought I'd try it. Restocked peanut butter, yogurt, butter, pumpkin, powdered sugar, soy sauce, breakfast cookies, skim milk, and toothpaste. Fished the Rey/Finn/Poe Before the Awakening novel out of the bargain books bin.

My schedule for next week is mostly much better. My hours are now back to more normal shifts, and they're still pretty early. I kind of wish my first day off was earlier than next Friday, but I do have next Friday and Saturday off. I also have slightly fewer hours, but given how dead the Acme was when I was there, I'm surprised I got what I did. I work very early on Sunday. I'll get to attend Oaklyn's Town Picnic for the first time in ages.

When I got home, I ran a quick Good Eats episode while putting everything away, and then while sweeping out and organizing the pantry shelves. Alton has a "Cran Opening" when he demonstrates how the tart red "super fruit" can be used in everything from sauce to Cosmopolitans. (This episode has become a particular favorite of mine, given how important cranberries are to South Jersey's economy.)

Switched to the Beatles' last album Let It Be while giving the indoor trash and recycling canisters a quick scrub. I do this twice a year, in mid-May right as it's getting hot, and in mid-October right as it's getting cooler. I waited an extra week this year in the hope that I'd be able to wash them on my new porch. I also gave the bike a quick scrub-down.

Worked on writing for a little while after I finished. Luke and Yoda are making their own way through the Temple. Luke's getting tired of hacking away at vines and cobwebs. He wants a story. Patience, Yoda says. You'll get your story soon enough...

Broke for a quick hoagie and broccoli salad dinner at 6:30. Did most of an episode of Garfield and Friends while I ate. Garfield finds himself in "The Lasagna Zone" when he spills tomato sauce and cheese on Jon's new satellite dish and somehow ends up in the programs. Orson is a "Sleepytime Pig" when the Sandman can't seem to get him snoozing. "Yojumbo" has Jon and Garfield taking martial arts classes to take on a bully...but Garfield has another way of dealing with him.

Jumped into the bath even before the cartoon ended. Ahhh. While the bath bomb didn't really fizz, the citrus-mint scent was nice and soothing. I listened to George Winston play the music of Vince Guaraldi (including "The Great Pumpkin Waltz") while looking over self-help books.

Mom called while I was in the bath. I called her back as soon as I got out. I hadn't talked to her in ages. She and Dad-Bill are both having a rough time of it. She's taking time off from her job at the Ferry to take care of him, which means neither of them are working. They won't be having Thanksgiving at their house this year. (That's ok. I'll probably eat at Dad and Jodie's or, if she does do it, Rose's house.)

In better news, my sister Anny and her fiancee Jay finally bought a house. They were living in the Villas, but their current home is smaller than my apartment. It's much too small for a family with three children (one a teenager and one a toddler). The house they're buying is in North Cape May, just five minutes from where we lived from about 1994 to 2006, across from Legates Farm Market on Bayshore Road.

Finished the night with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The island of Isla Nubar is being threatened with a volcanic eruption that could harm the remaining dinosaurs living there. Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) tries to encourage the government to save them, but they turn her down. Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) and his assistant Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) claim they want to transfer the dinosaurs to their own sanctuary. He recruits a group of mercenaries to help him, including dinosaur doctor Zia Rodriguez (Daniella Pineda). Claire calls in Owen Brady (Chris Pratt), who had trained many of the dinosaurs, including the only Velociraptor.

It's Lockwood's granddaughter Maisie (Isabella Sermon) who figures out what's really going on. Mills wants to sell the dinosaurs on the black market, including a new one created by geneticist Dr. Henry Wu (B.D Wong). She has to warn Owen and the others, and they have to figure out how to stop this new creation, before all of the dinosaurs get loose and wreck havoc.

If you enjoyed the first Jurassic World, you'll probably like this one just as much. It was one of the biggest hits of this past summer for a reason. Spall and Wong get top honors this time as the villains, along with Pineda as the sassy animal medic. While I didn't like it quite as much as the first one, it's far from horrible (and is still better than either of the Jurassic Park sequels).

You Bring the Summer

Started the morning with Gray Squash Pancakes (I had half of a gray squash I had to get rid of) and music. I've never seen the Beatles movie Magical Mystery Tour, but given the reviews I've seen for it basically state that it's a mess, maybe that's just as well. It has some great music, though, including "Your Mother Should Know," "I Am the Walrus," "The Fool On the Hill," and the title song. Four numbers that were previously released as singles-only, "Penny Lane," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "All You Need Is Love," and "Baby You're a Rich Man," were also collected here for the first time.

Charlie and Richard had long been upstairs by the time I was burning one side of my pancake. They were applying some kind of brownish sticky stuff, glue or epoxy or stain, to the porch with a roller. It smelled terrible, oddly sweet and too strong. The guys wore blue hazmat suits and goggles just to deal with it. And of course, the wind blew that smell right into my apartment.

I tried to ignore the smell while working on my fanfic. (The smell was so bad in my bedroom, I did my writing session at the dining table.) The moment Leia kisses Harry, most of the clouds lift. His vision is still a bit blurry, but his mind is now his own. Unfortunately, their reunion is short-lived. Roberto Fettara saw Leia creeping around and alerted his boss. Yasmin Hutt orders Harry returned to her room under lock and key, while Charel will be locked in another room. She has her own...special...plans for Leia...

It must have dried by the time I was having lunch, because it smelled a bit better. At least enough that I was able to put on Good Times! and make a plum-ginger smoothie without feeling dizzy. Good Times! is the most recent album by the Monkees. It was a surprise hit two years ago, and for good reason. Whether brand-new or reworked for this album, these songs are some of the best they've done since the late 60's. The title number is my favorite, but I also like Micky's "You Bring the Summer" and "Little Girl" from Peter.

Headed off to work right after lunch. It was busy when I came in, and there were no carts. It doesn't help that they're switching to our new computer system tomorrow. We're getting totally new everything - register computers, schedule spreadsheet, even new price tags. People from a computer company were rushing around, trying to get everything ready...and getting in people's way and using up carts that customers needed. I didn't have help for a lot of the afternoon, either. I spent 3 and a half of my five hour shift outside. I was so tired by my last hour, I used it to work on the overflowing carts of returns instead.

Rushed home after that, and was once again greeted by that sickeningly sweet smell. Charlie and Richard had finished up the other side of the porch. I once again tried to ignore it while eating leftovers for dinner, and then while in the bath. I looked over two of my Christmas With Southern Living books for holiday ideas while listening to Johnny Mathis and a CD collection of hits from the 1940's, The White Cliffs of Dover.

Finished off the night with the soundtrack from Brighton Beach Memoirs in honor of Neil Simon, who passed away today. While neither the first of his comedies adapted to film, nor the most successful, it does have a rather nice 30's-inflected score and a couple of good songs from the era.

Swimming to Oaklyn

I stayed up so late with Lauren last night, it was 10:30 before I awoke, and nearly noon before I rolled out of bed. (I finished The Chocolate Cat Caper first. I probably won't have the time for much reading before my early work day tomorrow.) Treated myself to some tasty chocolate chip pancakes topped with the last of the butter pecan ice cream for breakfast.

Watched Help! while I ate. The second Beatles film gets them involved with an Indian cult that wants a ring Ringo was sent by a fan. Whomever wears the ring will be the next person they sacrifice to their god...and it's currently stuck on poor Ringo's finger. They're not the only ones who are after it, either. A pair of daffy mad scientists (Victor Spinetti and Roy Kinnear) are convinced that the indestructible piece of jewelry will somehow help them take over the world and also chase after it. Ahme (Eleanor Bron), the high priestess of the cult, gets a crush on Paul and aids the boys as they flee from London to the Alps to the English countryside to the Bahamas in order to evade both groups and have a really cool vacation.

Though Hard Day's Night has it's charms, I actually prefer this one. It's like Monty Python parodying James Bond, cut with the occasional Monkees-esque music video. A cast of kooky British comedians make the most of the weird (and stereotyped) material. You can't argue with some of the Beatles' best songs of this period, including the title number, "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," and "Ticket To Ride."

My only complaint is...yeah, the Beatles were right that they do sometimes feel like extras in their own movie. The comedians are really the ones who actually drive the plot. On the other hand, they do have some decent contributions, especially from Ringo and John (who has a couple of good zingers and a nice action sequence in their London flat when they're attacked by pretty much everyone).

This may be weird as heck, but it's a must-see if you're a fan of the Beatles, James Bond spoofs, or British comedy of the 60's and 70's.

Got bored around 2 and went out for a quick ride to Dollar General. I'm almost done with my current journal. Bought a new notebook, and finally remembered sponges, too. They weren't busy at all, especially for a Sunday. I was in and out.

Worked on writing for the next few hours. The group agrees to break up as soon as they get to the mainland. Yoda knows people in the FBI who specialize in finding smuggled artifacts and would love to get the goods on Yasmin Hutt. Laurence says he and Charel could probably get jobs as security guards. Artie volunteers himself as a waiter, and, to Clarence's consternation, him as a translator or secretary. Leia and Luke will go in as performers or patrons.

Broke at a little after 5 to go for a swim at Dad and Jodie's. It was quiet there when I rode past them around 2:30, but by 5:30, they were buzzing. Chloe, Bree, Dad's neighbor Sandy, and Chloe's friend Rebecca were all in the pool when I arrived. I swam back and forth while the girls pretended to be mermaids, escaping from Bree the shark.

Dark clouds were gathering by 6 PM. It was time to round the kids up and get them out of the pool. I lingered a little longer, chatting with Dad and Jodie. Their trip to Ocean City yesterday was apparently just to visit friends for a few hours, and they did enjoy it. I'll be going around there later in the week. First of all, Jodie and Dad want to order my tickets for vacation next month. Second, Jodie needs to talk to Rose - she hasn't made that appointment with the doctor yet, but she says she will. She filled a container with macaroni salad for me before I headed home.

Changed as soon as I got in. Tried green beans with bacon to go with the macaroni salad for dinner. The original recipe from Jiffy Cooking called for canned green beans. The only canned vegetables I ever use are tomato products (sauce, diced, paste). I replaced them with fresh green beans from Charlie's garden, chicken stock, and water. Not bad. Might add some lemon juice for a little zing if I ever do this again.

Did a double dose of camping comedies tonight, starting with Ernest Goes to Camp. Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney) is the handyman at Camp Kikakee, but what he really wants to be is a counselor. He gets his chance when a group of juvenile delinquents who are at the camp as part of a program hurt their original counselor and needs a new one. They pick on Ernest, too, at least until the camp's nurse (Victoria Racimo) scolds them for treating him badly. As it turns out, no one may be at the camp for much longer. The owner of a local mining company (John Vernon) wants the camp's owner Chief St. Cloud (Iron Eyes Cody) to sell, and tricks him into doing it when Ernest translates his language. Ernest feels responsible....and neither he, nor the kids are going to let the only place where they feel at home go without a fight.

This was a surprise hit in 1987, and while a lot of it is pretty generic, kids even today might like some of the gags and how the delinquents and Ernest finally get to the mining company owner in the end. Ok time-waster for anyone who isn't a kid or a fan of Ernest.

Finished the night with more-or-less the girl-oriented version of this story, Troop Beverly Hills. Phyllis Neffler (Shelly Long) may be a great shopper and have good taste in colorful wide-brimmed hats, but her life is a mess. Her husband Freddy (Craig T. Nelson) is on the verge of divorcing her, tired of her shopping habits and her never following through on her commitments. Hoping to make a change and bond with her daughter Hannah (Jenny Lewis), Phyllis takes over Hannah's Wilderness Girls troop. These poor little rich girls are hardly the types who bake cookies and make rustic crafts. Good thing Phyllis isn't, either. She's determined to prove to Freddy and to militant, arrogant Velda Plundor (Betty Thomas) that there's more than one way to be a Wilderness Girl...whether you teach a girl to survive in the woods, or the wilds of Beverly Hills.

An old favorite from my late childhood, this still mostly works pretty well today for the most part. Long in particular is having a blast as the slightly ditzy housewife and Stephanie Beacham as Vicki, her sensible romance novelist best friend and the mother of one of the girls.

If you have fond memories of this one from your own childhood, or have a girl the age of the troop who might enjoy the comedy, it's definitely worth a look.

By the Beautiful Creek

Slept in a bit and finished The Gates of Sleep. I didn't really roll out of bed until quarter of 10. Made Blueberry Pancakes while listening to By the Beautiful Sea. Shirley Booth stars in this 1954 Broadway musical as a vaudevillian in the early 1900's visiting her father's boarding house on Coney Island. She falls for a charming singer, but runs up against opposition when she meets his daughter, a teen performer who has been forced into child roles by her stage mother. She's about to give up, but giving the girl one of her dresses gives her a new perspective...and changes her mind about her relationship with her father.

I've had this CD for over 20 years, since I picked it up at a long-defunct music store in North Cape May in the late 90's as a teenager. According to the extensive liner notes, the show had quite a bit of book trouble leading up to Broadway. I don't think they ever really figured out what to do with the Baby Betsy story line. She doesn't even have a song. While I like some of the chorus numbers, especially when Booth joins in for "The Sea Song" and "Coney Island Boat," most of them have little or nothing to do with the actual story.

Other characters fare much better. Booth's best solo number is her comic lament "I'd Rather Wake Up By Myself." Wilber Evens gets the lovely ballad "Alone Too Long." Cabaret singer Mae Barnes, as Booth's maid, has the fun "Happy Habit." My Angel CD is long out of print, but this is currently on YouTube if you're interested.

Moved on to Hello Dolly! as I got ready for work. My favorite recording of this show is the one Pearl Bailey made with an all-black cast in the late 60's. There's a lot of vim and verve in the numbers. Bailey has a great time with "Before the Parade Passes By" and "I Put My Hand In" in particular. "Ribbons Down My Back" is also well-done. Cab Calloway is her Horace Vandergelder. From what I've gathered, he didn't last long in the stage show, but he did manage to do a decent "It Takes a Woman" on the cast album.

Work was absolutely no problem at all. They were steady but not overwhelmingly so when I arrived, and dead quiet when I left. With the high schoolers and college kids out for the summer, we had plenty of help. I only needed to be outside doing carts for a half-hour, despite the continuing gorgeous weather. A teen boy and girl and another guy later who likes to work outside were more than happy to do that. I bagged, did the trash, gathered baskets, and shelved loose items. I suspect most people probably took advantage of Mother Nature's generosity by heading for the Shore or the Poconos.

Took the long way home down Nicholson Road. It was too nice of a day not to! They surprisingly weren't that busy. Lots of people out and about today, though, including kids on bikes and playing in yards.

Went into writing when I got home. Luke tells Leia that he's going to Yoda Chiang's to see if he can secure his help and get an interview. Leia's upset. Not only is her brother leaving her in the lurch, but so's Harry...and she might have a few feelings for him that she won't admit to.

Broke for dinner at quarter after 7. Continued Lego Clone Wars as I ate leftovers and breakfast bar sandwiches. Found Obi-Wan, Aayla Secura, and Luminara Unduli in the bounty hunter rounds. Headed back to the Republic ship after that to pick up a few more characters, both wandering around in the ship (Bail Organa) and from the rounds I'd finished (Captain Antilles from New Hope and Qui-Gon Jinn from Phantom Menace, along with a clone trooper in black armor). Also finally completed "Innocents of Ryloth."

Finished the night with the Beatles Blue Album. I generally prefer their later music to their poppier early songs. Some of my favorites that were hard to find over here for years are on this LP, including "Revolution" and "The Ballad of John and Yoko."

Oh, and Jodie called when I was writing. They bought the air conditioner, but by that point, it was too late to install it. I'll have to call Rose and Craig about that tomorrow.

Afternoon Delight

I actually woke up with enough time to make some simple Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes for breakfast. Came out fairly well too, except for the side of one that got a little burnt. Listened to the cast album for the Broadway Beauty and the Beast while I ate and got ready for work. This stage version of the animated film debuted in 1994 and was Disney's first venture on Times Square. (But not, however, their first time adapting one of their hits to the stage. I'm pretty sure I remember a taping of a live-action stage Snow White running on cable in the 80's. My family recorded it and had it on video for a while.) Most of the same story, with some additional music. My favorite song from the new material is "If I Can't Love Her," a dark ballad given to a despairing Beast in the first act.

Work was pretty much the same as yesterday, mildly off-and-on steady. I was a bit surprised. Sunday's are usually busy, even outside of football season, and today was the last day of a 3-day sale. I spent most of the day doing three carts filled with items that needed to be shelved. I might have finished the last cart if they didn't want me to go in a register to make sure it worked, then sent me outside for the last ten minutes of my shift to round up carts. I really wish they'd just let me finish things!

I took the long way home down Nicholson Road, partially to calm down, and partially because it would have been a crime not to. Another reason we may have been relatively quiet was the weather. It was sunny and warm, with a cool breeze that kept it from feeling too much like summer. The traffic wasn't too horrible, either. I wonder if a lot of people took advantage of the nice weather to head down to the shore and open their summer homes.

Relaxed a bit when I got home; read Rainbow Valley and changed into regular clothes. Went for a walk in the neighborhood around 3 PM. I couldn't believe how nice it was. The dogwoods are just starting to bloom. The grass is so amazing green and fresh-smelling! A little boy a few houses down shot hoops on his driveway. Little girls pushed each other in a bike carriage. Their mother worked in her garden. People chatted on their front lawns or porches. I said "hi" to a neighbor (and frequent Acme customer) walking her big black retrievers. Strolled down Kendall past the Oaklyn School and Rose's house and up to the White Horse Pike.

Dunkin' Donuts was,  not surprisingly given the lovely day, dead when I arrived. Since the last frozen drink I got came from WaWa, I figured I'd let them have a turn this time. Tried the Frozen Vanilla Chai. It was...ok. Maybe a bit too sweet and watery. I sipped it as I strolled home, passing parents washing cars and watering gardens and children chasing each other in yards.

Did some writing for the next few hours. Rusty points out a thermal exhaust port mentioned in the blueprints that could allow them to take down the Death Star Airship. The Golden Eagle (Luke in disguise) offers to do the shooting. The Crimson Hawk (Han) agrees, sending Cedric (Threepio) to call Wedge and his Rogues on their primitive radio. Their guns aren't enough to hold Vader and his men off...or to keep them from shooting at the radio and nearly taking Luke out.

Broke for dinner at 6:30. I thought I'd get rid of the last of the broccoli and some of the older vegetables I had laying around by trying a chicken pasta salad with spring vegetables. While boiling whole wheat pasta and the last of the broccoli, I sliced cherry tomatoes (they were 77 cents on that three-day sale) and three scallions and diced two mushrooms. Tossed them with the pasta and broccoli, then added onion seasoning, light mayo, and two cans of chicken. Oohh, yummm. It came out just perfect. The sweetness of the tomatoes perfectly complimented the bite of the broccoli and the earthiness of the mushrooms while adding a dash of color to the salad.

Listened to Ringo while I ate. Of the four Beatles, drummer Ringo Starr had the least-likely solo career. After a failed start with a country album, this collection of new tunes and a few older ones was a massive hit in 1975, spawning the ballad "Photograph," the early rock remake "You're Sixteen," and my favorite, the bouncy dance tune "Oh My My."

Finished out the night with Kirby's Epic Yarn. It took me three tries (two of them restarts) to finally earn enough from the King Dedede round to get the two extra patches for Snow Land. The first round was a car racing rally that wasn't too horrible, and was actually kind of fun. While the Christmas-themed round with the lifting rod was one of the prettiest in terms of sheer aesthetics (all those glittering lights and holiday colors), it was also one of the hardest. I had to keep up with the moving rod, rewind it when it stopped, and dodge a ton of characters shooting projectiles.  I got slightly more beads from this one; got one item each from both rounds. I'll move onto Space Land the next time I play.

Spring Clean-Up

I didn't work until 3 today, so I slept a bit later than I have the past couple of Sundays. I read Hot Ice while I listened to Brunch With the Beatles. Today's theme was one of the more unusual ones - "The Beatles and Other British Invasion Acts." Basically, you get to hear songs from other English rock performers that debuted in America in the wake of the Beatles' original 1964-1965 success. Among those who made up that first wave of "The British Invasion" were Dusty Springfield, the Dave Clark Five, Chad & Jeremy, Garry and the Pacemakers, Herman's Hermits, and the Rolling Stones. 

I made Carrot Pancakes for breakfast, then called Mom. Mom was on her way to the shower from working on the garden. She begins her new job at the Cape May-Lewes Ferry this week, so I won't be calling her on Sundays for a while. She's mostly been catching up on chores after Keefe's visit and Dad being home. I told her about my long week, including Rose's swearing in. I'm proud of her...but I'll admit, I'm a little jealous, too. She's a lawyer. I'm a cashier at a grocery store who hates what she's doing. I wish I could find something like that I would want to do, too, something where people would respect me. And it would have been nice if Dad and Rose gave me a little bit more notice about the swearing in. I hated showing up there in my Acme uniform, with no card or anything for Rose (even if Rose said she didn't really need anything). 

After I let Mom go, I did the dishes, then made the bed. I don't often make the bed. In fact, I can't remember the last time I made the bed. Who's gonna see it? I live alone. When sheets start going missing or getting kicked out from under me, it's time to make the bed. 

When I finished that, I went on the computer to get some things organized. First of all, depending on what my finances are like, I want to take a few more classes later this summer and fall. There's another communications course on how to deal with difficult people, and several on writing. I want to write...but I'm too shy to sell it, and I don't know how to distinguish myself from the crowd, or what else I can do with my skills besides writing. 

I had a quick lunch while listening to the Songs From the Year Of records I bought a few weeks ago. They're just collections of an orchestra playing medleys of songs from a certain year. I did 1917, 1922, 1923, and 1924 today. I ran out of time for 1925 - I'll have to do that one another Sunday. 

Work was very busy all afternoon and evening. It showered a little on my way to work, which didn't help. It was so busy, I had to beg a manager to come in and finish my line when I was done. I just got out under the wire.