Tales of a Rainy Day

Began the morning with breakfast and He-Man. "Evil-Lynn's Plot" is to turn herself into a sweet young woman to trick the elf-like residents of Widget into giving up their Cordite mineral. Skeletor wants to make a sword that's even more powerful than He-Man's. The Widgets learn a lesson about not believing everything you see when they end up being the ones who help He-Man out after Evil-Lynn reveals her true intentions.

Took down the summer decorations and put up the fall decorations while the cartoon finished. Not only is today the first day of fall, but for once, it feels like it. It was cloudy and rainy and barely in the 60's. The stuffed owl with the book and the candy corn candles and the stuffed pumpkins and apples and raffia bow wreath and wooden leaf, pumpkin, and acorn hanging went up today. The Halloween decorations will go out in about two weeks. 

Spent the rest of the morning looking up the basics on Habit for Humanity and finishing yesterday's blog entry. On one hand, I wasn't looking to have a home built for me, but they apparently do build condos, too, and they can help with finding homes for low-income families. I'll do further research on this and the waiting lists when I get back from vacation.

Listened to CDs and cassettes while I worked. 20 #1 Hits of the '20's does feature a few songs that are still well-known today, like "St. Louis Blues" by Marion Harris, "Singin' In the Rain" performed by Cliff Edwards, and Van & Schenck turning "Ain't We Got Fun?" into a comedy novelty number. Others here are far more obscure. "Charmaine" is a graceful waltz from the rowdy silent comedy What Price Glory. Eddie Cantor has fun with "No, No Nora," while Al Jolson brays about his "Swanee." The patter from "Two Black Crows" has dated far less well today.

Switched to Let's Pretend while eating a quick chicken-Swiss wrap for lunch. "Faithful John" is a servant tasked with keeping watch over the handsome young prince in his care. He discovers a conspiracy to kill the king, but can't tell him why he has to shoot a horse or remove drops of blood from his wife, or he'll turn to stone. The fairy who cast the stone spell claims the prince can only free John by killing his own son. Fortunately, just threatening the child here is enough to release John. In the actual fairy tale, the prince does kill his children and use their blood to free John, but John returns them to life. 

"The Little Mermaid" is probably the least-changed of the stories I listened to today. It's pretty much the story as Hans Christian Anderson wrote it, up to and including the dark ending where the mermaid dies and comes back as a spirit. "Why the Sea Is Salty" is more obscure today, and a lot more fun. A young peasant brings a salt grinder out of the sea, but is delighted to discover it can grind a lot more than rocks when it creates instant wealth for him and his wife. His greedy brother buys it, but can't control it. Nor can the captain who also buys it, but creates so much salt, it goes into the sea...

"The Elves and the Shoemaker" is the most changed. The original story is just a poor shoemaker who is helped by elves who make shoes he can sell. Some versions of the story do give the shoemaker a wife. Here, he has a wife, a son, and a pretty daughter. The last is coveted by the miserly old man who owns the store and will throw them out if she doesn't marry him. Of course, the person who bought the most shoes from the Shoemaker just happens to be the head of the town. 

I hurried out at around 2:25. It rained for most of the morning, but the rain was long gone by 2 PM. It was cloudy and cool, but not raining. I figured I was all right to take the bike to Thomas Sharp. Maybe it's just as well that we only had 16 younger kids today, 5 in my group. It started raining harder while they were eating their snacks. There could be no thought of anyone at any age going outside. 

Things did get noisy when the older kids came in the cafeteria to eat their own snacks. By the time we left, the head teacher settled the kids down with an art project. She cut out paper ice cream scoops, cones, bowls, cherries, and whipped cream topping and glued them to sheets of construction paper. The kids could decorate them however they wanted. One girl went with a rainbow sherbet cone. Another did what she called her "Superman cone," a red cone with blue and red ice cream scoops and a red cherry. When I didn't admire artwork and sharpen colored pencils, I built apartment buildings and space stations with the boys at the magnetic tile tables. By the time I left, there were only two girls and a boy remaining, and one of the girls went when I did. 

Thank heavens it wasn't raining when I got back out, even though my bike was soaked. Given it was still cloudy, cool, and humid, I went straight home. Hit the shower when I got in, then had dinner while watching Match Game '76. Most of tonight finished out the week with Susan Sullivan and Gary Burghoff. By the end of the night, they'd skipped ahead slightly again as everyone welcomed Orson Bean back to the show. 

Finished the night with a more recent episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Emily became the first female host to interact with the 'bots as they tried to figure out the treasure-hunt adventure film Beyond Atlantis. This story of boat owner Vic (Patrick Wayne) who has to deal with sleazy hustlers and falls for an anthropologist Dr. Katherine Vernon (Lenore Stevens) while searching for massive pearls around a remote island is both creepy and pretty darn dumb. The only normal-looking humans on the island are of course the king (George Nader) and his gorgeous daughter Syrene (Leigh Christian), whom he wants to produce an heir who is a heck of a lot more attractive the the bug-eyed, in-bred inhabitants of the island. She chooses Vic, but despite her grabbing him and doing things in coral underwater, he's already in love with Katherine. The rest of the gritters just care about the enormous pearls they've dragged up from the sea.

Um, yeah. On one hand, this does have its fun points, including them looking for pearls and just how tough East Eddie (Sid Haig) is. There's also some pretty decent cinematography on and around the island, when they're on land. All that swimming underwater looks murky and dull, and likely was there because underwater photography was still pretty new in 1973. Wayne and live wire Haig are the only people who come off as even remotely interesting. The ping-pong-eyed natives are more likely to give you nightmares than make you long for the wonders of the South Seas, the sets are minimal, the story silly and cliched. Honestly, it's for aficionados of bad B-action and horror films and major camp lovers only. 

(Oh, and to my knowledge, the rain has not returned since I got home. It's stayed cloudy, windy, and cool the rest of the night.)

Appreciated Harts

Began the day with breakfast and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Plus. "The Late, Late Show" has nothing to do with Stephen Colbert. Mickey and the others want to stay awake and see a meteor shower, but they keep falling asleep! Donald in particular spends the episode nodding off. They have to find ways to stay awake before the big celestial event hits.

Thankfully, work wasn't really much of a problem today. The head bagger was there, but though she did sweep during my break, she mostly helped the floral department manager. Not that I really needed her much anyway. We were dead the entire morning. There were barely any carts to do. I'm guessing everyone is waiting for Mother's Day weekend.

I'm less happy with my schedule. Other than a later day on Sunday. it's the exact same schedule as this week...up to and including working Wednesday and Friday. The head bagger took Friday and Saturday off.

Soon as I changed and grabbed pads, I headed out. I took my bike today, partially so I could ride up to the Legacy Diner for lunch. After the week I'd had, I needed pancakes rather badly. I had my favorite coconut-pineapple pancakes, bacon, and water. The pancakes were so huge, I'm glad I went with the short stack. The bacon was melt-in-your-mouth crispy. Though the waitress took a little while to get my order, the food came quick after that. I was out fast enough that I got to the Thomas Sharp School a little bit early.

On one hand, we had a lot fewer kids today. Some of the classes went on a school trip, so we only had 18 little ones and 14 older kids today. On the other hand, they got pretty crazy, especially in the bathroom. I had 7 at my table, but there were so few at the other tables, we ended up taking them together. Probably not a good idea, considering how crazy they were. I brought the one straggler back. 

When the kids finished their snacks, we gathered those interested at a table to do an art project. They drew cards for their mothers with colored pencils and the dot markers from the March St. Patrick's Day pot of gold pictures. The head teacher gave them colorful stickers for their cards, most of which ended up on the floor. The boys next to them playing with Hot Wheels cars and magnetic tiles were so noisy, they got lucky they were able to go outside at all. 

We finally were able to get the kids out around 4 PM. The sun had been in and out all day, but by that point, it was sunny, blustery, and maybe even a little humid. I did have to argue with one little girl about getting on the swings while there were still too many kids around. She and her friend wailed because one of the older boys wouldn't play with them. I tried to point out that he wanted to play with boys closer to his own age, but they weren't having any of it. One of them did finally get her way when he was briefly on the swings at the same time as her. The remaining 4 kids happily ran around and asked me to push them on the swings until I finished and the other teachers took them inside to get their things and clean up the remaining stickers and markers mess.

And...those kids and their families are such sweethearts. One little boy and his mother came in today just to hand out boxes of home-made white chocolate-covered strawberries and white chocolate-caramel pretzels and Target gift cards to the teachers. A little girl and her family gave us 5 dollar gift cards to Dunkin' Donuts. They're some of the only people right now who really do make me feel loved and appreciated, even when they drive me crazy.

Watched Match Game '73 when I got home. Most of the episodes were for the early week with Dick Gautier, his then-wife Barbara Stuart, and Oscar-winner Shelley Winters. Gautier and Stuart seemed to do decent enough playing off each other (though one episode from this week is banned due to an offensive answer from Dick and the contestant). I'm not sure Shelley entirely got the humor. Robert Culp didn't do much better next week. Pat Carroll, on the other hand, seemed to have a great time, and it's a shame she never came back.

Finished the night with Hart to Hart. "The Hartbreak Kid" is Reilly, the little girl who gives Max tips on the horses at the stables. She's close with the Harts, their filly J.J Hart, and his trainer. Reilly ends up in big trouble when she accidentally overhears two men who have money on another horse try to get him to throw the race. The Harts bring Reilly home with them for Christmas and to find her grandmother. Even when Granny turns up, she's not what she seems...and the Harts have to rescue Max and Reilly and figure out how they can win the race without anyone getting hurt. 

Look to the Paper Rainbows

Began the morning with breakfast and Pac Man. Pac Man believes he has "A Bad Case of the Chomps" after he's chomped the ghosts one too many times. The ghosts follow him to the hospital, hoping to keep him thinking he can't chomp them. The Pac Family goes "Goo Goo at the Zoo" when Pac Baby first befriends a baby gorilla, then frees all of the animals.

One again, I called Uber early...and once again, I had no trouble getting a ride. The driver arrived in 7 minutes. There was only a little traffic around the corner of Collings and the White Horse Pike, nothing major. I even saw classes of older kids trooping back from seeing the Collingswood High Schoolers perform Mamma Mia! at the Scottish Rite Auditorium, including a few of the ones in the after-school program. In fact, I arrived first and got all of the toys out for the kids well before the other teachers and assistants arrived.

Good thing I did. We had 24 kids today, 9 at my table. The ones at my table cleaned up pretty well, but they were kind of wild in the bathrooms. (I did get lovely hugs from a boy and a girl while we were waiting for the last kid.) They were much crazier after lunch. Boys threw Duplos and wouldn't clean up their towers when they fell, and the kids coloring on the papers taped to the tables just ended up arguing over them. Two of the girls ran around and screamed so much, they had to be put in time out.

Thankfully, the library was open today. We were able to move the kids there for a really cute art project. The head teacher already cut out black construction paper "pots." We glued them onto white paper, then gave the kids "dot" markers that make dots when you press them. They made rainbows coming out of the pots with the markers and glitter glue...or at least, that was the idea. Some of them did rainbows. Two of the boys just smeared the markers and glue around. Most of them went all over the paper. It did rather look like unique leprechaun magic...even some benign dark magic, as I told one boy who went with black, gray, and red dots. While their artwork dried, the kids danced to the version of "I'm Still Standing" from Sing, "Try Everything" from the first Zootopia, the theme from PJ Masks, and songs from Moana. 

When there were six kids left, we took them back to the cafeteria for snack time. After we ate, we took the remaining five younger kids and nine older ones outside to play with balls on the blacktop area behind the school building. The blacktop has a small basketball court and several picnic tables against the chain link fences on either side of the enclosure. I'm so glad we got them outside. It was chilly but sunny, and the wind had died down to a far more reasonable breeze. I kept an eye on four boys and the oldest girl playing soccer and two of the older girls walking around doing hilarious old lady imitations by leaning on the Wiffle Ball bats. By quarter of 5, we were down to two younger kids and five older ones, and I was able to go home.

Stopped at Speedy Mart to get a bottle of grape Propel on my way home. It was too nice to take Uber this time. I just walked myself. My knee ended up being sore, but it was such a lovely day, it would have been a crime to take Uber again. Not to mention, it was pretty quiet. I walked past a few people who were on their way home too, but there was very little traffic. 

When I got home, I took down the St. Patrick's Day decorations and put up what I have for Easter. Easter is my third favorite holiday of the year after Thanksgiving and Christmas, and by far my favorite of the spring and summer holidays. I have a lot of Easter decorations, so many that I didn't have the room to put them all out. There's the two Sees Chocolate tins that Mom sent me a few years ago. I thought they were much too pretty to get rid of. There's Patchy the Bunny, the big resin bunny statue I rescued from a thrift shop almost 20 years ago. There's the porcelain bunny in the lavender dress and the one holding the basket that Mom sent me for my birthday about 15 years ago. 

I have a big, beautiful die-cut cardboard hanging of a darling duck and bunny among decorated eggs that I hang on the door to my bedroom. There's Flora Bunny and Freddie Frog, the rolly-polly plastic toys who no longer play music, but are still pretty cute. There's the basket with the "chocolate" bunnies, the plastic "double boiler" and "chocolate" and silver bunny mold from Kit's limited-edition Easter outfit. I found the two bunnies on strings in calico dresses with dangling button legs at thrift shops, and the pink felt door hanger with the lavender bells at a dollar store. The folksy raffia garland with the dangling pastel painted wooden eggs went over my window. The smaller yellow tinsel garland went over my bedroom door, and the large white one is on the entertainment center.

Watched The Price Is Right and Match Game Syndicated while I worked, and later as I had dinner. Came in just in time to see them spin the wheel on Price. Two ladies made it. For once, one way underbid on a "little-known fan clubs" showcase that included a sports car. The other was merely 800 off on a "walk down Main Street" showcase that included a spa and a day bed and got herself a nice, soothing spa.

Match Game Syndicated mostly continued the week with Fannie Flagg, Lee Merriweather, and Fred Travalena. In fact, it would be Lee's last week on Match Game. She went out in style when she and Fannie did a kick line to show a British contestant who the Rocketts were that was definitely the hit of the show! Fannie stuck around for the last episode and Robert Pine and Dolly Martin joined in to see a woman say she'd just come to the show to see Charles Nelson Reilly in the flesh, which certainly impressed Charles.

Finished the night at Tubi with Storybook International. Determined to rid his village of the robbers who stole money from even the poorest peasants, a young man becomes "The Robber Chief" by stealing three cows from a merchant. He then proves to them that it literally takes a village to deal with crime when he calls in his parents and the other villagers to help him catch these devils, before they take more of their hard-earned money.

When You Believe

Began the morning with breakfast and Mickey's Christmas Carol. Actually, Mickey plays Bob Cratchit in this classic Disney featurette. Uncle Scrooge is the real star, playing his namesake miser who cares more about profits than giving. He learns his lesson from a diminutive Ghost of Christmas Past who acts as his conscience (Jiminy Cricket), a sweet, huge Ghost of Christmas Present (Willie the Giant) and a terrifying cat of a Christmas Future (Big Pete), who show him what will happen if he continues on his present path.

Switched to Journey to Bethlehem at Disney Plus while making my bed and doing chores. I go further into this pop retelling of the birth of Christ at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Cult Flops - Journey to Bethlehem 

It had been raining all morning. Not hard, just enough that it was too wet and chilly for the bike. I called for Uber to get me to the Thomas Sharp School. Fortunately, no trouble getting where I was going either way. They took 13 minutes going there, but I called early enough that I still arrived right on time. They came in 4 minutes going home.

On one hand, I don't think you'll be surprised to hear the kids were really rowdy today, especially in the first hour. On the other hand, there were just 12 pre-schoolers and kindergartners to start with, and only slightly more older kids. After lunch, we first settled them down to color and play with magnetic blocks. I gave them papers from my old Sesame Street coloring book that I've had for almost 20 years and really want to get rid of. After they got bored with that, a couple of the girls requested stories. I read Frozen and my own copy of The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas. 

The kids spent most of the second half of the afternoon doing crafts. The younger ones resumed making pipe cleaner and bead jewelry and ornaments. The older children created cards for their parents by gluing beads and squares of colored tissue paper onto construction paper. We initially listened to Christmas songs while we worked. Later on, someone found a sheet and a projection machine, allowing one of the teachers to run The Polar Express. 

They were all really excited when Santa came to the cafeteria about mid-way through the day, bearing a box covered in Mario wrapping paper with presents for all of them. Actually, I think the presents were fancy pencils or crayons, but that was enough for most of the kids. (Don't tell them, but I'm pretty sure "Santa" was a custodian or male Healthy Kids worker wearing a red shirt, suspenders, and a Santa beard and hat. I might be wrong, of course.)

The kids can be so sweet. They've done more for me this year than they'll ever know. Two gave me Amazon gift cards. Two more gave me WaWa gift cards. One gave me a smaller gift card to Dunkin' Donuts. One of the parents praised how we'd gotten her son to work with beads - in fact, he'd been working on bead ornaments for most of the afternoon - when his teachers said he needed to do more with his hands. It really made me feel appreciated and realize how important we are to these kids.

Ran the first Christmas episode of MASH when I got home. "Dear Dad" is Hawkeye's letter to his father about the wacky goings-on at the 4077th during the holiday season. Frank and Klinger get into a brawl that Father Mulcahey has to break up and hide from the police. Hawkeye and Trapper play pranks on Hot Lips and Frank in her cabin before one of their dates. Henry tries to give his troops an awkward lecture on sex, with predictably goofy results. Hawkeye and Trapper also catch Radar sending a jeep home to his family in boxes piece by piece.

Jessa picked me up around 6:20. She originally wanted to hit the Cherry Hill Mall to buy something for clients...then we saw the traffic around the mall and the full-to-bursting parking lot. We just ended up eating across the street at a much safer Silver Diner instead. This time, she had a tuna melt and fries. I had a tasty California omelet with egg whites, chicken, cheddar cheese, scallions, tomatoes, and whole wheat toast. She had her office party today and wasn't up to dessert, but I tried their tasty, sweet apple-walnut bread pudding topped with vanilla ice cream and caramel drizzle.

Finished the night at home with the Remember WENN Christmas episode. Everyone at radio station WENN is gearing up for "Christmas In the Airwaves." The arrival of Rollie Pruitt (Johnathan Freeman) puts a crimp in their plans. He's the financier for the station's owner, singer Gloria Redmond (Betty Buckley), who lost her husband last Christmas. Gloria is grieving so much, she doesn't want any Christmas shows or references to Christmas at the station. Pruitt, who just wants her to write the station off and get the tax benefits, agrees. It'll take teamwork, a bit of holiday subterfuge, and a really sweet speech to make Gloria understand that Christmas is wonderful time for a heart to start healing. 

Making Spirits Bright

Began my morning with breakfast and The Backyardigans. Uniqua wants to know "The Secret of Snow" and travels to the frozen north to ask Ice Lady Tasha about it. Tasha has no time for her queries and first sends her to the desert, then to the jungle to get rid of her. Uniqua just comes back with Cowboy Pablo and Tyrone of the Jungle, who want it to snow, too. Tasha makes them work in her ice factory, and are shocked when they and her assistant Austin enjoy being together. In the end, the kids finally come to the conclusion that there's no real "secret of snow," and that if you're with your friends, it doesn't matter what the weather is.

Hurried out to work after that ended. It wasn't busy at all when I arrived. There was plenty of help, too. The head bagger swept the store. By 12, a college student had arrived to help me with the carts, too. Even when it picked up a little bit later, it still wasn't bad. In fact, it was a little bit boring. I was in and out with no trouble. At least the weather was nice. It was chilly, but sunny and windless, probably in the upper 30's-lower 40's. 

After I got home, I changed and had lunch while watching vintage sitcom and food show Christmas episodes. "Bah Humbug!" is the second WKRP In Cincinnati Christmas show. Nobody at the station is happy with Arthur not giving out bonuses. Arthur claims there isn't the money, but he's really just afraid of what his mother will say. He learns a lesson in giving when he eats one of Johnny Fever's brownies, passes out in his office, and dreams that four familiar ghosts show him what will happen if he doesn't change his stingy ways.

Alton Brown is having an even stranger Christmas Eve on Good Eats. Santa shows up, insisting on "The Cookie Clause." Seems he's tired of all the cardboard, store-bought cookies kids have been leaving him. Alton shows him how to make simple cut-out sugar cookies, then use sugar cookie dough to make chocolate-peppermint whirl cookies that need to be chilled, then sliced.

Headed to the Thomas Sharp School after Good Eats ended. We had 17 younger kids to start, more than I thought we would the day before Winter Break begins, but not an overwhelming group. After snack time, half of them settled down with Duplos, plastic dinosaurs, and Barbie dolls. The other half joined in for a really fun project. We showed the kids how to thread beads onto pipe cleaners to make candy canes, wreaths, and ornaments. I think most of the girls were more interested in making necklaces and bracelets for themselves. I helped one little cherub get her beads on her pipe cleaner and made sure one of the boys had enough beads, since the three of us were on the other side of the table from the bead bin.

The kids are such sweethearts. One girl and her family gave me a $10 Amazon card and a brown-painted snowflake she made herself. Two more kids gave gift cards to WaWa. Another girl and her family gave me a lovely card, an oven mitt embroidered with a pretty cardinal, lovely kitchen towels, and those chocolate-hazelnut cookie sticks. 

When I got home, I took the recycling outside, took the laundry downstairs, then had a shower. Ate dinner while watching more sitcom holiday shows. It's "The Best Christmas Ever" for Ricky Stratton and his father Edward on Silver Spoons as they gear up for their first Christmas together. Ricky thinks he's just doing a favor when a boy asks him if he has any work for him. Turns out the kid is having a far rougher holiday than Ricky could ever imagine...but he and Edward find a way to help the boy and his family, making sure more than their Christmases are brighter. 

Barney Miller and his men aren't happy to be working Christmas Eve on their "Christmas Story." Yemana feels better when he asks a lady on a date, only to discover she's not working...because she's an, um, "lady of the evening." Fish gets recruited to dress as Santa to find out who is stealing from department-store Santas. After Wojo gives everyone gifts, the others all feel compelled to give gifts too, despite Barney saying they wouldn't give gifts this year.

Finished the night back at YouTube after I got the laundry out of the dryer with more Christmas game show episodes. Christmas goes far back on game shows. I've Got a Secret brought in their youngest contestants for their 1957 holiday episode. The mother of a sweet infant revealed that her grandfather was seeing her for the first time on TV. An utterly adorable toddler miss turned out to be the godchild of two of the panelists. Two teen girls brought in a fruitcake with a far longer lineage than one expects to find in pastries.

Match Game celebrated its first Christmas in 1973 with Charles Nelson Reilly playing Santa Claus in a fake beard and an odd southern accent. Jack Cassidy made his first appearance here, with the late June Lockhart turning up for the first and only time. Family Feud also celebrated its first Christmases in 1976 and 1977 with fake garlands, hyped-up families, and holiday-oriented questions.

Classic Concentration was more elegant in 1989, with its gold and silver decorations, diamond and ruby jewelry, and trips to Paris. The young woman who was ahead the entire episode wasn't able to get the puzzle in a sudden-death round. The young man who beat her didn't do a whole lot better with the match-the-car bonus round. Marjorie Goodson tried to get reindeer antlers on her little dog, but he didn't seem too happy about it.

The Price Is Right also had a rough start in 1990, with contestants losing the first three Pricing Games. Things picked up in the second half when a young man who closely resembled a blond Michael J. Fox picked up furniture in The Clock Game. The Showcases were too adorable. The models dressed as little girls to give away Michael Jackson Moonwalker arcade games and too-cute giant stuffed pandas. Big sis Janice got a car. The second Showcase had the adult models getting huge projection TVs and microwaves. Holly got the big gift here, a motorboat. 

Here's more Christmas game show episodes to play along with at your holiday parties this week! I'll even throw in two bonus episodes from the weekend Password marathons. 

I've Got a Secret (1957)

Match Game (1973)

Family Feud (1976)

Family Feud (1977)

Password Plus (1979)

Super Password (1984)

Classic Concentration (1989)

The Price Is Right (1990) 

Kids of a Feather

Got such a quick start today, I barely had the time to write in my offline journal, eat breakfast, and hurry downstairs. Though it was only lightly showering when I finished eating, it was wet and cold enough for me to call Uber. They arrived in 6 minutes, getting me to work with literally no time to spare.

Work was much quieter than it has been. Everyone must be waiting for the weekend to do their Thanksgiving shopping. The ongoing light showers probably didn't help there, either. Though the wind was gone, it remained cloudy and cold, even after the rain finally ended around 11:30. Other than that, there were no major problems. It didn't even take me that long to gather carts. The Uber driver going home barely took four minutes to arrive.

Once I got home, I hurried upstairs, changed, and watched The Care Bears Nutcracker Suite while eating a chicken sandwich and dried fruit for lunch. A woman in charge of a ballet class putting on The Nutcracker tells the story of how the Care Bears helped a young girl named Anna whose best friend had just moved away. As she laments her lack of friends and her brother Michael complains about wanting an adventure, a Rat King and a human-sized Nutcracker suddenly appear in her home! Anna, Michael, and the Care Bears and Cousins go on a trip through Toyland to help the Nutcracker save the Sugar Plum Fairy from the evil Vizier. Meanwhile, Michael helps cubs Hugs and Tugs find their own special ornament for the Care-a-Lot tree.

Hurried off to the Thomas Sharp School before the cartoon even ended. Though the rain was long gone at that point, the playground was still too wet to go outside. Needless to say, the kids were inside the entire time. As we did last month with the skeleton Q-Tip bone hands, we traced the kids' hands on construction paper. This time, they would cover them with colorful feathers and googly eyes and turn their hand prints into turkeys. At least, that was the general idea. More feathers ended up on the floor than on the construction paper...and at one point, some of the kids ended up under the table with them before we coaxed them out with the feathers.

The older kids had been moved to the library to do a more complicated project, as I discovered when a teacher had to go home early and the teacher in charge of the big kids asked me to help her clean up the mess. The kids were supposed to be making houses out of popsicle sticks. Some of them did make the outlines of houses, but mostly, they were slabs of piled popsicle sticks, marker, and way too much glue. It took forever to clean up the library because of the massive amounts of glue all over the tables. I saw one of the girls trying to wash the glue out of her shirt when I was helping one of the pre-schoolers in the bathroom. 

Though one of the teachers was trying to read to the kids when we came back to the bathroom, we quickly came to the conclusion that the kids would rather play with blocks and magnetic tiles. That got even noisier once the older kids came in. Two of the older boys in particular really made a mess with the Duplos, and a few more kept throwing tiles at towering tile buildings, knocking them down and sending tiles scattering everywhere. I stayed later to help deal with them.

Finished the Care Bears when I got home, then watched Match Game '76. Ed Asner made his debut on the show in the last episode of the night. He discussed the miniseries Roots, which indeed, would not only be bigger than his previous miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man, would wind up being one of the biggest TV blockbusters of all time.

Put my new jeans in the washer, then worked on The WENN Nutcracker Suite. Enid, the youngest Snowflake Fairy, no sooner explains how the Snowflake Fairies were attacked by mice troops and bats than suddenly, bats swoop down over them! They try to make off with the toys and Betty, but the Nutcracker defends Betty, and the toys manage to free themselves. Betty finally gets one of the bats to tell them that the Mouse King has Hilary trapped in his furnace and turned Jeff into a dancing doll on a music box and gave it away. Mr. Eldridge takes them down a path through the woods to the home of his friend Mother Gertie Ginger to recover and repair the Nutcracker's broken arm.

Finished the night with the Disney Babes In Toyland from 1961. I went further into this version of the venerable early 20th century operetta at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog back in November 2018.

Babes In Toyland (1961)

Halloween Dance Party

Began the morning with breakfast, pouring rain, heavy wind, and the second Doc McStuffins Halloween episode. It's a "Hallie Halloween" when Doc is taking the toys around to her cul-de-sac's block party, and Hallie the hippo gets stuck on a witch's broom after she gets out to see a girl dressed like her. She's too scared to go back out at first after a check-up, until Doc and the others remind her that Halloween is fun if you follow the rules, like staying with your group while trick-or-treating and not running off. Gustav the Gulpy Gulpy Gator says "Don't Fence Me In" when his head gets stuck in the fence. Doc searches the Big Book of Boo-Boos for a solution, only to realize that sometimes, you have to go outside the box to help your patient.

Spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon putting together the trick-or-treating bags. I first made the bags in 2020, when the pandemic made it necessary to get creative with trick-or-treating. They went over so well, I've made bags for trick-or-treaters and given out traditional candy ever since. That's what that bag of party favors I bought from Westmont Party a couple of weeks ago was for, and the vampire teeth and Moon Pies and bags of Tootsie Roll variety candy were for, too. Had just enough time for a quick lunch before I got ready for work.

Watched Sinners while I worked. This huge hit from earlier in the year about twins who open a nightclub in 1932 Louisiana, only to encounter a supernatural force who wants to use the music to raise his community, was a huge hit earlier this year. I go further into it at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Happy Halloween! - Sinners

Though the rain had ended by quarter after 2, it remained cloudy, windy, and very humid. Not to mention, everything was still soaked. I called Uber for a ride to the school. I actually had to go through two before one picked me up...and they took almost 20 minutes, making me late to the Thomas Sharp School.

I think you can guess no one went outside today. Though it wasn't raining, the playground and blacktop were too wet for games and running around. After the little kids had their snacks in the library, we set them up with two projects. The first, and more complicated, of the two had them gluing Q-Tip "bones" to outlines the teachers drew of their hands to look like skeleton hands. Most of them honestly did pretty good with that, once they got the Q-Tips to actually stick. The second involved them sticking eyes, ears, noses, and other accessories onto Halloween figures - witches, zombies, ghosts, or vampires. They really liked that one, and some of them got really creative with the extra eyes. 

While the skeleton hands pictures dried, we moved the chairs and tables aside for a Halloween dance party. The kids played "Freeze Dance" to "Ghostbusters," both the Disney Goofy and original versions of "Monster Mash," "The Batty Dance," "Do the Garbage," and several songs from KPop Demon Hunters. It was utterly hilarious to see the poses the kids froze in! I hadn't laughed so much in ages. They all loved the bubble wands they won for the best freezes, too. Unfortunately, it got so hot in the library, and the kids got so crazy, we ended up moving them to the cafeteria/gym with the big kids.

Since it still wasn't raining when I finished, I walked home. Wanted to stop at Dollar General and get more Halloween candy, too. Heard a woman tell two teen boys not to come back in. Apparently, they'd been caught shoplifting the day before and hadn't gotten the general idea that this is not a good idea and will get you thrown out.

(Incidentally, it did rain really hard again, about a half-hour after I got in. Thankfully, that ended around 8 PM. I don't think it's rained since.)

Returned to the Disney well for two of their vintage Halloween specials as I worked on the Sinners review. Halloween Hall of Fame from 1977 has Johnathan Winters as a security guard at the Disney studios who discovers a grumpy jack o'lantern (Winters) hiding out in a crystal ball. Seems Jack thinks Halloween just isn't scary enough nowadays. Winters directs him to the shorts "Trick or Treat" and "Pluto's Judgement Day" and the featurette "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" to prove otherwise.

Disney's Halloween Treat is the Disney Channel's Halloween special. A far friendlier jack 'o lantern narrator introduces the cartoons "Donald and the Gorilla," "Mickey's Parrot," "Pluto's Judgement Day," and the Oscar-winning "The Old Mill," along with the Wizard's Duel segment from The Sword In the Stone and a segment on the cat's contribution to horror mythology. The Magic Mirror (Hans Conried) takes over with "Disney's Greatest Villains," a special from 1977 focusing on the best bad guys in Disney movies up to that point. (The 1977 release date does explain the inclusion of Madame Medusa from The Rescuers near the end. The Rescuers had just debuted that summer.) The special ends with what's probably Disney's most famous horror-oriented shorts, the Goofy/Donald/Mickey romp "Lonesome Ghosts" and Donald's nephews teaching him not to mess around with "Trick or Treat." 

Switched to the original 1984 Ghostbusters during dinner. After being fired from Columbia University, paranormal professors Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ray Stantz (Dan Ackroyd), and Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) goes into business for themselves as professional ghost chasers. Business is sparse until classical musician Dana Barrett (Signourney Weaver) insists she's seen a monster in her refrigerator. Venkman's thrilled to take on her case, but as it turns out, she's far from the only one seeing ghosts. After the Ghostbusters catch a slimy spook in a major hotel, they suddenly have more work than they can handle. In fact, they hire a fourth man, Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), to help them out. 

Their secretary Janine (Annie Potts) says she can't help feeling something bad is going to happen. As it turns out, she's right. When an official from the Environmental Protection Agency (William Atherton) insists on shutting down the containment unit holding the ghosts, the spooks break loose. Not to mention, Dana and her nerdy neighbor Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) end up possessed by the demon Gozer. The Ghostbusters are put in jail, until the Mayor (David Marguiles) realizes there's only four men who can save New York from this supernatural menace. Now, it's up to the guys to stop the ghost and the giant marshmallow man, before downtown Manhattan becomes the world's largest charred marshmallow.

The 1989 sequel isn't bad, I still think the 2016 all-female remake gets a bum rap, and I haven't gotten around to seeing the recent movies...but for my money, the original is really all the Ghostbusters anyone needs. This is one of the funniest movies of the 1980's, and certainly one of the funniest horror movies ever made. Murray and Ackroyd stand out as the most and least skeptical of the four, but everyone gets some great lines in. The special effects still hold up really well, too, especially Slimer in the hotel! If you want to find out what the franchise is all about, this is the best place to start.

Finished the night with the soundtracks from Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II. The title song of Ghostbusters is by far the best-known song from either of these. It was as big of a hit as the move in 1984, and continues to be frequently played during the Halloween season to this day. I also like the eerie "Magic" by Mick Smiley and the Doo-Wop spoof "Cleanin' Up the Town." The hit from Ghostbusters II was Bobby Brown's "On Our Own," which while not being as ubiquitous as the title song, still managed to get a fair amount of airplay during the summer of 1989. Doug E. Fresh's vibrant rap "Spirit" is the other big number here. 

Here's even more vintage Halloween specials to tide you over until trick or treating!

The Fat Albert Halloween Special

The Wickedest Witch 

Disney's Haunted Halloween (Educational Short) 

DTV Monster Hits

The Trouble With Miss Switch

Miss Switch to the Rescue

Betty Boop's Halloween Party 

Casper the Friendly Ghost: To Boo Or Not to Boo

The Great Bear Scare

Halloween Safety (1985 Educational Short)

The Last Halloween

Buttons and Rusty In Which Witch Is Which? 

Once Upon a Midnight Scary

Quiet Times at Home

Started the day late with material from Colliers Harvest of Holidays for President's Day. They have biographical essays on Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, who have birthdays last week and Wednesday respectively, so I did both. Apparently, not much is known about Washington's early years, so his essays mostly focused on his part in the Revolutionary War. Lincoln's are far more interesting and pretty much cover the gamut of his life, from his early years as an amazingly tall pioneer boy who just wants to read to his years as president of the Union during the turbulent Civil War. We also get several poems, including Walt Whitman's "O Captain" on Lincoln's assassination.

Didn't get going until past 12:30. Watched Match Game '75 while I had breakfast. Gene finds himself describing a weather vane to slightly ditzy Louisa Moritz by standing on the lower desks and flapping his arms like a rooster while producer and tough-guy actor Sheldon Leonard looks on. Gene doesn't have a lot of luck with his screechy microphone in the opening, either.

Switched to Doc McStuffins as I got organized. Lambie accidentally gets "The Rip Heard 'Round the World" in her rear when Doc's dancing with her. She and Doc are incredibly upset. Lambie is Doc's favorite toy who has been with her since she was a baby. They learn about stitches from Doc's mom, who sews Lambie up good as new with a "scar" of thread seams that barely shows. It's "Walkie Talkie Time" when Donnie and Luca want to sneak up on Doc, but their walkie talkies aren't working. Doc figures out why Walter the Walkie Talkie can't contact his partner Grace, and where Luca left her.

(I know how Doc feels. I'd get upset if my stuffed animals ripped as a kid, too, especially if they were my favorite! In fact, I recently had to perform similar "surgery" on Grindal the Uni-Dragon, who somehow got a hole in his lower paw.)

Restarted my crocheting project, this time using pink and yellow yarn. It didn't curl this time...but it did ruffle! It wasn't supposed to do that, either. Oh well. I'm not restarting again. I kind of like the effect, anyway. It's supposed to be a spring plate mat. I'm going to make one for each season. 

Watched the first six episodes of the 1939 Republic serial Zorro's Fighting Legion as I worked. Reed Hadley is Don Diego Vega, who dons his Zorro persona to help his uncle Francisco after he's killed by men working for Don Del Oro. This golden figure appears to be an idol of the Yaqui Native tribe and is inciting them to attack Californians for taking their land. Don Del Oro wants to steal the newly-minted Republic of California's gold, end the Republic, and declare himself emperor. Don Diego takes his uncle's place on the local Council to find out which one of its ruthless members is posing as Don Del Oro, while he and his "Fighting Legion" combat the Natives and Del Oro's men.

This is definitely one of Republic's better western serials. It has the advantage of being their only serial to feature the original Zorro and be set in roughly the same time period as the book. (Their other Zorro serials feature a descendant using the name, or only use the name and not the character.) Hadley's reasonably charming as Vega and virile and dexterous as Zorro. 

Worked on writing around 4. Richard Dawson, now the sheriff of Match County, asks Marshall Gene Rayburn and Mayor Allen Ludden where he might take lodgings. Gene suggests the Newhart Inn boarding house on the other side of town, run by prickly-but-charming Marcia Wallace. He also invites Richard to dinner with him and his wife Helen that night. Richard agrees to take him up on the offer.

Didn't break for a shower until past quarter of 7. Finished the night upstairs with dinner and the original silent Mark of Zorro at Kanopy. Don Diego (Fairbanks) seems like a foppish nobleman, but he's really Zorro, who aids the innocent and abused in early California against the corrupt Govenor Alvarado (George Periolat). He and Alvarado's henchman Captain Juan Ramon (Robert McKim) both attempt to court the lovely but impoverished noblewoman Lolita Pulido (Margurite De La Mote), but she finds Diego to be dull and Juan to be a bully. It takes the governor jailing Lolita's family to finally bring Diego out into the open and let him reveal his true identity once and for all. 

This is the grandparent of every desert swashbuckler from Errol Flynn's westerns to the late 90's-early 2000's Antonio Banderas Zorro films. Fairbanks had such a marvelous time leaping from chandeliers and rescuing the girl, he'd spend the remainder of his career specializing in historical action films. Check out the scene where he takes boastful Sargent Pedro Gonzolez (Noah Beery) and a whole roomful of bar patrons on by himself!

At-Home Feud

Got a late start this morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. "Daniel Gets a Cold," just as his class is preparing to celebrate Prince Wednesday's birthday with strawberry shortcake. He's too sick to stay, no matter how much he wants to. His father assures him that, even if he has to miss the party, rest is still best to fight a cold. Likewise, when "Mom Tiger Gets Sick," her boys make her lunch and finish the invitations she was working on.

Finished the book The Bear and the Nightingale while listening to An Evening With Lerner & Loewe, the LP set I picked up from Phidelity Records a few months ago. This is a collection of songs from the four major projects by the songwriting team at that point, My Fair Lady, Paint Your Wagon, Gigi, and Brigadoon. Fair Lady is probably the best of them. Phil Harris doesn't remotely attempt to sound Cockney, but he's having so much fun with "With a Little Bit of Luck" and "Get Me To the Church On Time," it scarcely matters. Jane Powell's Cockney on "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" isn't so hot either, but she does do a fine, fiery "Show Me." I also liked Jan Peerce's stunning "On the Street Where You Live." 

Tenor Robert Merrill shares my favorite song from Brigadoon with Powell, "Almost Like Being In Love." Harris' dicey French accent does "I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore" and "Thank Heavens for Little Girls" no favors. Powell and Robert Merrill have a disappointingly bland "I Remember It Well"; Merrill does far better on his own with "Gigi" and also gets a powerful "They Call the Wind Mariah." Powell's best solo is "Say a Prayer For Me Tonight." 

Went online for a while, but I couldn't concentrate. I finally broke for dinner at 6:30. Thought I'd try something I hadn't done in ages. Eating on the end table I got from the Manor Avenue apartment has really scratched up the finish. I thought I'd try making smaller place mats for it. The ones I currently have are not only too big for it and meant for a larger table, but they're in storage with the rest of my kitchen items. I tried to make a round place mat for spring with a cotton pastel yarn I have...but first I couldn't find the yarn, then I couldn't figure out how to make it lay flat. It was past dinner when I finally realized you have to chain into the sides, not the top rows. 

Finished the night with All-Star Family Feud. The original Richard Dawson Feud did a series of hour-long prime time specials from 1978 to 1984 featuring celebrities instead of the usual families. They mostly featured actors from popular sitcoms and dramas of the time (or in one case, popular daytime and nighttime soap operas). I finished out Disc 2 with the most unique roster, "Heroes and Villains." Feud had an odd idea of what constituted a hero and a villain. Joan Collins, Leonard Frey, and Henry Silva were certainly known for playing bad, and Paul Smith just came off well-received bad guys in Popeye and Midnight Express...but who in the heck put Marion Ross and Jon Bauman in with the Heroes, the latter in "Bowser" mode? And how did Norman Fell get in with the villains? At any rate, Fry and Collins' group trounced all comers, including the first Hero roster. 

"Battle of the Perfect 10's" placed a man in charge of a group of gorgeous ladies and a woman as the captain of hot guys (or cute kids, in the case of Ricky Schroeder on Debra Sue Moffat's team). Wilt Chamberlain and his beauties went up against Debra Sue Moffat and her boys, while Phyllis Diller led beloved sitcom and soap opera actors against Richard Simmons' former Miss Americas and models. Debra and her gentlemen won the first game hands down; Richard and his models got the second.

Most of the sitcom battles were a tad more generic. Ironically, the show I knew the least about did the best. I don't remember watching Family as a kid. It's one of only two shows listed I never saw, even in re-runs. I don't remember Hawaiian Eye, either. The Family that plays together, wins together. They steamrolled the competition, including the high schoolers and their teachers from Welcome Back Kotter, the crew of The Love Boat, and another big family show, Eight Is Enough. Hawaiian Eye had no luck with the castaways of Gilligan's Island. Dallas was the other major winner...and they had the funniest opening when the cast was seen holding up Larry Hagman before unceremoniously dumping him on the floor! 

(And I'm disappointed they don't include all of the specials, or at least all the ones they can find. The "Beasts Vs Beauties" episode is currently the only one missing. I suspect rights issues may have kept the second half of the Hawaiian Eye/Gilligan's Island show, which pits the casts of Batman and Lost In Space against each other, off the set...but there were two more "Battle of the Perfect 10" specials after that, including one with Betty White and Bert Convy leading teams that are on YouTube.) 

Put a Little Love In Your Heart

Started off a late morning with breakfast and the recent Disney Junior show Alice's Wonderland Bakery. Alice is delighted when she, Hattie, and her sentient recipe book Cookie are invited to the Queen of Hearts and her daughter Rosa's big Christmas dinner at Hearts Palace. Her friend Fergie the White Rabbit is upset when he's not invited, causing Alice to decline the invitation. She'd rather spend the holiday with her best friend. After Mome Raths invade the castle, it looks like there may not be a dinner at all. Alice finally rounds up all of Wonderland to help build "The Gingerbread Palace" and make it a place where everyone can enjoy dinner...Mome Raths and rabbits included.

Headed out to run errands after breakfast. The weather was much too nice to be hanging out inside! The sun warmed my nose despite the biting chill, and the sky was an unwavering ice blue. It was a lovely morning to run errands. Went to Dollar General first. They looked like a hurricane blew through. The shelves were empty of almost everything. I managed to pick up laundry detergent, more boxes for candy, a bag for Rose and her family's gifts, and trash bags, but couldn't find powdered sugar. Hiked down to a better-stocked Family Dollar to pick up the sugar. Treated myself to a tasty and spicy Gingerbread Cookie Smoothie and soft pretzel across the street at WaWa.

After I got home, I put everything away while watching A Scooby Doo Christmas. In the second Scooby holiday special, he and Mystery Inc find themselves stranded in Winter Hollow on Christmas Eve. The town is hardly a friendly place. A monstrous snow man terrifies them every Christmas Eve, destroying their chimneys and forcing them to take refuge in the local inn. While Scooby and Shaggy dodge this monstrous Christmas creep, their friends learn more about the local legend of a robber that hid his gold in one of the houses and how that might relate to this unwelcome holiday visitor.

Started in on the fudge after the cartoon ended. Since I'm not using my own kitchen, I wanted to keep things very simple. Used the Carnation kit for the chocolate fudge; found an easy recipe for peanut butter fudge on Pinterest that only required butter, powdered sugar, peanut butter, and evaporated milk. I was even able to melt the butter and peanut butter for the latter in the microwave. They came out perfectly, thick, rich, and sweet. 

A friend of mine was riding down to Hammonton with a load of gifts. A woman she knew was recovering from drug addiction and had a hard time getting presents for her two young daughters. In addition to the toys she bought and donated from her own daughter, I gave her two large Beanie Baby teddy bears that used to belong to Jodie and Dad. They only used them for display, so they were in perfect shape. I don't really need them. I have plenty of bears, including ones for Christmas.

Put my laundry in the washer, then watched A Flintstones Christmas Carol while cutting paper snowflakes for my doors and window. Fred's playing Scrooge in a local Bedrock play, and he's getting a little too into the role. He spends so much time rehearsing, he forgets to buy presents for his women or pick Pebbles up at daycare. Wilma's the stage manager along with designing costumes and playing several roles after actors come down with "The Bedrock Bug," and she's absolutely furious with her husband's insensitive behavior. It takes a scare at the department store and really listening to the story for Fred to understand what Christmas really means to him...the love of his wife and daughter.

Worked on writing for a while after I moved my laundry to the dryer. Debralee is somewhere between amused and horrified when she realizes the Mouse Queen is Jo Ann Worley, and the Mouse King resembles producer Ira Skutch. She's not laughing when she realizes what they intend to do to her and the Nutcracker, though...

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Ate while watching The Littlest Angel. I go further into this popular Hallmark musical from 1969 with Johnny Whittaker as the title character and Fred Gwynne as his kindly friend at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

Musicals On TV - The Littlest Angel

Finished the night after a shower and putting my laundry away with a pair of holiday tales about curious bears at Tubi. Ted E. Bear (Dick Smothers) wants to know everything about Christmas. Most bears hibernate through the holidays and neither know nor care about it. Even his girlfriend (Barbara Felton) thinks he's insane for wanting to find such an abstract thing. He's determined to not be The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas, finally stumbling to the city to find it. With the help of a jolly old man in red, he learns Christmas is a day...but it's also a feeling, and one best shared with someone you love. 

Christopher and Holly are teddy bears who want to be The Bears Who Saved Christmas when their family is stranded at a barren cabin on Christmas Eve. Joined by a compass with a bad sense of direction and a flashlight who is afraid of the dark, they go out in search of a tree to brighten their family's holiday. On the way, they help a young beaver out of the ice and stop a real bear from being caught in a trap. They discover just how important friendship and helping others is when their new buddies help them find a tree and get it home. 

Harts and Heroes

Slept in so long, it was 11:30 before I really got going and nearly noon before I had brunch. Watched Match Game '76 while I ate. They finished up the year with sweet George trying to get help from Charles with "Nail __." The last episode of the year featured Charles catching an egg with "Match Game '77" printed on it from a giant "Goody-Toddy bird." Balloons and streamers rained down during the finale after a speech from their boss and head producer Mark Goodson. 

Worked on my laptop for a while after that. I want to make covers for the DVD cases that don't have them, the ones I switched to slimmer cases. Tested the scanner with the Hogan's Heroes cover. That worked...but the actual printing gave me more trouble. Turns out printing out six covers and printings of the lists of episodes took up nearly all the black ink. I printed the episode lists, but eventually gave up on the cover. I still need to make covers, but I'll make them simple Photoshop affairs instead, with typed-in titles and maybe a picture pasted from Pinterest or online. 

Finally broke for a Summer Fruit Smoothie while watching the end of Rosie the Riveter on the TV Time Roku app. I go further into this low-budget World War II morale-booster with Jane Frazee as a woman riveter who has to share a room with three other people at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Rosie the Riveter

By 4:30, my feet were freezing, thanks to the heavy air conditioning in my apartment and the abundance of shade over it. Decided to warm up with a walk to Dollar General...and ended up getting a ride from a neighbor. I mostly went for chocolate chips, which are cheaper there. Also picked up a children's tea set and a card for my niece Finley's birthday on Saturday and a bottle of Dole Lemonade for a treat later. 

Surprisingly, the walk home was fairly pleasant. It was hot and sunny, into the mid-90's, but not at all humid. A lovely breeze kept it from feeling much worse. In fact, after being stuck in frigid air all day, I very much enjoyed the stroll.

Went straight into writing when I got home. Jack tries to drag Brett off, but first her boys protest, then Richard. Richard isn't as successful in saving Charles the Mad Hatter, who is surrounded by the Red King's men. Richard encourages Brett to flee with the boys before they try for them again; he'll hold them off.

Broke for dinner at quarter of 6. Made Cincinatti Chili while watching more Match Game '76. Mary Wickes, today best known for appearing in White Christmas and the Sister Act films, turned up on the panel for the first time in this episode. Gene gave her a welcoming kiss, which she very much got into! Later, the others compared a handsome white-haired contestant to Password host Allen Ludden.

Had a lemon ice cream float with lemonade and lemon cheesecake ice cream as Match Game PM came on. It was double your 70's drama hunks, as Lou Grant reporter Robert Walden and wisecracking Vega$ detective Bart Braverman joined Connie Stevens, Marcia Wallace, Bill Daily, Gene, and the regulars to greet a contestant from my native Ft. Lauderdale. He didn't do very well, though. Bill Daily ended up trying to help the female contestant with "Opening __" on the Head-to-Head.

I had trouble with dropouts and buffering all day. Opted for DVDs instead. In the first season Hogan's Heroes episode, Hogan finds out why you should "Go Light on the Heavy Water" when London tells him they have to destroy a seemingly innocuous barrel of H20. Turns out "heavy water" is used for nuclear weapons. Hogan, of course, first tells Klink it can grow his hair back, then outright replaces it with regular water. 

Finished out the night online with Hart to Hart. "Always, Elizabeth" is the second-to-last episode of the fifth and final season. Elizabeth (June Allyson) is Max's rich pen pal. He's been telling her he's a millionaire, and Jennifer and Johnathan are his staff. When Elizabeth comes to visit, the tables are turned in order to keep up the illusion. Max's romance derails quickly when Elizabeth's sleazy nephew first steals from them, then leads his nasty boss (Robert Davi) to them in order to pay off his debts.

Thanksgiving Matches

Awoke to a gloomy, dark morning. Was reading the book on Thanksgiving Linda Young gave me a couple of years ago when my cell phone rang. Rose wanted to know if I could come over around noon. They weren't eating until 4, but Finley in particular was really looking forward to my arrival. I told her 12:30. I wanted to finish my reading and have breakfast.

After I finished off the book, I did the material from Colliers Harvest of Holidays. They had a short story on the first Thanksgiving, as told by an old Puritan woman who was there, along with poetry and the familiar "Over the River and Through the Woods." "Pilgrims' Party" is a short story from the Disney anthology Storybook Land. Mickey and Minnie take the gang to a real old-fashioned Thanksgiving dinner at Plymouth. It's all fun and Pilgrim cosplay, until Pluto steals the turkey!

Put on Planes, Trains, and Automobiles while eating the last of the apple crisp for breakfast and getting the bread organized. Neil Paige (Steve Martin) is an ad executive trying to get home to Chicago for Thanksgiving. When his plane is stranded in Wichita, he ends up getting the last hotel room in town with Del Griffith (John Candy). Del's the nicest guy you'll ever meet, but he's also an overly chatty mass of bad habits who drives Neil crazy at first. It's not until they've taken every type of transportation from planes to buses to cars to together that Neil finally understands why Del is on the road...and why he has a real reason to be thankful.

Despite the forced left turn into sentimentality towards the end, this is a generally enjoyable comedy about what we really have to be thankful for, with career-best performances by Candy and Martin. Adults looking for something to watch while they recover from dinner (or who would normally be doing their own major traveling before the holidays) will really enjoy this one. 

Strolled over to Rose's house even before the movie ended. The rain vanished as I finished off reading. By the time I was strolling down Manheim, the sun was out, the sky was blue, and it was in the 60's, a bit warm for Thanksgiving. I was fine in my jean jacket and a short-sleeved blouse. You'd never know it rained this morning if there weren't puddles all over the place.

Rose and Finley did greet me when I arrived. Craig already had the Lions-Texans game on. My nephew Khai was in and out, sometimes reading Garfield comics, sometimes attached to Roblox in his bedroom. Rose had a vegetable tray and Triscuits and Club crackers out and was working on a cheese tray when I got in. (Her sliced Parmesan was to die for.) 

Finley was excited to show off her bedroom. She sleeps on a white loft bed with a slide that allows her to get down quickly. I got to admire her dance costumes (she started taking dance classes last month) and her piles of stuffed animals big and small. When we went back to the living room, I read her "Donald Duck, Private Eye" from Storybook Land while Finley listened in her child-sized recliner. 

After Rose and Craig cleared the table, we moved on to another project. Rose bought a gingerbread house set from Walmart a few days ago. Instead of making one big house, we each had our own individual mini-house to decorate. Finley insisted on covering the A-frame with sprinkles and gumdrops (when she wasn't eating them!). Khai sprinkled red and green candy bits onto the roof of his Colonial House. My "Classic Cottage" had holly leaf sprinkle roof shingles, green spearmint leaves on the roof, gumdrop "lights" on the edges (that wouldn't stay on), and holly leaf sprinkle garlands around the windows and door.

Once our gingerbread masterpieces were safe in places where curious kitty paws couldn't reach, Craig, Finley, and I settled down to rest while watching Frozen on Disney Plus. Finley initially had a hard time sleeping while her brother played with noisy Duplos. Once he got bored and retreated to his room, she fell asleep...and so did her dad and Kelsey the Mini Pincher on his lap! I snuggled into the soft leather chair, read Storybook Land, and listened to "Let It Go" and "Love Is an Open Door." 

I go into further discussion on Frozen at this review from my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog in January 2019. 

Frozen 

Craig just started shaking Finley awake as Rose announced dinner was ready. Everything was so delicious! Craig carved a fragrant turkey breast, and Rose mixed mashed potatoes. Brussels sprouts with ham and green beans sautéed with crispy onions added crunch and earthy flavor alongside cranberry sauce and creamy macaroni and cheese. According to Rose, even the butter was fresh from a friend of hers who worked at a Whole Foods wholesaler and gave her a ton.

Finley, Khai, and I watched cartoons while Rose and Craig cleared the table and did the dishes. Khai loves The Adventures of Puss In Boots on Netflix. Apparently, Puss is here an adventurer who loves a pretty, sweet kitty named Dulcinea. She is "The One" who can stop a terrible creatures called The Bloodwolf from destroying her town. Puss and his Senor Puss Squad help her out with their own brand of magic. After he's defeated, in the next season, Puss swears he'll be Dulcinea's sidekick, but she just wants everything to return to normal. 

Bluey and her sister Bingo have their own fun with their parents. Bluey and Bingo put on the sad-eyed looks to convince Dad to play "Ticklecrabs" with them. When Dad and Mum tell the girls they're taking a vacation without them, they imagine having to "Escape" the girls coming after them in increasingly outlandish ways.

Rose called everyone for pies with real whipped cream after "Escape" ended. Finley just had pumpkin, but I tried the pumpkin and Rose's famous apple. They were sublime, with the pumpkin perfectly spicy and the apple delightfully tart. Craig settled for watching the Washington-Cowboys game after he had some trouble with Finley.

Rose drove me home carrying a bag filled with leftovers. I was surprised to note the driveway next to the main house was empty. She mentioned Jodie told her she would be staying over Jesse and Dana's house after their dinner. That gave me the chance to get the laundry done in the laundry room as soon as I got in. I need clean socks and work clothes, and I really don't want to wait until go to the laundromat to get them.

Finished out the night on YouTube with another Match Game marathon. This one revolved around episodes that are a favorite of the owner of the channel who restores the show that he considers to be overlooked. I came around in time for the 1978 episode where Bob Barker ogles Lori Anderson rather openly. My two favorite episodes by far of what I saw both came from the syndicated run. One had Joyce Bulifant in a wild curly red wig while Bill Daily searched for his answer and a contestant somehow managed to answer "An athletic caterpiller bought 100 sneakers and ___" with "accordion." The second started with Betty White showing off her still-trim legs in a short red dress and ended with Sharon Farrell and Richard Paul demonstrating mud wrestling.

Here's the full marathon, so you can enjoy these underrated gems for yourself! And come around at 2:30 tomorrow for even more hijinks in the marathon's second half!

Match Game Thanksgiving Marathon

I hope you all matched yourselves a wonderful Thanksgiving, no matter who you ate with or the size of your meal!

(Oh, and the Texans eventually gave the Lions a solid 41-25 thrashing, while Washington kicked the Cowboys' rears equally hard 41-16.)

The Guardians and the Duke

The clouds were still out when I rolled out of bed this morning. Had breakfast while watching Press Your Luck. The one woman playing did do well and avoided Whammies...but not well enough. She made the mistake of giving her spins to one of the two guys, both of whom outpaced her. It came down to the two of them; in the end, the champ only won because the other guy hit a Whammy.

Spent the rest of the morning making collages. I finally picked up enough catalogs during the holiday season to put them together, but I didn't have the time until today. I had so many, I ended up making four. The Vermont Country Store catalogs alone provided enough to do collages for Halloween and Christmas. I also did one for Thanksgiving from the Bed Bath and Beyond flyers and a winter one I have hanging up now on the refrigerator.

Ran the remaining episodes on the first disc of Sailor Moon Super S while I worked. The Amazon Trio finally ran out of time in "Mirror of Dreams: The Amazon Trio's Last Stage." Usagi takes Fish Eye home and tries to make friends with him, but he ends up figuring out who Usagi and Chibi-Usa really are. Hawk's Eye is ordered to look into Usagi's dream mirror, but an unknown clown monster breaks it. Now it's up to the Amazon Trio to restore Sailor Moon and learn what it truly means to be real, dreaming humans.

Their replacements, the Amazoness Quartet, make their first full appearances in the next episode, "The Amazoness: Nightmare From Beyond the Mirrors." Unlike the adult Trio, the Quartet are little girls who have no desire to ever become adults. They're convinced that if they grow up, they'll lose their childhood dreams. Indeed, they make fun of Chibi-Usa's friend Momoko because she insists she can't wait to have a boyfriend. They invite her and the others to the Dead Moon Circus...but it's really a trap to steal her dream mirror.

The remaining episodes on the disc mainly involved either upgrading the other Sailor Guardians' powers or the Amazons driving a none-too-amused Zirconia up the wall. Babyish Amazon Palla Palla turns her play dentist office into "Dentist of Horrors? Palla Palla's House" and tries to steal the dream mirrors from her unsuspecting patients, including Usagi and Chibi-Usa. Ami's too shy to show a composer she met online her lyrics to his lovely melody in "True Power Explodes: Ami's Melody of the Heart," but she discovers the power within her when she has to help break the others out of his computer. Rei also gets to upgrade her power in "Flames of Passion: Mars' Raging Super Attack." A young girl imitates her when she thinks she wants to be a shrine maiden. It takes a mimicking monkey monster to make both her and Rei understand that we need to lead our own dreams.

Returned to Buzzr as I rounded up the paper mess and got organized. Jack Cassidy and Richard Dawson worked together to ham it up on a pirate-themed question in a 1975 episode of Match Game. Classic Concentration allowed a college-age girl and an older man to win prizes and try to match for a car. Alas, neither of them matched enough spaces to earn a vehicle.

Headed out as Concentration wound down. My original plan for today involved just hanging around...but the sun emerged around noon, and it became an unusually warm, off-and-on sunny day. It was just too nice to be inside. I took a ride into Collingswood to get my hair done. My hair is very thick, and it gets frizzy and unmanageable when it's too long. A blonde lady at Hair Cuttery trimmed it to above my shoulders, layered longer in the front and shorter in the back. It's actually a little shorter than I wanted, but that's not a horrible thing, and it does look pretty cute. I tend to throw it back when it's long anyway and not do much with it.

Went for a stroll on Haddon Avenue after she finished my cut. I hadn't browsed the dollar bins at InnerGroove Records in ages...mainly because I'm running out of room for them and don't really need to be spending money on a ton of junk. I did find a few interesting titles, two of which I've been looking for:

Rupert Holmes - Partners In Crime

Meco - Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk

Hooked On Classics & Turned-On Broadway 2

Made a brief stop at Frugli Consignment next. I hoped to find a pair of trousers for work. No luck. I couldn't even find a pair of trousers in my size, let alone ones appropriate for working in. Got in and out of there quickly.

Besides, by that point, it was rush hour. I had problems with the wonky bike seat, but I did manage to get to Newton Lake Park. It would have been a crime not to ride through there. The day was warm for winter, in the upper 50's. The waning afternoon sun sparkled on the river as I dodged many other bikers and people out for a stroll.

Went into writing when I got in. Charles isn't entirely sure about Gene turning them all invisible. Richard thinks it's the only way to really surprise Malade and her trolls. Brett insists on joining them, even though she hasn't fully recovered from the poisoned comb. Marcia's annoyed with Bill, who claims he's guarding the inside. Even as she complains, they hear the buzzing of Malade's trolls and hooves of the Sheriff of Nottingham's army arriving at the gate...

Broke for dinner at quarter of 7. Had leftovers while watching more Match Game. This time, it's Patti Deustch who rolls up Gene's pants leg while he talks to Charles, to the amusement of Richard, Dr. Joyce Brothers, and the audience. Sale of the Century crowned a new contestant, a woman who came back during the speed round to pass both men in the very last minutes. Despite being tempted by a lovely double-strand gold necklace and a beautiful fur coat, she opted to come back tomorrow to try to earn more money.

Finished the night baking Chocolate Chip-Oatmeal Cookies and going online while watching The Duke Is Tops. I go further into this B-movie that introduced Lena Horne to movie audiences at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

The Duke Is Tops

The Games Grown Boys Play

Began the morning after breakfast with a couple of chores and some crafting I've been wanting to do. The bed needed to be made. I hadn't done it since the day Amanda visited early last month. I finally had enough catalogs to make a winter-themed collage. It took me a while, since most of them were actually from the late fall-Christmas season and didn't have a lot that was specifically winter-themed, but I think it came out well enough.

Watched Solo: A Star Wars Story while I worked. The second anthology film reveals the origins of everyone's favorite scoundrel, smuggler, and princess-lover. Growing up on the mean streets of industrial Corellia, all Han (Alden Ehrenreich) wants is to escape the filth-clogged streets with his girl Qi'da (Emilia Clarke). He does manage to get off-planet, but has to leave Qi'da behind. He joins the Empire in the hope of becoming a pilot, but ends up in the trenches. He's thrown to "The Beast" for insubordination...who turns out to be Chewbacca (Joonas Sutamo), a wookie who was captured and taken from his tribe. Han can speak his language and is able to help him escape. They join up with Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and his crew to steal a precious fuel from a train. It all goes south when they're invaded by Enfys Nest (Erin Kellyman) and her Marauders chase them down. The fuel is destroyed, along with Beckett's wife and friend.

The remaining trio head to explain things to mob boss Drydan Vos (Paul Bettany). Turns out that Qi'da has taken up with him as well. Han insists that they can get another source of fuel on the mine of Kessel. She suggests getting a ship from smooth smuggler Lando Calarissian (Donald Glover) and his rebellious female droid L3 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge). They take The Millennium Falcon to Kessel, where L3 proceeds to instigate a slave uprising. The group barely escapes with their lives through the infamous "Kessel Run." Now they just have to get the fuel processed...and make sure it lands in the right hands.

I actually love this movie. I think it's the most fun Star Wars has had in ages, and is a huge improvement on the dour Rogue One. Ehrenreich and Glover are pitch-perfect as Han and Lando, and Harrelson isn't bad as Han's mentor in crime Beckett. It does have some problems - the cinematography is way too murky in the first half, the second half is confusing, Vos is a boring villain, and it kills off three of it's best characters after about 10-20 minutes of screen time each.

This movie didn't deserve anything resembling what it got at the box office last Memorial Day. I still maintain it's a good movie released at a bad time. If you're open to knowing about your favorite characters and where they came from, you may have just as much fun with this one as I have.

Switched to Hello Kitty Furry Tale Theater as I had a quick yogurt-and-banana lunch and got ready to head out. Kitty is "K.T: The Kitty Terrestrial," who has to phone home in order to avoid scientists Catnip and Grinder. Hello Dorothy has to join several unusual friends to find "The Wizard of Paws" and get home to Catfish. "Kitty and the Kong" has her as a sailor who makes friends with giant dog-creature Grinder on a tropical island. Catnip wants to take him to New York and show him off. but he doesn't belong in the Big Apple and wrecks havoc. "Cat Wars" has Tuxedo Sam Skywalker trying to get Princess Kitty home to Catern, only to be thrown off-course. It takes a chat from Grandpa Cat-nobi and "The Power of the Fur" to boost his confidence.

The sun was out when I got up this morning, but by the time I strolled out my door, it was cloudy and much colder than it has been, probably in the 30's. I still had a few things I wanted to do, starting with a quick run to the Oaklyn Library. They're still in the midst of re-organizing the DVDs. Other than ESPN talking about the Eagles' win yesterday and the college football championship tonight, there wasn't much going on there.

Made my way a couple of blocks down to Dollar General. I've wanted to buy a plastic container for my Christmas tree for years now. I've kept it in its original box for fifteen years, and the box is now falling apart. Finally found one that was long enough and deep enough to hold the whole tree. Also grabbed multi-purpose cleaner, sponges for the dry erase board, and eggs. (Theirs are only $1.50, much cheaper than the $2.99 they cost at the Acme.)

As soon as I got home, I made sure the tree fit in the box. I chose wisely. The tree and all its parts fit perfectly. I even managed to find room for the vintage cardboard Santa hanging that was too long to slide in the other Christmas containers. I also found something to do with the plastic three-drawer set I bought a while back. It's now too small to use for the dolls' clothes, but it works great to organize the cookie cutters Jessa gave me years ago and either clear out the plastic container I used for them or find another use for that.

Watched the second half of "Cat Wars" and the remaining Furry Tale Theater short on the disc while I worked. "Paws - The Great White Dog Shark" is chewing everything wooden on the beach, including Mayor Fangora's Catamonica Pier. Lifeguard Sam, Surfer Kitty, and Professor Chip try to figure out why Paws has gone bad.

Switched to listening to Led Zepplin II on LP while I cleaned the bathroom. It really needed to be done. The sink was especially covered in gunk. Washed some of the dirtier slats in the window blinds, too.

Worked on writing for a while after I finished the bathroom. Leia, Han, and Chewie find their way to the Snow Queen's palace in the barren Frozen North. They find Luke huddled in her throne chamber, leaning over a pile of colorful tiles. He doesn't recognize them and tries to push them away, but they help him figure out the puzzle.

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Made shrimp stir-fry and later chatted with Lauren while watching Tag. Five men play a game of Tag one month a year. The game has been going on for 30 years, and it shows no signs of stopping. Whomever was tagged "it" at the end of the game the year before is "it" until the next game. This year, Hoagie (Ed Helms) is "it." He's determined to finally tag the elusive Jerry (Jeremy Renner), who has never been touched in the entire three decades they've been playing. Jerry is getting married to lovely Susan (Leslie Bibb), and the guys and Hoagie's mouthy wife Anna (Isla Fisher) think this is the perfect opportunity to finally catch him. He and Susan are onto them, though, and make them sign a "no Tag during the wedding" clause on their invitations. That doesn't mean that the time between the wedding preparations aren't fair game, though...

And people say there are no original ideas in Hollywood anymore. What's more, this one seems to actually be based on real-life. If the credits are any indication, there really are 10 guys who play a game of tag that's gone on for over two decades, and a reporter really did do a major article on them. In some ways, it reminds me a bit of Game Night, which also commented on suburban aggressiveness and obsession with playing childhood games. The guys play because it keeps them close as friends...which makes Jerry's elusiveness all the more humiliating. They aren't sure they even really know him, because they can't catch him.

This is another one that I'm not sure critics knew what to make of. Audiences weren't sure, either. It did well enough at the box-office last year, but was by no means a huge hit. If you can get around how plain strange the premise and some of the performances are, you might be able to have fun with this odd look at just how much competing in even a simple game of tag can turn men into real boys.

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).

Busy, Busy Spring

I had a lot to do on a busy morning, starting with making a new collage after breakfast. Up until last year, I used to make a collage out of old catalogs once a season, usually once every two or three months. I haven't been shopping as often as I used to...and haven't been getting as many catalogs as I used to, either. Finally got enough (including a few I've had around for as long as five years) to make one.

Ran an episode of Wonder Woman as I clipped and glued pictures. "Skateboard Whiz" takes Diana Prince to a small town in southern California for what she hopes will be a relaxing vacation. Turns out the town is being threatened by a gangster who has already set up an illegal gambling den behind a local arcade. When the daughter of one of her friends accidentally sees the casino and their plans, they go after the kid...and Wonder Woman springs into action and goes after them.

Put on my ABBA Greatest Hits CD as I moved on to more vigorous chores. First on the list was scrubbing the trash canisters and my bike. While I normally do this twice a year, in May after it gets warm and October before it gets cold, I think I'd like to start washing the bike a little more often. I'll see if I can pull off once a month. Charlie didn't have the hose hooked up in the back yard yet. I settled for washing them with water in a bucket.

When the canisters were drying on the porch, I went into heavy vacuuming, at least as much as I could with my sprained thumb. I couldn't lift a lot of furniture one-handed, but I could run the attachment around the baseboards. This is another twice-a-year chore. The apartment doesn't get that dirty very often.

After I vacuumed, I did a little bit of organizing in the back room. I first found a box to unload my recycling in. I'd wanted to clear out Christmas books, but I mostly got rid of holiday picture books. I really don't need the books for little kids.

Broke for lunch around 1. Did a couple of cartoons featuring Mickey, Minnie, and their pets while I ate yogurt, a banana, and blueberry Breakfast Bars. "The Nifty Nineties" is one of my favorite Mickey/Minnie shorts. Mickey and Minnie show us what life was like in the 1890's as they stroll through the park, take in a vaudeville show, and encounter other Disney characters during a wild car ride.

It's "Bath Day" for Figaro. He's embarrassed by Minnie washing him and putting a bow on his neck. He fights with a bunch of alley cats to prove how tough he is, to Minnie's dismay.

Mortimer, a thinner, slicker mouse, is "Mickey's Rival" in a classic late 30's short. Mortimer invades Mickey and Minnie's picnic, showing off for her in a way that makes Mickey and his little jalopy look like a fool. Mortimer is the one feeling foolish when he unleashes a bull and flees...but it's Mickey and his car who end up saving the day.

Headed out around quarter of 2. First stop on the agenda was Dollar Tree. I needed a Mother's Day card for Mom and a friendship/thanks for coming card for Lauren. I also found a nifty striped notebook. My journal is almost done - time to replace it. It was the quietest in there I'd ever seen it, with no line.

The Haddon Township Library was much busier. They had tons of movies - kids, adults, and TV show sets - to shelve and organize. Big stack of audio books, too. I did end up taking out a few films. Thought Legend of Tarzan sounded like good B movie fun. Continued exploring the films of the 60's and 70's with Dog Day Afternoon and Badlands. Warners finally put out the second half of the first season of Be Cool, Scooby Doo! a few months ago. I wasn't that crazy about the first half, but I figured I might as well finish out the season. (Especially since it sounds like it wasn't terribly successful; Warners recently indicated that its truncated second season will be its last.)

Headed home across Newton Lake Park. The weather couldn't have been more perfect for early May in Southern New Jersey. The sky was a brilliant blue. The air was cool and fresh, but not cold. The sun was just warm enough on my back and sparkled like gold dust on the green velvet ribbon of the lake. The breeze whistled through my hair. I wasn't the only one out and about, either. The park was teeming with kids off of school, joggers, dog walkers, fisher-folk, boaters, and sun bathers. I pushed my bike up the path on the hill past the Haddon Township Environmental Center and Museum to avoid them. (Someone cleaned up the path since I last went that way, putting down wood chips on the end that comes out by the Museum and marking the beginning of the path with two large rubber tubes.)

Did some writing when I got in. Ahsoka finally admits to Leia that his killing children and other Jedi was the reason Anakin was always so soft on his own children. He regretted his part in Palpatine's reign of terror for the rest of his life. It was part of the reason he fled Coruscant and the remnants of the Jedi Order.

The group finally arrives at the gate surrounding Coruscant City a few hours later. The head of the guards, Sir Wedge Antilles, is a supporter of Mon Mothma, who runs the Rebel Underground. He also recognizes Ahsoka and Hera and her family and is more than willing to let them in. Luke can't stop eyeing him, even as a unicorn...

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Had leftovers, then made Strawberry-Almond Muffins for work tomorrow. Ran The Sound of Music as I worked on the muffins, then went online. How do you solve a problem like Maria (Julie Andrews), a nun who is too spirited for her Austrian order? Send her to be the governess for Captain Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) and his eight children. The kids have driven away other governesses, but they take a shine to Maria after she sings to them to calm them during a storm. The Captain banned music after the death of his wife. Maria thinks that's ridiculous and uses her own methods to teach the kids to sing. They do it so well, they soften both their father's views and that of his fiancee the Baroness Elsa (Eleanor Parker) towards music. Their father, however, still refuses to allow them to sing in public...and it's becoming clear that he's falling for Maria. She returns to the convent at first, but her Mother Abbess (Peggy Wood) finally sends her back. Things fall apart quickly after the wedding. It's 1939, and the Germans want Von Trapp in their army. He's against the Nazis and won't work for them. His family finally flees Austria instead, after they give a stirring performance at the Saltzburg Music Festival.

This movie has the reputation for being syrupy and too sweet. I can understand where people got that impression, what with songs like "The Lonely Goatheard" and the holiday standard "My Favorite Things," not to mention all those kids. It's pretty much a romantic drama until the sudden left turn into dark Nazi territory in the last half-hour or so. It's also way beyond too long, almost three hours long, in fact.

Sweet or not, it still holds up as one of the best musicals ever made. As Rick Steves pointed out in his episode on Saltzburg, that's the real Austria the family's singing in. It gives the movie a feel of immediacy that many studio-bound musicals lack. The glowing countryside becomes almost as important of a character as the humans dancing across it. The cinematography was Oscar-nominated; the movie itself, director Robert Wise, and the music, sound, and editing won. Andrews and Wood were also nominated for their fine performances. I like Plummer as the stern father (even if his singing had to be dubbed). He gets my favorite song from this show, the lovely ballad "Edelweiss." Other good songs here include "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" for oldest daughter Lisel and her sweetheart Rolf and "Climb Every Mountain" for Wood.

This is one of the great American film musicals. If you love Andrews, musicals, or composers Rodgers and Hammerstein and have a lot of time on your hands, this one is a must-see.