In the Cool of the Afternoon

I overslept, so I got a really quick start this morning. Watched an episode of Bluey while having a fast breakfast. Bluey, Bingo, and their cousin Muffin are thrilled when their daddies give them a "Horsey Ride" in the backyard. Bluey's a lot less happy about her younger cousin Socks biting into her favorite toy. They hold a horsey wedding (to the annoyance of their fathers) to distract her.

Rushed out to this week's appointment with Dawn and arrived ten minutes late. Ironically, it turned out Dawn got stuck in traffic and was twenty minutes late. She came after me. No matter. I did manage to apply for a receptionist job at Inkling Storm Design in Cherry Hill. Trouble is...while I know I don't want to work in healthcare or in schools unless the job is year-round, I don't know what I do want to do. All I know is I want to write or organize or edit, and do it in something that isn't health care or retail. 

We were checking the online job search sites for so long, it was almost noon before I went across the street to the Westmont Plaza to run errands. I was hoping to find more cookie boxes and cards. No dice anywhere. I'm disappointed that neither Dollar Tree nor Target has boxes of cards or boxes for cookies. I did pick up a container for the cookies I'll bring to the Acme next month, a really pretty Thanksgiving cards for friends who are having a rough time right now, and gift card boxes at Dollar Tree and gift cards for Anny and Keefe's birthdays, evaporated milk, dark brown sugar, and pie crust at Target, but not what I was originally looking for.

Went home after I got out for lunch and The Monkees. "Monkee Chow Mein" is one of the more problematic episodes today. This parody of Fu Manchu "Yellow Peril" stories has Peter accidentally taking a fortune cookie with a piece of a doomsday formula when the guys are at a Chinese restaurant. Not only is the CIS after the formula, but so is Dragonman, a very stereotypical Chinese agent (played by white man Joey Foreman in Asian makeup, though he does have goons who are actually Chinese). His men accidentally kidnap Micky, then Peter when he goes after him. It's up to Mike and Davy to rescue their friends and make sure the formula ends up in the right hands.

The reason I bought the milk, pie crusts, and brown sugar at Target was for a recipe I found online that I wanted to try. I love apple butter and thought apple butter pie sounded simple and tasty. I skipped a step with the store bought crust...but didn't have any weights to keep it down and didn't want to use up the uncooked rice. The crust did puff up in the middle. At least the filling came out much better, maybe a little too sweet. I think I might use less brown sugar next time. Once I got it into the pan, it looked much better, and tasted fine when I got it out.

Since it was a one-crust pie, I decided to try something simple. I spread apple butter on the other crust, cut them into triangles, and rolled up the triangles to form crescents, then baked them with the pie. Not bad. Should have added more apple butter, or maybe sprinkled the tops with cinnamon or sugar.

Listened to two of my jazz records I've picked up recently while I worked. Country Preacher is really more blues and R&B as Cannonball Adderly performs some of his own songs and a few African-American standards at a concert for "Operation Breadbasket" in 1969. Although the title song was good, I liked the truly unique "Afro-Spanish Omelet," a mix of African sounds like "Umbakwen" and the more Hispanic "Soli Tomba." 

Charlie Parker's Greatest Hits go further back. No clue when this actually came out, but most of the songs sound 40's-50's. Parker went in for a much cooler sound in be-bop and rhythm numbers like "Move," "Cool Blues," "Round Midnight," and "Star Eyes." 

Went back out around 3:30 while the pie cooled to run two more errands. Dropped the last Thanksgiving card for my friends at the post office, then went further down to Dollar General. There were only three eggs left after I made my pie. Grabbed a carton of eggs, then waited in line while a cashier tried (and failed) to reload a man's phone card. He ended up sending him down the road to CVS.

And actually, the other reason I went out was to enjoy a blustery, chilly day a bit more. It really feels like fall now. The wind blew something fierce, making any leaves that hadn't already fallen come down faster. This time, the sun wasn't enough to overcome that biting wind. I needed my heavy coat for the first time since at least early April.

Put on The Monkees again after I got home. The guys end up with a "Monkee Mother" after their landlord Mr. Babbitt (Henry Cordon) insists on them taking in a border who will actually pay. Millie Resnick (Rose Marie) is a good-hearted, loud-mouthed widow who feeds them and willingly listens to their rehearsals, but also smothers them. Hoping to get their home back, they nudge her towards a relationship with the moving man who helped carry her furniture.

Switched to Bloodhounds of Broadway next. I go further into this Damon Runyon story in honor of the late Mitzi Gaynor at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

A Salute to Mitzi Gaynor - Bloodhounds of Broadway

Worked on the inventory briefly after the movie ended. Added the original cast of Once On This Island, the 2006 Harry Connick Jr. revival of The Pajama Game, and the 1950 studio cast recording of Pal Joey with Vivienne Segal and Harold Lang. I found Pal Joey at the Collingswood Book Festival in 2019 and Island at the FYE in Philly around 2015, but Pajama Game was originally part of a Connick Jr. box set with another show. I have no idea where that came from anymore.

Switched to Match Game Syndicated during dinner and afterwards. Robert Donner and Betty Kennedy made their first appearances during this week. Brett and Charles spent most of the week making fun of her jewelry and his hats and silly accents.

Finished the night working on my review and listening to two of the rare cast albums I found last week. Tenderloin is the story of a crusading preacher who sets his sights on cleaning up "The Tenderloin," the New York slums in the late 1800's. Shakespearean actor Maurice Evans is an odd choice for this melodramatic and relatively dark show. Ron Husmann does better by the show's only hit song, "Artificial Flowers." 

High Spirits also flopped in the early 60's, but is otherwise a very different show. Beatrice Lillie plays a daffy medium who accidentally brings up the ghost of the first wife (Tammy Grimes) of a man (Edward Woodward) whose second wife (Louise Troy) is already tired of hearing about her. Oddly, despite this being based on a Noel Coward play and directed by him, he didn't do the music. That would explain why songs like "You'd Better Love Me" when the first wife returns and the patter number "The Bicycle Song" for Lillie are only ok. 

To My Sister's House I Go

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I began mine with the Colliers Harvest of Holidays anthology. They feature a short story on the first Thanksgiving, as well as several poems and the old song "Over the River and Through the Woods."

The Disney anthology Storybookland has a short story set around Thanksgiving, "Pilgrim's Party." Mickey and the gang decide to do their Thanksgiving the old fashioned way and head into New England to have dinner with the pilgrims and Indians at Plymouth Rock. It's all fun and historical cosplay, until Pluto steals the turkey!

Kit Kitteredge isn't feeling too grateful in the last two chapters of Kit Learns a Lesson. It's the height of the Great Depression, and Kit is upset that they've taken in boarders that have invaded her home and worried that her father will have to leave town to find work. When she and her friends Ruthie and Sterling bring the food from their class charity drive to a soup kitchen, she makes a shocking discovery there...and learns how much she really has to be thankful for.

Had a quick breakfast while watching Garfield's Thanksgiving. Garfield's not too happy with his holiday celebration, either. Liz the Veterinarian put him on a strict diet, right before John invited her for Thanksgiving dinner. Jon has never cooked a turkey dinner in his life, and his mind is really more on romance anyway. Good thing Grandma Arbuckle from the Christmas special comes around to make things right.

Watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on YouTube for the next few hours. A lot of folks were worried that the high winds today would discourage them from using the balloons, but they did eventually let them fly. They just kept them low to the ground. My favorites of the new balloons I hadn't seen before were the adorable Green Eggs and Ham one with Sam I Am and his buddy driving the ham and Astronaut Snoopy, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing in his bright colored space suit.

Worked on writing for an hour after the parade ended. Donald is happily watching his date eat every bit of seafood at the booth, in their shells, when the others arrive. Gene tells her that they know she's the Princess Patti and that the queen is after her. What they don't know is how she ended up on land. Patti reveals the reflection in a rain barrel to tell them what happened...

Headed out for Rose's house around 12:30, with the two loaves of bread and the box with the remaining Kimberly-Clark items I wanted to give her. At least it was a nice day for a stroll. While it was just as windy here as in New York, it was also mostly sunny and warmer than you might think, probably in the lower 50's. (Definitely better than the lower 30 degree temperatures we had at Thanksgiving last year.)

Rose's small house was full when I arrived. Mom, my brother Keefe, and his new wife Julia had arrived from Cape May County earlier this morning; Keefe and Julia drove up to Mom's house in the Villas from Virginia a few days ago. Evidently, Keefe and Julia decided it would be easier to not go through all the hassle and cost of a big wedding and got married in front of a justice of the peace a few months ago. (No one around here tells me anything.)

There was a huge spread out in the dining room. Everyone gathered around plates of cheese and Triscuits and Vegetable Thins, a vegetable tray with home-made ranch dressing, a home-made cheese ball, and pumpkin butter and blackberry jam. Khai mostly hung out on the bunk beds in his room, watched cartoons, and avoided us. Kelsey the Miniature Pincher tried to snitch food, while Lynx the striped cat wound through ankles and his sister Toothless the black cat kept out of sight as much as she could.

Two-year old Finley woke up as the first football game of the day between the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears was on its second half. It was a real nail-biter of a game, too. Both teams played very well, but the Bears finally managed to push ahead in the end, 24-20.

Craig decided Finley needed to let off steam, so he, Keefe and I took her out into the backyard. She showed me her big blue sandbox and her brother's hula hoop. Craig and Keefe discussed where they want to put the new fence that will replace the ragged wooden one that currently sits on the property.

After the game, Rose switched on a show called Bubble Guppies for Finley to keep her occupied and away from the food. Bubble Guppies revolves around six mer-kids and their mer-puppy who discuss either discuss a top relevant to toddlers, like fire fighters or dentists, or do a spoof of adventures or pulp fiction. The first one we saw was a fairy tale that had two of the mer-kids figure out how to gather the ingredients to restore their Bubble-Puppy after a witch turns him into a frog.

Finley found the contents of my purse to be more interesting. I showed her my wallet, coupon holder, cell phone, and my "lucky piece," but she really liked my note pad that I mainly use to write down story ideas when I'm in a restaurant or have to wait somewhere. I let her scribble her own "story ideas" on several of the blank pages.

We finally ate dinner around 4. It was an absolute feast. The turkey was huge, juicy, and so, so flavorful! Along with favorites like sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, cranberries, stuffing, and rolls, Rose made brown sugar baby carrots and replaced the gunky green bean casserole with sauteed green beans with fried onions and bacon bits. Oh, yum! She really outdid herself. I loved it all, especially the sweet potatoes and green beans.

Mom, Julia, and Keefe joined Finley and I for Bubble Guppies after dinner. They weren't terribly amused. As cute as the show is, it never addresses the problem that many of the activities shown - like fighting fires and chasing dragons - simply can't be done under the water and aren't logical. I say they were over analyzing things a bit. It's just a show for young kids. They can learn what's real and what isn't. I ignored them and showed Finley a Match Game marathon on my cell phone.

Everyone was more than a little worn out by the time dessert was on the table. Mom is still getting the hang of her smaller stove and burnt the crust on her pumpkin pie...but the filling was just as tasty. Rose bought apple and cherry tarts and Italian cookies from Desserts By Design in Audubon. I enjoyed the pie and apple tart with real, home-made whipped cream.

Finley went into the shower after we finished eating, allowing the rest of us to switch to the last quarter of the Bills-Cowboys game. The Bills were already kicking their rears when we came in, 26-7. The Cowboys managed to get a touchdown and a two-point conversion shortly after we started watching, but it wasn't enough. They ultimately lost 26-15.

Craig and Keefe drove me home. Rose deemed the old microwave cart in the basement too grimy to be saved, but she was able to give me a book shelf and a computer chair. The chair is sort of rickety and I may not keep it, but the shelf is perfect for my bedroom and will work just fine. I'll put the books in it tomorrow. She also gave me a huge bag of leftovers to take home.

Finished the night with Meet Me In St. Louis. I go further into this classic tale of the year in a life of a family preparing for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Meet Me In St. Louis

Dolls On a Windy Day

I was still feeling a bit nostalgic this morning after watching Top Gun last night, so I put on the original She-Ra while I ate breakfast. "The Laughing Dragon" is Sorrowful, a scrawny fellow who is good-natured, ticklish, and a major coward. He has to find his hidden courage when his new friends in the Great Rebellion are attacked by the Horde and several of Hordak's boys.

Dressed the dolls for the month after the cartoon ended. Most of them are in green for St. Patrick's Day. Ariel borrowed Molly's navy argyle meet outfit sweater (which does have some green in it) and wears it with wide-legged jeans and Josefina's riding boots. Josefina is in her Harvest Outfit with the sage-green skirt and the long-sleeved camisa (shift) with the pretty embroidered flowers on the neckline. Whitney swiped the navy skirt from Molly's meet outfit with the green-sprigged turtleneck that came with the 90's Girl Scouts outfit, white tights, and blue flats. Felicity wears her friend Elizabeth's celery-green "Summer Gown." It has a quilted petticoat that really makes it more appropriate for spring. Molly wears a shamrock-print dress I found at a yard sale with white tights and the black strap shoes from Samantha's current meet outfit. Jessa's in an emerald-green wrap blouse I picked up at a doll clothes booth in the Deptford Mall, the jeans from the mid-90's modern collection, and Springfield Collection sneakers. Put Samantha in her mint-green Special Day Dress that just retired last year, with white tights and her red strap shoes.

Headed out to run errands as soon as I finished with the girls. Ran into Charlie working on the siding on the house as I headed out. He mentioned an inspector would be coming around at 5:30 on Monday. Ok, that's fine.

The first stop on the list was The Square Meal on West Clinton Avenue for lunch. They're a sandwich shop that specializes in sustainable, seasonal-based dishes. They'd updated slightly since the last time I was in there, with a changed menu and remodeled seating area. I had half of a roast chicken sandwich, the broccoli and edamame pasta salad, a soft ginger snap cookie sandwich with citrus cream filling, and a can of La Croix grapefruit sparkling water. Yum! The sandwich was tasty, but very messy. (The chicken was shredded and wouldn't stay in the ciabatta bun.) The salad was amazing, tangy and earthy, and the cookie sandwich was so nice and soft! I enjoyed my meal while chuckling at a father and his two young children by the window.

Next stop was the Haddon Township Library. It flurried a little on my way over there, but it mostly remained cloudy and cold (if not as bitterly cold as yesterday). They weren't that busy and were saving most of their DVD returns for other volunteers. I just shelved the adult DVDs. Lauren mentioned that she watched Rear Window last night. I hadn't seen that in ages and thought I'd give it another look. Grabbed more Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, this time with a Valentine's Day/love theme. Also grabbed the PBS special on the history of superhero comics from 2013 in preparation for my next fanfic.

I had to stop at Target on my way home. My computer mouse is dying. The scroll wheel will only scroll downwards, and that erratically. It was time for a replacement. Alas, the cheapest wireless mouse they had was gone; I went with the second-cheapest. I needed sugar anyway; also bought a frozen pie crust and lemon juice to make Lemon Meringue Pie.

Dodged the rush hour traffic on Cuthbert and headed straight home. Finally finished out The Adventures of Han of the Hood when I got in. Vader finally admits that he's Sir Andrew of the Skywalking Clan, and yes, he murdered the Jedi and killed Han's father and destroyed his family's manor for Palpatine. He agrees to turn himself in...just as King Bail returns from the Crusades. He lingers long enough to pardon Han and the others, make Leia the new queen and Han the Sheriff, give Luke land for a monastery on the Irish island of Atch-To, and toss Vader in jail.

That took way longer than I'd planned, or it really should have. I was going to do more with the second half, but I think I just lost interest. The vast majority of the stories I've done since late 2017 have been fantasies in one way or another, many of them fairy tales or set in medieval times. I think I need to switch things up a bit. The next story I have planned will be a little more sci-fi oriented than fantasy. Leia Ortega, Harris Arietta, and Lucas Skyman fight for truth and justice in the corrupt Coruscant City in 1977 as part of the superhero group known as the Rebel League. Their main villain is Darran Veder, the city's mysterious Chief of Police, and the town's mayor, Steven Palpatine.

At any rate, here's The Adventures of Han of the Hood, for your reading enjoyment!

Archive of Our Own
My Writing Blog
Fanfiction. Net

It was past 8 PM when I finally finished writing. I had a quick banana-strawberry smoothie for dinner, then made that Lemon Meringue Pie. Or I tried to. I didn't realize how much went into making lemon meringue! I had to cook the custard-like base, then make the meringue. I didn't want to turn on the noisy mixer, as it was late by then, so I beat it by hand. Which was a mistake. It never set. I gave up and put it in the oven. Not only did it take much longer to cook than it should have, but I ended up with very sweet egg-topped lemon pudding. I guess I'm just not suited to meringues.

My musical review tonight went better than my baking. Here's my take on the 1968 Oscar winner Oliver!, at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Oliver!

Another One Bites the Dust

I got a faster start today than I would have preferred. I didn't even have the time for pancakes this morning! I read Verily, A New Hope and wrote in my journal, ate Rice Chex and a grapefruit, and listened to one of my Unsung Musicals CDs (collection of songs from musicals that were either short-lived on Broadway or never made it there) before dashing off to work.

Ironically, for all the rush, work wasn't that busy. This was especially surprising for a Sunday. We're usually crazy on Sundays regardless of the time of year. It was steady on and off, but it could have been a lot worse. I ended up outside for carts at least three times...only to go back in after twenty minutes to a half-hour because it wasn't really that bad and they had other help. I also gathered trash at the front register and rounded up baskets.

Worked on writing when I got home. Han spends the next few days mostly doing chores for Jabba and his boys and tending to the animals in the stables. He stays up late at night to work on repairing his new suit. When the time comes, Jabba and his "sons" are ready to go to the ball, resplendent in fine clothes and freshly-polished armor. They think Han is remaining behind...and get quite a surprise when he's able to join them.

Jodie called me at quarter of 5. The Packers-Cowboys game had just started. Did I want to join her and Dad for beef stew, bread and butter, and apple pie? Sure, why not? Turns out she and Dad had originally planned on visiting a winery this afternoon, but they got a surprise visit from some of our cousins and stayed at home. Jodie's beef stew was delicious, with lots of big meat and vegetable pieces. Her sweet apple pie was even better. Joe and Jessa arrived later, after a concert.

(Oh, and Jodie says she and Dad are going to take Rose's place with Mrs. Stahl to discuss alternate options for programs I can join to get extra money.)

For once, the game was as good as the food. Though the Packers dominated the first half and were up 21-10 at the beginning of the 3rd quarter, the Cowboys came back hard. The two were tied 31-31 by the last minute of the 4th quarter. It took a 51-yard field goal from the Packers literally in the last three seconds to win the game and send them to the divisional championship against the Atlanta Falcons. (In other news, the Steelers beat the Chiefs tonight as well in an equally close game, 18-16.)

I spent the rest of the night online after I got home, celebrating with Queen's Greatest Hits. And at least it was a nice day for all of this! Another possible reason for us being relatively slow today may have been the beautiful weather. It was in the lower-mid 40's, windy but sunny and nice.

Plenty to Be Thankful For

It was another beautiful, sunny day when I got up this morning. Started off the day with some Thanksgiving and Christmas short stories and poems. In addition to the material from the Collier's Book of Holidays, I found two more stories and book excerpts. Pilgrim's Party is a short story from the early 60's Disney anthology Storybookland. Mickey takes the Disney characters on a road trip to New England, and then to Massachusetts, where they decide to celebrate the holiday at the recreated pilgrim's settlement at Plymouth. It's all fun and food, until Pluto steals the turkey! In the last two chapters of Kit Learns a Lesson, Kit Kitteredge isn't feeling very grateful for the boarders her parents have taken in to make ends meet during the Great Depression. She feels like a maid and is sure her dad will find work soon. It takes a surprising encounter at a soup kitchen to show her how important it is to be thankful for those around us.

Rose called while I was getting dressed. Mind if we switched to being picked up between 10 and 10:30? They had to drop Toby, their larger dog, off at Dad and Jodie's. That was fine. It would give me a chance to have breakfast and get organized.

I ate the last of the Carrot-Pineapple Muffins and a half a grapefruit, then finished packing while watching Thanksgiving specials. It's A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving when Peppermint Patty invites herself, Marcie, and Franklin over to Chuck's house for dinner. Trouble is, he's eating at his grandma's house. She doesn't appreciate the meal of toast, jelly beans, ice cream, and popcorn, until Marcie and Linus remind their friends that Thanksgiving is about a lot more than food.

The Mayflower Voyagers reminds us just what this holiday is about. In this episode of the miniseries This Is America, Charlie Brown, the Peanuts play pilgrim kids who come over to the New World with their parents to start over. The voyage to what we now know as New England is fraught with peril, including storms and crowded and miserable conditions. Things aren't much better at Plymouth, where starvation and disease plague the settlement. It isn't until the natives Squanto and Massasoit teach the settlers how to plant corn and hunt and fish that their lives begin to improve. They're so thankful for their bountiful harvest, they invite the Natives for a feast of Thanksgiving.

Garfield isn't feeling all that thankful in Garfield's Thanksgiving. Jon just invited Liz the Veterinarian over for Thanksgiving dinner...right after she's put him on a diet! It doesn't help that Jon can't cook a turkey to save his life. Good thing Grandma from the Christmas special knows how to make things right.

After Garfield ended, I listened to my lovely LP of mountain folk songs and old American songs while fixing one of my pairs of work pants. I just got them not long ago - I don't have the money to replace them. The very bottom of the seat split at the seam. I'd just finished sewing it as best I could (I'm terrible at sewing, but I can figure out enough to fix a seam) when Rose called, saying she'd be there in two minutes. I took my things and went downstairs...then came back upstairs briefly. Mom said to bring a pillow, and I forgot.

I went up with my 5-year-old nephew Khai, my sister Rose, her boyfriend Craig, and their mini-pincher Kelsey. Rose and Khai got up at 5 AM today to make her apple pie, and Khai was a very tired boy. He rested for most of the trip. We did make a stop at WaWa for drinks. I got Cherry Limeaide Sparkling Ice and a soft pretzel. Khai got Cheetos. Rose bought Monster Energy drinks for her and Craig. We admired the view of the lovely South Jersey countryside, including a horse farm. (Craig kept telling Khai to watch out for Bigfoot, despite Rose and I admonishing them that there's no such creature.)

We got in around quarter after 12. Everyone else was already there, including Mom and Dad, my sister Anny, her boyfriend Jay, her sons Collyn (7 next month) and Skylar (11) and their baby girl Lilah (10 months) and my brother Keefe and his new girlfriend Carmen. I spent most of the next few hours that I wasn't scarfing the vegetable and ranch dip tray and home-made cheese ball and crackers watching over the boys. They rode a bike and a scooter for a while, speeding up and down the dead-end street Mom and Dad live on, riding around houses where no one lived. When they got bored with that, I took them in the back to toss around a Nerf football, then a Frisbee. (And kept trying to get Skylar off the porch. I was afraid someone would break a window or Mom's beloved wind chimes.)

We went inside for a while to rest, eat appetizers, and watch TV. The Eagles-Lions game wasn't going very well. They did play a little better later, but they were mostly terrible. (The Eagles ultimately lost 45-14.) We had more fun with strange cartoons like Gravity Falls (Dipper is put on trial for arguing that reality is better than fantasy), Teen Titans Go! (video game spoof), and Phineas and Ferb (first Doofensmirtz helps Perry the Playpus' secret agent organization take down a tiny little scientist bent on destroying them, then Candace puts herself on a Groundhog Day loop when her last day of summer vacation keeps going badly and she can't bust her brothers).

We ran into some problems when we went back outside. Khai and Collyn both wanted to ride the scooter, but Khai's an only child who isn't really used to sharing his toys. They both got into a rather noisy argument on a neighbor's driveway across the street. Dad finally settled it by borrowing two older scooters from his next-door neighbor John. I also got a chance to chat with John and with another neighbor of my parents' a few doors down.

The boys and I were watching cartoons again when dinner was finally ready. Mom spent the afternoon fussing that the turkey was too small and greasy and bent out of shape. I usually eat the dark meat anyway and I don't like gravy, so yeah, it was a little dry, but not that bad. In addition to the poor turkey, there was mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole with marshmallows on top, potato rolls with butter, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, glazed carrots, pearl onions in white sauce, and home-made stuffing. I had a little of everything but the mashed potatoes. I'm not a big fan of white potatoes.

We all sort of broke up after dinner. Craig took Khai on a brief trip to the Canyon Club condos on the Wildwood Crest side of the Cape May Bridge to see his parents and brother. Rose and Anny were crazy enough to elbow their way through early Black Friday shoppers and pick up two things for their kids at Walmart. Carmen talked to relatives on her phone on the porch. Dad and Keefe stayed attached to the Cowboys-Panthers game. (The Panthers not only won 33-14, they knocked out Tony Romo again, too.)

I had an intimate conversation with Skylar. We walked up and down Willow Drive. When we got back to Mom and Dad's house, Skylar sat on the bed of Dad's white truck, and we watched the stars come out. He's such a smart kid. We talked about our siblings, our parents, our families, cartoons, and the things we both like.

Mom was starting to pull out the desserts when we came in. Skylar immediately swarmed towards Mom's chocolate cake. I went for the pumpkin pie and Reddi-Whip topping. I love pumpkin pie. It isn't Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. I had a couple of chocolate chip bars and a small slice of chocolate cake, but I just couldn't fit in Rose's apple pie. I'll have that tomorrow.

Played with little miss Lilah after dinner. She's absolutely adorable. I brought my stuffed turkey Plymouth downstairs to show her. She was absolutely fascinated by him. She sat in Jay's lap and kept patting and pulling at Plymouth, probably wondering what this strange, colorful thing was. She has big, round blue eyes like her mom's when she was tiny and fluffy, wavy brown hair. She's still learning to walk on her own, though her mom says she doesn't have a lot of confidence. She'll walk a few steps, then fall down. Jay and Anny's mostly been holding her hands.

Skylar, Khai, and I finished the night with our desserts and more cartoons. Even as we watched the very odd Wander Over Yonder (a strange little creature wants to make friends with everyone it meets - even an evil galactic overlord), Khai was falling asleep over his vanilla ice cream. Rose got him into his new Batman pajamas. He finally passed out on the couch in the living room, shortly before Anny took her crew home.

I'm taking a respite of my own while the remaining family members continue to eat and chat downstairs. I hope all of you had a beautiful Thanksgiving with your own families (including the Canadians, who had their turkey last month). Everyone else, I hope you enjoyed the last days of fall.

Winter Rain

I started a gray morning with a couple of cartoons. Frosty Returns isn't technically a follow-up to the Rankin-Bass Frosty tales; it's a stand-alone special from 1992. Jonathan Winters narrates the story of how Frosty, with the help of a little girl named Holly and her friend Charles, stops a nasty corporate executive from eliminating all the snow in town before their winter carnival.

Moved onto Max & Ruby winter tales as I got ready for work. "Ruby's Snowbunny" is a masterpiece to its creator, but her brother would rather be sledding. "Ruby's Snowflakes" are cookies that she's trying to make exactly alike. As usual, her hungry brother doesn't make that easy! Max wants to play "Duck Duck Goose," but Ruby, Louise, and Valerie have to look for winter birds for their Bird Finding Badge. Max helps them find the last two birds they need.

Work was crazy-busy for most of the day. It's the beginning of the month, and people are getting their money. Other people may still be having New Year's parties, or are restocking after the holidays. People weren't in the best of moods, either. Thank heavens my relief was right on time. I was tired of all the fussing. It didn't help that it was showering lightly when I came to work and apparently poured on and off all day.

I forgot to use that 5 dollar gift card from the Acme yesterday. One of my customers mentioned the joys of frozen quiches. I haven't had one in years, so I thought I'd make my own. I used the gift card on frozen pie crust, large soft bakery shortbread cookies, and a bottle of Acme's generic sparkling fruit water.

When I got home, I changed, then started dinner. Julie's Cooking Studio has a recipe for Bacon and Cheese Quiche. It was easy to exchange the bacon for ham leftover from New Year's and add spinach and mushrooms. Mom used to make us quiche for dinner a lot when we were kids. They were easy to throw together from eggs and whatever leftovers she had around the house. I'm not usually good with pies, but this one didn't turn out too badly, a little watery and soft on the bottom but still tasty.

Ran Texas Carnival as I worked on dinner. Red Skelton is back with Esther Williams, this time in the story of a pair of fair workers who help a drunk, wealthy oil baron (Keenan Wynn). The oil tycoon invites them to his hotel. When they arrive, he's gone for a few days with his sister. They end up posing as the duo when the hotel guests think they're them. Williams falls for the foreman of the oil baron's ranch (Howard Keel); Skelton winds up with the sheriff's brassy dancer daughter (Ann Miller). Skelton, who has lost 17,000 dollars in a poker game, has to win it back in a wild chuck wagon race. He almost loses the race when he gets drunk the night before, but Keel and Williams help him out.

Short but sweet, and slightly more fun than Bathing Beauty. Williams makes up for appearing in a land-locked setting with a nicely done bit of special effects that allows her to be Keel's "underwater dream" in the film's best sequence. Other than her introductory number in the hotel's convention room, Miller is barely used. Like Rhythm Romance, this is cute fluff that's worth a peek if you're a fan of the stars or if you run into it on TCM on a lazy afternoon.

Incidentally, it was raining when I was riding home, but not heavily. I arrived damp but not soaked. It picked up about a half-hour or so after I got in and has been going ever since.

Cranberries, Books, and Doo-Wop

It was pouring like mad when I turned on this week's American Top 40 re-run. Casey took us back to early October 1976, when R&B, bubblegum pop, and hard rock were the going genres...but that new disco sound was really starting to make waves. Hits that fall included "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight" by England Dan and John Ford Cooley, "Wham Bam" by Silver, "Still the One" by Orleans, "Devil Woman" by Cliff Richard, "Shake Your Booty" by K.C and the Sunshine Band, "Say That You Love Me" by Fleetwood Mac, "Disco Duck" by Rick Dees, "If You Leave Me Now" by Chicago, "A Little Bit More" by Dr. Hook, "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry, and the remake of "I Only Wanna Be With You" by the Bay City Rollers.

That week's #1 hit was, as Casey pointed out, 200 years in the making - Walter Murphy's remix of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, retitled "A Fifth of Beethoven."

It was still raining hard when the show ended. I waited over an hour and a half before I headed out for my Saturday errands. I went online. I read my old journals in the back room. I watched one of two horror-themed episodes Jim Henson did for The Muppet Show. Vincent Price added a touch of spooky class to an episode in the late first season. Meanwhile, Kermit and Scooter deal with a three-headed-monster who wants to get onstage.

The rain finally slowed down enough for me to head out around quarter of 11. After a quick but fruitless search for a yard sale in Oaklyn that was supposed to be held on a porch, I headed right to the Collingswood Farm Market. It closes at noon and is held in any weather. Needless to say, while they were busy, they weren't quite as packed as usual. Peaches and cucumbers are gone, but I did see the first cranberries and Brussels sprouts of the season. I ended up with the aforementioned cranberries and Brussels sprouts, broccoli, a small orange cauliflower, mini Gala apples, and a tomato.

It showered while I was at the Farm Market. By the time I was heading down Collings Avenue, the rain had stopped for the time being. The Collingswood Book Festival was moved to the Collingswood High School and Middle School building, thanks to the weather. The sidewalks were so busy, when I got about a block from the school, I got off my bike and walked.

There was a mob scene when I arrived. The larger used book sales were in tents and under the school's front entrance. It wasn't any less busy the further one went inside. The kids' area in the middle school cafeteria and the nearby hallways were especially crazy. It was such a mess, the musical groups were playing in the hallways! The tents and front entrance were too narrow for all the people shopping. I could barely move without hitting someone's bag or elbow. The writers' area in the high school gym was only slightly less crazy.

Despite the huge crowds, I made the best haul I ever got at the Book Festival from those busy used stands. From the front entrance and tents, I picked up for 3 dollars for the lot:

Wishing For Tomorrow, a sequel to one of my favorite books, A Little Princess

A Mickey Mouse Golden Book for my nephew Khai for Christmas

Holly Hobbie's Cookbook, a kid's cookbook featuring one of my favorite early childhood characters

The Liveliest Art, a book about the history of the American movie industry

License to Kill on DVD, one of the few James Bond movies I didn't have.

And a CD. Cherry Poppin' Daddies - Zoot Suit Riot

One of the used sellers had nothing but enormous hardback coffee table books for 5 dollars each. It was a hard choice, but I only had room for one. I ended up with Doo Wop: The Music, The Times, the Era. I used to love listening to the early rock and doo-wop of the 50s and 60s on South Jersey oldies stations as a kid. Living in Wildwood rekindled my fondness for the sleek styles of the era.

Since I was in the area, I next made a stop at CVS. I needed mostly tooth-cleaning items - toothbrushes, dental floss, brush pick inserts. I also picked up relish for the dinner I was planning for that night.

I was originally going to have lunch at Sorrento's on Collings Avenue. The traffic was so bad down at the corner of Collings and the White Horse Pike, I just opted to go to quieter Oaklyn instead. I had my slices of cheese and mushroom pizza and can of Pepsi Next at Phillies Phatties. It was 1:30 by the time I had lunch. They were busy with high school boys watching college football games and yakking with their pals. By the time I finished, the boys were done as well. I was the only diner left.

I spent the next few hours listening to 50s rock, putting everything I bought at the Farm Market and Book Festival away, and looking over that Doo Wop book. The rain was gone for good by then, but it remained cold and cloudy. Even if my legs and knees weren't beyond sore, it was still no day to be running around.

The Doo Wop book was fascinating. In addition to discussing the vocal bands who had even one huge chart hit from 1945 to 1966 (and the list of one-hit wonders was staggering), there were sidebars on other things going on in that era - the rise of the Cold War and McCarthyism, Levittown, the huge epic movies that were supposed to lure people from their new TVs, the TV dinners that gave Mom more time to watch her favorite shows, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, James Dean, Jackie Robinson and the slow end of segregation in sports, the Civil Rights movement. Quite a few Philadelphia bands had hits in this era, and while most of them faded with the others after one song, at least two - Patti LaBelle and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes - continued making hits well into the 70s. (LaBelle, in fact, would have her biggest hit in the mid-70s, the #1 smash "Lady Marmalade.")

I hopped into the bath around 4:30. Ahhhhh. I totally needed that. I literally worked all week, and when I wasn't working, I was getting things done at home. It felt wonderful to lean back and listen to jazz while going over Christmas craft books and getting ideas for holiday gifts.

When I finally dragged myself out, I started my big dinner idea. I've had ground chicken sitting in the freezer for a while. I wanted to do something different with it than the usual meatloaf, chili, or burgers. I remembered that Mom used to make a very tasty Hamburger Pie every now and then for us for dinner. I attempted a crust, but I made it too sticky and couldn't roll it out right. The filling came out much better. I used a variation on a Hamburger Pie recipe in my 50s Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. Replaced green beans with diced red and yellow pepper and mushrooms (I didn't have any green beans), added the relish I bought at CVS (Mom used to chop pickles and add them to her hamburger pie) and an egg, kept the tomato sauce and diced onion. Topped it with Colby cheese from the Farm Market instead of mashed potatoes. (I only have sweet potatoes here, and I don't think that'll work with hamburger pie.)

Oh yummmmm. It was absolutely delicious. Sweet and savory all at once, with a buttery, tangy crust. I may have to try this again, being more careful with the crust this time.

Ran Scooby Doo on Zombie Island while I made dinner. The first in the long line of direct-to-home-media Scooby movies brings the gang back together to help Daphne hunt down real ghosts, rather than the fake businesspeople dressed as ghosts they always seem to find. They get more real ghosts than they bargained for when they find themselves stranded on an island in Louisiana that's home to two mysterious women who live in a plantation...and quite a few zombies, wolf men, and cat creatures. This 1998 feature was so well-received, it revived Scooby for a whole new generation. While it's still good today, it's also one of the very few Scooby media to play the horror angle totally straight; definitely not for younger kids. Older kids and even teens who love Scooby and horror may enjoy this one.

Switched to some of my public domain Popeye shorts as I cleaned up from dinner. Popeye and Olive are "Spooky Swabs" when they find themselves on an abandoned ship filled with ghosts who just want them to leave. It's a "Fright to the Finish" when Bluto spends his Halloween night trying to scare Olive away from Popeye. Popeye shows that he'd can dish out the tricks as well as the treats when he eats spinach and turns the tables on Bluto.

Two and Twenty Blackberries Baked Into a Pie

Work was on-and-off busy all day. It was mostly college students on their way to school, people preparing for summer birthday parties, or people going to or coming from vacation. We had a departure as well. One of the college boys joined the Marines and will be leaving tomorrow. There was a huge cake in the back room in his honor.

My relief was on time, which allowed me to go right into grocery shopping. I didn't have a huge order this week, but there were a few things I needed. The sales weren't quite as good, either. I bought more buy-one, get-one spiced chicken and three of those single fish fillets for a dollar each. Produce is on a big dollar-a-bag sale. I haven't been able to find mushrooms at the Westmont Farm Market, so I bought those. Eggs are $1.39 if  you buy 20 dollars worth of groceries. I didn't need them, but that was too good of a deal to pass. Restocked yogurt, buttermilk, skim milk, and unbleached white flour. Bought Acme's generic pie crusts to make a quick dessert later.

Mixed feelings on my schedule next week. While I do have two days off again, Tuesday and Wednesday (and I intend to keep both of those days off this time), I also have three very early days (including one on Sunday) and an 8-hour day on Thursday. No less than seven people went on vacation for part or all of this week, plus we're losing that one college boy to military leave. While I understand joining the military, I really wish they would stop letting everyone go on vacation at the same time. They have GOT to be more organized about vacation schedules!

When I got home, I had scrambled eggs with summer vegetables for dinner while watching the third of four Bowery Boys comedies set in the Armed Services. Here Comes the Marines is the only Boys Service comedy where they join up normally - they're all drafted. A lot of top officers start regretting having drafted Sach when he proceeds to imitate a doctor and cause an uproar. Turns out that the top colonel likes him and knew his father. Sach's constant promotions and new-found power keep going to his head, making him even more of a talkative nut than he usually is. Meanwhile, Slip and the others stumble on to a mystery involving a Marine who was found beaten on the side of the road, carrying a card from a local casino. Slip and the others discover that the casino is fixed...and Slip wonders if the casino and the beaten Marine may have something in common.

Oh, and I did make that pie during the second half of Here Comes the Marines. My Blackberry-Peach Pie didn't come out as well as I had hoped. The top crust did bake, but the bottom crust is still soggy. I put a cookie pan under it to catch any drips. Next time, I'll put it on the rack under the pie pan, not under the pan.

It's a Wild World

I slept in, as I usually do on a Sunday. Got up at 9:30 and read The Wizard of Oz for a little while before switching on Brunch With the Beatles. "Songs from the original 13 British records" was the simple, broad theme today. Good. I like it when they do broad themes. That meant they could pretty much play anything from "She Loves You" to "Let It Be" as long as it was originally on one of the 13 records the Beatles put out in England.

I kept breakfast simple, too. Used the English toasting bread I bought from Acme last week to make French toast. Not bad, but it came out a little mushy. I probably should have cooked it longer. At least it tasted nice drizzled with honey. (Maple syrup is too expensive, and I'm not using that fake pancake syrup stuff anymore - that's all chemicals.)

After the show ended, I threw on my old blue sweater, grabbed Miss Ellie's old push cart, and headed back to East Clinton Avenue for the second day of their street-wide yard sale. It was a beautiful day for it, too. The sky was blue, with some thick, fat clouds that weren't as threatening as yesterday's. There was a chilly wind that kept it from feeling as warm as yesterday did, and the rain got rid of the humidity.

I was a little disappointed that there were only a few yard sales out on East Clinton, despite the nice weather. I did buy a candy-making book and a cookie cookbook from the two ladies I picked up the teddy bear book from yesterday. I ducked back around to Cuthbert to see if the man who was selling all those records was there again. Nope. Cuthbert was surprisingly quiet for a Sunday.

Stopped at Family Dollar on my way home. I normally avoid the Family Dollar on the White Horse Pike, but I needed a new dish pan (I had my old one at least since I moved here, and it was disgusting) and a plastic bin for all the yarn I've collected over the past year or so. It took me a few minutes to decide, but I eventually found a big plastic bin with a lime-green lock top and a brick-red dish pan that hopefully won't show as much grime as the old white one.

The moment I got home, I put the dish pan in the kitchen sink, and took the bin in the back room. Score! The yarn fit perfectly, even the little bags of scrap yarn Mom sent me. I lay the thick plastic bag on top to keep moths out, then stacked the bin on top of the one with my seasonal clothes.

After a quick lunch of leftover soup, I grabbed my sweater and a cloth bag and headed over to the Acme. I needed to get my schedule for next week and restock a few things, mainly milk, buttermilk, and eggs (the Acme's 12-pack is on sale for $1.99 this week). I was out of applesauce and almost out of peanut butter.

My schedule for this week is not good. I only have 15 hours! My vacation officially ends tomorrow, but I also have Thursday and Saturday off. I'm not as upset as I would have been with such hours this time last year. For one thing, I do have some money saved and haven't had to use it pay my rent all summer. For another, the holidays are coming. I'm hoping this is the same deal as mid-January, which would have been the last time I had hours like that. Once people start buying things for sports parties (hockey and basketball start next month) and fall festivals and Christmas bazaars and Halloween parties, the hours should shoot back up again.

On the other hand, I could use the rest. I feel like I've been going non-stop since February! I had far more hours during the summer and late spring than I usually do. That's been a big help to replenish my bank accounts, which took big hits when I was off of work last fall, but I've felt stressed and sore for weeks.

When I got home, I briefly called Mom. She was trying to organize things in the garage so she could lay new floor down there and couldn't talk long. I told her about my busy couple of days. She said she'd send the package with the fall decorations and my pajamas (I left them there - oops) sometime this week. Oh, and she finally heard from my brother Keefe, who's in the Navy in North Carolina. She didn't say much else, so I'm going to assume he's fine and still busy working.

I spent a lovely, quiet half-hour or so finishing The Wizard of Oz. That's our old copy of the original book that's been around since I was a kid. It was Rose's, but I ended up reading it more than she did, so Mom gave it to me when I moved to Wildwood. (Mom still has my Grimm's Fairy Tales in a similar edition.)

Spent the rest of the evening listening to football and cooking. I had the end of the Packers-Bengals game on when I was talking to Mom. The Bengals just squeaked by the Packers even as we chatted, 34-30. I heard most of the second half of the Dolphins-Falcons game as I made a Peach Foldover Pie and had Spinach Pancakes (eggs, spinach, cheese, and in this case, mushrooms - an old quick recipe from when I lived in Wildwood and needed a lot of cheap, fast dinners) for dinner. The Falcons were winning after the first half, but the Dolphins came back to tie the game by the 3rd quarter, getting a touchdown in the last minutes that won them the game, 27-23. 

Saturday Afternoon at the Riverside Rest

No rain this time! Started off a gorgeous, breezy, gold-and-blue fall Saturday with the American Top 40. 1986 brought pop, hard rock, soul, and singing TV stars into the limelight. Hits in late October of that year included "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper, "Two of Hearts" by Stacey Q (which I fondly remember Mom using for many an aerobics class during my childhood), "Typical Male," by Tina Turner, "A Matter of Trust," by Billy Joel, "All Cried Out," by Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, "Heartbeat" by Don Johnson (yes, that Don Johnson), and "Sweet Love" by Anita Baker.

Women seemed to dominate the charts that week, and one of the biggest names of the mid-80s was Michael Jackson's little sister who had been a child star in her own right since the late 70s. Janet Jackson had one of her biggest #1 songs with "When I Think of You."

I had such a nice time last week doing a photo story with my American Girl and Disney dolls last Saturday, I repeated it. This time, Samantha is showing people around while trying to keep some Riverside Rest residents from getting into trouble. Check it out here:

Saturday Afternoon at the Riverside Rest

I ran cartoons all morning as I worked on my photos. When I finished, I had leftovers for lunch and spent an hour reading Maiden Voyage. I bought that about a month ago from the Oaklyn Library Book Sale, but I've had other things I wanted to read first.

Spent the next few hours running animated films. This week, I went with three rare fantasies from the 80s and early 90s. Happily Ever After was the last production of He-Man creators Filmation. In this sequel  to Snow White, the princess in question seeks the missing Prince with the help of the Dwarfelles - seven goofy female dwarves who posses elemental powers. Moon Madness is a dubbed version of a French retelling of the tale of Baron Munchhausen and his visit with the moon-dwelling Selenites. The Care Bears Movie tends to get written-off as a sugar fest, but it does have its scary moments as the Bears battle to save an unhappy orphan who is trying to use an evil spell book to force people to like him.

I made my first pie in years while the cartoons were running. Almost every pie I've ever made has ended up running over the pan and making a mess. Recently, I've seen one-crust fruit pies made by folding over the crust, instead of covering it with a second crust. I used a variation on a recipe in my low-sugar baking book to make CranApple Fold Over Pie. I added spices and cornstarch to a cup of fruit concentrate, then tossed a cup of cranberries and two big sliced apples and put them in a whole-wheat pie crust, which I folded all around the pie instead of topping with a second crust.

Since I had the pie baking, I tossed some Merlin's Magic Chicken (chicken pieces coated with flour, salt, and paprika and baked in the oven at a high temperature) and roasted Brussels sprouts in the oven and continued the 80s theme with Xanadu. This infamous 1980 musical has Olivia Newton-John as a muse who comes to earth to inspire a young artist (Michael Beck) and an older man who has given up his musical career (Gene Kelly) to open a roller disco in the abandoned Pan Pacific Auditorium in LA. Infamous for having a great soundtrack and a freakin' strange script. (So strange, it was apparently made up as they went along, which explains a lot.) I love it, but it's not for those who aren't a fan of the music and style from the late disco era, Newton-John, Kelly, or campy musicals in general.

Oh, and the pie came out great. I baked it in a pie pan despite the wrapping to avoid the mess. It's perfect, tasty and crusty and just sweet enough.