Taking the Bear Cake

I spent the morning of my first day off reading in bed. I didn't really get going until around 11, when I jumped on the bike and made my way to the Haddon Township Library. It was sunny, but a bit warmer, hazier, and very breezy. I had a pleasant ride through Newton River Park, passing many people enjoying the day - joggers, dog walkers, people out for a stroll, fellow bike riders.

As it turned out, the library had plenty of help and not a lot to do. There weren't even a lot of foreign and children's titles to pull from the adult DVDs. I mostly organized the children's DVDs and picture books and shelved what movies there were. Since I have a lot of time this week and the weather for several days is not supposed to be wonderful, I rented 8 DVDs. I ended up with two Roy Rogers vehicles, Apache Rose and Bells of Coranado, two lesser-known John Hughes comedies, Weird Science and Career Opportunities, Dracula again (I never did get to it last week), the World War II-set romance Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, more The Cat In the Hat Knows a Lot About That, and the History Channel special The Haunted History of Halloween to kick off my fall holiday season.

I'm saving my major shopping for tomorrow, so I just had lunch in Westmont Plaza. I ate at one of my favorite area restaurants, the Westmont Bagel Shop. I'm a little annoyed with them. The college students who were working there were nice, but not nearly as good at cooking or dealing with customers as the lady who owns the place. They gave me a plate of fries when I said I didn't want any, and I had to ask for a fork to go with my Veggie Quesadila.

Clouds moved in while I was on my way to WaWa for milk. By the time I was in Oaklyn, it was showering lightly. I decided that given the rain we've had on my last two days off, I'd be better off just staying home for the rest of the day and doing things around the apartment.

Ironically, it only rained once more, even lighter than the first time, for the rest of the evening. I opted to do things around the apartment and avoid the iffy weather. I baked a cake in my teddy-bear shaped pan while watching Bells of Coranado. This is the first Roy Rogers movie I've ever seen, but I suspect it's pretty typical of the genre. Rogers is called to the little town of Coranado to investigate an insurance claim that smells fishy. He pursues the electrical tower owner Bennett while romancing his secretary (Dale Evans) and discovers that a mysterious person is smuggling uranium to a foreign country. Rogers, Evans, and the other ranch hands have to find out who this person is and smash the smuggling ring!

Not bad. Like I said, if you enjoy 40s and 50s B westerns with lots of action and singing, this seems like one of the better ones. It's pretty well-written, the singing isn't too intrusive, and there's a great finale on the electrical tower.

Ran CDs while scrubbing the bathroom. It really needed it rather badly. The shower in particular was gross. I'm glad I finally got it done; I'll do the kitchen tomorrow morning.

I ran the sweet Disney live-action musical Summer Magic while making a simple dinner of ham and carrots. A lovely musical about a family from Boston moving to a small Maine town in the 1910s, this is one of Hayley Mills' several early and mid-60s Disney vehicles, and one of my favorites. (If it sounds like "Meet Me In St. Louis in New England," the screenplay was written by the same woman who did that film, Sally Benson.)