Monday, June 06, 2016

So Much Green In the Galaxy

It was absolutely gorgeous when I got up this morning, sunny and a bit cooler than it has been. Ran an episode of Danger Mouse while I ate breakfast. "Custard," one of the four-part episodes from the first and second seasons, is a good example of how strange this show could get. Baron Greenback has rigged cans of custard to explode and flood the entire planet. Danger Mouse and his hamster assistant Penfold have to bring a custard-eating alien back from a distant galaxy to get rid of it. On the way, they encounter one-eyed aliens who think they're criminals, get lost at the Edge of Space, and find themselves stuck in a surreal time loop.

First thing on the errand list today was the laundry. They were busy when I came in, which wasn't a good thing. I had a huge load, including sheets. Thankfully, I managed to get a washer and a dryer fairly fast. Action News had just come on when I was heading out.

The moment I got home and put everything away, I went back out. I wanted to treat myself to breakfast for lunch in honor of finishing my Star Wars fairy tale series on Friday, but I ran out of time. I did the Legacy Diner today instead. My Coconut Pineapple Pancakes were huge, topped with lots of coconut (and lots more in the pancakes) and were the size of the plate. The grilled pineapple ring included was yummy.

It was such a nice day, I took the long way down Market Street to Westmont after lunch. Though it had gotten much hotter by 2PM, there was a nice breeze, and it wasn't humid at all. I had a really lovely ride. Stopped quickly at a quiet Thriftway for brown sugar, which was on sale there.

The Haddon Township Library was bustling when I arrived. They wanted to save the DVDs for another volunteer and had me organize the audio books instead. Someone must have just done them not long ago. They really weren't that bad. Shelved new releases, too. Since I have a bit of time this week, I took out Moonstruck, Out of Africa, and the 1993 film version of The Fugitive, along with a sports-themed Mickey Mouse Clubhouse set.

Rode home via Newton Lake Park. It's just so green there! The trees are now their full, deep color. The lake sparkles; the grass is a vibrant emerald. The baby animals are out and about. The Canadian geese were showing their goslings how to look for a late snack when I rode by.

When I got home, I worked on some stories and posting a few old ones. When my sisters and I were kids, around 1988 to 1991, we used to make up and act out stories to pass the time together on days when our parents were working and it was too hot or rainy to run around outside. They had characters from the Star Wars movies (my obsession at the time) as kids in an orphanage, taking part in adventures ranging from a riff on the Disney Little Mermaid to discovering ghosts in an old castle with a connection to Han Solo. They were kind of my first encounter with both oral storytelling and fanfiction. I have such fond memories of those days, I wrote a story about telling stories:

The Stories

I also posted another short story I originally wrote for the Helium Network in 2012 and one I did so long ago, I can't remember exactly when I wrote it anymore.

Poppy Died Happy
Won't You Play With Me?

(Incidentally, as you can guess from the title, "Poppy" is about death and grief. I wrote it to help deal with the death of my Uncle Ken from cancer in early October 2012.)

When I finally got off, I did an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while eating chicken salad on spring greens with radishes and onions for dinner. Good sportsmanship is the theme of "Mickey's Sport-A-Thon." Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, and Pluto are joined by Martian Mickey and Minnie and Pluto From Pluto in the Clubhouse's first ever sports event! While the athletes from Earth teach the ones from the cosmos about fair play and sportsmanship, Donald and Pete act as announcers, and Clarabelle hands out prizes.

Finished off the night with Lego Star Wars. I still had problems with the darn game sticking on the Droid Factory level...but thankfully, it only happened once. The Droid Factory had a lot of puzzles (including a maze for Artoo) that were complicated enough without the glitch. I also played Mace Windu and took on Jango Fett while rescuing Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan in the Jedi Arena.

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