Saturday, October 01, 2016

Miss Redmer at the Book Festival

I slept in a lot more than I'd planned today. I had just enough time for breakfast and a few short cartoons before running off to Collingswood. Ran my first out-and-out Halloween episodes of the season. Max & Ruby did two Halloween episodes. I went with the first, "Max's Halloween." Ruby wants her little brother to be her handsome prince for trick or treat, but Max would rather be a scary vampire. "Ruby's Leaf Collection" will be the best in school, if her brother doesn't keep trying to add to their leaf pile and burying it.

Got to the farm market around quarter after 11-11:30. Even at that late hour, and despite the windy, cold, and cloudy morning, it was packed. Corn and cucumbers are done for the season, and with them went the farm with the truck bed filled with corn. There was enough left for me to pick up apples, pears, a zucchini, three sweet potatoes, and two small tomatoes. (The booth I got the last named from, the one that also sells Chinese beans when they're in season, said this is their last week.)

Followed the crowds down Collings Avenue around noon. As it did two years ago when it rained, the Collingswood Book Festival was been moved into the high school and middle school complex to avoid the weather. That didn't stop people from attending. Collings Avenue was so busy, I had to walk my bike when I got close to the school.

I did really well this year, especially from the "buy 5 books for a dollar" sellers that were the first things you saw coming from town. The entire complex was absolutely crazy. I had a hard time getting around in some places. I didn't even bother really checking out the Barnes and Noble sales tables in the high school gym or the kids' area. I didn't have enough money for full-price books. Didn't bother with food, either. Most of it was overpriced carnival stuff - funnel cake, root beer floats, cheeseburgers - and I wasn't that hungry.

I ended up with:

From the 5 for a $1 seller

Donna Parker In Hollywood, by Marcia Martin
A book of meditations for women
The Two Princesses of Banarre, by Gail Carson Levine
The Deeds of the Disturber, by Elizabeth Peters
Republic VHS copy of The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer

From the $1 "Buy two, get one free" seller

Christmas With Southern Living 1995
Broadway's Greatest Musicals, by Abe Laufe
CD - 20th Century Rocks - 60's Rock Bands Wild Thing

From a Used Sci-Fi/Fantasy Booth

Glory Lane, by Alan Dean Foster (this one was two dollars)

From a second Used Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Action Booth indoors (that also sold DVDs)

The TV show Jack of All Trades, featuring cult favorite Bruce Campbell as a spy for Thomas Jefferson in 1801. This was my big splurge of the day at five dollars, and I actually talked it down from ten.

Headed home around quarter after 1. Crossed at CVS - the corner of the White Horse Pike and Collings Avenue was too crazy. Thank goodness the weather held. It hadn't rained since the day before. It was humid and cloudy, but not too warm, probably in the lower 70's.

When I got in, I had leftovers for lunch while running some mildly spooky Backyardigans episodes, Uniqua and Pablo say "It's Great to Be a Ghost." A nervous Tyrone doesn't agree..until Tasha shows up and claims she can't be scared. It's the least-likely kid who finally does frighten her. Uniqua and Tyrone become "Monster Detectives" to find Uniqua's soccer ball. Turns out it was stolen by Pablo, the soccer monster. If you play soccer with him, he'll turn you into a soccer monster, too! But as they wander through his castle, Uniqua starts to wonder if that's such a bad thing...

Worked on writing for the next couple of hours, and later in the evening. Luke has his own encounter with the old man later. He helps free him from an eagle who's grabbing at his cloak. Once again, he has to cut it away, and once again, the old man is nasty and ungrateful.

Luke and Leia encounter him together on a routine fishing trip a few days later. This time, a catfish has his cape. Luke cuts it free. He just gets angry and stalks off with his bag of treasure. Leia insists they follow him.

They end up in a cave on the edge of a cliff. The old man has a whole pile of gold and jewels there. He's also holding their friend the brown bear prisoner. The bear had tried to defend his gold, but the man captured him and bound him. Leia attacks the old man, distracting him long enough for Luke to free the bear.

Lando appears at this point, demanding to know where his brother is. He's followed the old man, too. The man is Palpatine, the evil sorcerer who stole the kingdom's treasury. Just as the magician starts shooting lightning, the bear reaches out and gives him a solid smack with his paw, knocking him over the edge of the cliff.

Palpatine's death releases the bear from his spell. It is indeed Prince Han, Lando's missing adopted brother. Palpatine turned him into a bear when he tried to defend his family's treasures. He thanks Luke and Leia copiously for saving him. He and Lando take the two and Obi-Wan back to their castle, where they all live happily ever after.

It didn't come out too badly, for another quick idea. It's now up at Archive of Our Own, Fanfiction.Net, and my writing blog.

Luke White and Leia Red at My Writing Blog
Luke White and Leia Red at Archive of Our Own
Luke White and Leia Red at Fanfiction.Net

Made Chicken Noodle Soup with farm market vegetables and canned chicken for dinner. I had three pears that were getting really soft, so I did Pear Cobbler for dessert. Got the recipe from the Cooking Light cookbook I picked up about four years ago or so. Oh yumm. It came out really nice, very sweet and tasty.

Dubbed The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer while I baked and ate. The duo in question are playboy artist Richard (Cary Grant) and romantic teen Susan (Shirley Temple), Susan goes up to Richard's home when he makes vague comments about her possibly being a model. This gets him accused of luring her up there. Her sister Margaret, a local judge (Myrna Loy), agrees to let Susan "date" him instead of him ending up in jail to cure her of her infatuation. Trouble is, now Richard's falling for Margaret, which doesn't amuse her district attorney boyfriend (Rudy Vallee) one bit.

I'm not exactly sure how this won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, but it is a pretty cute look at how adults often react to teenage life. Grant and Temple in particular are having fun as the perky young adult and the guy who doesn't know what to make of her, other than she's making a mess of his life. Nothing really necessary, but if you ever run into it on TCM or DVD, it's a fairly fun romantic comedy.

And the rain is making a temporary return as I write this. I don't think it'll be sticking around for much longer. Sounds like it'll be gone by the middle of the week.

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