Spring In Oaklyn

Got a quick start this morning with corn meal mush, oranges, and The Music of Spring. This is a Columbia Special Products LP collection of standards vaguely related to the current season. Selections like "Spring In Manhattan" and "April In Paris" make sense, but I suspect others, such as Rosemary Clooney's version of "I Could Have Danced All Night," were there simply because they were popular at the time and they needed to fill an LP.

Work was incredibly busy all day long. It's Sunday, which is busy at any time of the year, but it's also the beginning of the month, and a gorgeous day to boot. I spent the first half of my shift bagging and gathering baskets and the second half outside, rounding up carts. I'm glad I got to do some carts today. It was too nice to be inside, into the lower 60's, breezy, and bright blue and gold.

One of the cashiers who lives in Oaklyn had an interesting suggestion. Audubon Park, the development across from the Acme, has one-bedroom homes. On one hand, it's a house, not an apartment, and there's a waiting list you have to sign up for. On the other hand, it's across from work, still fairly close to my family, and the rent would only be 10 dollars more than what I'm currently paying (and I still wouldn't have to pay utilities). I'm not doing anything now, but it's something to consider.

Took the long way home down Nicholson and Atlantic Avenues. Surprisingly for a lovely Sunday, there was no traffic, not even down by Wal Mart and the senior center. I had no trouble getting home, passing trees that are just starting to burst into bloom and yellow daffodils and pastel hyacinths perfuming gardens. Maybe a lot of people took advantage of the great weather to hit the shore for the weekend.

When I got in, I changed and went right back out. Though I was a bit tired from doing carts for an hour and a half, I didn't want to spend the whole day inside, either. With Phillies Yummies surprisingly still closed for the season, I ended up at WaWa. Treated myself to a Mint Chocolate Cookies n' Cream milkshake. Oooh, was it good. Very minty and sweet. I enjoyed it at the benches by Studio LuLoo and Phillies Phatties, watching people stroll by.

Worked on Pinterest and my story for the next few hours. Vader has attempted to torture Leia on the Death Star Airship, but she's blocked him. She awakens with a groggy head and Vader hissing on her neck. He and Tarkin threaten Alderaan, the country where her aunt and uncle rules, if they don't give up the location. Even when she tells them the first thing off the top of her head, they blow up several buildings to effectively "test" their new weapon.

Broke around 6:30 to have leftovers for dinner and make Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies. This was simply my favorite Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with the white sugar dropped, the brown sugar increased slightly, and the butterscotch chips replacing the chocolate chips. Very sweet, but very nutty and tasty.

Listened to a few fun musicals from the 50's as I ate and baked. My Fair Lady is one of the most famous musicals of all time. It was the massive cultural hit of the 50's, the equivalent of a talked-about blockbuster like Hamilton or Wicked today. In my Broadway original cast album, Julie Andrews joins Rex Harrison as the Cockney flower girl and the misogynistic English professor who teaches her to speak and behave like a lady, then falls for her in spite of himself and the handsome young man courting her. While most people know this show better for it's massive, lumbering film version, I like this even better. Andrews in particular is a wonderful Eliza.

Lil' Abner is about as 50's as you can get. Those of you who know the comic strip this was based on may have at least some idea of the plot. Abner (Peter Palmer), a resident of the nutty hillbilly town known as Dogpatch, is a lunk of a hunk perpetually chased by pretty Daisy Mae (Edie Adams). She's hoping to win him on Sadie Hawkins Day, when the girls can go after the guys. Dogpatch, however, is basically considered useless by the nefarious General Bullmoose, who wants to turn it into a nuclear testing site and sell off Mammy Yokum's (Charlotte Rae) tonic. It makes her son huge...but it also stunts his libido, which doesn't make the other women in town happy when their boys try it. Meanwhile, matchmaker Marryin' Sam (Stubby Kaye) has his own sights on Daisy Mae...

Really cute underrated musical farce from the same team that did the songs for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, with a lot of the same down-home flavor. (There's apparently a film version, too, with Palmer and Kaye but sans Rae and Adams. I've been meaning to look it up.)

Finished the night online with Damn Yankees in honor of the baseball season opening this week. A huge baseball fan claims he'd sell his soul for his team to beat the Yankees in the pennant. The Devil (Ray Walton) gets him to make good on that claim, turning him into a handsome young man (Stephan Douglass) ...but this guy's no fool. He adds an escape clause so he can eventually return to his wife. The Devil sends his most tempting lady, Lola (Gwen Verdon), to keep him from exercising that clause.

Like Lil' Abner, this one is very 50's, with Lola getting punished in the end even though she switches sides. Some really great music, though, including the hits "Heart" and "Two Lost Souls" and Verdon's classic seduction number "Whatever Lola Wants."