I opened my eyes, turned around to see the radio-clock on the crate I used for a bedside table...and was shocked when I realized it said 10 AM on the dot! Not only do I rarely sleep that late anymore, but I had a ton of things to do today. I rushed through breakfast and hurried out the door as fast as I could.
My first stop was the Collingswood Farm Market. Despite it being almost 11:30 by the time I arrived, they were still pretty busy...and very wet. It must have rained harder this morning than most people had expected. Between the weather and the market closing in a month (the last day is the Saturday before Thanksgiving), there were a lot of booths and tables missing. Enough remained for me to buy small apples, cranberries, carrots, and an onion. Rode over to Park Avenue across from Knight Park to briefly check out a yard sale before heading home.
Put on a couple of episodes of The Muppet Show while I started Italian Chicken Legs and Tomatoes in the Crock Pot and made my grocery list. The Muppets did two episodes with guest-stars known for being more than a little spooky. Elegant horror icon Vincent Price turned up in the first season, where he discussed horror acting with Kermit and joined Uncle Deadly in scaring Fozzie and Gonzo in a haunted house skit. Early shock jock Alice Cooper spoofed his infamous image with a third season episode that parodied the Faust story. He keeps trying to get various Muppets to sell their souls to his "boss," but Gonzo is the only taker.
The Acme was really busy when I arrived, probably due to the Eagles game tomorrow and the many sales. I made quite a few good finds myself. Had online coupons for Turkey Hill Ice Cream (went with the Coco Loco "Triplepolitain" - coconut, caramel, and chocolate) and Nestle chocolate chips (decided to try the Triple Chip) and paper coupons for Acme organic products (went with tomato paste and chai tea). Took advantage of the "buck a bag" vegetable sale to grab cheap celery and mushrooms. Restocked breakfast bars (Nature's Valley sandwiches this week), yogurt, brown and white sugar, and canned chicken. Found two air-chilled containers of organic and natural chicken and a small salmon fillet with manager's coupons.
My schedule next week is...more or less the same as this week. Slightly earlier hours and slightly less hours - I have Thursday off along with Friday and Saturday. While more hours would have been nice, we've been so dead lately, I'm not surprised they were cut. I'll at least be able to see the entire Eagles-Panthers game tomorrow with my family. I only work until 12:45.
Went straight home after I got out. Put everything away while finishing the Alice Cooper show, then switched to Bugs Bunny's Howl-oween Special while eating a quick lunch. This collection of bits and pieces from various Looney Tunes horror shorts mostly spotlights Witch Hazel, who has to deal with not only Bugs' wisecracks, but also with Daffy and Speedy Gonzoles.
Headed back out after I ate. I wanted to pick up eggs at Dollar General. They're cheaper there than they are anywhere else. I was hoping to find an inexpensive Halloween costume, but all their Halloween stuff is gone. We're not even out of December yet, and they already have their Christmas items out. I'm sorry, I do one holiday at a time. I'll start thinking Christmas when we're out of October.
Worked on my story when I got in. Leia confronts both Vader and Palpatine when the latter walks out from behind the massive statues in the weapon room. They've searched for the weapon for years, but could never find proof of its existence. Andrew Skylark became obsessed with finding it and the power it posessed, especially after he lost a chair at UCLA. He ultimately drove away his reporter friends Ben Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano...and accidentally killed his wife Patricia when she followed him into the temple and he hit her while pregnant.
Ran an episode of Wonder Woman while making Brussels sprouts sauteed in white wine, butter, and lemon juice to go with my delicious Italian Chicken Legs. Diana Prince has a close encounter with the supernatural in "Seance of Terror." A young boy has shown photos of their deceased loved ones to three diplomats who are in talks to end wars between their countries. The boys' con-artist guardians want the wars to continue...but Wonder Woman catches on and, after gaining the boy's trust, convinces him to help her find out how they're really creating the "spirits."
Put on The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad after a shower. I discuss this Disney literary anthology at my Musical Dreams Reviews blog.
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Finished the night with more lesser-known spooky Disney. The Black Cauldron takes us to medieval Wales, where pig-keeper Taran is trying to keep his charge from the fearsome Horned King (John Hurt). He wants to use her oracular powers to find the cauldron of the title, a kettle so evil, it could help him create an army of the living dead. With the help of sassy Princess Elonwy, bard Flewfldor Flamm, and cowardly furry creature Gurgi, he searches the underground Land of the Fairies and makes deals with witches in order to keep it out of the Horned King's skeletal hands.
Though not technically a Halloween or a horror film, there's enough frightening atmosphere in this movie for me to have watched it every October for years (and for Disney to pair it with the Donald Duck Halloween short "Trick or Treat"). It may have been too scary for it's intended audience when it came out in 1984, and too different. This was the first Disney film to not be even a semi-musical. Not to mention, by the time it finally got out of it's troubled production, sword and sorcery was just starting to go out of style. The bland leads and piecemeal story are offset by some wonderful animation, especially at the Horned King's castle.
If you have older kids or teens who are fantasy or horror fans and think they've seen every Disney movie, try this one on them.
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