Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Little Summer Showers

Kicked off the morning with early work. It was almost exactly the same as yesterday, up to and including the on-and-off showers. I spent a lot of the first half of my shift gathering carts, and most of the second doing returns and sweeping, especially when another bagger came in during the last hour. The rain scared most of our customers off. We were quiet as can be the entire morning.

It had started to shower again when I rode home. Thankfully, the rain was stopping by the time I made it home. Charles was taking down the tape around the boardwalk. Yes, it's finally dry. I was able to park my bike at the wooden rack, pick a few cherry tomatoes from his garden, and dash upstairs.

Despite the humidity, it was cool enough for me to make Oatmeal Fruit Squares after lunch. This time, I used the Fruit & Honey jam and the last of the blueberries. Listened to my Lost In Boston IV and Unsung Musicals CDs while I worked. I love these series from Varese Sarabande. Lost covers songs cut from Broadway musicals. Unsung showcases songs from musicals that either never made it to Broadway, or were from shows that had super-short runs and were never recorded. Favorites of mine from Lost include "Marking Time" from Pippin, the hilarious "Thirty Weeks of Heaven" that's funnier than anything that made it into By the Beautiful Sea, and three devastating character songs from Ballroom. By far my favorite number from Unsung is the ravishing ballad "Starfish," from a musical version of La Strada that featured an early appearance by Bernadette Peters.

The bars came out of the oven around 2:30, giving me enough time to dash off to Westmont. Not only was it not raining by then, but the sun was struggling to come out. Newton Lake Park was a lot busier than you'd think on such a dreary and wet day. I passed a woman being tugged along by her huge Irish settler and black lab, several bike riders, and a couple of fisher-folk. The park is looking a little brown despite the rain, but the leaves over my head were emerald green and wide as umbrellas.

The Haddon Towship Library wasn't much busier than the Acme had been. It was mainly young teens amusing themselves on the computers. It must have been busy earlier, though. The DVDs were overloaded! It took me an hour to shelve half the adult DVDs, and I never even got to the kids' titles. I didn't take any movies out this week, but I found five interesting paperback mysteries on the free book racks, along with a cookbook devoted to candy.

Since the weather was holding out, I stopped at Target quickly on the way home. I needed sugar and a drink; grabbed Dasani Sparkling Water. They weren't busy, either, not even the self-checkout terminals. I went in, got what I needed, and went out.

Went straight into writing as soon as I got in and took out the trash. While Maz prepares dinner for Harris and Leia, she tries to work on the engine of the Falcon. When he helps, she pushes him away at first...but they end up kissing. A drunk Charlie interrupts, telling them that Maz is calling them for dinner before falling over them.

Broke for dinner at quarter of 7. Had an egg, cheese, and fresh tomato wrap for dinner while watching a few public domain shorts featuring Canadian kids show host Mr. Piper. This jolly gentleman tells limited animation fairy tales, some of which are still obscure to this day. "Brave Molly" tells of a little girl who uses her brains to defeat a giant and rescue a queen. "The Kindhearted Girl" has a gentle girl give animals her food when she visits her witch aunt. They repay her kindness by not stopping her escape. "Hasty and the Princess" also involves kindness to animals. This time, they help a country bumpkin win a princess. "The Proud Princess" snubs a prince who gives her sweet, simple gifts. He dresses as a swineherd to get near her, but learns what she's really like when he does find something to give her.

Moved onto Lego Star Wars as soon as I cleaned up from dinner. It took two tries, but I finally completed the blue minikit challenge for "Hoth Battle." No luck anywhere else. "Into the Death Star" is so dark, I couldn't see many of the pieces, and I couldn't figure out "The Pit of Carkoon." I'll try again tomorrow.

Finished the night with Ernest Goes to Camp. Ernest (Jim Varney) is hoping to be a counselor at Camp Kikakee, but right now, he's just the handyman. He gets his chance when he's assigned to a group of delinquent kids whose pranks left their previous, rather obnoxious counselor with a broken leg. They prank Ernest too, at first, until he tells them stories during a campfire and helps them with their tent project. Ernest doesn't have as much luck fending off the nasty head of a mining corporation who wants the oil under the camp. He tricks Ernest and the camp's Native American owner (Iron Eyes Cody) into signing over the rights. The kids are angry at Ernest at first, until the owner's daughter (Victoria Racimo) convinces them and Ernest to fight back.

The first Ernest movie was a surprise hit in 1987. Though it's cliched and a bit corny, it also has its moments, including Ernest's campfire story and the big action finale. Fun time waster if you're a fan of Ernest or have kids who will enjoy his antics.

No comments: