Kicked off a quick morning with breakfast and more Magic School Bus. The kids are "Getting Energized" when they have to figure out how to get the Ferris wheel at their school carnival moving without using electric power. With the help of Carlos' wheelchair-bound cousin Mike, they figure out how to harness wind, water, and solar power to get rocks up that'll turn the Ferris wheel up the mountain.
They're "Out of This World" after Dorothy Ann has a nightmare about an asteroid destroying their school. Ms. Frizzle takes the kids out into space in a sci-fi spoof to teach them about meteors, asteroids, and other space debris. They finally figure out how to get the asteroid to go on an axis around the Magic School Bus and toss it out of orbit.
Today is the second-to-last day of the Collingswood Farm Market, which always ends the Saturday before Thanksgiving, but it's the last day I'll be able to get there. Maybe it's just as well. The increasingly frigid weather was reflected in a distinct lack of fruit and vegetable stands. It's more than half craft booths now. There was enough left for me to buy cranberries, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, small apples, and spinach.
Took the long way back to Oaklyn across Newton Lake Park. Though it was sunny and bright, it was also chilly, with gale-force winds blasting me alongside the rippling waters. The trees glowed golden along the path.
Headed down Newton Road to volunteer at the library. They were fairly busy for them. A pleasant young couple came in to ask the librarian about taking out library cars. A few folks chatted with her while I looked over the DVDs and children's books.
It was too cold to linger for much longer. I went straight home after that and didn't go anywhere else. Got organized and had a quick lunch while finishing out The Magic School Bus. When Liz the Lizard goes missing, Wanda discovers she's at "Herp Haven," a resting place for reptiles run by an eccentric Brit (Michael York). They and the bus turn into reptiles to learn more about cold-blooded animals and how they have to move around to regulate their body temperature in "Cold Feet."
The season finished on a strong note with the Loch Ness Monster spoof "Ups and Downs." A talk show hostess (Cindy Williams) claims she saw a monster in the middle of the local lake. Wanda is determined to find it, but first, Ms. Frizzle and the class have to figure out how to get the Bus to sink, then how to make it rise when they figure out what's really going on.
Scientific concepts may have changed in the intervening 20 years since this came out, but the charm and hilarity of the show didn't. Lily Tomlin does great as the world's strangest and most enthusiastic science teacher, and she's backed by the genuinely funny kids and a great guest voice cast. There's also the segments in the last five minutes that explain what's real, what isn't, and goes slightly more into the topic.
I haven't seen the current Netflix show, but if your kids have read the books or love science (and can understand that some of the information here is a little dated), they may have a lot of fun with this one.
Worked on a lot of writing after lunch. Finally finished that game show essay. I'll see if I can at least start on another one to post about my association with malls before the holidays really kick in.
Even got pretty far on the fanfic. Almost everyone except for Gene and Bill (who are badly seasick) are enjoying their trip across Andersen Bay. Charles finally asks Brett why she never told them she was a princess. She didn't want to attract Malade's attention...and she kind of liked just being one of the crowd and working with the bandits. They don't get much further into the subject before Donald, one of Richard's men, falls overboard. Help is on the way, though, from a most unlikely source...
Broke early for dinner, around 5:30. I wanted to make a nice, big, warm meal for a cold day. Defrosted chicken legs for Merlin's Magic (Baked) Chicken, then dug a recipe for sauteed Brussels sprouts and onions out of one of my vintage cookbooks. (Made sure not to boil the sprouts for as long as they called for. Boil them too long, and they don't smell so great.) I grabbed "Sweet Hawaiian" biscuits from the Acme yesterday, and they were just rich and buttery enough to be a wonderful compliment.
Watched the Daniel Tiger's Winter Wonderland set while I ate and cleaned up afterwards. Daniel and Miss Elaina want to enjoy "A Snowy Day" and be snow astronauts. Daniel thinks he can wear his astronaut helmet outside, but it turns out to be too cold for anything but a warm hat.
"Daniel's Winter Adventure" takes him, Dan Sr, and Prince Tuesday for a ride on a sled, and then ice skating for the first time. Little Dan is nervous about trying all these new sports. His father assures him that he and Wednesday can do a little at a time until they get used to them.
The "Neighborhood Nutcracker" gives Dan an even greater reason to be nervous. Henrietta and Katerina Pussycat asks him to step in for an ailing Prince Wednesday as the Nutcracker in their ballet. He's scared he won't learn all the steps, but the ladies help him out.
Wednesday and Daniel join Baker Aker to make and decorate trolley cookies for the town. They make "Baking Mistakes," but Aker shows them how to fix them.
Finished the night with the live-action Beauty and the Beast from 2017. I go further one of Disney's earlier remakes at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
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