Walking In the Rain

Slept in again and began a cloudy morning with breakfast, then did some baking. I read that oatmeal is one of the foods that's good for high blood pressure. Baked them into a cookie recipe from the Pillsbury cookie cookbook Anny gave me a couple of years ago. The recipe actually called for raisins as well, but I had none. The first batch was a little too brown, but the second was perfect, chewy and just sweet enough.

Every year around Memorial Day Weekend and Veteran's Day, I always watch war-related shorts and cartoons to honor our fighting men and women in the Armed Services. Started it off with Disc 2 of Looney Tunes Gold Collection Vol. 6, a showcase of Warners wartime cartoons. Ironically, "Herr Meets Hare" was the second-to-last wartime short as Bugs bedevils Nazi Minister Goring months before V-E Day. Daffy also went up against the Nazis in "Daffy the Commando" from 1943.

More common were shorts that revolved around one-off characters, like "The Draft Horse" who desperately wants to join the army, or the Gremlins from the Kremlin trying to down Hitler's plane in "Russian Rhapsody." There were also shorts that were a series of skits depicting life on the homefront or in the barracks. I loved the woman mechanic who fixed a giant machine with one bobby pin in "Weakly Reader" and all the doggy celebrity caricatures, from Bing Crosby to Laurel & Hardy, in "Hollywood Canine Canteen." Two shorts, "The Ducknators" and "Fifth Collumn Mouse," were allegories on how the US got into the war...and how we intended to end it.

My favorite Looney Tunes wartime shorts featured Daffy and Bugs and turned up on the third Looney Tunes Gold Collection. Bugs spoofs the Golden Age of Superheroes when he eats carrots that give him fantastic powers! He goes up against a rabbit-hating cowboy and his horse, but when push comes to shove, he turns into a true hero - a Marines officer. Daffy dodges that persistent Little Man from the Draft Board in "Draftee Daffy." For once, Bugs goes up against an antagonist who gives as good as they get in Falling Hare, a gremlin he catches sabotaging planes. This little fellow is no pushover and does everything he can to get Bugs off the plane, including sending it into freefall!

By the time I grabbed yogurt with blueberries and a banana for lunch, the clouds had burst. No matter. I saw kids in the park earlier under umbrellas. If kids could go for a stroll under umbrellas, I could, too. I got lucky. The rain was slowing, even as I walked out the door. It never vanished completely, but it wasn't heavy enough to do anything besides make me a little damp, either. It smelled rather pleasant, like fresh-dug earth or clothes out of the dryer. Everything is so bright and beautiful. The leaves are big and green; the irises are velvety purple and gold. I went by Rose's house, but didn't see anyone and assumed they were all working in the back.

Settled down to relax for a while after I got in, watching Super Password, Tattletales, and Press Your Luck...but I didn't really do much relaxing. Figured I'd better call Mom and tell her what was going on. She wasn't happy that I didn't call the police about the car accident. I figured it would just make things worse. The lady was upset enough, the car and bike were fine, and I didn't realize I was hurt at the time. I just wanted to take my spilled cherries and go home. Speaking of home, Mom is still off of work at the Cape May-Lewes Ferry. They haven't been anywhere near full capacity since all this started. She says she's hoping they'll start sending out more ships this weekend.

Rose called me about 20 minutes after Mom did. She handled my getting hurt a lot better than I thought she would (and certainly better than Mom did). Her main concern was my not being able to move. I'll see what I can do about packing things one-handed. Some things may have to wait to be packed until next month. She wants me to to write the letter giving Willa 30 days notice next week. She also fussed about my not calling her for a ride to Audubon or Cherry Hill after I hurt myself. I figured the fewer people involved in this, the better, especially with everything going on right now.

Finally got to writing after Press Your Luck ended. Jo Ann (Pflug) creates an equally lovely purple gown for Elaine, to the delight of her and Bobby. Queen Betty doesn't care as much about fancy gowns. She wants to give the others their assignments for the ball, so that the evil Queen Malade doesn't find out what they're up to...

Broke for chili-stuffed mini-peppers and spinach salad at 6:30. Match Game had Richard Dawson showing off his own sequined patch on his shirt in tribute to Fannie Flagg's famous sequined sweaters and blouses. The musician champ continued his run on Sale of the Century, buying a grill and recording equipment and still leaving everyone in the dust during the speed round. Despite his seeming interest in a Virgin Islands vacation, he still opted to come back for the car.

Finished the night with a couple of TV episodes on streaming. The first three seasons of Charlie's Angels can currently be found for free on the Roku Channel. In the first season episode "Night of the Strangler," someone is using clown rag dolls to strangle models. His first victim bears a striking resemblance to Kelly (Jacklyn Smith), who immediately gets herself hired by the philandering photographer (Richard Mulligan) who had an affair with her. Jill (Farrah Fawcett) follows his smarmy partner, while Sabrina (Kate Jackson) deals with the fussy backdrop designer.

Hulu has a nice collection of vintage CBS and NBC shows, going as far back as I Love Lucy. One of the show's more famous episode was also their only flat-out musical, "Lucy Goes to Scotland" from season 5. After seeing Brigadoon, Lucy wants to go to Scotland to find her MacGillicuddy relatives, but Ricky forbids it. She dreams that she does go to Scotland...and learns that the people in her family's home village have been sacrificing MacGillicuddies to a quarrelsome two-headed dragon (a hilarious Fred and Ethel). She's hoping that a familiar Scottish-Irish lad (Ricky) will help save her, but he seems oddly reluctant to help out.

Lucy's not the only one who dreams of far-off places and other times. In "The Medicine Ball," from the first season of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Carolyn Muir comes down with a strange illness. Not trusting the young, inexperienced doctor, the Captain gives her his own brew. She dreams she's at a lavish ball in his time period. Claymore and the rest of her family can't see her...but he can, and he can give her his fondest dream and dance with her.