Look For a Sky of Blue

Started off a rainy, gloomy morning with buttermilk pancakes, cantaloupe slices, and my Varase Sarabande Cinderella CD. This is a collection of songs from various musical versions of the famous fairy tale, from Into the Woods to the Rogers and Hammerstein TV incarnation to the animated Disney movie. There's some more obscure material from England as well. "Spread a Little Happiness" is a charming cheer-up ditty from the British 20's hit Mr. Cinders, featuring a male Cinderella. "Raise a Ruckus" apparently comes from the southeastern-US-set Cindy-Ella. Research reveals the score mostly featured African-American spirituals. This delightful roof-raiser was one of the few originals.

As soon as I finished breakfast, I dashed out to work. Rain continued to fall, but it wasn't heavy, and I arrived damp but not soaked. That was the worst that happened all day. The crowds were off-and-on steady, likely trying to avoid the rain. Once the rain stopped, the crowds started coming in. Once again, I was in and out with no trouble. One of the managers even said she'd talk to the head managers about getting me extra money for the day of and the day after Dad died, though we won't be having the actual funeral until next year.

Headed straight home after work. Surprisingly, despite the Acme being busy, Nicholson Road wasn't. There were some stragglers around the shopping center entrance and the Hispanic church. Otherwise, it was clear sailing all the way over the bridge and down to Hillcrest. It remained cloudy, cool, and humid, but the rain was long gone at that point. It wasn't even really wet.

Went straight into writing when I got home. Charles ignores the terrible burns on his back to let Brett drink her energy. It covers her, eventually restoring her and giving her the energy to stand up to her stepmother. There's her friend to thank for saving her, too...

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Made Parmesan eggplant and yellow squash to go with my last chicken leg. Listened to my double CD of The Desert Song and New Moon while I ate. These are both truncated versions made for Decca in the 1940's. I prefer The Desert Song, with Kitty Carisle and Wilbur Evens doing an enjoyable "Romance," "Then You Will Know," and "One Alone," to the so-so New Moon.

It was cool enough to bake again. The last farm market apple was starting to go bad, so I used it and one Acme apple to make Apples Rolled In Autumn (Apple-Spice-Oatmeal) Cookies from that one-bowl cookie cookbook Lauren sent me a few years ago. Stuck with operetta, this time going with the off-Broadway satire Little Mary Sunshine. Mary (Eileen Brennan) is the owner and operator of a lodge in Colorado that houses a group of finishing-school girls and a band of forest rangers who are after a thieving Indian. While Mary's maid Nancy chases the guy, Mary pines for her handsome head of the rangers...but their quarry is closer at hand than they think...

If you know anything about operetta and other types of musicals from the first thirty or so years of the 20th century, you'll get a big kick out of this. The ladies' numbers are especially fun; Nancy gets the adorable duet "Once In a Blue Moon" with her doubtful sweetheart, and she sings about "Mata Hari" to cheer up the other women while they await their swains. Brennan makes fun of wistful Cinderella heroines with "Look For a Sky of Blue" and joins her Ranger for a "Colorado Love Call" and a retired opera singer for "Every Little Nothing."

Finished the night online with the Flyers-Canadiens game live in Toronto. The Flyers scored early in the first half...which was the last time anyone scored anything. They'd get so close, only to just miss the net or have it pushed away. In the end, that one point was enough to win. They're now 2 - 1 over the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Alas, they play in the afternoon tomorrow. I was hoping to run errands once my check cleared.