Curiouser and Curiouser

Started off the morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. "The Big Slide" is at the Dinosaur Playground. Daniel loves it, but O the Owl is afraid to climb those tall steps. Daniel holds his hand until he's able to get all the way to the top. "Daniel Does Gymnastics" for the first time, but he's nervous to try jumping the vault and walking on the balance beam. Henrietta Pussycat, who teaches the gymnastics class, holds his hand and helps him until he's doing better.

Worked on writing for the rest of the morning. Brett swims to shore with Sarah (Kennedy) the Mouse, Jimmy (Walker) the Dodo, and several other birds and small animals. Deciding that Sarah's story is too dull to dry them off, they hold a Caucus Race...which basically means they run around in a circle, chasing each other and occasionally running into each other or a tree. Brett's having a great time and does dry off, and the animals have a blast, too. Brett, however, hears the vibrations of galloping hooves and a horn blast that sounds like the theme of To Tell the Truth that brings an end to their fun...because the fun-hating Red King and his army are here...

Put on Match Game '76 while making a blueberry-banana smoothie for lunch. Betty White walked off rather than hear answers to an animal-abusive question. Later, she scolded Gene for trying to catch a fly while Richard made jokes about the movie The Fly behind him. 

Hurried out shortly after the next episode began. I needn't have hurried. It got a little bit busy around 2:30-3 PM, but we were otherwise dead almost the entire night. It was a gorgeous day, sunny, breezy, and in the 80's. Who wants to go grocery shopping on a beautiful spring day? Not to mention, we're between holidays, with nothing much going on until next weekend. We mainly sold fixings for family barbecues. Other than a few annoying customers, there were no major problems. It died so fast by 7, I was able to leave with no relief and no need for one.

Got my schedule today as well. In good news, three days off (Tuesday for counseling), nothing later than 6. Far fewer hours, though (but still more than I had before the pandemic started), and one of the days I do work is an 8-hour shift. 

Changed after I got in, then got to see the last 10 or so minutes of Match Game PM. Came in as the Audience Match began. Things got off to a strange start when the contestant picked all the celebrities to help her at once, rather than one at a time. She redeemed herself by showing great courage in going with her own heart with the answer to "School of __." Later, Richard helped her with "Father and __."

Things started out fairly close on Sale of the Century. Everyone won or bought something...but the champ pulled ahead about mid-way through and gave the others a thorough drubbing in the Speed Round. He's still having trouble with the Bonus Round, though.

Jodie came in during Sale bearing half of a hoagie she didn't want and a vacuum cleaner. The men are now officially done with the floors...and they do look very nice, all shiny like rich honey. She cleaned up the dust left on my side of the house from their work, and I gave her a small slice of Blueberry Coffee Cake. She doesn't like sugary foods, but she does love blueberries. 

Finished the night online with two bizarre European versions of Alice In Wonderland that make extensive use of stop-motion animation. The Czech Alice from 1989 is the weirder of the two. Alice follows the White Rabbit through a drawer in a desk, and she keeps running into desks throughout her journey. Creatures take themselves apart and stitch themselves together, and Alice turns into a porcelain doll when she shrinks. Too bizarre for me, but it may appeal to those with weirder tastes than mine. 

A French Alice In Wonderland from 1949 is a bit less strange. It begins with Charles Dodgson - aka Lewis Carroll (Stephan Murray) - being scolded by The Vice Chancellor (Ernest Milton) for writing a poem criticizing Queen Victoria (Pamela Brown) and the school's bell. To get away from it all, Dodgson takes the Dean's three daughters, including Alice (Carol Marsh) on a boat ride into the country. He tells them the fantastical story of how Alice fell through the rabbit hole and met a great many strange creatures (who act like the Queen and the people at the school). 

The stop-motion here is more angular and stylized, to go with the boxy stylized backdrops. It does get a little dark when the animals keep chasing Alice. In the story, after she left the White Rabbit's house, most of Wonderland didn't seem to really care where she was going until she arrived at the Queen's croquet party. While not as creepy as the Czech Alice, the stop motion creatures are still odd enough to recommend this one for older Wonderland lovers.