Headed out after the cartoons ended for my first errand run of the day. After a quick stop at CVS for money and an orange Perrier, I rode over to the Collingswood Farm Market. They were packed, the busiest I've seen them in over a year. Regular pre-prepared food sales returned this week, and dogs are now allowed again.
The summer harvest is out now, too. Strawberries, snap peas, and asparagus are gone, replaced by beans of every type, summer squash, peaches, blueberries, cherries, onions, eggplant, and blackberries. Picked up a tomato, a cucumber, a zucchini, peaches, Chinese beans, blueberries, and bananas from the tropical fruit booth.
Ran into Jodie and Rose in the main house when I got home. Seems Jodie wanted to hit the grocery store today, too. I was welcome to join her. They'd also decided to hold Finley's birthday in the larger, and now largely empty, main house later in the day. Fin's birthday had an animal theme, with a banner decorated in monkeys, elephants, and tigers and matching yellow and green crepe paper strung in the living room.
I quickly made my grocery list, then rounded up my backpack and bag and met Jodie at her car. I didn't really have a ton of grocery shopping to do this week, mostly basics like yogurt and butter. Found bags of espresso-flavored chocolate chips and a bottle of raspberry syrup on the clearance rack; a pack of spatulas was also listed for clearance. Steamed shrimp and ground turkey were the cheapest meat I could find. Had online coupons for cherries, blackberries, Edy's Ice Cream, cereal, and yogurt. Restocked tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, black tea, mushrooms, and milk.
(And I could see why I was off. It surprisingly wasn't that busy when we were there, and they had plenty of help outside and in.)
Put everything away when I got in, then had a Blackberry-Banana Smoothie for lunch and wrapped Finley's tea set. Watched Hogan's Heroes while I worked. Hogan insists on "No Names Please" during the fourth season when a war correspondent they rescue begs to write their story. Unfortunately, it gets back to camp and not only reveals Hogan's operation, but that there's a Gestapo spy in their midst.
It's a "Bad Day In Berlin" when Hogan teams up with an American spy (Harold J. Stone) passing himself off as a German general. He and two of the guys follow him to Berlin to trap another spy and get him out of the country.
By the time the episode was winding down, I'd finished making my bed and could hear children giggling in the main house. Rose arrived with Khai and a wound-up Finley. She sported an adorable animal-print dress and was delighted to show it off to her friends when they came in, mostly kids from the neighborhood and their parents. The kids tossed rings on the tail of an inflatable crocodile and played Animal Bingo (with animal pictures instead of numbers) to win sticky alligators and foam rubber creepy-crawlies. Some of the younger ones played with a container of plastic jungle animals and trees Finley loves.
Shortly after he and Ryan won Animal Bingo, Khai swore he saw a groundhog on the hill under the main house. He lead all of the kids and several adults down to find it. I don't know if they ever did. I moved too slow to really join them, and I wasn't wearing shoes. Besides, the rain returned lightly, even as they raced each other over the soft green grass and back up the hill.
We just beat the rain to the punch. It started pouring shortly after we all got back in. The kids got antsy watching the rain off and on the porch while waiting for Craig to come back with three large pizzas for the adults, three small pizzas for the kids, and cheese-covered garlic rolls for everyone. Rose bought a large cake at the Acme and decorated it with cookies, plastic toys, and chocolate "rocks" made to look like a zoo with modern roam cages. After the kids had their fill, they chased each other in the den and watched the storm come down.
I returned to my side of the house to work on writing when they all hit the pool in the rain. Greg (Morris) the Diamond Card, Bert (Convy) the Spade Card, and Larry (Hovis) the Club Card find Brett and the boys admiring the Queen of Hearts' beautiful roses. They planted a row of white roses by mistake and hope to get back into her good graces by leading a "Mission: Impossible" to paint the white roses red.
Broke for baking at quarter of 7. Started the Chocolate Chip Muffins while watching more Hogan's Heroes. Hogan and the guys find themselves part of "An Evening of Generals" when they're ordered to blow up a meeting of top Nazi brass. They get help from a cook who knows German and from Klink, who is determined to make a good impression.
Suspicious Nazi General Hochstetter is back in "Everybody Loves a Snowman." He's looking for evidence of tunnels. Hogan, meanwhile, is dealing with five stir-crazy pilots who want to go home yesterday. He eventually uses the cold German weather as a cover to finally get them out under Hochstetter's nose.
Switched to MASH while making Blueberry 4th of July Softbakes from my British cookie book. "The Winchester Tapes" from season 5 reveals that new head of the base Major Winchester (David Ogden Stiers) also wants out yesterday. Like Fraiser in Cheers, he feels too erudite for the hijinks at the 4077th. Meanwhile, Hawkeye would do anything to spend time with a beautiful nurse in Seoul, including trade shifts with Winchester.
Finished the night with This Is the Army online after a shower. I go further into the ultimate World War II patriotic musical at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
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