Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Autumn Serenade

We began Lauren's last day here with breakfast, tea, and Hogan's Heroes. "The Defector" is a German Field Marshall who wants safe passage to London. Hogan's ready to give it to him, but Hochstetter shows up on his trail. He and the others try to figure out how to distract him while they get the man out of the country.

Switched to Perfect Strangers as Lauren packed and I did the dishes. Larry's convinced he's "Safe at Home" when he buys a high-tech security system to protect his new stereo chair. He realizes how unsafe he and Balki are when they accidentally activate the system and can't figure out how to turn it off.

Balki explains to Larry "I Saw This On TV" when Larry lies to his fiancée Jennifer about ducking out of their date to the ballet. In a hilarious black-and-white spoof of The Honeymooners, Larry is Ralph Kramden, who gets into trouble with his wife Alice (Jennifer) when he lies about attending a bowling tournament with his pal Ed Norton (Balki). It takes Balki to help them out and teach Larry a lesson about fibbing in a relationship.

One of my favorite Perfect Strangers episodes is the swashbuckler satire "Family Feud." Larry thinks it's ridiculous when a member of the Bochilitis family of Sceptos comes to Chicago demanding that Balki fight a duel in a long-standing feud...at least, until he insults the man. Balki ends up being the one who has to get his cousin out of the duel, before Larry gets sliced to ribbons.

Jodie drove us out to the Cherry Hill train platform around 11:30. We left Lauren at the station and headed out. I'm glad our trip mostly went very well. We always have a wonderful time together, and this week was no exception.

I got off at my side of the house long enough to bring the trash can up to the patio, then grabbed my bike and went back out again. Had a few errands I wanted to run. The Oaklyn Library was quiet except for the librarian. I said "hi" to her, then took out two Laura Childs Tea Shop Mysteries and Into the Heights for review next week. 

Originally stopped at Dollar General for sugar, but all they had left were the huge containers of Domino's. I ended up spending a little more at CVS instead; also grabbed the dish washing liquid sale there.

Had a quick lunch when I got home while watching more Hogan's. The boys leave "The Empty Parachute" to make the guards think there's a commando loose and frighten a courier into letting go of his locked briefcase. Hogan convinces Klink that "The Antique" cuckoo clock is worth thousands of dollars. It's not...but it will help the boys get vital information to the underground.

Spent the next hour looking up apartment buildings in Audubon. In good news, I found at least three or four...all of which were listed as having no available apartments. I wrote down their numbers anyway. Rose wanted me to call them today, but I just couldn't do it. Between work and my busy trip and everything else going on, I was just too worn out. I took a nap for almost two hours instead.

Worked a little bit on writing when I did roll out of bed. Brett assures Sir Richard's son Gary that his son will be all right...but she's not really sure. The guards hold him back, and the jury doesn't look too merciful, either...when they bother writing down relevant information and not every single thing said by every single being in the courtroom.

Broke for leftovers at 6:30. Watched Match Game '74 while I ate. Fannie's fried egg shirt came in for a lot of ribbing in this episode, or at least, where the eggs were placed on the shirt. Meanwhile, a soft-voiced Frenchwoman proved to be far more astute with the English language than Gene believed, and Charles wondered exactly what went on in his best friend Brett's head.

Began making snickerdoodles during Match Game PM. This 1978 episode featured two of the most hapless contestants who ever turned up at Studio 33. They just could not match anyone. The only reason either made it to the Bonus Round was Charles matched them one time each, and then matched one in a tiebreaker. Richard broke out of his dark mood long enough toss in a few one-liners as well.

Returned to Hogan's Heroes as I rolled the dough in cinnamon sugar. Klink's gleefully asking "Is There a Traitor In the House?" when Newkirk volunteers to broadcast on propaganda queen Berlin Betty's show to London. He's really doing it to relay information after a bombing blows out their transmitters. He falls for Betty when the lady claims to be in trouble, but she's not as innocent as she seems.

"At Last - Schultz Knows Something!" The guys are all desperate to find out where Klink's new job as the head of security at an atomic research facility is. Klink won't talk, so they decide to try a new drug on Schultz to get it out of him. 

Finished the night online with Hart to Hart. In "Vintage Harts," Jonathan's gone into business with an older wine merchant to sell his own inexpensive wine label. After his friend and a young employee are murdered, Jonathan and Jennifer learn that their wines are being marked up as much more expensive by two enterprising employees. 

Incidentally, I heard from Lauren about two hours ago. All of her train trips went fine. The train was about to pull into the station when she got off her phone. I imagine she and her parents have long arrived in Pittsfield by now. 

No comments: