Called Uber shortly after the cartoon ended. I did so well at last year's Mt. Laurel Library book sale, I thought I'd check it out again. No trouble getting there. The driver going there arrived in less than a minute. Mt. Laurel is kind of out in the middle of nowhere, which is probably why the driver going home took seven minutes. No traffic either way, not even in Cherry Hill or on the White Horse Pike.
Unlike Cherry Hill, the Mt. Laurel Library has their sale in a tiny windowless meeting room on your left as you enter the building. It was hard to move around in there. Tables were two and three deep with older people and families with screaming children searching for great bargains in books, DVDs, CDs, and one box of records. Shelves in the center of the room held diminishing piles of textbooks and hardback novels. I had an easier time finding books as it cleared out and people went to lunch or took their children home. No interesting DVDs this time, but I did finally come up with six CDs:
Diana Krall - Love Scenes
Danny Wright - Autumn Dreams
Summer Sounds, a collection of recent songs (and the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun") that, if its amateurish computer-printed liner notes are any indication, is likely someone's home-made CD
Those Wonderful Years Disc 1 and 2
A Winter Solstice III
One record: David Rose and His Orchestra - The Stripper and Other Fun Songs for the Family
Three hardbacks: Captain from Castile by Samuel Shelbarger
Teddy's World, a coffee table book with photos of vintage teddies in real-life settings
Woman's Day Celebrating Christmas, a 1979 collection of Christmas stories, crafts, and recipes.
Two paperbacks: The Candymakers by Wendy Mass
You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid, or Crazy?! by Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo, on ADHD in teens and adults and how to deal with it.
Headed straight home after I finished. The Mt. Laurel Library is surrounded by other government buildings, but is nowhere near their downtown or anywhere you can get lunch. Besides, it was too nice to stay in once I got home. I put my books upstairs and took my bike back out again.
Ended up riding down to Phillies Phatties for pizza. They were busy with families and a big group of pre-teen and young teen boys in black cursing at each other and goofing off. I listened to the boys chatter while eating a slice of cheese, a slice of tomato-mozzarella-basil, and a bottle of Diet Pepsi.
Dodged the boys and another group of girls enough to get ice cream at Phillies Yummies next door. They had a lot of unique home-made flavors, but I thought I'd try their banana puddin'. Oh yum. Sweet and creamy and very banana, with thick cookie pieces. I'm not sure it was worth four dollars for two big scoops, but it was tasty. I sat at a small table in front of Common Grounds Coffee House while a little girl and her mother and sister enjoyed their treats at the other table.
Made one last stop at the pretzel shop on the White Horse Pike about a half-hour before they closed. I wanted a snack for later. I bought two pretzels, but it was so late, the girl taking my order threw in three more.
Besides, it was too nice to go home right away. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. Mid-60's, sunny as can be, breezy, warm. Spring just doesn't get any nicer than this. No wonder all the kids were out riding bikes and people were walking their dogs and toddlers in strollers.
Went home next and watched Wish on Disney Plus. I go further into their newest animated film that was intended as a homage to their earlier movies at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
Finished the night back at YouTube with the Saturday Match Game marathon. After the writers started increasing the length and complexity of the questions, they began to create "characters" around them. One of the most famous was "Old Man Periwinkle," who usually anchored jokes about randy old men or old folks' homes or what old people were and weren't capable of. Gene Rayburn got really into his characterization, especially later in the series, often walking in tiny steps and using a gravely old man voice.
This often lead to a lot of jokes in and of itself. Once, he got a little too close to Fannie Flagg while doing his schtick, and she accidentally pushed him onto Elaine Joyce. Another time during the syndicated series, he wore a white wig he was going to use as Scrooge when doing Christmas Carol in Boston and came in claiming to be Mr. Periwinkle.
"Mr. Periwinkle" proved to be so popular, the character carried over to later versions of Match Game. Gene did a Mr. Periwinkle question during the Match Game half of my favorite episode of The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour. Things went off the rails spectacularly during the second half when the Xs and Os board broke down. All of the panelists had to hold their arms across their chest or over their heads in an X or an O shape; Jay Leno in particular loudly protested this. There was also Brian Stokes Mitchell and his massive boutonniere. Ellen Bry of St. Elsewhere gave him a whole plant to wear on his jacket.
Mr. Periwinkle even turned up on Match Game '90, after Gene had been pushed out. Although Ross Schafer would attempt to do the character in later episodes, he doesn't here. That doesn't stop the other panelists, including Brad Garrett and Vicki Lawrence, from doing their best old person impressions.
See what that dirty old man Mr. Periwinkle is up to next in this salacious marathon!
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