Friday, April 26, 2024

Welcome to Oaklyn

Started off the morning with breakfast and Paw Patrol. Marshall falls asleep right before he and his friends are putting on a fairy-tale play and dreams that the "Pups Save a Dragon." More specifically, they save Katie, who was put to sleep and is being guarded on top of the Pups' tower by a dragon. "Pups Save the Three Little Pigs" when their homes keep getting knocked over. Farmer Yumi swears she hears a wolf, but Ryder has a more practical explanation for where the howling comes from.

Switched to The Busy World of Richard Scarry next. Sprout the goat is disappointed when he has to work on his father's farm instead of going on "The Field Trip" with his scout group. He learns how much fun his job really is when Sergeant Murphy breaks down near the farm and the kids help him in the fields, and he shows them around. Two of my favorite Scarry characters, detectives Dudley and Sam, solve "The Great Pie Robbery" in Paris when thieves make off with Madame Dog's cherry pies. Mr. Cat wants a "Clean Garage" to have room for the car, but Mrs. Cat's not so eager to get rid of their stuff.

Headed out to hit the grocery stores next. First stop was Sprouts before the high school kids started coming over to the Westmont Plaza for lunch. This time, the Minneola Tangelos were two for a dollar. Decided to try Annie's Organic Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookie granola bars along with the Olyra blueberry breakfast sandwich cookies. The unsweetened vanilla coconut milk I like is still on sale there, too. 

Went down the hill and past Haddon Township High School to the Westmont Acme after I finished at Sprouts. Restocked apples, mozzarella cheese for snacking, the big box of Jolly Time Simply Popped popcorn, Kind granola bars, and yogurt; had online coupons for the latter two. Found a bag of coconut macaroons on clearance in the Jewish food section that were so cheap, I thought they'd be worth trying. Grabbed bagels for lunch this week. Propel hasn't been on sale, but I haven't been able to find the mixes cheaper anywhere else.

Cut through Newton Lake Park going home. I wasn't the only one who had that thought. It couldn't have been a nicer day in late April. Sunny, breezy, and warm but not too hot, with a sky so blue, it hurt to look at it. I took the back path and still dodged many people out for jogs, walks, and strolls with friends. The park is looking very spring now, too, with tiny lime green leaves, brilliant pink-white flowering dogwoods, and bright yellow buttercups and dandelions.

Had lunch and watched Let's Make a Deal when I got home. Monty offered people a sporty red coupe four times...and four times, they opted for something else or didn't win it. Three people in the opening opted for furniture and money instead of the car. A spunky young cowgirl and an older gentleman dressed as Rooster Cogburn from True Grit kept money and handed appliances over to a big man in a cowboy's hat. Another lady in a lavender headband kept her $1,000 rather than use it on the Door 4 Wheel. She and the cowboy ended up trading in for the Big Deals of the Day. She got appliances worth a bit more than the $1,000 she gave up; he got furniture worth probably about what he gave up. The Big Deal, however, wound up being both their deals, plus the car seen earlier.

Switched to Vega$ while getting organized, dusting my rooms, and cleaning all reflective surfaces. Seemingly mild-mannered butcher Jack Schulman (is obsessed with becoming the "Ghost of the Ripper" and repeating the Jack the Ripper murders. Dan gets on the case after the man kills a prostitute who asked for his protection. He and his friend on the force Lieutenant David Nelson (Greg Morris) get the help of a professor and criminologist to figure out Jack's patterns. Then the female cop  Dan is dating offers herself as bait, and Dan worries that she may be in over her head.

"The Eleventh Event" is a sadder story. Dan's close friend Leon Hazlett (Clifton Davies) was a five-time Olympic gold medalist who lost the use of his legs in a car crash. He's a little embarrassed to return for a telethon in his honor. Rock singer Paul Baker is supposed to be the host, but he's kidnapped shortly before the broadcast. Dan has to figure out who really wanted Paul out of the way while assuring Leon that there's a lot of things he can still do in a wheelchair, and he may be down, but not out.

Fiddled online for a while before putting on my new Taylor Swift 1989 (Taylor's Version) record and doing some writing. I hear hits like "Welcome to New York" and "Wildest Dreams" everywhere from the Acme to blasting through the open windows of cars. Of the older material, the wild and upbeat "Shake It Off" has always been my favorite; I also like "This Love." "Now That We Don't Talk" is my favorite of the newer "vault" songs she added for this re-release.

Got my schedule at this point as well. In good news, far more hours than I have been getting, and I still have three days off. They're all pretty early, though one is a floral department day. I figured the only reason my hours have been so lousy was April really didn't have much going on. There are a ton of holidays and events in May, including prom season, Mother's Day, college graduations, Cinco De Mayo, the Kentucky Derby, and Memorial Day. 

Worked on writing for a little bit next. Kathleen realizes that the lady and Lord are definitely up to no good, especially when she looks down and realizes that the cold has made the flowers in her basket wilt. She wants to follow them back to the village and warn the town council, but it's getting very cold, and kind of dark...

Broke for dinner and Match Game '77 around 7PM. Buzzr skipped way ahead to one of my favorite episodes of that year. In the opening, we see Betty doing a very funny imitation of Charles in his seat, including his pipe, scarf, and hat, and Charles in Betty's seat. They remain in those seats through the first half of the episode. Hans Conried and Sarah Kennedy join in as they help a contestant with "Practice __" in the Audience Match.

Finished the night at YouTube with a special short Match Game marathon. Long-time soap star and writer for General Hospital, among others, Meg Bennett passed away on April 11th. Match Game Productions put together the two weeks she appeared in during 1977. I didn't realize he did the first week last night, but I did catch the second week and that week's nighttime episode today. By far the most notable event of that week was Richard Dawson arguing over whether "plastic baggie" matched "bag" when "paper sack" matched. He tried to start a riot like he had a few weeks before, but no one was on board with him this time.

At any rate, honor a lovely woman and a very good Match Game player with this delightful marathon!

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