Watched cartoons with St. Patrick's Day or Irish-themed episodes while I had breakfast and got organized. It's a "St. Patrick's Day Dilemma" on Doc McStuffins when Donny accidentally scribbles on her new paper doll Fiona's green Irish dance dress. Fiona won't wear anything but that, until Doc and the others convince her that it's better for you to change your clothes when they're dirty. Doc's new giant doll Gillian is upset that she's too big to play tea party or castle with the other toys...but she's the one who makes "A Giant Save" when Professor Hootenburgh gets stuck in a tree.
Scooby Doo's All-Star Laugh-a-Lympics starts out in "The Grand Canyon" with a burro race that gets pretty sticky when Yogi uses gum to jump ahead and Mumbly gets to the finish by rocket jets. Huckleberry Hound gets luckier when the Rottens' cheating backfires and propels him into first instead of knocking him off the high wire between canyons. Grape Ape and the Blue Falcon work together to save the leprechaun and his gold from the scheming Daltons in "Ireland." Captain Caveman overshoots the ball on the hole-in-one tournament, and Dinky Dawson hits himself in instead of the ball. Cindy Bear has her own unique way of getting that ball in and making sure it stays.
Put together the birthday cards for Mom and Kelly, then headed out to run errands. I realized when I signed their cards that I'm almost out of stamps, so I sent the cards at the post office and picked up more there. I was originally going to make Irish soda bread today, but I forgot the buttermilk at the Acme, and none of the small stores on the White Horse Pike had any. Picked up cream cheese and coconut at Dollar General and butter at Family Dollar. Dropped a book in the kiosk on the White Horse Pike. Grabbed a ham and cheddar hoagie for lunch at WaWa and tried a Mint Smoothie. Not bad. Very smooth and minty, anyway.
The weather was actually rather nice when I came out, sunny and warm. By the time I was on the White Horse Pike, the cold wind had picked up and the clouds rolled in. It was now too chilly to linger. I went straight home, admiring gardens filled with daffodils and green banners waving in the breeze.
Watched Happy Days while eating lunch. "Joanie's Weird Boyfriend" is a member of the Red Devils, whom she met at the St. Patrick's Day party at Arnold's. Joanie's intrigued at first. She's tired of her parents and brother treating her like a child. She realizes these boys are more than she can handle when they tell her their initiation rights. Good thing her brother and Fonzie follow her and bring along Carmine "The Big Ragu" Ragusa from sister show Laverne & Shirley.
Spent the next few hours making peanut butter cookies and Irish potatoes. I've been craving peanut butter cookies lately, but the Acme doesn't make them, and the ones at Sprouts were too expensive. Tried the one-bowl recipe in that cookie cookbook Lauren sent me a few years ago. Irish potatoes are easy to make. You just mix cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and coconut and roll them in cinnamon to look like mini sweet potatoes. I think I should have used a bit more peanut butter on the cookies, but they otherwise came out very well. The Irish potatoes were definitely better than the truffles I tried to make at Christmas. At least they didn't involve melting chocolate.
Put on The Quiet Man when I got upstairs and as I ate dinner. Sean Thornton (John Wayne) returns home to 1929 Innesfree, Ireland to buy the home that belonged to his mother when she was a girl. He falls for spirited local lass Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O'Hara), but her brother Will (Victor McLaughlin) wanted the house himself and won't consent to the match. Matchmaker Micheleen Flynn (Barry Fitzgerald) eventually tricks Will into letting them wed, but when Will figures out what's going on, he won't give Mary Kate her dowry or furniture. He does eventually give up the furniture, but still won't turn the money over to her. She won't consider herself to be Sean's wife until he fights for her money. Sean has his own reasons for not fighting and refuses to at first, until Mary Kate tries to leave. His confrontation with Will finally turns into such a huge knock-down, drag-out donnybrook, almost the entirety of Ireland comes out to watch!
John Ford's love letter to the old country is one of the best things he ever did. Ireland glows with a radiance that makes even Oz look pale. Some of the best Irish character actors in Hollywood, including Fitzgerald, Mildred Natwick as the original owner of the cottage whom Will is sweet on, and Ward Bond as the town's fishing-obsessed priest have a grand time with the charming story. McLaughlin made such a wonderful bullying brother, he got one of the film's seven Oscar nominations. Ford won, along with that stunning cinematography. It would be B-studio Republic's only Oscar nomination for Best Picture. A must-see on St. Patrick's Day or if you're a fan of anyone involved or just want to see a really beautiful movie.
Finished the night after a shower with something different. In 1980, the Jim Perry Card Sharks did a three-week tournament featuring some of the most popular game show hosts of the time. I did week one tonight. Allen Ludden killed the competition, winning more than $6,000 for the Los Angeles Zoo. Gene Rayburn and Bill Cullen also did fairly well. Poor Wink Martindale just couldn't get anything going with the cards, but they gave him money for his charity anyway.
The entire tournament was hilarious, but some of the best moments were in the first week. Gene spent the week flirting with the hostesses who turned the cards. At one point, he actually took Jim's microphone and flat-out hit on the girl. Allen Ludden dazedly claimed he was "between 97 of the biggest teeth I ever saw" when he found himself caught in the middle of Jim Perry and Wink Martindale's dazzling white smiles.
Here's hoping you enjoy the first week for yourself! I'll be watching the remaining tournament episodes later this week.
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