Night of the Chilled Spring

Began a gloomy morning with breakfast and Alice's Wonderland Bakery. "If the Shoe Hat Fits," Hattie will wear it. After all, it was given to him by his father and the March Hare for his Unbirthday. When he'll only eat one type of sauce on his manicotti, Alice and Fergie try to give him others. Hattie finally reveals that, whether you wear the shoe on your head or foot, what matters is whether you're comfortable with it...and if it makes you happy. "Cookie Is Booked" for a tour of Wonderland when she's trying to become the royal cookbook. Alice, however, misses her council, and she can't really cook without her human there.

Though it wasn't raining hard at quarter of 9, it looked like it would any minute. It was humid, breezy, and very chilly, barely in the 60's. I have to call for Uber all day. Fortunately, the longest it took to get a ride was 9 minutes this morning. I was almost late. Otherwise, it was mostly 5 or 6 minutes later. No traffic anywhere, not even going home on the White Horse Pike at rush hour. 

The Acme wasn't busy, either. The rain must have scared everyone off. It showered off and on all morning, sometimes heavily. Fortunately, it was never heavy enough to make me more than damp when I did the carts. I swept the store and did the inside trash. Otherwise, I was in and out with no trouble.

Thankfully, the rain had taken a leave of absence by the time I finished. I wasn't in the mood for Asian food, and not only am I not a fan of fast food, but this was no day for sipping milkshakes on Sonic's patio. I strolled down Nicholson and up to the Brown Dog Cafe on Merchant Street. I was surprised at how busy it continued to be, even at 1:30. I guess I wasn't the only one looking for a simple lunch in a cozy, dark wood room. My ham and cheese croissant sandwich with avocado spread and ruffle chips were hearty, crunchy, and warm on a cold day. Since I was sweaty from the walk, I added a tasty cold-foam Matcha Tea flavored with real lavender.

Even with leaving around 2 PM, I still got to the Thomas Sharp School 15 minutes early. Since the rain had slowed to a very light shower, I took a brief walk around two blocks. As long as it isn't pouring, I kind of like walking in the rain. It's quiet - all you hear are the birds and pitter-patter of the raindrops - and it smells wonderful, like everything on the planet was just pulled out of the dryer.

Given they'd been stuck inside all day, I think you can guess that the kids were pretty antsy for the entire afternoon. It showered hard off and on the whole time, which meant no going outside. There was a lot of yelling, knocking toys over, and throwing things. After snack time, I settled down at the art table with colored pencils and the few blank pieces of paper we could find. After the paper ran out, the kids dug out coloring pages from their classes and drew on those. I read them books while we worked. One little girl even gave me her colorful artwork.

Put on more Remember WENN when I got home. "The First Mrs. Bloom" sets up conflicts for the remainder of the second and most of the third season as we discover that Scott has been skimming money from their bridal show sponsors to supposedly build a memorial for the fallen Victor Comstock. Penelope Comminger (Julie Haggarty) of Flowergrams Bouquets was once engaged to Mackie Bloom, but he got cold feet over her wealth and took off. She thinks they marry real people on the air, leading Mackie and Betty to almost go through with their on-air nuptials. 

"Like a Brother" switches the focus to Scott, kindly old go-fer Mr. Eldridge, and silent sound effects man Mr. Foley. Mr. Foley just inadvertently created the laugh track to give Mackie's comedy act a shot in the arm. It turns out to be far more useful than just bolstering Mackie's bad jokes when the new sponsor turns out to be none other than Mr. Foley's loudmouth older brother Blair (Michael Patrick). When even Scott Sherwood is annoyed by a guy, you know he's a jerk. Mr. Eldridge is horrified to see his treatment of his old friend Pepper Carnasie (Eddie Bracken), a former vaudevillian fallen on hard times. After Blair insists on messing with their sounds, Scott, Hilary, and Jeff come up with a way to use the laugh track on the real comedy routine - Blair's puffed-up ideas of himself.

Switched to Match Game Syndicated after dinner. For some reason, Buzzr leaped way ahead to the first episodes of the syndicated run. Brett, Charles, and Gene are joined by glamorous Eva Gabor, goofy male ingenue Bart Braverman, Fannie Flagg, and ever-nervous Bill Daily. Eva's just happy to get a right answer for a change, while Bill chatters on about his bad answers next to her.

Finished the night with The Wild Wild West. Artemis is determined to get to the bottom of "The Night of the Big Blast" when Jim seemingly explodes and kills government officials. He's more than happy to make a trip to New Orleans and flirt with pretty actress Fay Fortune, despite the disapproval of her formidable mother. Turns out that mad scientist Dr. Faustina (Ida Lupino) is furious with the government for ignoring her remarkably human-like robots and intends to use them to kill President Grant...including one that looks like Artemis...