The Town Picnic

Began the morning with breakfast and listening to the Sounds of Vancouver 2010 CD. This was the official release for the Winter Olympics that year, and it actually has some pretty decent material for something I picked up out of the cheap bin at FYE. (It was only $1.99!) "The Closing Ceremony Fanfare," "Olympic Fanfare and Theme," and Entrance of the Athletes" are appropriately stirring. "Let's Have a Party" with Eva Avila, Nikki Yanfosky, and Derek Miller is pure fun, while Neil Young and Nickelback go darker with "Long May You Run" and "Burn It to the Ground." "The Maple Leaf Forever" by Michael Buble is lovely...but the subsequent "Made In Canada" medley drags on forever. Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" is a lot more interesting.

I headed out around quarter of 1. Oaklyn finally had its Town Picnic this afternoon between 12 and 3. There were lots of tables filled with handicrafts from local artists, a DJ playing everything from "Golden" to "Magical Mystery Tour," and a few booths from various Oaklyn municipal facilities. I talked to the teacher at the Oaklyn Education Foundation table. Turns out she had been a pre-school teacher at the Oaklyn School for 8 years. She taught older grades before that, but she enjoyed working with the youngest kids the most. We talked a bit about how much we loved working with the youngest students.

Had lunch next. The Civic Association had tables with free hot dogs, meatball sandwiches, chips, cole slaw, and sodas in the very back of the parking lot between Tonewood Brewery and the school. (Apparently, the burgers weren't ready yet at that point, and the heavy wind knocked the pasta salad over and scattered it on the blacktop.) I had a hot dog, meatballs without the roll, cole slaw, and a Diet Pepsi. The meatballs and hot dogs were honestly pretty good, especially the huge meatballs! Grabbed a chocolate cupcake for dessert. They had tables that let you cover your cupcakes in Halloween sprinkles. There was also free water ice, but the line was so long, I didn't have the time for it.

The strong wind may have driven all of the vendors crazy, but it was useful for me. I helped two of the vendors gather their wares when they were blown over, a lady who made lovely coasters and key chains from yarn embroidery, and a sweet older woman in a wheelchair who sold flowers made from pipe cleaners. I chatted with the lady who sold the yarn items and learned a bit about yarn needlepoint. I've tried crocheting, but I always lose interest because I can never keep count, and my rows always end up uneven. Not to mention, I tend to lose interest before I've barely finished larger projects. I wonder if yarn needlepoint might be a tad easier and quicker to figure out. I bought a colorful yarn key chain for Lauren from the yarn seller and three pipe cleaner flowers for Lauren, Amanda, and me from the older lady.

Work was even less of a problem. We were dead the entire afternoon. It got mildly steady when the Eagles game ended around 4, then went right back to being dead. Everyone was either out enjoying the sunny, warm weather, or attending all the local events like the Town Picnic that were cancelled last week due to the nor'easter. I got in and out with no trouble whatsoever.

(The Eagles had a few more problems with the Minnesota Vikings, but apparently came back in the second half to win the game 28-22.)

Took a shower when I got home, then had dinner and went straight into tonight's Match Game marathon. Three Price Is Right models made appearances on the 1973-1982 run of the show. Janice Pennington and Anitra Ford appeared within a month of each other in 1976. Janice's episodes were just on Buzzr this week, in fact (which may be why the YouTube channel's owner ran this marathon). Sultry Anitra only just passed her episodes for re-runs in 2019...and I'm so glad she did. She had one of the funniest weeks of 1976. Richard Dawson spent the week flirting with a gorgeous blonde contestant who not only kept on winning, but became the biggest winner on the sho up to that point, with over $20,000.

The Barker's Beauty who appeared the most on - and got the most out of - the show was feisty Texan Holly Hallstrom. She was a semi-regular later in the run, starting in 1978 and appearing throughout the syndicated run, long after the show left CBS. Holly became known for either wearing tight tops and outfits like the red and white striped off-the-shoulder dress she sported in 1980, or honoring her Texan heritage with cowboy hats and vests. She was also an ardent feminist (as Bob Barker would discover to his chagrin later), complaining about the chauvinistic ideals of the Bo Derek movie 10 a question joked about. She also got to hear a young man admit that he wasn't too happy with his new marriage, a rarity for game shows, on a PM episode.

Come on down and match with three of the loveliest ladies to model prizes on The Price Is Right! 

Match Game Sunday Classics - Match Game With Barker's Beauties 

Oh, and happy birthday to my best friend Lauren! She made it a girl's day out and went to Crossroads with her former co-workers Heather and Sarena. After the mall, they took her to an Applebee's in the area. (She got a blue drink that admittedly looked pretty tasty.)