Swinging Into the Winds

Began the morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. "Visiting Granpere" is a lot of fun for Daniel as he compares Granpere's lighthouse home to his own and sees what's different and what's the same. He's reluctant to leave his beloved grandparent as "The Tiger Family Goes Back Home." Granpere has one last sunrise surprise in store for his beloved grandson and his family before they return to the Neighborhood of Make Believe.

Moved to packing and making lists of what I need to pack next. I got out my big suitcase and packed everything I could get away with today, including shirts, shorts and capris, socks, underthings, and most of the toiletries. I'll do the rest after I get more chores and errands done tomorrow, including packing my backpack. 

Watched So Dear to My Heart as I worked and did something online. I go further into this charming Disney live-action/animated hybrid with Burl Ives at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Family Fun Musicals - So Dear to My Heart

(Oh, and Musical Dreams Movie Reviews is going on hiatus while I'm on vacation. Reviews will resume October 8th with The Magic of Lassie. I'll be bringing my laptop with me and will continue to update this blog daily.)

Watched a double dose of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while had a simple lunch of apple slices, peanut butter, chicken wrapped in Swiss cheese slices, and Popcorners. "Mickey and Donald Have a Farm," but they don't have animals when the electric windmill blows them away. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy use Mickey's tractor to retrieve the missing animals. "Mickey's Farm Fun Fair" is basically the Clubhouse county fair. Everyone is excited about being able to win a prize at the fair, especially Big Pete. He just can't seem to compete, until he, Chip, and Dale help Donald get down from a tree.

Headed out a little early after I pumped my front bike tire. I have enough to do tomorrow, so I went to WaWa and got my vacation money today. Treated myself to a tasty chocolate banana smoothie, too. WaWa uses real bananas to make their banana smoothies. Yuuum! Sweet, chocolatey, and very banana!

Went straight to Thomas Sharp after I left WaWa and arrived just in time. It's just as well that we only had 16 kids today, 6 at my table. We were down a teacher. One of them took today off. At least we were able to get them outside the moment the finished their snacks. It remains windy and cool, if a little cloudier than yesterday. There was some squabbling on the swings, but at least no one got hurt. (In fact, the girl who got hurt yesterday reported her ear was a little bruised, but not too bad.) We took them inside after an hour to draw and color. I drew a picture of Lauren and me at the Big E to show the kids what I'll be doing next week on vacation.

Took the recycling out when I got home, then watched The Price Is Right. Got there just in time for the Showcases. Today's generic showcase featured lovely bedroom furniture. The "story" Showcase had Ponce De Leon (Johnny Olsen) looking for the Fountain of Youth. What he found were three youthful models, who pointed him towards a trip to Miami, a home fountain, a sauna, and a sports car. For once, the lady bidding on the story Showcase got much closer. She was so happy she won that sports car, she kissed the hood when Bob took her to see it!

Match Game '77 skipped further ahead into the first week of the new year. Crusty Ed Asner joined Brett and Charles, while Richard found himself caught between two pretty comediennes with decided unique answers, Mary Ann Mobley and Patti Deusch. Sweet George was finally defeated by a very nice lady with one of the highest hair do's I'd ever seen.

Finished the night listening to my 40 Walt Disney Originals 2-disc LP set. Considering it was released by British company Pickwick and prominently features songs from the English-set Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, Robin Hood, The Sword In the Stone, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, it's pretty obvious this originally came from England. 

I like it because, as an older release, there's a lot of songs on here that you'd never see on Disney collections nowadays. It includes the four big songs from So Dear to My Heart...but disappointingly, they're all covers. "Lavender Blue" does still sound lovely, but the guy crooning it is no Burl Ives. "It's Whatcha Do With What You Got" isn't bad, but "Stick-It-Tivity" and "County Fair" sound bland. Other lesser-known songs here include "For You, For Always (Maggie's Theme)" from the original Parent Trap, the jaunty ballad "Dream Boy" by Annette Funicello, "How Do You Do?" from Song of the South, and two Oscar nominees, "Love Is a Song" from Bambi and "Tomorrow Is Another Day" from The Rescuers.