Night of the Summertime Ride

Started off the late morning with breakfast and Shirt Tales. "T.J's Visit" wrecks havoc when Tyg's little nephew turns up and causes trouble. He does bond with Kip and convinces her to join him on a hot air balloon. The others go after them when they have no idea how to bring it back. "The Big Set-Up" is the Shirt Tales' attempt to sign Dinkel up for a pen pal dating service. Dinkel is nervous when the lady he's been writing sends a photo of a gorgeous blonde and wants to meet him. He sent her a picture of a handsome movie star. The Shirt Tales try to tone him up and show him how to be more romantic, but it turns out his girlfriend has been doing some fibbing of her own.

Let Tubi continue with the Shirt Tales as I got organized. "Kip's Toy Caper" gets her and Bogey into a heap of trouble after they discover toy shops have been robbed. She follows a remote control teddy bear and finds a robber intends to make them all robots who will steal money and priceless relics for him. The other Shirt Tales try to follow Bogey's broken signal and rescue them. "Dinkel's Gift" is a briefcase the Shirt Tales bought for his surprise birthday party. When the briefcase gets switched with one that holds a top-secret formula, the others have to switch it back while Digger keeps Dinkel busy.

Headed out after the second episode ended. Dropped a few books at the kiosks down the block, then made my way down to Collingswood. Grabbed a Bodyarmor drink at Haddon Culinary before heading across Collingswood to Cooper River Park, then over the bridge to Route 70, or Marlton Pike. It was too nice of a day to drop my bag of donations at the Audubon Goodwill and ride home again. The weather was stunning for mid-July, breezy, sunny, warm but not too hot, slightly humid but nothing overwhelming. There wasn't a cloud to be seen in the soft blue sky that beamed over the waving green Cooper River waters. Lots of people out on bikes or walking their dogs, too, including a lady in a wheelchair. Besides, I hadn't taken my bike over here since the last time I went to this Goodwill in April 2024. 

This time, I rode through the parking lot for the luxury apartments 202 Park before heading across the Marlton Pike to the Goodwill. After I dropped my bag in one of the boxes outside, I took a look around the main store. It's twice the size of the Goodwill in Audubon, but not even as slightly organized as that one. The books, CDs, and DVDs are all lined up or thrown every which way in a wooden bin as you enter. 

I didn't see any clothes I liked this time, but I did pick up a CD, the DVD for the Alfred Hitchcock comedy thriller Family Plot, and a Squishmallow. I've been wanting a stuffed shark since I started working at Thomas Sharp. Their mascot is a shark. Gordon the Shark is apparently one of the original Squishmallows released in 2019 (though the version I found has a 2021 tag). Ironically, Gordon's tag said he's a friendly fellow who loves to help others and wants to start his own nonprofit. So that's what he was doing at Goodwill. He was doing market research!

Oh, and the CD is:

Diana Krall - Quiet Nights

After that, I figured it was time for lunch. I originally rode a few blocks down to Kaighns Avenue. Not only was there not a whole lot there other than a florist and a liquor store, but I didn't feel like dodging traffic further down looking for the Cherry Hill Mall. Went back to the Marlton Pike and rode two blocks in the other direction, finally coming across a small, slightly dilapidated shopping center. Had enormous slices of cheese and Hawaiian (pineapple-ham) pizza at Gaetano's while watching The George Lopez Show. (George's teen daughter ran away with her boyfriend to San Francisco, and he was having nightmares about what she was doing there.) Gaetano's was a pretty typical hole-in-the-wall with Formica tables and counters, but the guy who worked there was really nice, and the pizza delicious, with giant slices and soft crusts.

Continued riding down to WaWa, until I realized that the highways crossed here and I could go no further on my bike. I just turned around, crossed at Goodwill, and headed past 202 Park and back over the bridge to Collingswood. I got turned around in the back roads of Collingswood, but I finally came out at the small park next to Grooveground. They still haven't finished remodeling (I would love to know what's the hold-up there - they started in April 2025), so I ended up at the Candy Jar after I used the library's bathroom. Bought a small bag of mini fruit slices (I usually get them at Peanut World in Atlantic City, which burned down last year) and a cup of Cherry amaretto gelato. Yum! Sweet, refreshing, and very cherry. Returned briefly to Haddon Culinary for a Diet Coke this time before I finally made my way back to Oaklyn.

Rested while watching Enchantment when I got in. This lovely 1948 romance starts with American ambulance driver Grizel Dane (Evelyn Keyes) coming to live with her great-uncle Rollo (David Niven). She falls in love with a handsome pilot (Farley Granger), but waffles on getting closer when he receives his orders and she worries about losing him. Rollo tells her not to give up on love so easily. Flashbacks reveal how he had fallen in love with his sweet cousin Lark (Teresa Wright) 50 years before, only to lose her when his manipulative and spoiled sister Selina (Jayne Meadows) lies about him taking a position overseas and she ends up marrying a Marchese (Sheppherd Strudwick) instead. Rollo never saw her again, and he wouldn't return home while Selina was there. He encourages Grizel to find her love, before she loses him the way he lost Lark. 

This is such a lovely, sweet movie. Though Niven, Keyes, and Wright are all good as the star-crossed lovers and the ambulance driver dealing with her own romance, Meadows steals the movie as the nasty sister who doesn't want to share her power over the household and her brothers with anyone. If you only know Meadows from her work on TV and cartoons, this will certainly be a revelation. Highly recommended for fans of doomed romances and the other fantasy-oriented romances from the mid-40's like The Enchanted Cottage and Portrait of Jennie. 

Switched to Match Game '75 during dinner. The entire two-hour stretch covered the week with Rona Barrett and Clifton Davies. Sweet single middle-aged aunt Dorothy was the big winner that week. Richard and Charles brought her tissues the first time she won. She also got to hear some of the hilarious answers to whom Richard Dawson wouldn't be happy to marry.

Finished the night with The Wild, Wild West. "The Night of the Watery Death" has James West investigating a "dragon" that somehow managed to blow up the ship he was on, and the mermaid at the bar (Jocelyn Lane) who led him there. Artie is pretty much the only person who believes him. Turns out it's a plot by a crazed sea-loving French nobleman (John van Dreelen) to destroy the US Navy and create his own country under the Pacific Ocean. 

Oh, and here's the review of the live-action Moana that I saw on Tuesday!

Moana

Let's Go to the Mall

Got a quick start this morning. I grabbed breakfast, then called Uber. I had a longer trip planned for us today. Fortunately, I had no trouble whatsoever getting a driver. The woman taking us to the Deptford Mall arrived in 10 minutes. The man going home came in 3! There was no traffic either way, not even on the highways. Everyone must be at the Shore. We got to the Round 1 at Deptford within 15 minutes

Wanted to get Round 1 in before we were hauling around a lot of packages. I had even more fun today than in Philly yesterday! I spent almost an hour and a half running from Bust-a-Move to skee ball to Centipede Chaos to giant Pac Man to ring toss. Got Princess Peach on Mario Kart and came in second on the Bowser's Castle course. No luck on the big cranes, but I did get a mini Pooh Tsum Tsum (cylindrical Disney character stuffed animal) from one of the small cranes. I got over 3,500 points, enough for a well-made denim tote bag with a smiling plush strawberry on the front pocket and another Beanie Baby, a fluffy pink cat named Lady. Lauren had more luck with the cranes and managed to get two (one for a co-worker), plus her own mini Tigger Tsum Tsum.

We briefly peeked at FYE on our way across the mall. Lauren didn't get anything this time. I grabbed a used copy of the complete series for the short-lived Bird of Prey TV show from 2002 for $5.99. I figured, I have the first two seasons of the Supergirl show. Why not give Batgirl equal time? 

Red Robin isn't far from FYE, so we had lunch there. They were pretty busy for just after 1 PM when we arrived. I had their new Crispy Fish Sandwich with pickles and cabbage slaw, fries, and a dirty coconut soda. Lauren had a berry lemonade with their new crispy chicken sandwich with hot sauce and broccoli. She said the chicken sandwich was really good, and the hot sauce added just the right zing. My fish sandwich was yummy. The fish was huge, and the cabbage slaw complimented it nicely. The coconut soda was really good, too, and I love their big salty steak fries.

We were in and out of stores for the next two hours. Lauren didn't find anything at Boscov's. I finally got a pair of Clarks' "Cloudsteppers" walking sandals there for $44. The pair I bought last year were falling apart (wearing them in torrential downpours twice last week didn't help). I got the exact same pair in beige, and they're just as comfortable this year. We both looked around Toys R' Us but didn't get anything. Lauren found a Harmony Bear Care Bear with her original triple-heart tummy symbol at Miniso. 

She got shirts at Macy's and used the bathroom at JC Penney. I didn't bother with Macy's (I rarely find anything there) and went to the bathroom at JC Penney's, then picked up a coral t-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts to replace the pair that's starting to go in the thighs. Lauren got three shirts and sweaters off BoxLunch's clearance rack, including a Garfield sweater I couldn't find in my size. I did get a cute Strawberry Shortcake/My Melody t-shirt and a Hello Kitty and Friends computer pad (my blue computer pad had drink rings and was curling at the edges) from the clearance rack for buy one, get one half-off, along with a Sailor Jupiter pen. 

After we finished at BoxLunch, we figured it was time to warm up a bit and headed across the street to Barnes and Noble, past Aldi's, the Tractor Supply Company, and the new breakfast restaurant. (They're still working on Nordstrom Rack.) Lauren went to Old Navy, but had no luck. I finally found the new Shady Hollow mystery Mockingbird Court by Juneau Black (I've been waiting for more Shady Hollow mysteries!) and two Disney soundtracks on record, Cars (in a nifty picture disc) and the brand-new live-action Moana. (I also picked up an adult version of Wizard of Oz called West of Wicked, but...um...paging through it later in the evening revealed that it's overly violent and a bit too adult for me. It'll go to Goodwill or one of the kiosks. Considering this is the second time in six months I grabbed what sounded like a romantic adult retelling of a classic story that got too adult, I really need to take a better look at these books before I buy them if I'm not familiar with the author.) 

I met Lauren around quarter of 6, and we went across the street to Red Lobster for dinner. I'm so glad the Red Lobsters in my area are still open! We had an absolutely delicious seafood dinner. I had shrimp scampi, shrimp Alfredo, and broccoli...and there was so much, I didn't finish the Alfredo. Lauren had scampi, Alfredo, fried popcorn shrimp, and fries, and she ate everything but the fries! Even with us having two cheddar biscuits each, we still had three to bring home for later in the week.

Took out the trash when I got home, then went straight in the shower. I finished the night watching American game shows that were adopted in Canada in honor of Family Feud Canada running on Buzzr. To be fair, most Canadian adaptations of American shows are pretty close to the originals. Those who are offended by the Steve Harvey Feud here in the US may prefer the Canadian version hosted by comedian Gary Dee, which has an identical set and somewhat less naughty questions. The 90's Canadian Supermarket Sweep also resembled its American counterpart, with a slightly different set, different-colored sweaters for the teams, and a much cuter host, Tino Monte (who also wore ugly ties). 

For some reason, the English-language Canadian version of Match Game in 2012 used the 1990-91 version, up to and including the Match-Up round (only one per show here) and Star Wheel, as its basis. Otherwise, it's just as funny as its American counterpart later in the decade, and only slightly less raunchy. Darrin Rose was the host. Caroline Rhea, who anchors the panel here, would later turn up in the 2016-2029 ABC show as well.

The Canadians have been adapting our shows since at least the 60's. Their Beat the Clock from 1970 originally featured American Jack Narz as the host, until he got tired of communing. Announcer Gene Wood took over from him, the only time he'd get to host a show. This is also the only version of Beat the Clock to have celebrities helping out with the stunts (rather than playing the game). Narz's little brother Tom Kennedy is the celebrity in the episode I have here. 

They occasionally adapted shows that didn't go over well north of the border. Pay Cards ran on syndication in 1968 and 1969, but it was never wildly popular. Canada tried it twice on their own version of syndication. It went over better in its original version from 1973 to 1975 than as the revamped Super Pay Cards! from 1981, which is what I have here. 

Monty Hall, himself Canadian, struck out with game shows in his native land. His 1980-1981 version of Let's Make a Deal ran into the same problem that the more lavish Pitfall with Alex Trebek did around the same time. The production company went belly up after a year, and he never did get paid. He did slightly better with a revival of Split Second. It too only ran a year, but at least there was no chicanery and everyone got their money and prizes. 

Take a summertime trip to visit our neighbors in the north with these delights from the land of hockey, comedy, and some pretty funny Feuds!

Beat the Clock (1970)

Let's Make a Deal (1981)

Super Pay Cards! (1981)

Split Second (1986)

Supermarket Sweep (1992)

Match Game (2012)

Family Feud Canada (2024)

Cherry Hill Park

I slept in...and actually slept this time. I didn't get to calling Uber until past 12:30. The driver going to the Cherry Hill Library arrived within 8 minutes, not bad for rush hour. We did hit a little traffic in Haddonfield, but still arrived at the Cherry Hill Library in less than 20 minutes.

The Cherry Hill Library is the biggest library in the Camden County area, and it has the largest remaining book sale. They didn't have records this time around, but there were plenty of CDs, children's books, adult books, and tons of DVDs! Lauren bought four classical and instrumental CDs for her father. The children's book section was too noisy and busy for me to find anything there, but I had more luck with the other sections. I got the cozy mystery Stranger In the Looking Glass by Jan Fields, Fletch Lives on DVD, and four CDs:

Hot! Hot! Hot! - Pier 1 Imports collection of tropical-themed songs from 2002

Jimmy Durante - As Time Goes By: The Best of Jimmy Durante

The Rolling Stones - Rewind

20 #1 Hits of the 20's (They had CDs for the 30's, 50's, and 60's too, but I figured this had the rarest songs.)

After we finished, we got soda from the vending machine in the cafe area, then went next-door to Casa Puebla. This Mexican restaurant is so local, it's in a normal residential house. It was surprisingly busy for 1:30 when we arrived with families and local workers looking for tacos and burgers. Lauren had fried pork tacos for lunch. I had an enormous and very tasty chicken burrito with tons of Spanish rice. That huge burrito filled me up so much, I barely had room for a cup of pineapple water ice. Lauren went with a non-alcoholic Pina colada. It came in a hollowed-out pineapple, topped with pineapple rings, whipped topping, a cherry, and one of those little paper Japanese umbrellas. And yes, she drank the whole thing and loved it.

It was cloudy, killer humid, and relatively cool as we made our way down King's Highway, probably in the lower 80's. Big fat drops started splashing down when we were less than a block from Lucky Strike. Thankfully, we made it there just as the shower was getting heavier. 

Lucky Strike (formerly The Big Event) has been Cherry Hill's premiere bowling alley for over 60 years. As you can guess on a day with such nasty weather, it was busy with families, college students, and couples on dates. Lauren and I played three games. To be honest, neither of us are very good. Lauren won all of the games and got the highest score at 73...but I'm the only one who got two strikes in the second and third games. (We also got to see more World Cup games on the monitors, along with golf. Research later revealed that Spain beat Belgium 2 to 1.)

Lucky Strike also has a small arcade in the back. It doesn't have as many games as Round 1 or Dave & Buster's, but it's cheaper and the games use far less points. Lauren and I spent the next 40 minutes or so running from Nerf Arcade to Lane Master bowling to the cranes to the basketball games. I came up with over 2,800 points...but there was no one at the prizes counter. I saw a sign that said you had to go get the lady at the front desk if you wanted something. It was already pretty late. I decided to save my points for another time.

Thankfully, the rain was long gone by the time I called Uber. It was slightly sunnier, if still very humid. The driver arrived in 9 minutes and got us to Ollie's in less than 10. I'm glad he took the longer route down Clements Bridge Road. I got to point out Sussex House, the Playa Del Sol, Jefferson Health, the pizza place, and the dessert bar to Lauren.

People who only shop at the Cherry Hill Mall and don't check out the other stores next to it and in back of it on Church Road are really missing something. The Ollie's is huge, stuffed full of all kinds of books, discontinued food, and other great random junk. Lauren bought bags of candy and trail mix. I got The Peanuts Lunch Box Cookbook, recipes intended for lunches and kid-friendly snacks, based on (and showing the) original comic strips.

Led Lauren a block down to the brand-new Red, White, and Thrift that opened in March. This good-sized store used to be a Big Lots, meaning it had plenty of room for clothes, home goods, toys, and media. I found one paperback mystery, Murder of a Snake In the Grass by Denise Swanson, a pair of Faded Glory jean shorts (haven't seen that brand in years), and one CD, the second American Musical Theater Smithsonian collection. My best find here was a fluffy stuffed Share Bear. She looks like the design from the 2002 run - she has lighter lavender fur, her eyes are more like the originals, and she has her original soda with two straws tummy symbol. Lauren came up with more workout shorts.

IHOP is almost directly across from Ollie's, so we went there for dinner next. The only other people in the place when we came in was a dad and his two lively daughters. I had yummy strawberry banana pancakes, scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, and hash browns I didn't have the room to finish. (Oh, and I appreciate that IHOP's pancakes aren't the size of the plate. They're a lot easier to eat in one sitting.) Lauren had a massive spinach and mushroom omelet topped with cheddar cheese and salsa and said it was amazing. I had an iced tea. Lauren had a vanilla coffee latte that she said was more like a vanilla milkshake with a little coffee flavor. It was just picking up when we headed out. 

Our final stop of the day was 2A Thrift at the Cherry Hill Plaza next-door to the Cherry Hill Mall. Thank heavens they finally finished remodeling the exterior! We had no problems getting inside. I found the movies Enchantment and Buck Privates on DVD (I've been looking for Buck Privates - I have its sequel, Buck Privates Come Home, but I've never been able to find the original), a sleeveless blouse with a beautiful stained glass-like leaf design, a K-Tel record collection Images, and the CD Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook. Lauren picked up a few tank tops for working out.

With the construction ended, we could call Uber right from 2A Thrift. The driver arrived in 15 minutes just as the sun went down. He had to take an alternate route because of an accident on the turn-off to Cuthbert Road, but we still got home in 15 minutes.

I finished the night after a shower with Beauty and the Beast on YouTube. From what little I can gather online, this Ruby-Spears animated special is from 1983 and was made for something called Kenner Family Classics. I never heard of it, but I wish I had. It honestly follows the Perrault version pretty well. It's one of the few animated retellings of the original story I've seen to include Beauty's brothers (who love her and make a misguided attempt to rescue her from the Beast) as well as her spoiled sisters and where her father doesn't mind her being with the Beast as long as it makes her happy. Considering the prince is turned into a Beast for turning a fairy away, I can't help but wonder if someone at Disney saw this version before they made theirs. 

Oh, and I got my schedule while watching YouTube. To my surprise, I have no schedule. I'm off Saturday along with the rest of my second vacation week. I wasn't expecting that! Either the head bagger came back, or they corralled enough college boys to not need me that day. I'll go to the farm market...then probably spend the rest of the day watching movies or napping. 

Sunny Afternoon

We were up so late, I grabbed a really quick breakfast and called Uber the moment we were both ready. The lady arrived in 8 minutes, not bad for quarter after 11. We arrived at Abbie Road in Mt. Ephraim in a little over 5 minutes.

Abbie Road is a wonderful record/CD store on King's Highway in Mt. Ephraim. Lauren and I have been friends with Bob, the kindly, grizzled older owner, for years. He greeted us warmly with hugs and asked us how we'd been. I've been buying media from him since I moved here in 2006 and he was still in Collingswood. He always gives us the best deals. His store is one large room filled to the ceiling with shelves and shelves of CDs, records, and music DVDs. Lauren found five CDs, including a rare Micky Dolenz singles set, the That Was Then, This Is Now Monkees greatest hits collection, and a 2-disc Elvis set. I only got one record, but he was having such good CD sales, especially on jazz titles, I ended up with 13 CDs. The one record was the soundtrack from Murder By Death (another movie I didn't know had a soundtrack). The CDs were:

The cast album for the 2011 Broadway revival of How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying with Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette 

Top TV Hits, a 1995 2-disc Entertainment Weekly collection of TV theme songs 

Soundtracks from Casablanca and Batman Forever

Rhythm of the Pridelands, a 1995 CD of African-style music "inspired by" The Lion King (I've had the cassette version since it came out - I didn't think there was a CD.)

Songs That Got Us Through World War II, collection of hits from the early 40's

Eartha Kitt - "Miss Kitt," To You

Julie London - The Unforgettable Julie London

Miles Davis - Porgy & Bess and Doo-Bop

John Coltrane - Giant Steps

Dave Brubeck - Jazz Impressions of Japan and Quiet As the Moon (The latter is the soundtrack from an episode of the Peanuts series This Is America, Charlie Brown.) 

By 12:30, our stomachs were starting to rumble. It was time for lunch. Neither of us felt like waiting that long, so we just got pizza at Tony Roni's on the corner of King's Highway and the Black Horse Pike a couple of blocks down from Abbie Road. Lauren had pepperoni and a square slice of cheese. I had the regular triangular cheese and a "supreme" - basil, tomato, mozzarella, and very small pepperoni slices. She got a Diet Pepsi. I had an iced tea. We timed things right, too. We'd just started on our pizzas when a line of big men in hard hats and bright yellow road construction vests came in to order lunch. 

Though it was much hotter than it has been, probably in the mid-80's, sunny, and thickly humid, it was still nice enough for a walk down the Black Horse Pike to the Audubon Crossings Shopping Center. We started off at Goodwill. Lauren didn't get anything here, but I found the James Cagney gangster drama White Heat still in its plastic and AM Gold 1969, a collection of hit songs from the year in question that includes "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" by BJ Thomas, "These Eyes" by the Guess Who, "Someday We'll Be Together" by the Supremes, and "Put a Little Love In Your Heart" by Jackie DeShannon. 

We were in and out of stores for the next hour or so. Lauren bought candy at Five Below and Marshalls. I got nice illustration markers and glitter markers for a friend's teen daughter at Five Below and mini coconut patties at Marshalls. I never do well at Ross, but Lauren picked up two pairs of shorts. She got energy drinks that were 2 for 5 at the Acme. I got the Powerade Water that's on sale for 99 cents and had an online coupon for the Xochital blue corn chips. 

Took another long walk after we left Acme, this time down the Black Horse Pike and Kendall Boulevard into Oaklyn. After all that walking, we needed a stop at Common Grounds Coffee Shop. Thankfully, they were less busy than they tend to be earlier in the day. We had no trouble getting a seat while Lauren had a root beer coffee float (she said it was delicious - really tasted like root beer and coffee) and a cannolli (which she also liked). I had a slice of my favorite crumb cake and strawberry shortcake crusher. I didn't realize it had coffee in it. Oh well. I could use the caffeine (even though it did give me heartburn later). 

The Score Records is directly across the street from Common Grounds. I've been dying to show this place to Lauren ever since it opened last August. In addition to records, CDs, and DVDs, it also sells stickers, pins, motel-style keychains with funny sayings, t-shirts, local art, and mini album covers on refrigerator magnets. The owner is also a total sweetheart. Lauren grabbed two pins, three keychains, and a Weird All Even Worse magnet. I found two records and a CD. The CD was Madonna's Something To Remember. The two records were:

Fire Into Music, a jazz/funk collection

The Commodores - Nightshift

After we finally got home, we rested for about an hour and a half before heading back out to get dinner. We weren't up for much more than picking up sandwiches at a quiet Crown Chicken and Gyro. Lauren got a kebobs gyro. I had a chicken sandwich that was amazing, perfectly fried and juicy. We both had their tasty thin greasy-dry fries. She got a Diet Coke. I had a citrus diet green tea that was so good, I wish I asked the girl at the counter where they got it from.

I had Match Game '75 on before and after we went to get dinner. Most of the night finished off the week with Joan Collins and Scoey Mitchelll. Spencer for Hire and Vega$ star Robert Urich and soap sweetheart Jamie Lyn Bauer appeared next week...much to Brett's delight when she got to give Urich his welcome to the show kiss!

Finished the night with Paw Patrol. Snooty Winnie Winnington thinks the jumping contest is for her horse Felicia. She has to drive into the swamp when Mayor Goodway tells her it's a frog jumping contest. "Pups Save a Show Jumper" when Winnie's van and Felicia's truck get stuck in the bog and Chase and Rubble have to pull them out. "Pups Save the Salmon" who can't get around a beaver dam to the ocean. Skye also has to rescue Alex from being stuck in the logs on the dam. 

Spring at the Library

Began the day with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. "Daniel Explores Nature" when he and his family have a picnic outside and see cardinals building their nest. "Daniel's Nature Walk" shows Dan, O the Owl, and his uncle X all the wonders of nature in the rain as they go for a stroll outside.

Called Uber after the cartoon ended. To my surprise, the car going to the Cherry Hill Library arrived in 5 minutes. It only took 7 minutes going home. There was a little traffic on Cuthbert going home, but otherwise, it wasn't bad.

Today was the start of the first Cherry Hill Library book sale of the year. The basement level was bursting with boxes of DVDs, CDs, and records, the meeting room had humor books and children's literature, and the larger meeting room had the adult literature and non-fiction. No record finds this time around, but I did pick up four books, five CDs (one a two-disc set), and two DVD sets. The DVD sets were:

The Adventures of Superman: Seasons 3 and 4

The Best of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Volume 2

The CDs were:

Springtime Favorites - A Disney Easter and spring-themed kids' album from 1999 

James Taylor - The Best of James Taylor

Hall & Oates - Greatest Hits: Rock N' Soul Part I

The original Broadway cast albums for The Color Purple and Sunset Boulevard (I had Boulevard on cassette in the early 90's, but I got rid of it ages ago.) 

The books were:

The White Lady by Jacqueline Windspear

Miracle On 34th Street by Valentine Davies 

Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book by Gerald Jones (I think I've taken this one out of the Haddon Township Library before, but it's been a while.)

American Cooking: The Eastern Heartland (They had all of the early 70's Time-Life cookbooks, including the ones for French, Japanese, and Chinese cooking. I went with the one closest to home, so to speak.)

(At least I didn't argue over whether they could just buy CD cases, like one guy did. If my haul seems big, there were people buying dozens of CDs to sell on line and piles and piles of books for their friends who owned a store to sell.)

Put on The Pirates of Dark Water and had a quick leftover pizza lunch after I got home. "Panacea" is the land where the next treasure can be found, but it's guarded by an enormous crustacean. There's a certain flower that can heal most people, but kill the monster. A shady "bio-transmuter" who combines animals into new species offers a small half-fish, half-mammal to be their guide to finding the flower. The little fellow is annoying, sarcastic, and offends everyone, until Ren figures out what he really wants.

Headed to the Thomas Sharp School after the cartoon ended. I forgot that today is also Take Your Child to Work Day. Most of the kids went to work with their parents. We had 16 younger children, 5 at my table. The kids wouldn't help clean up, and they were noisy in the bathroom...and noisier in the cafeteria after snack! The head teacher finally put on a video about making a "cake" from rainbow slime to distract them from the daughter of one of those working mothers who was watching movies on her iPad.

By the time we got them outside, we were down to 10 kids. Those that remained were allowed to go on the swings from the outset. Despite some squabbling, I did enjoy pushing them. As I pointed out, Moana and her crew couldn't have been more right. What could be better than a perfectly sunny, gorgeous, breezy April day in the lower 70's, not too hot or cold? The kids danced to "I Like to Move It," "Pink Pony Club," "Try Everything" from Zootopia, "Zoo" from Zootopia 2, "Pup Pup Boogie" from Paw Patrol, the theme from Bluey, and songs from Moana and Moana 2 when they weren't drawing with chalk or arguing over the swings. The head teacher was just moving the remaining 3 kids to the blacktop to play with the 6 remaining older kids as I left. 

Made a quick stop at CVS on the way home. In addition to a pit stop, the Native shampoo and conditioner I bought still isn't helping my itchy perimenopause scalp. I hope the CereVe works better.

Had dinner and watched Daddy Long Legs when I got in. I go further into this charming 1955 dance musical with Leslie Caron and Fred Astaire at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Daddy Long Legs (1955)

Finished the night with the second disc from the Pisces, Aquarius Monkees set. Truth be told, there's far less of interest here. There's a few songs on the original mono album that sound slightly different from their stereo counterparts, notably the addition of Mike's patter on "Salesman." Most of the other songs are remixes of ones that are already on the album or been heard elsewhere. We do get the unedited version of "Goin' Down" used on the TV show and some alternate vocals for "Door Into Summer." 

Birthday Lady's Blues

Began my birthday with breakfast and The Yogi Bear Show. Kellogg's wants "Yogi's Birthday Party" to be a huge TV special with all his friends. Ranger Smith tells Yogi it's going to be one of the variety specials that were popular in the 60's and 70's. Yogi takes lessons (from thinly veiled spoofs of then-popular entertainers), but takes off when he discovers he's not more talented than the average bear. It takes a picnic basket to lure him back and reveal it's a show with all the Hanna-Barbara funny animals who had been created up to the early 60's.

Switched to Paw Patrol while making the bed (and removing several blankets it's now too hot for). "The Pups' Great Race" will be all around Adventure Bay. They're sure one of them will win...but when they're called to rescue Mayor Goodway after her hot air balloon flies away, it's Alex on his trike who proves slow and steady does win the race. "The Pups Take the Cake" when they help Mr. Porter replace the cake he burned and make the perfect edible recreation of their Lookout Tower that will beat Mayor Humdinger's entry in the Tall Cake Contest.

Headed out after the cartoon ended. Originally, my first stop was Peak Secondhand, a new thrift shop in Audubon, but I forgot they don't open until noon on Tuesdays. I was there a little after 11. I didn't want to hang around, so I dodged traffic going across Audubon and down Nicholson and Cuthbert to Westmont. At least it was a nice day for a ride. It was sunny, breezy, and humid even at 11:30, already in the upper 70's-lower 80's. 

When I got into Westmont, I first went across the street to Samaritan Thrift, but they didn't have anything that interested me. Stopped at Koupa Espresso Bar for an iced drink when I went back across Haddon Avenue. Had a Chai Cherry Latte. Oooh, spicy and very sweet...and very cherry! I downed that pretty fast. They were pretty busy for almost noon, mainly with people getting drinks and reading their phones.

Phidelity Records down the block had a lot more of interest. In fact, I found two out of four of what I picked up right away in the New Arrivals bins. The others came out of the $2 bins or were in CDs and DVDs: 

Bette Midler - Broken Blossoms (Which it turns out I already have - I'll donate it to Goodwill.)

The 1977 K-Tel collection Stars

A Peter Pan Superman book and record set from 1978 with the stories "The Myzptlk-Up Menace" and "Alien Creatures"

The Who - Hooligans (2-disc greatest hits collection)

The one CD was Carole King's Greatest Hits. (Which I also already have and will also be donated.)

The DVD was the 1959 Lil' Abner, which means yes, I'll be reviewing that on the Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog sometime in the next few months. I've had the original cast album since college, but I haven't seen the movie.

Rode down to Collingwood for lunch. Made up for the line at Sabrina's Cafe on Easter by having them for my birthday...and boy, am I glad I did! The lemon-raspberry poppyseed pancakes off their seasonal menu were incredible, soft and swirled with raspberry lemon cream. The turkey bacon was a little more limp than the Westmont's thick bacon...but probably a lot better for me. I washed it down with a tart (and much-needed) lemonade. They were busy, but not so much that I couldn't get a table in the back.

Walked around in Collingswood for a little while after I ate. I didn't linger too long here. Not only was it past 1 PM, but a lot of Collingswood stores are closed on Tuesday. Collingswood is holding their big Green Festival on Saturday, too, and it's also Record Store Day. I'll hold off on Innergroove until Saturday, but I did pick up a few things from Collingswood Music:

Two vintage children's albums, Strawberry Shortcake's Exercise and Fun Album and Sesame Street Happy Birthday! (Not only did the Sesame Street album have the wrong record in it, but it was badly scratched. It goes in the donation bags.)

Beach Boys - Smile (I think it's a bootleg, but it has two of the Beach Boys' best songs, "Heroes and Villains" and "Good Vibrations.")

I heard my phone go off when I was in Collingswood Music. I called it back when I got outside. It was Allyssa from Camden County, telling me she was having trouble getting me through that loan. They don't count the Healthy Kids job because I've been there slightly less than a year, and I don't make enough at the Acme job to pay for a loan. That really hurt. I assumed that getting a second job, and one that I loved, would be enough. I feel like nothing I do will ever be enough for these people. She said she'd keep trying, but I was bitterly disappointed when I headed across the street and back to my bike. It was late, and I had to dodge kids coming out of Collingswood High School. I ended up being five minutes late to Thomas Sharp.

I felt much better when I arrived and got settled in with the kids. I had many happy birthday greetings, from kids and adults. One cherubic little miss gave me a bag with candy, a fruit bar (which I appreciated - I forgot a snack), rubber bracelets, and a card she drew herself of her and me together. (I think her parents wrote "Happy Birthday." They have very nice printing.) Later on, one of the boys gave me his own artwork. 

We started off in the library due to the music class taking place in the cafeteria. I'm glad I took my 10 kids to the bathroom first. They were all antsy, though they generally weren't that rowdy. They were better once they had their snacks and a lot of water. We waited a little while until the big kids were outside before we took the little ones out. It was beautiful, but so hot! Most of them either looked for ants or people walking dogs under the big shady trees or hung out in the shade of the slide equipment. Those who ventured into the sun danced to "Sharks In the Water," "The Big Pink Tiger," the theme from Bluey, "Try Everything" from Zootopia, "Zoo" from Zootopia 2, "Pink Pony Club," and songs from Moana 2 and KPop Demon Hunters.

Jessa's car has a bike rack, so she said she would pick me and my bike up at the school. What she didn't add was Mike was with her again. I was once again very disappointed. I was hoping we could spend time together on my birthday. Don't get me wrong, Mike is a nice guy. He's funny and he tells good stories...but I was hoping it could be just the two of us. He did pay for dinner at Carraba's Italian Grill in Maple Shade, which was pretty pricey. I had ravioli stuffed with chicken, spinach, and cheese. Jessa had grilled chicken in a wine sauce with broccoli and mashed potatoes. Mike had chicken Parmesan with mashed potatoes. We all had salads. They had Caesar. I had the "house," lettuce, carrots, and red cabbage in a creamy dressing (with olives and banana peppers that I picked out). I had a tasty peach-blackberry fold over tart for dessert.

Finished the night listening to old favorites from my childhood and teen years. I've had The Wild, the Innocent, and the E-Street Shuffle on CD for so long, I forget when I got it now. I think Mom may have had the LP when I was a kid. This and Greetings from Asbury Park always hit the hardest of Bruce Springsteen's albums because...what he's describing was my world, from the time I was born through my college years. "The E-Street Shuffle," "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)," "Incident on 57th Street," "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"...that's the Jersey Shore I remember. There's a reason Springsteen is called "the Boss" in his native New Jersey. Even though he's from further north (and I believe still lives up there) and Cape May and Wildwood were in largely better shape than Asbury Park in the 70's and 80's, it still sounds and practically smells like my childhood and adolescent memories.

Elton John's Greatest Hits Vol. III features the John songs I grew up with. "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" and "Little Jeannie" used to play constantly on the jukebox at the Ugly Mug in Cape May during the 80's. "Mama Can't Buy You Love," "Sad Song (Say So Much)," "Empty Garden," and "Blue Eyes" were heard constantly on the radio. I think it's hilarious that the kids seem to have fallen in love with Taran Egerton's recording of "I'm Still Standing," given that came out around the time I was their age and I loved it just as much. 

Someone to Watch Over Me

Began the morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. We're not the only ones getting hit with winter weather. "The Neighborhood Snowstorm" is so bad, the children at school are sent home early. Daniel is upset when the heat dies and a pipe breaks, flooding his room and ruining his Tigey the Adventure Tiger books. He and Margaret stay with Jodie and her family and have hot soup until the Tiger parents come back for them.

Switched to Remember WENN while making the bed and doing chores. Hilary and Jeff are "Strange Bedfellows" when Scott encourages them to join opposite parties in the race for Pittsburgh's city council. They spend Scott's big debate arguing until Betty brings in a third candidate, a folksy former baseball player who reminds them that politics takes more than pretty speeches or claims. It requires real dedication to local needs, no matter how seemingly trivial.

The staff learns more about each other than they probably wanted to when they're quarantined after sound effects man Mr. Foley (Tom Beckett) comes down with a mysterious rash. The "Close Quarters" is fun at first, with Hilary's attempt at dinner, dancing afterwards, and Hilary revealing that Jeff didn't handle his time in England as well as it appears. As the weeks drag on, the cast begins to get on each other's nerves...until the doctor reveals he was totally wrong about his diagnosis.

Hurried out even before the second episode ended to bring out the recycling. Jessa picked me up 10 minutes later. I would have been happier about her boyfriend Mike tagging along if she'd told me he was coming. I had no idea. She hadn't mentioned him when I texted her and asked her to eat out on Monday instead of Tuesday. I felt like the third wheel all day.

At least he paid for our brunch at the Turning Point. This small but popular breakfast eatery on Haddonfield Road in Cherry Hill was so busy when we arrived, we had to wait for 25 minutes for a table to be ready. At least we got a rather nice corner table when we did get seated. I kept things simple with their "breakfast combo," two eggs, two pieces of meat (I went with bacon), two pancakes, and greens with citrus dressing. I really liked the option of the greens instead of potatoes. It made a large, heavy meal much lighter. Mike had a mushroom omelet. Jessa had eggs in a spicy tomato sauce with vegetables. 

My original thoughts for today were the American History museum in Deptford or one of the libraries, but it's a holiday, and the museum is only open on weekends. Jessa loves thrift shops, and I hadn't been to the Moorestown Mall last month when I was off, so I suggested the Goodwill and Barnes and Noble there. I don't think they were very interested in either. I did find five DVDs from Kino Video on the earliest movies, including The Great Train Robbery and the fantasy films of Georges Melies, The Essential Rosemary Clooney on CD (still in its original plastic!), and a cute Hershey's Special Dark coffee mug. 

They mostly just wandered around the busy Barnes and Noble. I hit the jackpot. Selected hardbacks were half-price. I picked up The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst. Found Bewitched and Betrothed by Sarah Blackwell with the mass-market mysteries. The three-disc CD Legacy Collection of music from the Disney Parks over the years was 40 percent off. Dug two records out of their large and extensive music and DVD area:

The Rolling Stones - Flowers 

Blossom Dearie - Great Women of Song (Fabulous collection that includes my favorite song from her, "They Say It's Spring," plus several songs in French. Amazon indicates there's a lot more of these collections for ladies like Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Shirley Horn, Peggy Lee, and Helen Merrill - I'll have to look for them.)

I was hoping we could hit the Moorestown Mall proper after that, but it was getting late, and they hadn't been all that interested in Barnes and Noble, so we just went home. I don't know why Mike didn't go back the same way he came. He took the traffic-laden highway, then somehow ended up in the Fairview section of Camden. That was nerve-wracking. He claims it's been cleaned up since he worked there in the early 2000's, but still, it's Camden. 

Finished out "Close Quarters" when I got home, then had dinner and watched Match Game Syndicated. I picked up with the week with lovely Lee Merriweather and Fannie Flagg sitting up front. One of the contestants came back because, cute as their kick line to explain the Rockettes to the other contestant was, the producers thought it did give her and unfair advantage. Fannie stuck around for the next week, this time joined by Dolly Martin and Robert Pine.

Listened to the Blossom Dearie LP after a shower. Dearie is best-known to my generation for introducing several songs in Schoolhouse Rock, including "Unpack Your Adjectives" and the lovely "Figure Eight." She was a popular jazz vocalist long before she did that series. In addition to "They Say It's Spring," we had her charming covers of the standards "'Deed I Do," "Tea for Two," "Someone to Watch Over Me," and "If I Were a Bell."

Finished the night at YouTube for mystery game shows. Some of the earliest game shows on TV were based around crime solving. Armchair Detective from 1949 is one of the earliest surviving TV game shows. The host and a contestant watch two short murder mystery skits and try to figure out "who done it" from the clues given. Sounds simple, but honestly, it's rather interesting, and the skits were well-acted.

Mysteries seemed to go over better in England, the land of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, than here in the US. Whodunnit was a long-running ITV show that basically ran on the same premise, with one full, layered mystery and a celebrity panel trying to solve it. "Happy New Year" from the end of the first season has an elderly millionaire in 1899 bitten by a snake in his safe and given a half-hour to let his family find out who had it in for him. No wonder this was a six-year hit in the 70's and is one of the few British game shows of its era to exist in full. The mysteries are twisty and interesting to watch, and it's fun to see the panel try to figure them out.

Cluedo from the early 90's is almost exactly the same deal with Clue characters instead of historical ones. Once again, a celebrity panel tries to solve a mystery seen as a series of skits. It's played like the board game, with the weapon, the room, and the suspect showing up in computer-generated "cards" onscreen. I'm absolutely going to have to check out more from both of these series. They're a heck of a lot of fun to watch. (I'm surprised they haven't tried something similar over here. We do have Clue in the US too.)

Modern mystery games come closer to police procedural programs like NCIS. Murder In Small Town X from 2001 has ten contestants playing detectives searching for clues to a murder in a fictional small town. At the end of the episode, two contestants are led to two different locations. One finds another clue. The other "dies" and is off the show. Fascinating if you're a fan of police shows and can handle the graphic nature of of the "killings." (Incidentally, the guy who won was a Bronx firefighter who died responding to the Twin Towers collapse later in 2001. There's a statue dedicated to his memory in the town where this was filmed.)

Streaming has gotten in on the murder mystery games, too. Escape the Night was one of the most popular shows on YouTube TV from 2016 to 2019. "The Savant" Joey Graceffa invites ten internet personalities to play types from the historical era of a house he supposedly inherited (in this case, the 20's) to see if they can find the objects needed to banish dark forces from the estate. If the end of the first episode is any indication, this one tips into horror turf, with dark rituals and demonic monsters. It was popular enough for Scarfetta to move it to Tubi and continue it as a miniseries last year.

Solve crimes in the US and England in these delightfully twisty and macabre murder games! 

Armchair Detectives (1949)

Whodunnit? (1973)

Cluedo (1992)

Murder In Small Town X (2001)

Escape the Night (2016) 

Night of the Beautiful Noise

Got a very quick start with a granola bar and Supermarket Sweep on Buzzr. They were just starting the bonus round when I turned the TV on. I stayed for the first half of the next episode before calling Uber around 11. They arrived in 4 minutes, which I very much appreciated, and got me to the Silver Diner in 20 minutes.

I was originally going to eat at IHOP, but the Silver Diner is closer to the Cherry Hill 24 AMC Theater. I had two huge pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and a tiny cup of sliced strawberries and a mint leaf. Disappointing for the Silver Diner. Their pancakes are usually really good, but the plain ones were a bit dry until I drizzled syrup on them. The scrambled eggs were bland, and they didn't make the bacon crispy enough. 

Hurried past the walkway to the Cherry Hill Mall and down to the theater. Since the ticket to Song Sung Blue was on sale, I treated myself to a large popcorn and soda. Uh...they were both way too large, not to mention expensive. I finished about half the popcorn and didn't fill the soda close to all the way.

I'd missed the first few commercials when I finally found the theater. Most of them weren't all that exciting, anyway. I haven't seen the original Devil Wears Prada yet, let alone have any interest in the sequel. Reminders of Him looks like a sweet but typical melodrama. 

As for Song Sung Blue, I go further into this biography of a Neil Diamond tribute duo at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Song Sung Blue

Made my way over the footbridge to the Cherry Hill Mall after the movie ended. At least it was a nice day for a walk! Cold and very windy, but also sunny with only a few clouds out as I crossed the traffic-filled highway to the Cherry Hill Mall parking lot.

Spent an hour or so walking around in the mall. To tell the truth, I don't need a ton of stuff right now. I looked at FYE, Go! Calendars and Books, the Squishables store, and Miniso, but only bought an aqua cable-knit sweater and a green polo shirt (the latter on clearance) at JC Penney to use up a coupon. The aqua sweater is too big, but that's all they had. They were really picked over.

Headed across the street to the green-roofed shopping center around 4:30. It was really a mess over there. They're remodeling the exterior of many stores in preparation for the new Dick's store and sports grounds that'll replace the Cherry Hill One office building. The road in front of Total Wine was blocked off completely. 

Thankfully, 2A Thrift Superstore was just fine. In fact, I did really well here. I found Molly: An American Girl (the only historical-based AG movie I haven't seen yet), the first season of the early 2000's A&E Nero Wolfe, a yellow sweater (that I didn't realize until after I bought it was also too big), and a blue cardigan.

My best find here was the only record I managed to dig up. I've wanted The Vamp of the Roaring 20's, the follow up to the soundtrack for the TV show The Roaring 20's, for years. Ironically, there were even two copies. I grabbed the one with the album in better shape.

It was dark when I got out. I didn't want to walk anywhere else in the dark, so I picked up Uber at the thrift store...which probably wasn't the smartest idea with the construction around and the road for much of the shopping center blocked off. It took the guy 10 minutes to arrive, and he had to turn around after picking me up instead of going straight through.

Went straight into The Wild Wild West on the way home. "The Night of the Colonel's Ghost" has President Ulysses Grant insisting that he must go to Gibsonville to dedicate the statue of the late son of an old friend of his. Turns out, the town has largely been abandoned except for a young woman and her noisy brothers who run the hotel, a slick lawyer, the dedicated sheriff, and a prospector. There's been a rash of "broken neck" murders. The townspeople suspect the ghost of the colonel's son, but Adam West thinks there's a less supernatural explanation to the mysterious deaths.

Put on Match Game '79 while I had my usual granola and yogurt breakfast for dinner. They're on the first week with drunk joke comedian Foster Brooks, which gave us a plethora of cracks about the panel's drinking habits. Sarah Purcell was also seen here.

Finished the night after a shower working on the Song Sung Blue review while listening to the real Neil Diamond. The only Diamond album I currently have on CD is 12 Greatest Hits Vol. II. Though "Forever In Blue Jeans" is the only number from the album that made it to the movie, I have a bigger connection to this one. These are the Diamond songs I remember hearing most often on the radio during my 80's childhood. In fact, one of my favorite Diamond songs, "September Morn," can be found here. Other familiar Diamond hits here include "Beautiful Noise," "America," "Love On the Rocks," "Longfellow Serenade," "If You Know What I Mean," and his heartbreaking duet with Barbara Streisand, "You Don't Bring Me Flowers."

I've Got My Matches To Keep Me Warm

Began the morning with breakfast and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. "Mickey Saves Santa" when the jolly old man in red is stranded on Mistletoe Mountain and only Mickey and Donald can help him get off. Donald is upset that he loses his Christmas list before he can get it to Santa, and Mrs. Claus has to constantly admonish him to be nice, but there's a big surprise for him and the others at the Clubhouse when they do figure out how to help Santa.

Hurried off to work the moment the cartoon ended. The head bagger was actually sweeping and pushing carts instead of cashiering today, freeing me up to focus entirely on the carts and returning cold items. It did get busy later, but with the head bagger there, we didn't have much trouble keeping up with the carts. Nice weather helped here, too. It was chilly but not nearly as cold as it had been the past few days, windy and off-and on cloudy. I had no trouble whatsoever and was in and out quickly. 

Which was a very good thing, because today was the Acme's employee holiday buffet. My gingerbread bars couldn't have come out better. They were perfectly moist and spicy and just sweet enough. They were joined by home-made marshmallows dusted with powdered sugar that vanished quickly, an enormous pound cake, a fruit tray from the produce department, bagels, and huge donuts. I had a roast beef sandwich, and there were meatballs, tacos, hot dogs, and spicy sausage, too. Sides included real macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and pasta salad. 

Since I had planned on lingering at the Acme for lunch, I did my grocery shopping there. Mainly needed to restock apples, clementines, granola, soda, and yogurt. Got butter and eggs for cookies this week (and because eggs were on a good sale). Grabbed granola bars and found Welch's Berry fruit strips on clearance. Picked up sugar cookies from the bakery clearance racks. They had the Winter Spiced Cranberry Sprite Zero and Diet Coke With Lime, too.

Rode home after that. Changed when I got in and put everything away, then watched The Nutcracker on Tubi. I go further into this low-budget, direct-to-video 1995 retelling of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

Animation Celebration Saturday - The Nutcracker (1995)

There was a package waiting for me when I got home. I got my Swiss Colony box from Mom yesterday, with small cake torte sticks and little cheeses, sausages, and a container of cheese spread. My gift from Lauren was the full series of The Rockford Files, an old favorite of mine. I'll start in on it the week after Christmas.

Finished the night with a reprise of last week's Star Wheel Marathon. Match Game Productions was able to fix the glitches and edits that had plagued the original version. There's even more fun stuff here, from the very first episode featuring the Star Wheel where everyone, including Richard, walks off the stage when the Star Wheel lands on him to the first episode with the new set to the classic PM episode where Joyce Bulifant helps a gentleman all in blue figure out "Mill __" to win $20,000.

Check out more from the era where contestants could win big money in the improved version of this hilarious marathon!

Match Game Saturday Classics - Star Wheel "Special Moments" Replay (1978 - 1982) 

Oh, and I peered out the window about an hour ago...and yes, it is snowing. Not heavily, at least, not right now, but it is sticking to the streets. We'll see what it's like tomorrow. If there's a lot on the street by 12:30-1 PM, I might stay home. 

Autumn Blue and Gold

Got a quick start this morning with breakfast and a spooky episode of the 2002 version of Strawberry Shortcake. After getting scared in the woods during a hike, the kids are convinced "The Blueberry Beast" lives in that spooky old house. Strawberry is determined to prove that their imaginations are running away with them, and just because the house is in bad shape doesn't mean the owner isn't nice.

Headed out to run errands next. I had donations to drop at Goodwill, then went around front. Found a brown cowboy hat that was better than the one I picked up a few years ago, a disc with the Lord Peter Wimsey episodes Clouds of Witness and The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, the first season of Boardwalk Empire, and two CDs: 

Barenaked Ladies - Snack Time

The Brian Setzer Orchestra - Boogie Woogie Christmas

Had lunch at Antonio's Pizza on Market Street. They're a pretty typical hole-in-the wall in a small shopping center that likely hasn't been remodeled since 1972, if the blonde wood paneling and Formica booths are any indication. They do make great pizza, though. The tomato-basil-mozzarella and mushroom were excellent. Washed them down with a Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi. Stopped quickly at Desserts By Design a few blocks down and got a chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream icing and fall sprinkles. I said hi to the lady working there, but she was busy dealing with customers and didn't have time for talk.

Took the longer way home down Market Street and across the border of Audubon and Westmont. It was too nice to not be out and enjoy the weather! The sun was shining, and although it remains windy, it was also warmer, probably in the upper 60's-lower 70's. Couldn't have been a nicer day in October. The leaves are finally starting to change colors here, too, turning shades of burnished gold and russet that glowed in the mid-afternoon sun.

Put on spooky-themed episodes of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh at home while I got organized. Tigger convinces Piglet to tell a scary story of "The Monster Frankenpooh," but Piglet (and Pooh) get a little too caught up in it. "Things That Go Piglet In the Night" has Piglet running off when he hears scary noises in the night, and the rest of the Hundred Acre Woods residents chasing after him. It's a "Pooh Moon" when the group is camping and Pooh thinks the moon is made of honey. While he and Piglet try to find if this is true, the others think they were abducted by the Grab-Me-Gotcha.

Went to work even before the cartoon ended. The kids were really antsy today, not helped by the younger ones ending up having snacks in the library due to the school's music class running late. I had trouble taking five of the girls to the bathroom. The two smallest took forever to come out. The three older ones wouldn't stop running, laying on the floor, and yelling in the halls. They fooled around so much, they accidentally knocked down a banner hanging on the walls. I wasn't happy with any of them.

It's a good thing we ended up spending the rest of the session outside. The kids got to let out that pent-up energy and enjoy the gorgeous day. Frankly, it was too beautiful to have them play inside. I did have to argue over the swings with some of the kids, but I also had a nice chat with two of the younger girls later in the afternoon, and the one boy who needed to use the bathroom was a perfect gentleman. It was so gorgeous, we just turned the few remaining younger kids loose with the older kids playing ball games on the black top when I left.

It was too nice to go straight home after work. I rode around in West Collingswood for a little while instead. West Collingswood Heights is the neighborhood between Newton Creek, Route 70, and the two Pikes. Though there's a few newer houses and condo rental buildings, most of the houses date to between the late 1800's and the 1930's. Some of them are actually quite lovely, with their turrets and wide porches.

I watched Studio 666 when I got in. This was originally going to be my musical review for tonight, but...this spoof of slasher flicks featuring the Foo Fighters wasn't really a musical. Though it did have some amusing moments, it was mostly way too bloody for my taste. Doesn't help that I'm not that big of a fan of the Foo Fighters, either. The Foo Fighters rent a house where another hard rock band supposedly died in the 90's, only to be stalked by the same killer who eliminated the band. This is strictly for fans of the Foo Fighters, hard rock, or cheep, bloody horror.

My actual review ended up being Murder In the Blue Room. I go further into this equally cheap but far more palatable horror murder mystery at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Murder In the Blue Room

Hey Soul Sister

We started out on a beautiful, clear fall morning, this time past Lenox and Lee and onto the Mass Pike. It was the perfect day for a ride. Everything was calm, and there was no traffic anywhere, not even around the entrance to the Mass Pike in Lee. Lauren pulled into the shopping center just outside the Holyoke Mall around 10:30.

Our first stop of the day was the massive Barnes and Noble. It's huge, two stories, with a fully-stocked music and DVD section. It took me a while to find what I wanted. For some reason, the smaller mass-market cozy mysteries aren't in the same place as the larger cozy mysteries. After asking a sweet employee, I found the mysteries, then went downstairs and explored the music section. Lauren told me when I got outside that she found comic books she'd been looking for. I found:

Synchronized Sorcery by Juliet Blackwell

The Greatest Show On Earth, the Oscar-winning circus spectacle with Charleton Heston, Betty Hutton, and James Stewart, on DVD. (It was $4.99. If anyone knows how to do spectacle, it's Cecil B. DeMille.)

After I got out, we went next-door to Red Robin for lunch. They were already bustling, even at 11:30. We both took advantage of a $9.99 burger deal and added smothered mushrooms. She had a salad and a lemonade. I had fries and a Diet Coke. The burgers were a little flat, but the steak fries were yummy, and Lauren said hers was really tasty, too.

Headed across the parking lot next to TJ Maxx. Lauren bought clothes here. I finally found a brush intended for curls...and unlike the one I bought at Marshalls a few years ago, this one has softer bristles that should be a lot easier on my head. When I got out, Lauren was already in the car, texting Rico. Apparently, the poor guy was still so sick, he was sent home from work. Lauren promised to win a stuffed animal at Round 1 in his honor.

And on that note, that was the first place we went after we parked at JC Penney in the main mall, dodging the construction work on the sidewalk outside. Round 1 is pretty much the same deal as Dave & Buster's, with a bowling alley replacing the sports bar and more of an Asian/Japanese theme. I ran from Pac Man to Bust a Move to skee ball and Mario Kart (came in first with Princess Peach) for the next hour. I made over 3,500 points, but opted to save the majority of them for my week off at Christmas. I just got a cute Beanie Baby panda named Baboo. Lauren didn't get anything, but she did win a huge teddy bear wearing a lemon hat out of a crane.

Unlike Crossgates, the only other entertainment option at Holyoke is a trampoline park that's really more for families. We spent the rest of the afternoon in and out of stores. Lauren picked up a Marvel Lego Superhero game for the Wii U at Stateline Games and found superhero figures for Rico and herself at one of the Sports Zones. I bought a really nice, cute mini-backpack like the one I have now with Pikachu and Eevee on it, only in fall colors as my cold weather purse. 

I made my other really awesome finds at FYE. The one at Holyoke seems to be the only one that's still big enough to have a significant DVD and CD collection. I ended up with the original Broadway casts of Young Frankenstein (which I've wanted for ages - I've turned up the London cast, but not Broadway) and the short-lived Nice Work If You Can Get It and another collection of vintage Broadway music, this one from the Smithsonian. We poked around the Spirit Halloween that had temporarily replaced Burlington Coat Factory in the basement (they moved to the shopping center outside the mall), but saw nothing of interest.

Since the food court is also in the basement, we had an early dinner next. Lauren got fries and a cheese steak from Charley's. I went to Terra Nova, a Brazilian booth, and got a chicken sandwich, fries, and a cherry soda. Oh yum! We seriously need this place at one of the malls in my area. The chicken sandwich was bursting with flavor and loaded with mozzarella cheese, ham, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and avocado. The fries were the crispiest I'd ever had. Even the cherry soda tasted like real cherries. 

Since we were going out that way, we finished at JC Penney. I didn't get anything here. I'm trying not to buy more clothes. I don't really need much else, and I'm seriously running out of room. Lauren picked up some utterly adorable soft hoodies, including one that looked like Snoopy and another that resembled a teddy bear. We got turned around finding our way out before we remembered we entered through the upstairs.

The sun was going down when we finally found Lauren's car. Took the same way going home, admiring a soft golden sunset on the way. Once again, no traffic, and no trouble getting in.

Tomorrow will be our last mall visit, this time to the smaller Colonie Center in Albany. 

You Will Believe a Man Can Fly Again

Kicked off the morning with breakfast and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. After Entraptra's death, Adora feels guilty for not protecting her better and letting the Princess Alliance break up before it's barely begun. Glimmer's having her own problems. She's been glitching ever since Shadow Weaver attacked her and desperately wants to keep her mother, whom she sees as perfect, from finding out. Adora finally heads to "The Beacon" for more training and to find out what She-Ra really is...but Catra follows her...

Called Uber after the cartoon ended. I wasn't going to make the 11:05 showing of Superman, but I might make the 11:35 one. The driver arrived in 7 minutes and got me there in less than 12. No trouble anywhere, no traffic on the road. I arrived with just enough time to buy my ticket before the commercials started. Thank heavens the theater was right as you came in and I didn't have to wander around for long in that maze!

I'm not going to go heavily into Superman because of spoilers, but I did enjoy it. I liked Lois and Clark's relationship, I liked Hawkgirl's role (Hawkman and Hawkgirl are some of my favorite DC characters, both as a kid and when Hawkgirl turned up in the Justice League cartoon), I liked the sense of humor that extended to the heavy use of Superman's dog Krypto as part of the plot. I also like that we jump right into the action. That super-slow plot-heavy half-hour from the original 1978 film that covers Superman's origins is thankfully replaced with a few lines of type in the opening here. I have to agree with Linda Young that I don't like how Superman's birth parents are treated. For the most part, though, I really enjoyed this and hope it means DC has finally figured out how to make a universe out of their Justice League gods and aliens.

There were tons of commercials in front of the film, including for movies that aren't debuting until next summer like the animated Cat In the Hat. I wasn't initially crazy about the idea of remaking The Naked Gun, but Liam Neeson is having so much fun in the commercial, I might have to change my mind about seeing it next month. Definitely want to see The Smurfs next week, too, if for no other reason than I think it's supposed to be a musical and I'll want to review it for my blog. 

Went straight next door to Applebee's for lunch after hitting the bathroom. Needless to say at 2 PM, they were dead as a doornail. I had a quick ranch and bacon grilled chicken sandwich that was surprisingly thick and juicy for them, with salty and heavily seasoned fries. The iced tea came so long to brew, they gave it to me for free.

Headed up the hill to Wal Mart after lunch. I was hoping to find the soundtrack for Superman, but they had almost no records. They had restocked their complete series collections, but I didn't see anything I really wanted, and I've got at least five or six I haven't watched yet anyway. I ended up getting flavors of Poppi Soda I hadn't seen elsewhere, two Peanuts DVDs (Charlie Brown and Friends and one of the collection of French shorts, Snoopy's Tales), and soft sandwich cookies from the bakery on clearance. 

I made it down the hill...just in time to miss the bus. Oh well. Fortunately, I only had to wait about 15-20 minutes for the next one. And it was a hot day to wait! While not quite as hot as it has been, it was still sunny, windless, and incredibly humid. The bus was a bit of a pain, too, with people wanting to get off at every other stop and the bus having to dodge road work in Audubon and Haddon Heights. Thankfully, it still only took 20 minutes for the bus to pull in at Oaklyn. Someone even got off with me.

Put on Remember WENN when I got home. Scott more-or-less creates CNN when he comes up with WENN's all-news day. It turns into "Some Good News, Some Bad News" when they can't find anything earthshaking to report, Betty rebuffs his attempts to write his own, and his creating news on the ledge of the building just gets him into trouble. Meanwhile, cheerful former stripper Maple LaMarsh (Carollee Caramello) replaces Eugenia as the daytime organist, to the delight of most of the men at the station.

"Don't Act Like That" brings in Hilary's mentor Giels Aldrych (Roddy McDowell), who runs the Giels Aldrych Academy in Pittsburgh. Betty and Scott are hoping to use some of his students as interns to give their regular actors a break. Giels first assumes that radio and stage acting are the same, which they most definitely are not...and then the regular actors go on strike when Scott and Betty bring in sweet teen Enid (Melissa Dye) and truck driver Gus Kahana (Jeff Bergman), who specializes in celebrity imitations.

Switched to Romance On the High Seas after "Don't Act Like That" ended. I go further into Doris Day's first movie, a complicated romantic comedy set on an ocean liner, at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Romance On the High Seas

Worked on Hilary and the Beasts for the rest of the afternoon. Hilary and Maple do manage to get Eagle (Victor) to let them into his office. Hilary can't make hide nor feathers of his coded papers or his wing gestures. Maple the musician manages to understand Eagle's frustrated "wing talk" well enough to deduce that the papers and records are his broadcasting work on the situation in Europe, and Troll and Bear helped him with the broadcasting and decoding before they were cursed. He blames himself for not getting the information out sooner or moving faster to save his friends from being hurt. Maple angrily points out that it's not his or the other's faults. It's whomever attacked them that's to blame. 

Hilary leaves Maple snuggled in Eagle's wings. She's still determined to get to the bottom of this...and she's not overly happy that her sisters seem to be falling for flirtatious critters. She doesn't want to see them get hurt, like Jeff hurt her.

Put on Match Game '75 while eating dinner. They skipped way ahead to the week with Bob Barker and Arlene Francis where Carol Bartos became the biggest all-time winner up to that point. I liked Arlene kindly telling the gentleman contestant that she had his answer...which the audience had soundly booed before...and giving him a hug.

Finished the night with a shower and listening to Dean Martin: All Time Greatest Hits. A friend of mine gave me a couple of CDs yesterday, including this one. Of the songs I didn't already have of his elsewhere, the charming "Inamorata" (from Artists and Models) and his lovely version of "Non Dimenticar" were probably my favorites. 

Hey There Good Times

Began the morning with breakfast and Garfield and Friends. Garfield kicks things off by telling a story that's "Fit for a King." Jon the Wide was beloved by his subjects for his ability to eat his weight in gold, until a scheming advisor gives him a certain fat cat who eats all his food. While the other animals at U.S Acres are at the State Fair parade, Orson is guarding their vegetables. His brothers give him a copy of Ben-Hur to distract him, so they can steal their crop...but they didn't count on their imaginative brother becoming "Ben Hog" and chase after them in a cart! After Jon gets a flat tire in the desert, Garfield and Odie keep seeing "Dessert In the Desert" and wild mirages everywhere.

Called Uber after that. Today is the start of the Cherry Hill Library Book Sale. I've done well the last few times I hit them. They arrived within 7 minutes, but there were a few problems getting there. I have no idea what the traffic was on the White Horse Pike in Collingswood. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad once we got past Collings Avenue and was fine by the time he dropped me off at Cherry Hill.

The Cherry Hill Library is the largest library in Camden County, and their book sale is likely the largest in the area, too. It takes up most of the basement meeting rooms. I went straight to the boxes and boxes of records, DVDs, and CDs when I got downstairs. The room with the kids' books was even busier, but I did manage to find something. Had such a hard time getting around the main room with the adult books, I had to wait in the back until I could find a path through all those people.

For all that, I did ultimately make some good finds. The CDs were: 

The 1990 studio cast recording of the Rodgers and Hart show Babes In Arms

Dave Brubeck - The Quartet

The Manhattan Transfer - Anthology (2-Disc set)

The Official Album of Disneyland and Walt Disney World, featuring songs from many long-gone rides (especially in Epcot) 

The DVDs were:

Barbie (I was kind of shocked to run across a new and popular movie. The DVD holder was broken, but the DVD itself is fine.)

The Mario Lanza vehicle Seven Hills of Rome

I'm really hot with finding Walt Disney Treasures sets. Came up with Behind the Scenes at the Walt Disney Studios, minus it's tin. This one features The Reluctant Dragon, one of Disney's more underrated films.

No records this time, but I did come up with some great books: 

Hugh Fordin - The Movies' Greatest Musicals Produced In Hollywood by the Freed Unit

Agatha Christie - The Man In the Brown Suit

Elizabeth Peters - The Love Talker

Helen Pierce Jacob - The Secret of the Strawbridge Place

Mary MacLeod - King Arthur 

But my best find today was the very version of Grimm's Fairy Tales my mother had when I was a child, the one that was so old and worn, the cover came off and half the book was stuck together. Though the covers on this one are a bit loose, they're far from off, and the pages are fine. It had the same wonderful color and black and white artwork and obscure stories, like "The Pink," "Iron Hans," "The Raven," and my favorite, "The Lady and the Lion." 

Headed out for lunch around 1:30. It was still thickly humid, but cloudy and much cooler, probably in the lower 80's. I could get away with a stroll down King's Highway. Stopped at Raymond's Pizza for lunch. They were a pretty typical hole-in-the-wall in a brown 70's shopping center, but their plain cheese and mushroom slices were pretty good, and the prices were great.

Continued down King's Highway after lunch another block to The Big Event. I wasn't going bowling alone, but I could get away with the arcade. They were a little busy with bored kids and their parents, but nothing like when Lauren and I were there early last month. I hit the 1000-point jackpot on the Big Reel fishing-themed wheel and got a lot of points elsewhere, including on Nerf Arcade. Got a sweet cherry-red Lamborghini on Crusin' Blast and came in second on the Madagascar course. Between the jackpot and all of my playing, I ended up with over 4.200 points. Was able to get the board game Aggression and a small stuffed animal that'll go to a friend's daughter for her birthday.

I was originally going to go home at that point...but the prices for Uber were way beyond what I was willing to pay for a 20-minute trip. Strolled another block down to the Ellisburg Shopping Center instead. There's a Rita's Water Ice a few doors down from the Whole Foods there. The chocolate vanilla swirl and root beer water ice gelati I had was delicious...and more to the point, by the time I finished it, the prices were far cheaper. The lady arrived in 4 minutes and got me home on the back roads of Haddonfield and Westmont in a little over 20.

Put on Remember WENN when I got home. "Hilary Booth, Registered Nurse" is supposed to go on the air for a big prime-time broadcast of one of her signature soap operas, Valiant Journey...but after Mr. Foley accidentally hits her with the microphone boom, she thinks she's the kindly nurse she portrays on a World War I show. Betty once again has to deal with all this without the help of Victor Comstock, who leaves to broadcast in London after this episode.

Hilary's semi-husband Jeff is in the spotlight when "Valentino Speaks!" He's excited when a movie director chooses him to dub, and then play, Valentino in a rediscovered silent movie. Jeff quickly learns how difficult movie acting is, and how he'd much rather play all the roles he does at the station than be typecast like Valentino was.

"A Capitol Idea" introduces Scott Sherwood, the brash new station manager who claims Victor sent him as his replacement. He's full of wild new ideas for the station, starting with him asking Betty to weave the commercials into the programming to get more ads in. This does inadvertently invent informercials, but it also makes the shows sound alike. Betty threatens to resign and Mr. Eldridge won't come in at all. The others make a mockery out of the shows to get them back. 

(And it's rather appropriate that "A Capitol Idea" was the third and last WENN episode I saw while babysitting during the summer of 1996. I loved how Scott and Betty interacted with each other and the cast. I went to bed that night on the lumpy couch in the living room dreaming of a blossoming relationship between them...and they're still my favorite characters on the show to this day.)

Switched to Tubi for the truly bizarre Earth Girls are Easy. I go further into this 1988 sci-fi comedy about three aliens who crash-land in a manicurist's pool and have to adjust to Earth ways at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Cult Flops - Earth Girls are Easy

Worked on Hilary and the Beasts for the rest of the afternoon. Hilary is still playing phone tag with Doug Thompson and City Hall over a week later, but she has help from an unexpected source. She finds a talking newspaper (Gus Kahana) with the ability to repeat any number of celebrity voices. She manages to get out of those voices that Troll had been married, but "the wrong woman" got him into a contract he couldn't get out of and was the one who came to the mansion. 

She also joins Maple downstairs in the more intimate music room. Maple's grown fond of Miss Organ (Eugenia), who seems to know all of Hilary and Jeff's favorite songs. Her gossip confirms that Troll had been forced to give up his first wife by a nasty "she" to save a friend. Mr. Rabbit (Mr. Foley) turns up too, shyly bringing Miss Organ a lavender rose.

Switched to Match Game '75 during dinner. They'd moved on to the next week by the time I got on. Craig Morris and Fannie Flagg joined in, while Joyce Bulifant was happy to actually get some well-received answers for a change. 

Finished the night with more of my recent record finds. I Love My Wife was Cy Coleman and Michael Stewart's 1977 response to the Sexual Revolution as two couples switched partners and lives. It's too bad the story is as dated as the wide-legged pantsuits and high leather boots on the back cover, because some of the songs aren't bad. The ladies get the country spoof "Someone Wonderful I Missed," while the guys go vaudevillian with "Hey There Good Times." 

The Fabulous Mae West performs not only her own songs, but familiar numbers from other media that certainly fit her double entendre-laden personality. "A Guy What Takes His Time" and "They Call Me Sister Honky Tonk" are probably the ones here that are most associated with her. I also liked "Love Is the Greatest Thing" and "I Want You - I Need You." 

Poems, Prayers, and Promises

Got a quick start this morning with a call to Uber. They picked us up within 5 minutes. There was a little traffic in Cherry Hill, but nothing really horrible. We were at the Silver Diner within 20 minutes.

Lauren requested the Silver Diner, the chrome restaurant overlooking the Hillview Shopping Center in Cherry Hill. They make tasty diner basics using sustainable and organic ingredients. Lauren had a mint "no-jito," a ham and cheese omelette, a biscuit, and hash browns. I had blueberry pancakes with scrambled eggs and bacon and a "dirty creamsicle soda," organic orange soda topped with oat milk foam. The creamsicle soda was incredible (and yes, even the oat foam worked), the pancakes fluffy, and the bacon mostly crisp, but the eggs were too bland. (Lauren also said that her omelette would have been pretty bland too without the ham and cheese.) 

We headed back across the slightly dilapidated and trash-strewn bridge over Route 38 and back to the Cherry Hill Mall after brunch. Squishmallows was having a buy one, get one sale on stuffed toys that were discontinued. I got an odd round unicorn for Finley and a sweet rainbow with a happy star over it for me. (The rainbow is Iris, for the Greek goddess of rainbows, and her little friend is Stella.) Did very well at FYE, picking up Wicked on DVD, a collection of Abbott and Costello's four horror-themed vehicles, and two CDs that were good prices: 

Taylor Swift - Fearless

John Denver - Definitive All-Time Greatest Hits (2-Disc)

We hit JC Penney next. I found a sleeveless nightgown in a pretty pink rose print on a decent sale. Lauren said she'd go back and look later. Neither of us found anything at Old Navy. I stopped at an ATM to get money for the school fair later, and at Nordstrom's eBar to make change. Had an iced tea this time. 

Left Lauren at this point, around 1:50. I really did need to get to the Thomas Sharp School. The Uber driver thankfully arrived in 4 minutes. He did encounter some traffic in Pennsauken, but not enough to make me late. In fact, I was fifteen minutes early. I walked around the block (and waved at the kids in the playground who recognized me) until it was time for work.

The kids were really restless today. They couldn't go on the playground because it was too hot, and they were setting up for the "Blacktop Bash" school fair. Once they started putting out the tables for the fair, that pretty much occupied the kids' minds. They kept jumping up off the cafeteria tables to check their progress. I read two Scooby Doo stories and Angelina and the Princess to distract them. 

No wonder they were so distracted. The Blacktop Bash was going strong when I got outside. There was a line half-way down the block to get in. I gave them my $6, then went to get dinner. In addition to games and a bounce house for the kids, tons of raffles, and a DJ playing kid-friendly pop hits, there were three food trucks and four food tables. I got a tasty, if messy and spicy, chicken burrito from the taco booth, along with two cookies and a cupcake from the baked goods booth. Lauren sat along the side fence behind the track and landscaping, eating her own tacos. We enjoyed our dinners as I laughed at the kids running around and even introduced Lauren to a few of the ones I knew. 

It may have been hot, but it was also sunny and breezy. We'd taken Uber enough. It was too nice to do anything but walk home. Stopped at CVS on the way to use the bathroom and get drinks.

I finished the night after we got in with Artists and Models. I go further into this hilarious musical comedy farce with Dean Martin as an artist and Jerry Lewis as a comic book nut at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Artists and Models (1955)

(Oh, and Lauren says she went back over the bridge after I left and got a few things at Kohl's and Target. She also explored Squishmallows, Macy's, and Old Navy again, but didn't have as much luck.) 

Walking On Sunshine

Got a quick start today with breakfast and What's New, Scooby Doo? It's "Lights, Camera, Mayhem!" when the stunt crew of a troubled spy movie remake walk off the set, claiming the "Phantom" ghost of the original star keeps haunting their shots. Scooby and the star-struck kids become stunt doubles themselves to get to the bottom of this Tinseltown mystery.

It was raining hard when we got up this morning. Thankfully, by the time I called Uber, it was cloudy, damp, and a little cool, but not raining. The driver arrived within 7 minutes and pulled up at the Deptford Mall in a little over 20. 

Since the driver let us off at the outside entrance to Boscov's, we began there. Though we did look around, I finally decided I didn't really need more clothes beyond work pants. Lauren admitted the same, plus she's starting to run out of room in her luggage. Neither of us bought anything there.

Red Robin is right next door to Boscov's, so we had lunch next. Not surprisingly, since it was past noon, they were fairly busy. We ended up in a table next to the bar, watching sports news. She had a Poppin' Purple Pear Lemonade and a Caesar Salad, her favorite. I had an iced tea and a Caesar Salad Wrap. We shared a stack of towering, crispy onion rings.

We peered at a few stores as we made our way down to Round 1 Arcade. Not only did neither of us see anything we wanted at FYE, but they had the air conditioner turned up way beyond even what it was in the mall. It was too frigid in there to think shopping. I didn't see anything I wanted at Hot Topic, but Lauren bought a Captain America t-shirt.

Round 1 is in transition right now. If machines weren't broken, they were being swapped out for new games. More than half their cranes were either being sent out, or just not working. The ski ball machines and Lane Master were down, too. Thankfully, there were plenty of games that still worked. I spent the next hour or so running from Bust-a-Move to the ring toss to the bean bag toss to Hot Wheels and giant Space Invaders and Centipede games. Got Yoshi on Mario Kart Deluxe and barely managed 3rd on Bowser's Castle. Also came in third with a sweet cherry-red Lamborghini on the Desert Valley course in Cruisin' Blast. 

Their prizes seem to be in flux, too. I just didn't see as much that I wanted. I ended up with a cute mini Etch-a-Sketch and a nicer printed fan than I got yesterday in Atlantic City, this one wood and turquoise fabric. Lauren didn't see anything she could carry home and opted to save her points for my visit to her neck of the woods in September.

We spent the next few hours in and out of stores. Neither of us got anything at Macy's, Rainbow, or BoxLunch. We hit paydirt at JC Penney's when we ended up in the men's department. I was looking for the pajamas and stumbled across their sports clothes section. Picked up a long-sleeved Eagles Super Bowl Champs t-shirt for $19. Lauren found a few more Marvel t shirts. I treated myself to a small chai latte while waiting for Lauren to come out of Macy's.

By the time we emerged out of the Boscov's side entrance, it had turned into a gorgeous, sunny, blazing hot day. Only a few fleecy clouds indicated we ever had storms this morning at all. We did manage to dodge rush-hour traffic to get across the street, passing the abandoned former home of Bed Bath and Beyond to the shopping center that houses Barnes & Noble and Old Navy.

Barnes & Noble was really busy, too. The kids were out of school by then, and they were all looking for something to read or listen to. I didn't do as well over there as I have the last couple of times I was in Deptford, but I did manage to pick up a few items I wanted. Found one of the few vintage sci-fi films I like, the original 1951 Day the Earth Stood Still, for $7.99, and the soundtrack albums for Labyrinth and La La Land (the latter was on sale). Also grabbed one book:

Castle Deadly, Castle Deep by Victoria Bond

Met Lauren outside. She admitted not having seen anything she wanted at Old Navy, and I certainly didn't need more clothes. We ended up returning to the Deptford Mall to have dinner at their food court. She enjoyed a broccoli chicken dish from Master Wok. I got a Greek salad and spinach pie (which turned out to be dry spinach and cheese between layers of phyllo pastry) from Pitas and Greens. We both had ice cream from Ginny's. She had chocolate in a waffle cone with Reece's. I had peanut butter in a cup with chocolate sprinkles. Ginny's ice cream was really good (and much fluffier than the dense Kohr's soft serve). 

It was past 7 after we finished our desserts. Time to go home. We came out at Dick's, calling the Uber driver from there. Once again, he arrived in 7 minutes and got us home in a little over 20, with only slightly more traffic.

I finished the night watching Living It Up on Amazon Prime. I go further into the first of two Martin-Lewis vehicles I'll be doing this week at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

Living It Up (1954)

Oh, and while tomorrow technically ends my vacation, I'm only working the usual 2:30 to 5:45 at Thomas Sharp School. I'll get to spend time with my best friend and the kids.