The Children Wore Green

Top O' the Evenin' to ye! I got a quick start this morning with breakfast and Doc McStuffins. It's a "St. Patrick's Day Dilemma" when Doc's brother accidentally scribbles on her new paper doll Fiona's Irish dance dress. She won't wear anything else to the St. Patrick's Day parade. Doc and the others have to convince her that it's better to change clothes when they've gotten dirty. Doc's new doll Gillian thinks she's too tall to play with the other toys, but she's the one who makes "A Giant Save" when Professor Hootenberg is stuck in a tree and she's the only one who can catch her.

Called Uber shortly after that. Once again, I had a surprisingly easy time getting rides. The driver to West Collingswood came in 4 minutes! The one going home arrived in 7. No trouble or traffic either way.

Since I was a little early, I went for a short walk down Magill Street. Despite the sun, it was cold and blustery, barely in the 40's. It wasn't even that in the shade. I saw a container of water in the deep shadows that was frozen solid! On the other hand, I also saw the first blooming flowers of the season. Beautiful purple and white crocus and tiny white snowdrops were nestled among the green and dry yellow grasses in several sunlit gardens.

Thanks to the cold, the younger kids never went outside today. Almost every kid wore green of some kind - green dresses with shamrock prints, adorable green and black pants outfits trimmed with ruffles, green sweaters, Eagles t-shirts and jerseys. Two of the boys announced that their kindergarten class had captured a leprechaun. They didn't indicate if it was a "real" leprechaun, but they did say he'd left behind a mess of toilet paper and extra treats for them. All of the kids got bags with chocolate coins (most of those were eaten before lunch was over), tiny bubble wands, slap bracelets, and shamrock beaded necklaces. 

Though we started with 26 kids, things were a bit disorganized at first. The kids played wherever they could fit in the cafeteria while the music class finished their rehearsal. The library is being used for parent-teacher conferences this week, so we can't go there. After they left and the kids ate lunch, they colored Healthy Kids paper bags they could use for all that loot. While some continued to draw, I showed two best friends the Storyland Disney anthology book and its gorgeous vintage artwork. (The artwork depicting Donald's less-than-sterling driving skills from "Donald Duck, Prize Driver" was especially popular. Even the older girls thought it was hilarious when I showed them later.) By 4 PM, we were down to three younger kids and six older ones, and another teacher had come to help. I was let go early.

After I got home, I took out the trash, then made Irish Soda Bread. This is extremely easy to make, especially if you do what I did and cut the recipe down to make one loaf, instead of two. All it requires is flour, baking soda, baking powder, a little sugar, buttermilk, an egg, raisins or currants, and butter or shortening to cut into it. Oh yuuuum! I think that good organic buttermilk I got from Sprouts helped, but this was the best Irish Soda Bread I ever made. Dense, chewy, soft, just sweet enough, and it smelled incredible in the oven. 

I got the bread out just before Jessa arrived. We were originally going to celebrate the Westmont (formerly the Westmont Diner) having reopened, but they're only serving breakfast right now. We drove a little further down to the Club Diner in Bellmawr instead. I think we made the right call. They had a big and very Irish St. Patrick's Day menu. She had corned beef, potatoes, and cabbage (and shared some of it with me) with soup. I had Irish Lamb Stew with a rather watery iceberg lettuce salad. The stew came with shredded lamb and big pieces of potato and carrot. She had a slice of carrot cake for dessert. I had Oreo Cake (chocolate cake with vanilla frosting topped with an Oreo cookie). 

Put on Match Game Syndicated when I got home. Fannie Flagg and Lee Merriweather wore their green St. Patrick's Day blouses in the episode I saw. Fred Grandy had to spend the night listening to Charles and Brett complain about the contestants ending up in a tie.

Finished the night with The Quiet Man at Pluto TV. Sean Thornton (John Wayne) has come home to the tiny village of Innisfree in Ireland to buy the cottage that once belonged to his mother and settle down. He falls for spirited Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O'Hara), but her big stubborn brother Will (Victor McLaghlen) is angry Sean got the cottage instead of him and refuses. Father Lonergran (Ward Bond) and matchmaker Michaeleen Flynn (Barry Fitgerald) convince Will that the Widow Tilane (Mildred Natwick) wants to marry him. When she refuses, he gives the bride away, but not her dowry. Mary Kate is furious, even after the townspeople manage to get all of her things but her money. Sean doesn't get it. Money isn't important to him. For Mary Kate, it means her freedom. 

Sean refuses to fight her brother, which leads everyone to think he's a coward. Reverend Playfair (Arthur Shields) is more understanding...but he does encourage Sean to put aside his bad memories and fight for his bride. When Sean finally does confront Will about the money, it leads to a gigantic knock-down, drag out donnybrook that gets so big, half of Ireland come to Innisfree to start taking bets!

This was John Ford's love letter to his own homeland, made in gorgeous Technicolor and shot so glowingly on location, it won a Best Color Cinematography Oscar. Almost every Irish character actor in Hollywood has a delightful time with the hilarious script, especially Bond as the fishing-obsessed Catholic priest and Fitzgerald as the impish and very traditional matchmaker. Highly recommended around St. Patrick's Day, or whenever you're in the mood for O'Hara and Wayne sparring or want a taste of a slightly stereotypical but still lovely Ireland. 

Luck of the Irish

Began my St. Patrick's Day with Murder at an Irish Wedding and the one piece on St. Patrick's Day from Colliers Harvest of Holidays. I didn't know much about St. Patrick himself until I read this biographical essay on his life, other than he supposedly drove the snakes out of Ireland. Apparently, he rose from his roots as a slave who fell in love with Ireland and its culture to drive the Druids and paganism out, too. 

Watched cartoons with St. Patrick's Day or Irish-themed episodes while I had breakfast and got organized. It's a "St. Patrick's Day Dilemma" on Doc McStuffins when Donny accidentally scribbles on her new paper doll Fiona's green Irish dance dress. Fiona won't wear anything but that, until Doc and the others convince her that it's better for you to change your clothes when they're dirty. Doc's new giant doll Gillian is upset that she's too big to play tea party or castle with the other toys...but she's the one who makes "A Giant Save" when Professor Hootenburgh gets stuck in a tree.

Scooby Doo's All-Star Laugh-a-Lympics starts out in "The Grand Canyon" with a burro race that gets pretty sticky when Yogi uses gum to jump ahead and Mumbly gets to the finish by rocket jets. Huckleberry Hound gets luckier when the Rottens' cheating backfires and propels him into first instead of knocking him off the high wire between canyons. Grape Ape and the Blue Falcon work together to save the leprechaun and his gold from the scheming Daltons in "Ireland." Captain Caveman overshoots the ball on the hole-in-one tournament, and Dinky Dawson hits himself in instead of the ball. Cindy Bear has her own unique way of getting that ball in and making sure it stays.

Put together the birthday cards for Mom and Kelly, then headed out to run errands. I realized when I signed their cards that I'm almost out of stamps, so I sent the cards at the post office and picked up more there. I was originally going to make Irish soda bread today, but I forgot the buttermilk at the Acme, and none of the small stores on the White Horse Pike had any. Picked up cream cheese and coconut at Dollar General and butter at Family Dollar. Dropped a book in the kiosk on the White Horse Pike. Grabbed a ham and cheddar hoagie for lunch at WaWa and tried a Mint Smoothie. Not bad. Very smooth and minty, anyway.

The weather was actually rather nice when I came out, sunny and warm. By the time I was on the White Horse Pike, the cold wind had picked up and the clouds rolled in. It was now too chilly to linger. I went straight home, admiring gardens filled with daffodils and green banners waving in the breeze. 

Watched Happy Days while eating lunch. "Joanie's Weird Boyfriend" is a member of the Red Devils, whom she met at the St. Patrick's Day party at Arnold's. Joanie's intrigued at first. She's tired of her parents and brother treating her like a child. She realizes these boys are more than she can handle when they tell her their initiation rights. Good thing her brother and Fonzie follow her and bring along Carmine "The Big Ragu" Ragusa from sister show Laverne & Shirley. 

Spent the next few hours making peanut butter cookies and Irish potatoes. I've been craving peanut butter cookies lately, but the Acme doesn't make them, and the ones at Sprouts were too expensive. Tried the one-bowl recipe in that cookie cookbook Lauren sent me a few years ago. Irish potatoes are easy to make. You just mix cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and coconut and roll them in cinnamon to look like mini sweet potatoes. I think I should have used a bit more peanut butter on the cookies, but they otherwise came out very well. The Irish potatoes were definitely better than the truffles I tried to make at Christmas. At least they didn't involve melting chocolate.

Put on The Quiet Man when I got upstairs and as I ate dinner. Sean Thornton (John Wayne) returns home to 1929 Innesfree, Ireland to buy the home that belonged to his mother when she was a girl. He falls for spirited local lass Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O'Hara), but her brother Will (Victor McLaughlin) wanted the house himself and won't consent to the match. Matchmaker Micheleen Flynn (Barry Fitzgerald) eventually tricks Will into letting them wed, but when Will figures out what's going on, he won't give Mary Kate her dowry or furniture. He does eventually give up the furniture, but still won't turn the money over to her. She won't consider herself to be Sean's wife until he fights for her money. Sean has his own reasons for not fighting and refuses to at first, until Mary Kate tries to leave. His confrontation with Will finally turns into such a huge knock-down, drag-out donnybrook, almost the entirety of Ireland comes out to watch!

John Ford's love letter to the old country is one of the best things he ever did. Ireland glows with a radiance that makes even Oz look pale. Some of the best Irish character actors in Hollywood, including Fitzgerald, Mildred Natwick as the original owner of the cottage whom Will is sweet on, and Ward Bond as the town's fishing-obsessed priest have a grand time with the charming story. McLaughlin made such a wonderful bullying brother, he got one of the film's seven Oscar nominations. Ford won, along with that stunning cinematography. It would be B-studio Republic's only Oscar nomination for Best Picture. A must-see on St. Patrick's Day or if you're a fan of anyone involved or just want to see a really beautiful movie.

Finished the night after a shower with something different. In 1980, the Jim Perry Card Sharks did a three-week tournament featuring some of the most popular game show hosts of the time. I did week one tonight. Allen Ludden killed the competition, winning more than $6,000 for the Los Angeles Zoo. Gene Rayburn and Bill Cullen also did fairly well. Poor Wink Martindale just couldn't get anything going with the cards, but they gave him money for his charity anyway. 

The entire tournament was hilarious, but some of the best moments were in the first week. Gene spent the week flirting with the hostesses who turned the cards. At one point, he actually took Jim's microphone and flat-out hit on the girl. Allen Ludden dazedly claimed he was "between 97 of the biggest teeth I ever saw" when he found himself caught in the middle of Jim Perry and Wink Martindale's dazzling white smiles. 

Here's hoping you enjoy the first week for yourself! I'll be watching the remaining tournament episodes later this week. 

Card Sharks Host Tournament Day 1

Card Sharks Host Tournament Day 2

Card Sharks Host Tournament Day 3

Card Sharks Host Tournament Day 4

Card Sharks Host Tournament Day 5

It's a Great Day for the Irish

Started off my St. Patrick's Day with Colliers Harvest of Holidays. They only have one story for the holiday, but it's a biography of Patrick himself. I didn't really know much about him until I read this, other than he drove the snakes out of Ireland. He started on the Scottish coast as a slave, but fell in love with Ireland and its people and returned there after he studied to be a bishop. Patrick not only drove out snakes, but the druids and their magic as well. I also did the short version of Darby O'Gill from the Disney Stories from Other Lands anthology, which is really just his encounter with the leprechauns.

Switched to the fourth season of Happy Days while having breakfast. "Joanie's Weird Boyfriend" is a member of a tough local gang she's hoping to join after a St. Patrick's Day party at Arnold's in an attempt to prove to her parents she's not a child anymore. Turns out their initiation is not only more than she can handle, it doesn't thrill Richie or Fonzie, either. Fonzie calls in Carmine "Big Ragu" Ragusa from Laverne & Shirley to help them deal with the jerks.

Joanie's not the only one who spent her St. Patrick's Day trying to prove how adult she is. The Care Bears are called to Earth when a cloud of uncaring spreads across Earth. Grumpy is tired of only helping people in bad moods and wishes he could help, too. After he finds a wish-granting four leaf clover, he uses it to defend Care-a-Lot from No Heart, until he runs out of wishes. He then has to prove to No-Heart and a little boy named Alvin that "Grumpy's Three Wishes" aren't all it takes to be a hero.

Headed off to work after that. Other than watching a short presentation on the computer late in the day and sweeping spilled cherry tomatoes outside, I spent almost the entire shift sweeping or pushing carts outside. At least it's still a nice day for it at this point. It was warm and sunny, though not warm to the point that it was earlier in the week, probably in the lower 60's. I was in and out with no real problems.

Tonight's Match Game marathon started almost as soon as I got home. Ate dinner while watching "The Ladies of Hollywood," which I suspect was his Women's History Month theme. It kicked off with effervescent legend Rita Moreno hosting a question on a 1980 episode. Country comedy favorite Minnie Pearl is probably the best lady who only played one week. I really wish they got her back from the Grand Ol' Opry again. She was charming, funny, and a darn good player. I'm not sure beloved Broadway star Ethel Merman really got the humor, but she played very well. 

Glamorous Eva Gabor, on the other hand, usually got the humor, but didn't always have the best answers. She was such a sweetheart, and a real trooper, too. The episode they have for her refers to the time she hit her toe on a guy's foot and took the nail off, and she still played. Suzanne Somers was at the height of her popularity on Three's Company in 1977 when she became the only person from that show to appear on the original 70's-80's run. Cuban bombshell Louisa Moritz is best-known for starring in the Oscar-winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and her appearances on Match Game (and her very brief tops) could be equally wild. 

Oscar winner Patty Duke was mostly doing TV shows when she appeared on Match Game, including the syndicated episode here. Though her battle with bipolar disorder sometimes showed in her lackluster or manic performances, she looks like she's having a lot of fun here. Likewise, Connie Stevens was another sweetie from the 60's who made frequent appearances in syndication and also battled bipolar. Phyllis Diller would remain a favorite in comedy clubs and on TV until well into the 90's. She did a few weeks in syndication, and I wish she'd come earlier in the 70's. She's an absolute riot, probably one of the funniest ladies to sit in the fourth "ingenue" seat. TV favorites Arlene Francis and Lee Merriweather also did well in the fourth seat. 

Celebrate Women's History Month with some of the finest ladies of Hollywood in the 1970's and early 80's!

Match Game Sunday Classics - "The Ladies of Hollywood"

And here's hoping you also had a bright and sunny St. Patrick's Day, lads and lasses!

Tales of Old Ireland

Top o' the evenin' to ye! I started off my St. Patrick's Day with the Colliers Harvest of Holidays anthology. They only have one piece for the holiday, but it's a biography of St. Patrick himself. I didn't know much about him until I read that. 

After I wrote in my journal, I moved on to breakfast and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. When "Minnie's Rainbow" appears at the Clubhouse, she and the others follow it to see where it leads. Donald's more interested in that famous pot of gold. Leprechaun Pete plays every trick he can think of to keep them from his precious gold!

Doc McStuffins celebrates the holiday with "A St. Patrick's Day Dilemma" in the third season. She brings home a paper doll in an Irish step costume for the holiday. Fiona teaches the others step dancing, which inspires them to put on a St. Patrick's Day parade. Doc's brother Donny accidentally draws on Fiona's dress. Doc wants to change it, but Fiona's upset she can't wear it for the parade. Doc "cleans" it and admonishes Fiona in the importance of wearing clean clothing and keeping clean. Professor Hootsburgh is delighted when Gillian, a doll version of the legendary giant in her story, comes home with Doc. She's such a big toy, though, she keeps knocking everything over. Gillian nearly runs away until she makes "A Giant Save" and realizes it's not so bad to be a big girl.

Worked on writing for a while after breakfast. Richard gets turned around on the wide open prairies going home. He's hoping the horse knows her way home...until he hears coyotes growling awfully close-by...

Broke with enough time to change and grab everything for work. I had a harder time getting Uber, despite the continuing nice weather. They must have been busy with folks who imbibed slightly too much green beer and needed rides. It took me 14 minutes this morning and I was almost late arriving, 9 minutes tonight, and there was some traffic on the White Horse Pike both ways. 

Work was off-and-on busy, and that was with enough help for once. Considering I had a few grouches in the express lane, I wonder if a few people came straight from celebrating at Rexy's Bar and Applebee's and into shopping. Not everyone was feeling the effects. One lady burst into laughter at my Irish accent and said I was "a delight." 

Mixed feelings on my schedule next week. Slightly more hours...and also slightly longer and later hours, including a 7 hour day  until 7 PM on Sunday. I asked for Tuesday and Friday off for counseling and the job fair with Karen respectively.

Did some grocery shopping after I got my schedule. The granola bars weren't on as good of a sale this time, but I still wanted them; picked up two boxes. Grapes were on a good sale, so I also got two large containers of reds. Had online coupons for the Acme's generic bag of almonds. I originally wanted Irish soda bread for my St. Patrick's Day treat, but by the time I got off work, they were sold out. I went with a small box of Irish potatoes - a candy made of coconut and cream cheese rolled in cinnamon - that was on sale. Went back and bought Mom a gift card - her birthday is Monday.

Another box awaited me when I got home. I picked up the second version of Kit's Reporter Outfit released after American Girl started calling the historical characters BeForever. I'll probably get both of them eventually, but I'm going to wait on some of her older clothes until I see what gets released. This one is an adorable red and white polka dot skirt and vest over a white blouse with turquoise rickrack trim. It came with the felt cloche hat with the huge red bow from Kit's BeForever accessories. 

Went straight into Match Game '74 when I got home. This one ends with a question about what the Mission: Impossible crew would do if Brett was a part of that impossible mission. They have a harder time with "___ Johnson" in the Audience Match.

Since Buzzr is still repeating last week's Match Game Syndicated episodes, I returned to Match Game PM on YouTube.  There's technical difficulties in this early episode when the toaster slides out of Gene's reach during the second round, and he needs the contestants' help to retrieve it. Richard doesn't have much more luck with "Fine __" in the Head-to-Head.

Finished off the holiday with a St. Patrick's Day double feature, starting with Darby O'Gill and the Little People at Disney Plus. Darby (Albert Sharpe) is the caretaker for wealthy Lord Fitzpatrick (Walter Fitzgerald) who spends most of his time chasing King Brian of the leprechauns (Jimmy O'Dea) and his pot of gold or regaling the men in the taverns with his tall tales. Tired of his neglect and aware of his advancing age, Fitzpatrick replaces him with the younger and more dedicated Michael McBride (Sean Connery). Darby begs Michael not to tell his pretty daughter Katie (Janet Munro) that she's about to lose her home in the caretaker's cottage. When Darby does finally trap Brian, he keeps him in a bag until he can make three wishes. He learns a lesson in what really means the most to him when Janet is hurt during a storm, and he'd give up a hundred pots of gold to keep her safe from the banshee!

Disney's charming take on Irish folklore is one of their better movies from the 50's. Spunky Munro makes a delightful couple with a young Sean Connery (who even sings, and rather well), while Sharpe and O'Dea have a blast playing off each other as the chatty old codger and the king of the legendary wee folk. Speaking of, the special effects remain darn good to this day. The leprechauns are integrated so seamlessly you think there's really tiny people dancing with Darby, and the banshee remains a truly frightening sight. 

Some violence, plenty of drinking, and that spooky ending with the banshee makes this for families with older kids and young teens who'll enjoy the romance and Darby's banter with Brian.

Left the leprechauns and fairy stories behind for a slightly more realistic take on Irish culture, The Quiet Man, at Paramount Plus. Sean Thornton (John Wayne) returns to the tiny village of Innisfree in County Mayo, Ireland to live a peaceful life in his family's ancestral cottage. Big Will Danaher (Victor McLaughlan) wishes he'd get out - he wanted the land for himself. Thornton's more interested in courting Will's fiery sister Mary Kate (Maureen O'Hara). 

He does manage to win her, but things go south when Danaher learns they tricked him and the Widow Tilane (Mildred Natwick) has no interest in him. Danaher does finally let her have the furniture left to her by their mother, but not her dowry. Mary Kate is horrified Sean won't fight her brother for it. Sean has his reasons for not fighting...but when Mary Kate almost leaves him, he finally decides he's had enough. He faces down her bully of a brother in an epic donnybrook that gets so wild, half of Ireland comes to see it!

This love letter to Ireland and its people was a favorite of Wayne, O'Hara, and director John Ford. It was a real passion project of Ford's for years; he won one of his four Oscars for it. The stunning color cinematography of Ireland in all its emerald green shamrock glory also won. O'Hara and Wayne are backed by a terrific supporting cast that also includes Ward Bond as the local priest obsessed with catching a legendary fish, Barry Fitzgerald as the town's matchmaker, and Arthur Shields as the town's other priest. Though the treatment of Mary Kate and Irish stereotypes are slightly dated and once again, there's several brawls (including that huge fight in the end), this is mostly a delightful look at what happens when cultures based on older and newer traditions collide. 

(And interestingly, despite - or maybe because of - the mild stereotypes in these films, I've read that they're both wildly popular in Ireland.)

Tossed in one more animated short from the Looney Tunes. We return to the leprechauns for "The Wearin' of the Grin"...but these little fellows are far less benevolent than King Brian. They think Porky Pig is after their pot of gold and sentence him to wear green shoes that dance forever. Porky finds himself in a surrealistic Irish nightmare where he just can't seem to escape that emerald foot wear, no matter where he goes!

(Oh, and it was actually pretty nice this morning, breezy, sunny, and in the lower 60's. It clouded over by the time I got out of work, but the rain didn't arrive until I was long online and chatting with Lauren.) 

No Luck of the Irish

Top o' the evenin' to ye! Started off my St. Patrick's Day with breakfast and a nice, steady shower. It was still coming down too hard at that point to ride my bike to work. Called for Uber; to my surprise, given the weather, they were there in under ten minutes. I got to work in more than enough time.

Work was on-and-off busy with people buying big cabbage and corned beef dinners...and other things, from some of the surprisingly big orders we had. Considering how grouchy and weird some people were (including my last customers of the day), I suspect quite a few folks went straight from Rexy's Bar across the street to shopping. After the last trio of men seemed to have a hard time figuring out their orders, I just barely got off in time.

Despite it being quarter of 3 and the rain having long since vanished, I had a hard time finding a ride home. It took me almost 10 minutes to get one...and over 20 minutes for them to arrive. At least the traffic wasn't that bad when he did finally appear. 

Went straight upstairs and changed while Tattletales ran. Amanda Blake and her animal-tamer husband Frank just barely won today over Milton Berle and his equally witty wife Ruth and Orson Bean and his wife Carolyn. Whammies abounded on Press Your Luck today, making the final winner come down to a well-thought-out pass by one of the guys. The lady he passed to lost piles of money to a Whammy, leaving him the winner with money and a set of luggage. 

Did some writing after the show ended. Patti (Deustch) Dee and Donald (Ross) Dum hide under an umbrella while the others figure it's time to move on. They're about to ask Patti and Donald about White King Gene when Patti complains to her husband that she just found her nice new rattle broken. She wants to go to battle with him over it. He agrees, but the others don't think it's such a terrific idea...

Didn't break until past 7 PM. The woman who originally invited me to dinner ended up canceling, thanks to a bad cold. I ate out of the fridge instead while watching Match Game PM. Towering Richard Kiel and diminutive Paul Williams provided quite a contrast in this episode. Gene took one look at Richard standing at his full 8 foot height and told him he could write anything he wanted! The contestants were equally odd, with one odd contestant who actually had the last name "Strange" and a lovely lady with beautiful and elaborate braids.

Finished the night online with Little Nellie Kelly, an Irish-themed vehicle for Judy Garland at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day! - Little Nellie Kelly

Switched to Disney Plus for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. The gang hopes "Minnie's Rainbow" will lead to a pot of gold. Pete the Leprechaun doesn't want to share his gold and does his best to trip them up at every turn. 

There's a ton of vintage Looney Tunes on HBO Max, including "The Wearing of the Grin." Mickey's not the only one who has an encounter with a mischievous leprechaun. Porky Pig has his own trouble with the wee folk when they think he's after that pot of gold and sentence him to wear green shoes that dance on their own. He spends a surreal Irish nightmare trying to outrun those shoes, before they force  him to dance jigs forever! 

Out of Luck

Began St. Patrick's Day with Irish oatmeal and a couple of classic Looney Tunes shorts featuring Porky and Daffy. Porky encounters two leprechaun's in "Wearin' of the Grin" who are convinced he's after their gold. They sentence him to wear green shoes that keep on dancing. Porky has to escape them in an insanely surreal nightmare. "Drip-Along Daffy" is a western spoof, with Daffy as the wanna-be sheriff and Porky as his grizzled sidekick. Daffy relates his own script for the swashbuckler satire "The Scarlet Pumpernickel," with Porky in a rare villain role. Porky's in more accustomed territory for the dark game show satire "The Ducksters," with Daffy as a sadistic host who tosses Porky into some nasty stunts. Porky finally finds a way to turn the tables in the end!

For the second day in a row, had absolutely no luck getting a ride. It was 11:30, just as rush hour was starting. There should have been someone out there, but nothing. I tried for ten minutes and got nothing. I finally walked at 11:45 and arrived 20 minutes late.

The rest of work wasn't fun, either. It was busy all day, and we didn't have nearly enough help to deal with the crowds. Many people (including me) just got their stimulus checks and were catching up on grocery shopping. I was tired, frustrated, and not really up to dealing with them. Thankfully, the crowds finally died just as I was getting ready to go home.

I had as difficult of a time finding a ride at 5 as I did at 11:30. There just wasn't anybody out there. I finally gave up after five minutes this time and walked home again. Though it remained cloudy, at least it was a bit warmer, probably in the lower 50's, and not nearly as windy as it has been.

It was so late when I arrived home, I just went straight into dinner. Jodie left me corned beef, cabbage, a slice of rye bread, and a boiled potato. I pared these with the Irish Chicken Stew I began before heading to work. 

Watched Match Game '76 as I ate. The contestant did fairly well with the regular round in the first episode, but she struck out in the Audience Match with a rather weird answer to "Arc __." Charles answered a question in the second episode by drawing a "beauty mark" on his face...which wouldn't come off, as Gene reminded him. (We also got a clear shot of Charles' infamous lack of socks when he put his feet up on the desk.)

A contestant who claimed to be single really turned Marcia Wallace and Brett Somers' heads on Match Game PM. That contestant seemed to be a little more reticent when it came time to actually kiss Brett and Marcia during the Audience Match! The guys are more interested in answering questions about when Dumb Donald tried to sell Christmas trees and how a girl can get attention in Professor Smith's class. 

Sale of the Century began its "End of the Summer Bash," with high schoolers playing for teen-oriented prizes. Our first group was a peppy Latin Club vice president, a cute water polo captain, and a sweet AP leader. The Latin Club girl did buy the first Instant Bargain, but the boy got the second and the Instant Cash and won the Speed Round hands down. He had more trouble with the Bonus Round, though.

Finished out the night with The Quiet Man. Sean Thornton (John Wayne) is happy to return to the land of his birth, Ireland, and buy the cottage where he was born. His neighbor Will Danaher (Victor McLaghlen) resents this, as he intended to buy the property. He's even less happy when Sean falls for his fiery sister Kate (Maureen O'Hara) and wishes to court her. Half the town, including the matchmaker Mikeleen (Barry Fitzgerald), convinces Will that the wealthy Widow Wilane (Mildred Natwick) is in love with him. He does give his consent to the couple's courtship and marriage...but when he learns of the deception, refuses to give up Kate's dowry and her things. Sean doesn't think any of it matters, but Kate wants her inheritance there. Even after they do get her furniture, they still can't wring the money out of Will. It takes Kate's attempt to leave to finally rouse Sean to deal with Will...and prove that being quiet doesn't mean you're not as strong as the next man in the Ould Sod.

Apparently, this was a real passion project for Irish-born John Ford. He got his fourth directing Oscar for this love letter to Ireland, with its glowing on-location cinematography and fine performances by O'Hara, Wayne, McLaghlan, and Ward Bond as the local priest determined to catch a legendary fish. 

Luckier Than You Think

Kicked off a cloudy St. Patrick's Day with Irish Oatmeal Pancakes and Split Second. I just added oatmeal and molasses to the usual whole wheat mix. Not bad, actually. Might have come out better if I hadn't burned the side of one.

Buzzr honored St. Patrick's Day by running episodes themed around "Lucky Wins" all day. Some of them really were amazing, like the come-from-behind victory in Second. With the champ having taken that vacation yesterday, there were three new contestants answering trivia. One of the two women was ahead going into the bonus round...but the other, who bore a striking resemblance to a blonde Annie Potts, emerged the winner. And not only that, but she picked the right board with the car in the bonus round on her first try!

Blockbusters pitted a serious young man with a beard against a mother-and-daughter team (the daughter had the memorable first name "Puff"). Puff and her mom kept blocking his lines, but he finally got through twice. Not only that, but he just barely got the bonus round and picked up $5.500. The father in the father-daughter pair on next had an even more interesting name - Jimmy Carter! (He looked nothing like the president, though, including claiming that peanuts gave him heartburn.)

Switched to the late 70's Wonder Woman while making Irish Soda Bread in a square pan. (My round pans were too big for the recipe.) "Pot o' Gold" from the third season is technically a Christmas episode, but it has more to do with Irish mythology than the winter holidays. Diana has to help a little old Irish shoemaker recover his gold from a small-time crook, who hopes to use it to buy plates from an industrialist.

Returned to Buzzr for the 12 PM Match Game episodes while slicing vegetables and putting together an Irish Chicken Stew in the Crock Pot, then headed out to run errands. I couldn't stay inside anymore. Besides needing a few things, the sun started to emerge around 1. I'm probably one of the only people who can go outside right now, and I figured I might as well take advantage of it.

Came back in before I got past the front walk. Mom gave me a 25 dollar online gift card for Amazon to cheer me up last weekend. I chose the next two Popeye 40's shorts sets from the Warner Archives. I brought them upstairs and slid them on one of the black shelves before going on my way.

Originally, my first stop was going to be the Oaklyn Library. Yes, they are closed, but only for about a week and a half, not for the under a month that the Haddon Township Library will be closed. They're so small, I don't think I've ever seen more than 10 adults in there at a time, even at the knitting club or on computers. I've only seen more than 10 people in there at a time when they've had elementary school classes.

Strolled to WaWa for a treat instead. I'm glad to be able to get out and enjoy spring. It's lovely in the neighborhood now. Pale purple and snow white crocus, brilliant yellow daffodils, and cotton candy pink hyacinths grace every front yard. Sunny dandelions brighten green grass popping out of crinkly lawns. Some of the trees are starting to show flowers; buds have appeared on others.

To my surprise, WaWa was dead when I arrived. I figured I'd be lucky to get in, considering what the Acme's been like. Maybe they're all still at the Acme. The bread was empty and some candy bars were missing, but otherwise, things were perfectly normal. They weren't even really out of milk. (Of course, their milk is kind of expensive.) I bought a beef and cheddar hoagie, a small chocolate-covered coconut egg, and a sinus-clearing Cream Mint Smoothie.

Strolled down the White Horse Pike to see what was open. Dunkin' Donuts had people driving around to their window - I guess that, at least, is open. There were cars in Family Dollar's parking lot, too. The House of Fun was supposed to be open, but they weren't. Had more luck at Dollar General. Mom's birthday is on Friday. I bought her a card and a gift card. Wanted to try the new Dr. Pepper & Cream flavor. I used to love their Berries and Cream flavor a decade ago. The line was no longer or shorter than usual, and only one woman had a full cart.

Went right online after I got home to do some writing. Fannie sadly admits that her stepmother would rather her stay home from the ball and did chores. Arlene says she'll find a way for her to go, even if she has to make it appear herself...

Ran more Buzzr while I worked. Things got really crazy on the 1978 Card Sharks. A sweet little teacher barely made it into the bonus round and totally struck out there, going bust on the second line. By contrast, the next woman walloped her in the regular round and killed at the Money Cards, making over 28,000 dollars in one go.

Match Game returned as I broke to make a lime vanilla cake from a vanilla cake mix. Today's episodes were some of the last from the daytime run on CBS in mid-1979. A young woman named Carolyn kept killing at the bonus rounds. She matched so often, she became the show's all-time winner with over 30,000 dollars. (Incidentally, these episodes weren't in the original run on CBS, though they did apparently turn up on a few New York stations. They weren't seen until Game Show Network ran them in the early 2000's.)

I'd just started making the bed as Jessa arrived. I texted her earlier and invited her over. She had to work, but said she'd come for dinner. We shared Irish Chicken Stew and Irish soda bread while watching Match Game and Sale of the Century. An older woman just barely came from behind in the speed round to win. By the time of this episode, instead of just taking the prize or saying they'd come back, they had the first of two bonus rounds. This one involved matching prizes to see which one you'd take home, rather like the cars in the Concentration bonus round. I don't think the lady was too upset about winning a trip.

We mainly chatted about our families and how we're kind of lucky. Yes, we're both overworked and tired and are annoyed with everyone here...but she lives with a dog and her boyfriend Joe, I live alone, and we all have "essential" jobs. We won't be losing money, we don't have kids out of school, we're all healthy, and Jessa and I are shy introverts who aren't big on social interaction to begin with. It's hard to explain this to Rose and Jodie, who are more extroverted and confident and have more typical business and law careers.

Tried to pull out the lime vanilla cake while Sale of the Century was on, but it didn't come out well. It fell on the bottom and just made a mess. Like Daniel Tiger's smushed birthday cake, it did still taste good, and Jessa didn't seem to care how messy it was.

Continued with the first half of Let's Make a Deal as I finished the bed and cleaned up after Jessa left. A flapper in a flame-red dress really hit the jackpot today when she traded in a bag of money to go for a car. Monty had her press buttons on an old-fashioned brass cash register. If she got a "no sale" sign, she'd lose the car...but she never hit the signs. She hit money signs around them, but not them. She became one of the few people I'd seen on the show go for the car and not lose it or trade it away.

Finished the night with syndicated Match Game "premieres" on YouTube and Once. I go further into this sweet low-key Irish romance on my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Happy St. Patrick's Day - Once (2007)

And whether you spent it out and about or at home, I hope you had an equally lucky St. Patrick's Day!

Wearin' of the Green

Top o' the evenin' to ye! I started off a sunny St. Patrick's Day with some reading The Colliers Harvest of Holidays anthology only has one piece for the holiday, but it's a lengthy biographical essay on Patrick himself. Also did a short story from the Disney anthology Storybookland based on Darby O'Gill and his first encounter with King Brian of the Little People.

Move on to two Irish-themed cartoons while I ate breakfast. "Wearin' of the Grin" brings Porky Pig to a castle in Ireland, where he dreams that leprechauns think he's after their gold. They force him to wear green shoes that dance forever in a surreal Irish nightmare.

Woody Woodpecker encounters a somewhat more benign member of the wee folk in "His Better Elf." A woodpecker-like leprechaun grants Woody three wishes. Woody wants money, but the bag of gold he finds comes from a bank. He has to escape a stereotypical Irish cop who thinks he stole it.

Wish my Cranberry-Lime Pancakes had come out better. I was out of eggs, but I hoped the lime juice would give them enough lift. Nope. They burned in the pan and fell apart when I tried to turn them over. They tasted ok, but were mostly just a mess.

Did an episode of Moonlighting while I attempted to make breakfast and cleaned up afterwards. Maddie and David go "Somewhere Under the Rainbow" in the second season when a young woman who claims she's a leprechaun asks them to protect her from the men who are after her pot of gold. The two detectives follow her across LA while arguing over the idea of fantasy and believing in the things we can't see.

Headed off to work shortly after the episode ended. It was relatively slow when I arrived. By noon, we were swamped. It hasn't been this busy in over a month. There's a lot of good sales this weekend, this is the closest thing we've had to a holiday weekend since President's Day (and the closest we will have until Easter), and the weather was gorgeous. While it remained windy, the wind wasn't as wild as yesterday, and the sun was warm when you could get in it. Other than the ten minutes I ended up in a register early-on and the fifteen minutes I spent doing full trash and recycling bins, I spent almost the entire day rounding up carts that kept vanishing, often with little or no help.

I'd thrown together beef cubes, chopped cabbage, and sliced potatoes and thrown them in my Crock Pot for Beef and Cabbage Stew, which I had for dinner when I got home. Not bad. Might add a little more seasoning if I ever do this again. Watched one of the stranger third-season episodes of Wonder Woman while I ate. Dave and Maddie aren't the only detectives who have a strange encounter with a human version of a leprechaun. In "Pot of Gold," Diana has to help an Irish shoemaker keep the pot out of the hands of a British gangster, who wants to exchange it for counterfeiting plates that are needed by a local mob group.

Worked a little bit on writing after dinner. I was so tired, I basically just re-wrote the sequence with Rudy and Charlie sneaking onto a garbage truck. I made it a furniture-hauling truck that had its doors open in stead...a truck driven by one Luke Weston, a college student who works for his Uncle Owen, making deliveries and selling furniture. He's more interested in the comics and sci-fi books he reads than in his job. He wishes he'd find a life as exciting as that of his comics heroes. Little does he know that there's a sci-fi plot among the chairs and couches in the truck behind him...

Finished the night online with The Quiet Man. Former boxer Sean Thornton (John Wayne) has come home to Inisfree, Ireland from the US. He buys the cottage where his family had lived for years off the wealthy Widow Tilane (Mildred Natwick), hoping to settle down. He falls for strong-willed Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O'Hara), but her brother Will (Victor MacLaghlen) wanted the cottage for himself and disapproves of the match at first. Sean and the local matchmaker (Barry Fitzgerald) trick Will into thinking Tilane wants to marry him in order for Kate and Sean to court and get married. When he figures out what's going on, Will won't let Kate have her dowry or her family furnishings. Sean doesn't get what she's fussing over, but Kate wants her family's heirlooms and their sense of history. They do manage to get the heirlooms, but not the money. Fed up with Sean's unwillingness to confront her brother, Kate decides to leave...only for Sean to stop her and finally confront her brother, leading to a knock-down, drag-out donnybrook that not only ends up involving all of Innisfree, but half of Ireland as well!

John Ford's love letter to the land of his birth is a wonderful comedy-drama on how one American views Irish society in the 20's. The glowing cinematography, mostly of the real Ireland, won a deserved Oscar; Ford got his fourth Oscar for best director as well. Wayne and O'Hara are fine as the spirited lovers; MacLaghlen got a Supporting Actor nod as Kate's bully of a brother.

If you're a fan of Ford or the cast, you'll want to head on over to Inisfree and check this one out.

Tea and Records

Began a bright, sunny St. Patrick's Day with some holiday reading. The Colliers Harvest of Holidays anthology Linda Young sent me a few years ago only has one piece for St. Patrick's Day, but it's a lengthy and interesting biography of Patrick himself. Did a short story from the Disney Storybookland based around Darby O'Gill and the Little People (about how Darby escaped from the King of the Leprechauns) and a few chapters of Nellie's Promise, about the problems Samantha's Irish-American friend has after she and her sisters move in with Sam's wealthy family.

Moved to two animated shorts about mischievous wee folk during breakfast. In "Wearin' of the Grin," two leprechauns think Porky Pig is after their pot of gold and sentence him to the wearing of the green shoes. Porky doesn't think much of it, until the shoes want to dance forever. He finds himself trapped in a surreal Irish nightmare as he tries to dodge the prancing footwear. Even after he wakes up, things aren't quite as they seem...

"His Better Elf" finds Woody Woodpecker getting three wishes from a slightly more benign leprechaun. He wishes for gold...but it comes from a bank. Now he outrun an Irish cop who is convinced he's a thief.

Ran an episode of Moonlighting from its second season while preparing a stew of cubed chicken, carrots, potatoes, and cabbage for dinner. "Somewhere Under the Rainbow" gives us an even stranger leprechaun. Kathleen is a perfectly normal-looking young Irish woman who comes to David and Maddie for protection. Only problem is, she insists she's a leprechaun. Neither partner believes her, but David takes her case because they need money. Turns out that, while her powers may not be real, the men who are chasing her are...and so is the pot of gold her father has hidden.

Headed out as soon as the episode ended. I really had no plans for today, so I thought I'd go for a stroll in Collingswood. The day was actually quite nice, sunny and relatively warm when you were out of the wind. I saw a sign for an estate sale on Fern when I was heading up to the corner of Collings and Haddon Avenue. Strolled a few blocks down to make that my first stop.

The estate sale was incredibly busy when I arrived. You were supposed to take a number to get in, but by the time I got there, they were out of numbers. It was so full, they shooed people up to the second and third level because they couldn't fit anyone else on the first! Disappointingly, there wasn't much there. Usual glassware and random books on England and old movie stars. I saw a lovely old vintage Effanbee doll, but while I might have been able to afford her, I couldn't carry her or some fine Art Deco furniture home on the bike.

As I strolled down Haddon Avenue, I noticed a nice little tea shop in the same building that once housed the book store. I'd never had afternoon tea before. Evidently, I wasn't the only one in the mood for tea. They were very busy, with several friends and large groups enjoying their lunch. I had a pot of chocolate mint tea in a real flower-painted porcelain tea set and a thick, hearty sandwich filled with a cream cheese-apple salad and walnuts on thick slices of cinnamon swirl bread. It was accompanied by grapes and a slice of orange. The sandwich was so thick, I ate it with a fork. The chocolate mint tea was very strong - it did taste heavily of chocolate and mint. The waitresses were really nice, too. I had a thoroughly elegant and enjoyable lunch.

The Nutty Duchess Tea Shop is right across the street from InnerGroove Records. Spent over an hour checking out their wares. I love that place. I never fail to walk out with at least one or two interesting Broadway cast albums and soundtracks I never thought I'd find. I finally came up with the original casts of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and the 1962 off-Broadway revival of Anything Goes, the soundtrack for Scrooged, and The Who: Live at Leeds concert album. I've had Live at Leeds for a while, but my copy came from a yard sale and was a scratched mess. This one was in near-perfect shape.

My next stops were much faster. I didn't see anything at Frugli Consignment I couldn't live without. Grabbed a soft pretzel and a berry Propel water at a crowded WaWa before heading home. Took the short way this time down Collings Avenue, across the White Horse Pike, and past Newton Lake Park and CVS to Newton Avenue.

Worked on writing for about an hour and a half when I got in. Leia leads the unicorn to get a drink of water by the stream in the woods. As the moonlight hits it's horn, it transforms into her brother Luke. Palpatine turned the innocent youth into a unicorn to make it easier to remove his magic. When Luke is in his unicorn form, all his magic is concentrated in his horn. He can only be human at night, when the moon shines on his horn.

Broke at quarter of 7 to enjoy my dinner. Yum. It came out quite flavorful, despite having to use chicken instead of the fattier and more expensive beef or corned beef. After I ate, I made Stir n' Drop Oatmeal Cookies from The Betty Crocker Cooky Book, with dried cranberries instead of the peanuts called for in the book. It's a very simple one-bowl recipe, and fairly low-fat compared to some others in the book. They came out soft and chewy, but a little too sweet. (Next time, I think I'll cut the sugar down to 3/4 of a cup, instead of the full cup called for.)

Watched The Quiet Man during dinner, finishing it after a shower. Sean Thompson (John Wayne) is a former boxer who has returned to his mother's former cottage in Inisfree, Ireland to settle down. He falls for Katie Danaher (Maureen O'Hara), the fiery sister of landowner Will Danaher (Victor MacLaglan), but Will is upset because he couldn't buy the farm and won't let them court. It takes a trick from the local matchmaker (Barry Fitgerald) and priest (Ward Bond) that makes Will think the Widow Tillane (Mildred Natwick) wants to court him to relent and allow Sean to marry his sister. When the widow says she's not interested, he refuses to give up Katie's things, and then her dowry. Sean doesn't get why the money is so important, but Katie wants her things and her money with her. For her, it means finally being free of her brother. Sean only knows he loves her no matter what. It comes to a head when Will finally starts a brawl with Sean that gets so wild, most of the town (and half of Ireland) comes to see them duke it out!

Director John Ford's love letter to Ireland is an affectionate culture-clash tale with some of the most gorgeous Technicolor cinematography I've ever seen. Ireland has never glowed like this before, in colors that would make Oz turn pale. Ford and the cinematography both one deserved Oscars. Wayne and O'Hara are fine as the lovers, backed by a terrific cast of Ford regulars and beloved Irish comedians. If you're a fan of Wayne and O'Hara or Ford's work, this is one trip to Ireland worth checking out.

Finished the night online after the cookies came out of the oven with Finian's Rainbow. This time, the Irish head to America as Finian (Fred Astaire) comes to Rainbow Valley in the south with his daughter Sharon (Petula Clark). Knowing that Fort Knox and it's gold is nearby, he's hoping to bury his gold and let it grow like the Americans' seems to have. The gold originally belonged to a leprechaun named Og (Tommy Steele) who is becoming more and more mortal without it...and more and more horny. They end up in a little sharecropper's union, where blacks and whites live in harmony. Their leader, Woody (Don Francks) is trying to grow a new metholated tobacco to make them all rich. He and Sharon fall for each other, but their relationship is threatened when Sharon, not realizing the pot of gold is nearby, accidentally wishes that racist Senator Rawkins (Keenan Wynn) was black. Now Finian and Og have to find that gold and the senator, with the help of Woody's sister Susan the Silent (Barbara Hancock), or Sharon will be burned as a witch!

This has always been a strange show, even in it's 1947 original Broadway cast, and updating it didn't make the fantasy any less odd. Then-newcomer Francis Ford Coppola couldn't figure out what to do with it. Fred Astaire didn't get it, either, though his solo routine for "When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich" is a highlight of the film. Clark comes off even better as his exasperated but loving daughter. Steele, on the other hand, is annoying and way too over the top, even for a leprechaun. He's more tolerable in his charming duet with Clark "Something Sort of Grandish."

If you're a fan of the leads or the original show, this is worth a look (it's currently available on DVD and Blu-Ray on the Warner Archives).

Something Sort of Grandish

It was a glorious St. Patrick's Day morning when I awoke, earlier than I have been lately. Along with a few chapters of The Darkness Knows, I did some reading on the holiday. The Colliers Harvest of Holidays book  has one long essay on St. Patrick, who he was and why he's now the patron saint of Ireland. The 60's Walt Disney Storybook has a condensed version of how Darby O'Gil first found himself making friends with the King of the Leprechauns, from Darby O'Gil and the Little People.

Ran a couple of Irish themed cartoons while eating breakfast. Woody Woodpecker is delighted to discover a woodpecker-like leprechaun of his own in "His Better Elf." His wish for money proves to be nothing but trouble when it turns out the money belongs to a bank. The wacky bird learns a lesson in earning his bread as he tries to escape a stereotypical Irish cop.

The wee folk in the Porky Pig vehicle "Wearin' of the Grin" are far less benign. Thinking he's after their pot of gold, they sentence him to "the wearin' of the green shoes." These shoes want to dance forever - and now Porky finds himself in a surreal Irish nightmare as he tries to outrun the enchanted footwear.

Did a few more classic Looney Tunes as I got ready to head out. Daffy's hoping his epic swashbuckler "The Scarlet Pumpernickel," a spoof of Scarlet Pimpernel/Zorro tales, will be his big break. What it may end up doing is breaking him as he introduces it to his boss. He almost gets broken by an animator who seems to want nothing more than to wreck havoc on his body in "Duck Amok." "Deduce, You Say" takes us back to Sherlock Holmes territory. Daffy is Holmes and Porky's Watson as the two try to solve the mystery of the Shropshire Slasher. Daffy, however, is no one's Benedict Cumberbatch and has no idea the Slasher doesn't want to run away. He has slightly better luck dealing with Marvin the Martian on Planet X in "Duck Dodgers and the 24th and a Half Century."

Since I got up early anyway, I decided to start off the day with a grocery store run. I was originally going to do it tomorrow, but it's supposed to rain and possible snow a little. I'd rather do it while it's dry and I'm not dead tired. I had a rather big order, too. Along with the cabbage, ham, and potatoes for dinner, I found cake mix, muffin papers, and two containers of Progresso soup on clearance. (One was French Onion. Maybe I'll buy or make bread or croutons and have French Onion Soup with cheese later this week.) Also restocked dried rosemary, skim milk, eggs, yogurt, grapefruit, bananas, chick peas, honey, cooking spray, raspberry jam, and canned apricots.

Went home, put everything away, then went right back out again. Had lunch at Phillies Phatties. They were running the Flyers-Devils game from the night before on Comcast Sports. (They lost big-time, 6-3. I don't know how. This was the Devils' first win in 10 games.) I watched the second half of the game and enjoyed my usual slice of cheese, slice of mushroom, and can of Cherry Vanilla Pepsi.

My next stop was originally going to be the Oaklyn Library. There was a small sign on the front door when I arrived. They were having a staff meeting at noon. It was past 1 at that point, and the place was dark. I guess they all left after the meeting. Rats. I just skipped them and headed across a snow-covered Newton River Park to Westmont, after stopping briefly at the Oaklyn Post Office for stamps. At least it was a nice day for a ride. The sky was brilliant blue, the wind had diminished to a breeze, and it was at least in the upper 40's-lower 50's, not balmy but far warmer than it has been.

The Haddon Township Library was much busier. There were piles and piles of DVDs to return as people finally got out after the storm. There were so many DVDs, audio books, and CDs, it took me over an hour to shelve them all.

Found a few more DVDs while I was putting them away. The Equestria Girls, the human versions of the Friendship Is Magic characters, are back in The Legend of Everfree. Having enjoyed the last three Studio Ghilbi films I've rented, I thought I'd give Princess Monoke a shot. Last summer's X-Men: Apocalypse is one of only three current Marvel films I haven't seen. (The others are last fall's Doctor Strange and the just-released Logan.) Since I did have fun with Now You See Me a few years ago, figured I'd try the sequel as well.

After waiting for over four months, they finally had The Princess Diarist in. Well, just the audio book. The book itself continues to be on hold, and will be for the foreseeable future. Given that Carrie Fisher herself narrates as the older her and her daughter Billie Lourd plays her as a teen, this might actually be even more fun. I still want to read the book, but this will work for now.

My next stop was WaWa for a St. Patrick's Day treat. I did think about getting a Shamrock Shake, but I'm not the biggest fan of McDonald's. A Mint Cream Smoothie is the next best thing, and just as tasty. (And unlike the Shamrock Shake, is available year-round.)

My last stop of a busy day was Studio LuLoo. Poor Sarah was not happy when I arrived. She was supposed to be rehearsing the children's band for their upcoming band night and the CD she's hoping to release. Only two children, two of the girls, had arrived, despite her claiming she and the other parents had decided on Fridays weeks in advance. I did help the girls draw ideas for the CD cover as Sarah tried to get a hold of the other parents.

Got in around 4:30. Spent the next few hours writing. Leia and Han get into one of their famous tiffs as they head to the stage to watch the show. Han can't believe that a pretty, soft-skinned duchess is into things like fencing, shooting, and mechanics. Leia tells him she's never been your typical royalty. Han's determined to get him, his business, and his ward out of the country, before they're caught by Baron Vader and the crime lord Jenkins Huttman. Leia doesn't understand why he won't stay. He thinks she wants him to stay because she's falling for him. Though she flounces off in a huff, she's not entirely sure that isn't true.

Broke for dinner around 6:30. Made boiled cabbage and red potatoes, pan-fried ham, and an Irish soda bread muffin for dinner. I should have boiled the cabbage and potatoes longer. The cabbage was a bit tough and bitter. Otherwise, it came out quite nicely, especially the perfectly-cooked ham.

Ran The Quiet Man while I ate. John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara headline this 1952 comedy/drama as Sean Flannigan, a former boxer just arrived in Ireland, and his strong-willed neighbor Mary Kate Danaher. Sean has moved to Ireland to reclaim his parents' cottage and land. He's trying to forget a bout that ended in a man's death. He falls for pretty, feisty Mary Kate right away, but she needs a lot more persuading. Her brother Will (Victor McLaughlin) is a hulking brute who had wanted Sean's land for himself. He refuses to give Mary Kate her dowry when she and Sean wed. Sean doesn't see the point of the fuss, but for Mary Kate, the dowry - her things, her money - are all she has. It finally comes down to the biggest donnybrook Ireland's ever seen as Mary Kate tries to leave...and Sean gives her and Will what they wanted.

John Ford was 100% Irish-American, and it shows in this love letter to the old country. The Oscar-winning color cinematography alone is worth seeing. Ireland has never glowed like this on screen again, in colors that would make the rainbow leading to the pot of gold look pale. The cast of beloved Irish comedians are having a fine time as the locals cheering Sean on, including Barry Fitzgerald as the local matchmaker (who takes the bets on the donnybrook in the finale). O'Hara and Wayne also do well as the battling lovers. While there's some aspects, especially in the lead-in to the donnybrook and on O'Hara and Wayne's wedding night, that don't come off well today, for the most part, this is a trip to Ireland worth making.

Finished out the night online while watching Finian's Rainbow. We go from a story about Ireland to a story about Irish folk. Fred Astaire is Finian MacLongergan, an Irishman who has immigrated to America to bury his pot of gold near Fort Knox. He figures, if the American's gold can grow, why not his? His daughter Sharon (Petula Clark) just wishes he'd settle down. They find themselves in Rainbow Valley in the Deep South, where a group of mixed-race sharecroppers lead by dreamer Woody are trying to grow a mentholated tobacco. The local sheriff and bigoted Senator Rawkins (Keenan Wynn) want them to pay their back taxes and un-mix, pronto. Meanwhile, a leprechaun named Og (Tommy Steele) has followed Finian in pursuit of his gold. If he doesn't get it back to Ireland, he'll turn human!

Astaire's final turn in a non-documentary film musical is a strange adaptation of an already unusual Broadway musical from 1947. (They tried reviving it a few years ago, without success.) It's worth seeing for Astaire's "When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich" solo and Clark and Steele's adorable "Something Sort of Grandish."

And I hope ye lads and lasses had an equally busy and enjoyable St. Patrick's Day!

No Luck of the Irish

The men showed up around 8:30, while I was reading a story about St. Patrick in the Colliers Book of Holidays. Yes, they tore apart my bathroom, though they really only had to take out the toilet. Unfortunately, it turns out the pipes in the bathroom are under the floor. So they had to take out what little floor I have in there, too. I still don't know why they didn't figure all this out when they first started spying leaks downstairs months ago. This is an old house, I'm guessing anywhere from fifty to ninety years old. The previous owner was an elderly woman who probably hadn't done anything to her apartment or the plumbing or electrical wiring in years, maybe decades. What did they expect? Of course the plumbing is going to be old.

After I ate a bagel and a half a grapefruit for breakfast, I went in my room, closed the door, and spent the next few hours working on my story. Ben says he'll open the drawbridge so they can escape while the others look for the princess. Luke wants to go with him, but he sends him after the others. As the guys make their way across the castle complex, they hear a beautiful voice singing a sad old Aldran folk tune. The voice leads them to a high tower on the edge of the complex's prison area. They see a man in dark armor climb a rope of very, very long hair. The guys have no idea how they'll get in, until Luke insists he might be able to mimic Vader's voice well enough to fool the princess and get them into the Tower.

Headed out to run errands around quarter after 12. First stop was the Oaklyn Library. Other than one guy reading the newspaper, they weren't busy, not a surprise on a nice day. I organized the DVDs and took a quick look at the kids' area before the local kindergarten arrived, all dressed in green, to hear a St. Patrick's Day story.

Next stop was WaWa for lunch. I didn't see corned beef on the menu, so I bought a ham and Swiss hoagie instead. Also treated myself to a Mint Smoothie and a cupcake with white and green mint icing from Viola's International Deli. Bought a bottle of water from Common Grounds Coffee Shop for later. Checked Studio LuLoo; they still weren't open.

I headed home with just enough time to toss lunch together, change, and head back out. Great splotches of blobby black clouds had begun to gather even as I was riding home from lunch. By the time I headed to work, it was raining in earnest. It didn't last. It had begun to slow down even as I was making my way across the Acme's parking lot to work.

Work was on-and-off busy. We're supposed to be getting some snow and sleet on Sunday, though given how warm the ground is, I doubt it'll stick for very long. Many people were buying Irish potatoes, soda bread, or food for their St. Patrick's Day dinners as well. When I wasn't in a register, I gathered baskets, dug around in the back closet for more boxes of plastic bags, and tried to get boxes of huge posters meant to be hung in the store to the trash compactor in the back. (The last was so big, I needed help from one of the college boys to lift it.)

The spotty rain showers had continued on and off all evening. Thankfully, by the time I got out at 7, it was long gone. The ground was mostly dry, and I got home just fine.

Oh, and Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of ye! I hope you've been having far more luck than I have lately.

Look to the Rainbow

Top of the evenin' to 'ye! I hope you all had a lovely St. Patrick's Day. I began mine with a call from Mom. I was working on my journal when the phone rang. Mom wanted to wish me a happy holiday and tell me she'd heard from Rose. Dad is still in the hospital, and will be for the next week. They did get all the cancer out, but they had to remove his voice box to do so. He won't be able to talk again. Mom herself is fine. She's still working erratic hours at the Cape May-Lewes Ferry. She says they should be steadier again once the weather becomes steadier.

I had enough time for a couple of cartoons as I had breakfast. Porky Pig has a surreal encounter with a pack of vengeful leprechauns who think he's after their pot of gold in "Wearin' Of the Grin." Woody Woodpecker also has problems with the Wee Folk in "His Better Elf." A woodpecker-like-leprechaun gives Woody three wishes. When he wishes for gold, the gold turns out to come from a bank...and Woody ends up learning a lesson in the importance of earning his bread.

Work was dead as a doornail for most of the afternoon. It was a gorgeous day, into the 60's. It was too nice for people to be indoors shopping. By the time it the 4 PM rush hour began to roll in, I was on my way out. I picked up cabbage for dinner tonight and raisins for my Irish Soda Bread. I was out of sugar, too. The chain came off my bike on my way to work. A man coming out of the Acme was nice enough to help me get it on so I could get home.

There was a box waiting for me on the steps when I finally arrived. I'm surprised my American Girl order showed up so quickly. I didn't expect it for another couple of days. It arrived just in time to change Samantha into her new mint-green Special Day Dress for St. Patrick's Day. I also bought her limited-edition Flower Picking Dress, which came with a basket of fabric tulips. The modern Coconut Fun Outfit consists of tights, magenta shorts, blue flats, a pink and blue plaid headband, and a cute blue-violet studded t-shirt, all for the miraculously low price of 9 dollars. (I've seen modern AG outfits with fewer pieces go for twice that much on eBay!) The current accessories set for Samantha includes a lace headband with a big flower, a cute velvet purse, and a pretty necklace with a heart-shaped pendant. I mainly got it so Samantha could have a necklace of her own, like most of my other dolls. (I also bought more hangers, which I needed badly.)

AG is clearing out their Historical Character Mysteries with older covers or based around characters who are now retired. I picked up The Cameo Necklace, featuring African-American New Orleans belle Cecile, and The Crystal Ball, my favorite mystery featuring Jewish ragtime-era New York resident Rebecca Rubin, for $1.25 each.

Finished out Finian's Rainbow as I made skinned chicken thighs with cabbage, the last of the fingerling potatoes, and Irish Soda Bread for dinner. I began it before I went to work. Finian's Rainbow was Fred Astaire's last appearance in a film musical. Astaire is the title character, a roguish Irishman who thinks his stolen pot of gold with flourish in the ground near Ft. Knox. After all, if the United States' money seems to grow, why not his? Og, the leprechaun he stole the gold from (Tommy Steele) isn't too happy. Losing his gold is causing him to become human. Finian's daughter Sharon (Petula Clark) is just fed up with her father's stories.

Meanwhile, the people of Rainbow Valley, where Finian buried the gold, are being hounded by nasty, bigoted Senator Rawkins (Keenan Wynn). Rainbow Valley is a commune where blacks and whites live in harmony, including Woody (Don Franks) and his silent sister Susan. When Sharon wishes the senator was black, so he knew how everyone in the Valley felt, she accidentally turns him into a black man. Now everyone has to find that gold, before Sharon is burned as a witch!

Francis Ford Coppola's first major production ran into a lot of the same problems as many other film musicals of the late 60's and early 70's - no amount of up-to-date talk about race and communes could change the fact that this was originally a Broadway hit in 1947, and it does feel a little dated. Things look a little better today. Astaire and several critics complained about the rag-tag choreography. Actually, the odd dance routines, including Astaire's delightful solo to "When the Idle Poor Becomes the Idle Rich," suit the bizarre plot to a T. Steele and Clark do an adorable "Something Sort of Grandish" as well. Steele is my other complaint - he's way too over-the-top as Og, to the point of being a little annoying.

If you're a fan of the cast or the big musicals of the 60's and 70's, this one has a lot to offer and is worth at least a look.

Ended the night with an episode of Moonlighting that features an even more unusual leprechaun. The second season show "Somewhere Under the Rainbow" brings a pretty young Irish colleen to the Blue Moon Agency, claiming she's being followed and that she wants protection. Trouble is, she also claims she's a member of the Wee Folk and that the people following her are after her pot of gold. Maddie and David try to help her find the gold as they argue over the idea of magic and the things we can and can't see.

Springtime Sunshine

It was gorgeous and sunny - though a bit windy - when I got up this morning. This week's Sunday pancakes were Chocolate Chip. I've just felt like I needed chocolate lately. I made it taste even more like a chocolate chip cookie with the addition of vanilla, cinnamon, and a hint of brown sugar. Yum. Came out very well, other than slightly burning the first one.

When breakfast was done, it was time to take down the winter decorations and put up what I have for spring and St. Patrick's Day. While there's still snow on the ground at press time, it's also supposed to get into the 50's this week. It won't be around much longer. The cardboard flowers and butterflies wouldn't stay up without a judicious amount of tape. The cardboard is thin, and they keep bending on the edges. Hung two yellow wooden tulips with raffia ribbon from the knobs on the cookbook hutch. Primrose, the sweet 6-inch porcelain doll in the pink dress that Jodie gave me in November, sits on the shelf next to the white lamp. (I need to find or make a scarf for her - she has a very loose head.) The spring stuffed animals - Stuffy the Rabbit, Sharri the Lamb, Lilly the Duck, and Greenwillow the Caterpiller - went up on the DVD shelves.

I had just enough time to rush out to work...and then I came back in briefly to drop my earmuffs and scarf on the table. It was so warm outside, I didn't need them! Maybe that's why we were crazy today. Families that had been hiding from the weather all week could now come and get big orders done. There were still a few unpleasant people around, including one woman who somehow thought 90 dollars would cover a 200 dollar order. She had to put more than half of it back. Other than that, my shift went quickly. It quieted down enough by 6 that I was able to leave on my own, since my relief was late again.

The ride home was even easier than the ride to work. Even by 2, a lot of the snow had already disappeared. By 6 PM, the sidewalks were almost totally clear, especially in sunny places. The wind was chilly, but the sun was so warm, I was sweating in my heavy winter coat.

When I got home, I put on Johnny Mathis while making scrambled eggs with mushrooms and escarole for dinner. With two slices of buttered rye bread and the grapefruit half I didn't get to this morning, it was a surprisingly filling meal.

White St. Patrick's Day

Top of the evenin' to all of ye! I hope those of you who celebrate it had a fine St. Patrick's Day!

Yes, there was snow on the porch when I got up this morning. However, it was very much spring snow. The flakes were light and fluffy. They moved easily when I opened my front door. A good wind would have sent the majority of it to Canada. The streets weren't even really covered. I think most schools here were either on delay or just opened normally.

I watched the few Irish-themed shorts I have during breakfast. Porky Pig has a close encounter of the surreal kind with a vengeful pack of leprechauns who think they're after his pot of gold in "Wearin' of the Grin." Woody Woodpecker has his own trouble with the wee folk when a leprechaun gives him three wishes that get him into nothing but trouble in "His Better Elf."

I spent most of the morning working on my story and watching the snow fall. It actually stopped for a while, then started again around 10:30. It felt very peaceful, typing away while the snow came down and the birds chattered outside.  I'm now about half-way through my third story. I intend this to be a series of stories about the adventures of Queen Kathleen and the kingdoms by the sea. I'm hoping to continue it for as long as I have ideas for stories. The problems with my solo fanfiction is I tend to fall out of interest in the fandom before I can finish stories or series. With so many of the ideas here drawn from my real life, it should be a little harder to fall out of interest.

Ran two Backyardigans episodes with snow settings as I had beef, spinach, and mushroom stir-fry for lunch. Mounties Tyrone and Pablo guard "The Snow Fort" and the giant snowball it protects. They think there's someone outside that's after their snowball, but it's really just ski patrol members Tasha and Uniqua. The quartet spend the episode missing each other as they run around the fort, trying to find the intruders or the people who need rescuing. Then, Pablo leads Tasha, Tyrone, and Uniqua on a chilly chase through the Frozen North. Uniqua thinks they're following the tracks of "The Yeti"; Tasha is equally insistent that there's no such creature.

The roads were so clear by noon, I had no problems taking the bike to work. No one else had any problems getting where they were going, either. We were steady but not overwhelmingly busy all afternoon and evening, except during the usual 4 to 6 rush hour. There were a few annoying customers, and the first register I went in broke down and I had to move to the next one just two minutes after I arrived. Otherwise, there were no major problems, and I was in and out.

With a Little Luck

Top o' the evenin' to ye! I hope you all had a great St. Patrick's Day. Mine was pretty quiet, especially compared to last year. I pre-empted the Beatles radio show in favor of Irish and spring-themed music. I finally did that Music of Spring record I picked up from the church thrift shop. It's a variation on the many Columbia Special Products Christmas record series, this one with spring-themed songs. Some, like "It Might as Well Be Spring" and "April In Paris," actually had spring in the title or referred to springtime in the lyrics. Others, such as "The Sweetest Sounds" and "Camelot," were tougher sells.

After I finished out the spring record, I switched to the soundtrack LP for the 1968 movie version of Finian's Rainbow. The soundtrack has "Necessity," a song from the original Broadway show that was cut from the film. It also has Petula Clark and Tommy Steele duetting on a fun "Something Sort of Grandish," and the last movie musical performance of Fred Astaire.

I called Mom while the first record was on. Mom was fine. She was just about to go in the shower. Her week had been relatively uneventful, but she had good news about my sister Rose. Rose and her boyfriend Craig have been looking for a new house for almost a year now. They currently live in an apartment in Audubon that's too small for two adults, a toddler, a pair of frisky dogs, and a cat. Not only did they find a house yesterday, but the one they settled on is on Kendall Boulevard here in Oaklyn, just a few houses down from the school and three streets down from me! I'm absolutely thrilled for them.

After I got off with Mom, I put on some cartoons as I cleaned up after my Irish Oatmeal Pancakes and blood oranges breakfast. Porky Pig has a close encounter of the surreal kind with a pack of vengeful leprechauns in the Looney Tunes classic "Wearin' of the Grin." Woody Woodpecker is no luckier when he finds a wee folk woodpecker who gives him three wishes. Woody wishes for gold, but when it turns out the gold comes from a bank, he finds himself evading the cops instead in "His Better Elf."

Switched to The Quiet Man as I finally dusted the apartment. I've been wanting to do it for ages, but I just plain haven't had the time. This takes former boxer Sean (John Wayne) to the Ould Sod, where he romances fiery local colleen Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O'Hara) against the wishes of her brother (Victor McLaglen). He does finally marry her, but when the elder Danaher's attempt to court the local widow (Mildred Natwick) are rebuffed, Danaher refuses to give Mary Kate the money that's rightfully hers. Wayne doesn't care one way or the other, but Mary Kate insists she won't be a real wife until she has her dowry. Sean, fearing history repeating itself, won't hit Danaher...but when Mary Kate's finally had enough, he decides he doesn't have a choice. Their quarrel over the money eventually leads to a fist fight so big, half of Ireland ends up taking bets.

This was a very personal film for native Irishman John Ford, and it shows. The luscious color cinematography alone won an Oscar. Everyone's having a good time here, from bemused Wayne to spirited O'Hara, and especially Barry Fitzgerald as the local matchmaker. It may not be a realistic portrayal of Ireland, but it's a heck of a lot of fun, and by far one of John Wayne's best comedies.

Jodie called as The Quiet Man was winding down. She asked me if I wanted to come over for dinner. I couldn't, but I did get some more information on Rose and Craig's new house. It was official; they signed the papers yesterday. They'll be moving in at the end of April.

Since I wanted to get a Lucky Mint Coolatta for my St. Patrick's Day treat, I decided to take the long route and swing by Rose and Craig's new house. It's a small, white, one-story house with a yard and a big garage in the back. They'd signed the papers so recently, the Century 21 sign was still on the lawn (though it no longer said "for sale"). A short set of brick steps lead to an enclosed front porch. From what I could see, the front of the house needed to be painted, but otherwise, it looked fine. The yard was fenced in; I couldn't really see anything there.

It wasn't a bad day for a walk. The sun was struggling to stay out amid clouds, but though it was chilly and a little windy, it wasn't freezing cold. I got lucky. Duncan Donuts' seating area was full when I came in, but there was no line. Right after I ordered my Coolatta, a large group of people arrived to order lattes.

Put on the second season Moonlighting episode "Somewhere Under the Rainbow" when I got home. A young Irish woman asks Maddie and David to protect her. The catch is, she thinks she's a leprechaun, and she wants them to help her find and protect her pot of gold. Maddie thinks she's crazy. David thinks maybe she is, maybe she isn't. This, of course, instigates several arguments between the two about magic and belief in the things we can and can't see.

Several employees mentioned when I got in that it was very busy earlier in the day. By the time I started my shift, it was steady but not overwhelming. When I finished, it was quiet as can be. I was in and out with no problems.

Something Sort of Grandish

Happy St. Patrick's Day to ye! The sun was beaming softly through my bedroom window when I awoke this morning. The clouds were gone, and it was getting into the upper 50s and climbing. I began with the second half of this week's American Top 40. This week, the Top 40 hit March 1983, with hits including "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran, "Back on the Chain Gang" by the Pretenders, "One on One" by Hall & Oates, and "Shame on the Moon" by Bob Seeger and the Silver Bullet Band. The #1 song that week would be one of that year's top songs, from one of the decade's biggest albums - "Billie Jean," from the smash Michael Jackson record Thriller.

I didn't really have any major plans for today, other than running a few errands in the Oaklyn and Audubon area. I hit the bank first, dodging some sidewalk repairs on the White Horse Pike, then headed over to the Oaklyn Library. They were having a special St. Patrick's Day Storybook Hour with Darby the Cat. "Darby" turned out to be a sweet-natured, gray-striped tabby owned by a woman who takes him to local nursing homes and schools. It might have been just as well that there were only a few families. Darby wasn't overwhelmed, and all of the kids got a chance to pet him and have their pictures taken.

I hadn't had a nice walk to Audubon in a while, so I went there next. I bought a couple of Irish Potatoes from Desserts By Design and explained my business situation to her. She was very sweet and supportive. She's a nice customer at the Audubon Acme, too, and her desserts are popular with local restaurants.

Went across the street to have lunch at TreeHouse Cafe. I'd had a brainstorm. Coffee houses were the only other places I could think of local creative types congregating besides libraries. I know the TreeHouse Cafe has seminars and open-mic nights, for poetry and for music. I asked the owners if they knew any local writers who could help me break into the market. One recommended a woman named Cassandra Ulrich who had just published a young adult novel and had apparently gone through some of the same problems I had. I gave them my phone number and e-mail address to give to her.

Feeling a bit better, I went back across the street to Abbie Road. Said "hi" to Bob, then went through his record collection. He'd put a lot out since I was last there, including a whole pile that were only a dollar each. I ended up with four titles:

The original 1966 Carol Channing cast album for Hello Dolly! and the soundtrack to the 1970s movie musical version of Tom Sawyer with music by the Sherman Brothers

The Best of the Spinners

England Dan & John Ford Cooley - Nights are Forever

It was getting warmer by the minute. I was too warm in my green v-neck sweater and heavy dark flared jeans. Time to go home. I made one more quick stop at the WaWa on the White Horse Pike for skim milk before heading back to the apartment.

Just a few minutes after I got in, my phone rang. Much to my delight and surprise, it was Cassandra Ulrich, the woman I'd heard about at the TreeHouse Cafe, on the other end of the line! I hadn't expected her to get back to me so soon, but I was very glad she did. We had a nice, long chat about writing. She said that she hadn't written anything in years...but once she'd switched to a job she liked better, her ideas seemed to flow. She just got her first young adult novel published last year. She also seconded what Mom said that I'm still on the "discovery" phase of my journey - finding what I like and don't like, what I want and don't want.  She didn't really have any suggestions on what to do about the business class; I have the feeling I'm on my own there.

Here's her blog, with the link to her novel: Cassandra's Journey

Spent the next hour working on goals and what to do next. It's hard to have goals when you're never sure what you're going to be doing at work next week. I at least know I want to hit the other local coffee shop in Collingswood, GrooveGround, and see if they can recommend anyone as well. I also need to finally e-mail the teacher and see if he has any ideas of what I can do now, because I feel bad, but I don't think I'll be able to complete the course.

After I got bored with that, I decided to have some fun. I rounded up Molly, Jessa, Tiana, and Cinderella (the latter three are the only dolls in green!) for a St. Patrick's Day/spring photo-taking session in Miss Ellie's garden. I got some shots of them among the daffodils, then cut a few daffodils to bring upstairs to my own apartment.

Spent the rest of the evening indoors. I'd run St. Patrick's Day and Irish-themed TV shows and cartoons all day. Porky Pig has a surreal close encounter with leprechauns who think he's after their pot of gold in the classic Looney Tunes short "Wearin' of the Grin." Woody Woodpecker actually gets a visit from one of the wee folk in "His Better Elf," but learns a lesson in earning his bread when he wishes for money that belongs to a bank. Wonder Woman has her own odd encounter with a human version of the wee folk when gangsters steal his pot of gold to buy printing plates for counterfeit money in "Pot 'o Gold," from the third season of the 70s show. And in the second season Moonlighting episode "Somewhere Under the Rainbow," David and Maddie argue over magic and the things we can't see when a female leprechaun asks them to protect her and her pot of gold.

I ran Finian's Rainbow as I baked Irish Soda Bread and made a small spiral ham with sauteed collard greens, carrots, and celery and mashed sweet potatoes for dinner. This adaptation of the 1947 Broadway musical is a very strange but oddly charming fantasy about an Irishman (Fred Astaire) who plants his stolen pot of gold in the ground near Fort Knox, hoping it'll grow the way the gold in the famous vault seems to have. His daughter Sharon (Petula Clark)  is more interested in the handsome sharecropper who is in charge of a tobacco cooperative that's trying to grow a new kind of mint-flavored tobacco. Trouble is, the leprechaun who owns the stolen gold (Tommy Steele) has followed Finian to reclaim it, before he becomes fully human...and he's more interested in chasing Sharon and anything female that gets in his view. And then, there's the bigoted local senator (Keenan Wynn), who isn't happy that the cooperative is equally owned by whites and blacks, but Sharon's about to teach him a lesson in equality, thanks to the pot of gold...

The music and the cast are the saving graces in this fairly dated but still fun cult musical. Songs like "How are Things In Glocca Morra," "Old Devil Moon," "Look to the Rainbow," and "Something Sort of Grandish" were already often-recorded hits by the time the movie finally came out in 1967. Steele can be annoying, but he does have a couple of good numbers, notably the adorable "Grandish" with Clark. "Old Devil Moon" smolders with a sexual energy that wouldn't have been possible if this movie had been made in the 40s. And Fred Astaire gets several chances to show off his still-nimble feet, notably in his solo during "When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich."

The script is the problem. The bigotry subplot comes off as well-meaning but overly politically correct today (long before the phrase was coined), and the idea of magic changing skin color may not sit well with a lot of people. (It doesn't help that the makeup used to transform Wynn is terrible and obvious.) There's also the fact that the plot revolves around selling tobacco, which would have been far more acceptable in the 60s - today, Woody wouldn't get past Rainbow Valley with that tobacco, no matter how minty it smelled.

In a weird way, it reminds me a little of Xanadu - a musical about an old dance master and a young English-accented woman that revolves around misfits and magic, with a score that's more beloved than the plot and a plot that doesn't make a lot of sense, that was a flop on first release. Like Xanadu, it's not for everyone, but if you're a fan of Steele, Clark, Astaire, the original Broadway show, or director Francis Ford Coppola, it's worth a look.

Windy, Bright, and Beautiful

I'm glad I got up fairly early this morning. I got a lot done. My first errand of the day was the bank to deposit my paycheck. Once again, it was a beautiful, sunny, windy day. The wind kept it from being too warm, but it was still warm enough for me to be out in just my heavy Cape May hoody sweatshirt and be fine. The bank was dead when I was there, and I was in and out.

Next stop was WaWa. It was only about 10:30 when I got there. They were busy with people picking up coffee and late breakfasts. I grabbed milk and a small cup of chai tea.

Went for a short walk after leaving WaWa. The neighborhood is looking very much like spring. There's buds on the trees. Many yards and fields are bursting with the first crocus and daffodils. Bushes that were trimmed back in the fall are now sporting new, pale-green growth. I waved to a neighbor and Acme customer walking her two large, beautiful midnight-colored dogs, and headed home.

Since I got out so early, I had the time to get a lot of things done around the apartment, too. I took down the St. Patrick's decorations and put up some spring-themed cardboard hangings. I swept out the two shelves between my sink and stove that make up my pantry. I decided to try something different and made some delicious hummus for lunch.

I wish I'd stayed home. Work was not only a pain in the rear today, it was a bit scary. Though the worst that happened in my line was an obnoxious older woman who had to re-arrange every bag and hold up the line, there were problems in the self-checkout and the line in front of me later in the day.

I don't really know WHAT happened in self-checkout. My back was turned. I just heard two women having a very noisy and violent argument. From what I could hear, it sounded like one had probably skipped ahead in the line...and the other didn't like it. One of the women was eventually ejected from the store.

About an hour before I went home, a lady came in and told customer service that there were two children in a car with the windows down. Turns out the kids and the car belonged to a young couple in the register in front of me. The woman was so appalled with them leaving their kids in the car with the windows up, she called the police on them!

Today confirms it. I can't stay in the Acme anymore. This is utterly ridiculous. I know this doesn't happen all the time...but it shouldn't happen at all. I just want to work somewhere small and quiet, with quiet, sensible, intelligent people.

Lucky Balance

Top of the evenin' to ye. I hope ye all be havin' a wonderful St. Patrick's Day! I started out mine with yoga class. It was already in the 50s when I headed over to Collingswood, sunny and bright and breezy. We worked on heart-openers today, most of which involved standing and balance poses. Balance definitely is not my strong suit. I still have a hard time focusing.

After class, I headed for the Collingswood Library for my first volunteer session of the day. Not a whole lot to do there. I just shelved some DVDs and did a lot of organizing. I don't know how action movies keep getting mixed in with the dramas!

I made a brief stop at Rite Aid and picked up a box of raisins for a recipe I intended to make later and at WaWa for a bottle of water, then headed back to Oaklyn. I'd decided I was going to volunteer at the Oaklyn Library today instead of waiting for tomorrow or Saturday, when I had less time. The DVDs weren't too bad, but the kids' books really needed to be done.

Headed home after I finished at the library. I had a quick lunch, then went back out for a walk. I hadn't realized how low I was on sugar. Besides, I badly wanted a walk. By 1:30, it was absolutely stunning outside. I was warm in my blue jacket going home, so I just wore my green sweater for my walk and was perfectly fine. There couldn't have been a nicer March day.

Got the sugar at CVS. Also picked up honey, which was on sale. I took a detour going home to say "hi" to Uncle Ken and Dad, which I haven't done in a while. Dad and Jodie were in Allentown for Jodie's work at Campbell's Soup, but Dolores, Uncle Ken, and Jessa were at home. Uncle Ken was cleaning out the garage...or he was supposed to be. According to the ladies, he wasn't really getting very far. Dolores was making stewed cabbage for dinner, and Jessa was just hanging out. She gave me a ride home; she was on her way to work anyway.

Spent the rest of the afternoon doing things at my place. I've always wanted to try making Irish Soda Bread. The Acme sells it in late February and March, but I've never had the time on St. Patrick's Day to make my own before. That's what the sugar and the raisins were for. I used a recipe in my big Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads. It came out completely yummy, very moist and flavorful. (The raisins weren't in Clayton's version, but the Acme includes them, so I did, too.)

I ran my LP soundtrack from the movie version of Finian's Rainbow while making the bread. This was Fred Astaire's last singing and dancing appearance in an actual musical (other than That's Entertainment II, and he has some nice numbers in this odd version of the whimsical Broadway musical about an Irishman who buries a pot of gold near Fort Knox, hoping it'll "grow" the way America's gold supply seems to have.

While the bread was in the oven, I checked my e-mail and did Wishcraft. I've decided that I want to do two things. First of all, I'd like to work for a smaller company or business as part of the team, even just part-time. Since I know how little these pay, I'll supplement my income with a small at-home business. I'm reading a book with a list of 55 different at-home businesses you can start. I may start brainstorming on a few of them.

Ran what little I had with an Irish theme while making "fish and chips" (flounder in vinegar with sweet potatoes, onions, and mushrooms) and boiled cabbage for dinner. One of the stranger episodes of Moonlighting's second season had a young Irishwoman who claims to be a leprechaun go to Maddie and David and ask for help protecting her and her pot of gold. Naturally, this sparks debate between the two about magic and believing in the things we can't see. It turns out, however, that people are after the lass' gold...but not for the reasons she thinks!

Porky Pig had an even scarier experience with the Little Folk in the classic Looney Tunes short "Wearin' of the Grin." When he arrives at a large, spooky castle near Dublin, he dreams that a group of vengeful leprechauns mistake him for a thief and make him wear green shoes that dance forever! But is it all a dream?