Night of the Haddon Avenue Excursion

Began the morning with breakfast and Alice's Wonderland Bakery. Hattie is thrilled to share "A Hat-Tastic Hanukkah" with his friends and his father, especially after his dad says all the holiday food will be cooked on the hibachi grill. He's upset when Fergie the White Rabbit is better at cooking vegetables than him, but Alice reminds him there's still other things he can do well. It's "A Snow-Drop Summer" when Alice shares her snow cone Snow-Drops with their caterpillar friend who has never seen snow. The Snow-Drops do their work a little too well, making it snow all over Wonderland! The kids finally admit they got carried away with the snow and figure out a way to melt it.

Headed out shortly after the cartoon ended. I wanted to go for a walk in Collingswood before the rain we're supposed to get all weekend arrived. Started at Occasionette. This is a lovely little gift shop filled with fancy stationary, cookbooks, ornaments, and kitchen items. Nice store, but even the sale items tend to be expensive. 

Peeked at Innergroove Records next. They were too busy with record lovers and college students looking for new music for me to prowl the dollar bins, but I found some great stuff in the 2 dollar stacks and elsewhere anyway. One was a spurge, but I've never seen it anywhere else:

The soundtracks from Diamonds are Forever, Bugsy Malone, and the 1972 animated Charlotte's Web. (The last-named has a really cute pop-up cover depicting Zuckerman's farm. It was the splurge at $17, but this is the first I've seen of it, and I do love that film.)

Something Festive, a unique Christmas collection from A&M Records that includes everyone from Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass to Liza Minnelli. Honestly, some of the titles aren't all that Christmas-y, and the cover isn't, either. You'd never know it was a holiday album unless you looked at some of the instrumental numbers. Supposedly, this is pretty rare, and it was one of the two that came out of the 2 dollar bins. (The other was Bugsy Malone.) 

Went across the street to the Collingswood Library next. Dug a book set among both wealthy blacks and poor ones migrating from the South in early 20's Chicago off the for sale shelves: 

The Mayor of Maxwell Street - Avery Cunningham

Since it's only on the next block over from the Library, I had lunch at the Pop Shop. They were very busy with hungry families and kids off for Christmas break, but I still had no trouble getting a booth. Tried their Banana Foster Bettys pancakes. Caramelized bananas and toasted walnuts with powdered sugar. I'm not the biggest walnut fan, but these weren't bad. They were also too big for me to finish in their entirety. 

I was originally going to hit the pop culture thrift shop Time Lapse next, but they were closed for their own Christmas break. I peered briefly around another thrift shop, the more elegant Clutter, before moving on. Hurried down Haddon Avenue to Samaritan Thrift in Westmont. I made it in just ten minutes before closing. I didn't really see a whole lot I wanted there, anyway. Ended up with a bright blue L.L Bean turtleneck in perfect shape.

Westmont Party is next-door to Samaritan Thrift. Though they had birthday party napkins and plates on a table outside, I was really interested in their New Year's decorations and noisemakers. I've had my New Year's accessories for at least a decade now. I found metal and paper horns, two metal twirlers (one of mine broke ages ago), a glittering gold banner, and two tiaras, one trimmed with feathers, one with garland.

Dodged traffic on Cuthbert all the way down to the Westmont Plaza. Wanted to hit up Sprouts to do my grocery shopping there. I didn't need a whole lot. Got two Nixie sodas, two more probiotic sodas, a box of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies on clearance, and a bag of loose dried cranberries. They were busy, too, but I managed to catch one of the self-checkouts when it didn't have a line.

It was almost 4 by the time I finished there. Not only was traffic on Cuthbert getting worse, so were the kids at the Westmont Plaza. Local pre-teens hang out there, probably due to the Target and Dollar Tree, but they also tend to use the parking lot as a skate park and playground...and get into the way of pedestrians, shoppers, and cars. I rushed out in a hurry.

Put on The Wild Wild West while I got organized. James and Artemis realize they've been rooked when the Albanian princess they're supposed to be protecting turns out to be an impostor. Her brother claims he wants to find her. but he really has something more sinister in mind. They must rescue her when she's hidden during a ball that turns into "The Night of the Dancing Death" and keep her brother from letting the criminal organization he belongs to take over.

Worked on the inventory next. Added the four records I found today, plus two CDs Lauren made me for our first Christmas as best friends in 2004. I made her a cassette of my favorite Christmas music, so she sent me two CDs of hers. It's mostly country and rock holiday songs, with a smattering of songs taken directly from cartoons and Christmas TV episodes. 

Checked my schedule after that. In good news, I am indeed off until New Year's Day. Two of those are just plain old days off because I ran out of vacation time, but I still wanted to enjoy my holiday week. At least I work four hours each day for the remainder of the week, and only Thursday is early.

Switched to Match Game Syndicated while I worked. They first finished up the week with Fred Grandy, Marjorie Wallace, and Gary Crosby. After that, Betty Kennedy took over Brett's seat while she was out doing a play, and we get big George Kennedy and Phyllis Diller as a very unlikely ingenue. 

Finished the night at YouTube with more Christmas game show episodes. Christmas 1988 on Card Sharks brought in a very funny older lady and a brand-new bonus round. Here, they hear a question and slide a marker to the right answer. If they're right, they win the car. Awkward and not as much fun as turning over cards, but the lady did win.

Gene Rayburn had his own trouble on Match Game '76. Near the end of the episode, he literally ran over and beat up on a cameraman when he forgot his cue! The panelists for next week are also missing (and apparently are on GSN's airings as well - CBS must have forgotten to edit them in). 

The ladies finished dominating the week on Password Plus with Gina Hecht getting to Alphabetics with Dick Gautier. They missed the big money by literally less than a second! Debralee ended up being the big winner that week, followed by Gina, Dick, and David Doyle.

Family Feud was the biggest game show on TV when the 1981 Christmas episodes debuted. All the families brought Richard Dawson something here, including a T-shirt and a stuffed mouse. The 1982 holiday episodes were lost for 40 years before Buzzr unearthed them last year. At least one family was brought back over the judges mistaking "driftwood" for "shipwreck."

We're ending our Christmas game show week with grand championships, angry hosts, and a double dose of the Feud!

Match Game (1976)

Card Sharks (1978 and 1988)

Password Plus (1980)

Family Feud (1981)

Family Feud (1982) 

Rainy Day Women

I slept a little later than I planned...and awoke to another downpour. I was up at 9; Lauren didn't roll out until 10. That may have been a good thing. The rain was starting to slow down by the time we headed out at quarter of 11. When we made it to Collingswood, it was down to a light shower.

Our first stop was the Farm Market. Between the late hour and the weather, it was the quietest I'd ever seen it. There was barely anyone there. It's still pretty early in the growing season, too. Some tables were even packing up to leave as we arrived. I did manage to pick up asparagus and a tomato for dinner next week.

We strolled down Lee Avenue to Haddon Avenue to check out some of the stores. Started at Frugli Consignment, which is on the next block over from the Farm Market. They occasionally have interesting things, but neither of us found anything there today.

Had lunch down the street at Tortilla Press. It was quarter of noon by that point, and they were very busy. We just missed a huge party, in fact. I forgot that Tortilla Press has a popular brunch on weekends. Lauren had the brunch burritos, with black beans and mango salsa. I had the brunch quesadilla, filled with cheese, bacon, and vegetables, with salsa, sour cream, and very tasty home fries. We shared a basket of cinnamon sugar-dusted home-made tortilla chips and very much enjoyed our meal.

The rain took a temporary leave of absence after lunch, just in time for us to stroll down Haddon Avenue and check out several stores that interested us. Lauren picked up bags of Tootsie Rolls and a box of blue raspberry ring gummies at The Candy Jar; I found a bar of chocolate/vanilla/strawberry coconut candy. I ended up at InnerGroove Records to check out their dollar shelves while Lauren headed to ExtrordinaryED, a toy store a few doors down. She bought a dice and card game to play with her folks. I dug two records out of the stacks:

Linda Rondstat - Greatest Hits, Vol 2

Walt Disney Studios Presents Merry Christmas Songs - Mainly bought this for "From All of Us to All of You"

Lauren wanted to check out Rocket Fizz again - we went there last year - so we made our way down Haddon Township to Westmont around 2. Phildelity Records just opened a block from that shopping center. It's basically the same thing as InnerGroove, but in a larger, lighter store, and with CDs, Blu-Ray, and DVDs in addition to records. Lauren bought a couple of CDs for herself and one for her dad. Along with a copy of the Jennifer Lopez/George Clooney thriller Out of Sight on DVD, I found:

George Benson - In Your Eyes (record)

WOR 96.7 Studio Solid Gold - Two-disc record collection of classic rock, including some good titles I don't have elsewhere.

Original cast of Donnybrook!, a 1961 musical version of The Quiet Man. It was a major flop at the time, but I do like The Quiet Man, so I'm willing to give this rare title a try.

Rocket Fizz was our next stop. This is technically a candy store, but it specializes in practical jokes, unusual sodas and candy, and imported candy from Europe and Asia. While I found several of the British candy bars to be intriguing, most of them were expensive. Lauren found a banana nut soda with a Monkees label. (She later said it was pretty good.)

Primo's Water Ice, one of the best ice cream/water ice shops in the area, is right next door. They have unique flavors at very cheap prices. I picked up a pineapple turnover water ice (basically a creamier pineapple). Lauren had a black raspberry soft serve cone. We sat at the counter inside, avoiding the continuing humid weather and listening to the chattering young teens on the other side.

Good Samaritan Thrift Shop is across the street. They're very narrow and very busy, a jumble of clothes, knick-knacks, and some books and DVDs. I admired two lovely vintage 50's 18-inch dolls for 10 each; I would have considered buying one if I could carry it home. (Maybe next week if I have the money.) Lauren bought a shirt and a pair of shorts.

It was 3:30 by that point. Not only was it rush hour, but the day was growing more and more humid. Figured it was time to head back to Oaklyn. We dodged traffic on Cuthbert and Haddon Avenue and headed back the way we came, past Newton Lake Park and down East Clinton.

Lauren wanted to stop at Comicrypt, the comics store next-door to The House of Fun on the White Horse Pike. Turns out we picked the right time to do it. They were having a half-price sale on their older titles. I did see some Star Wars, but I'm not that into the Dark Horse titles. I prefer the ones from the 70's and 80's when the movies were originally out, or the current Marvel run, neither of which were part of the sale. I settled for petting the black and white kitty who wandered between boxes. (His white sister was napping in the window.) Lauren did much better, picking up a stack of titles that she said filled in gaps in her own collection.

It started to rain hard again when we were in Comicrypt. Thankfully, the rain was slowing down, even as we crossed the White Horse Pike to West Clinton. In fact, we noticed a Crayola-themed bounce house at the very end of the circular drive between the park and the VFW. Must have been some kind of kid party going on there.

I made us Caesar Chicken Salad (complete with home-made dressing) for dinner while we watched Tiny Toons: How I Spent My Summer Vacation. The Toons are looking forward to their time off from school, but it doesn't turn out to be what they'd hoped. Plucky finds himself on the car trip from hell when he joins Hamton's smiley-happy family on their ride to Happy World Land. Babs, Buster, and Myron spend their summer on the river, avoiding larger animals who think they're on the barbecue menu. Fifi pursues a handsome star, with little success. Elmyra terrifies the animals at a safari park. Shirley seriously regrets her movie date with Foulmouth when he talks over the film and drives everyone crazy. Fun if you're a fan of the Toons or the fast-paced, reference-filled Warners cartoons of the 90's.

Played some Wii Sports after dinner. Tried some mini-games tonight. Lauren won most of them - she beat me at the batting practice by 1 hit! - but I finally won golf Target Practice and the baseball Spin Control. We finished Raiders of the Lost Ark in Lego Indiana Jones with the long and complicated "Finding the Ark" and "Opening the Ark" rounds. Having two people really helped on these - one could jump onto things, while the other pushed levers.

Ended the night after my shower with The Last Jedi. Rey (Daisy Ridley) is determined to bring former Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) to his sister Leia (Carrie Fisher) and the Resistance. Luke insists that he's retired, but he changes his mind when he sees Rey's awesome powers. Meanwhile, her buddy Finn (John Boyega) is sent to the casino planet Cantino Bight with Resistance mechanic Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) to find a master hacker who'll get them onto the First Order's ship. What they find is the disreputable DJ (Benicio Del Toro), who does as asked...but turns out to not exactly be trustworthy. Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is also struggling with his dark and light sides. He reaches out to Rey in the Force, and they start a tentative relationship that's threatened by the First Order's leader, Snoke (Andy Serkis). Rey thinks she can bring Kylo back to the light...but as Luke tries to point out (and as everyone has complained about), "this is not going to go like you think."

If you're a fan of this franchise, I say ignore all the fussing and give this movie a shot. It's not for purists or for people looking for a lighter and softer version of these characters ala Force Awakens, but if you're willing to try something different with these movies, this is far better than you may have heard.

Fall Harvest Fun In Westmont

Started the morning with another early work session. Thankfully, this one was far less painless than the past few days have been. I did the carts when I first came in, but another bagger arrived an hour later who handled outside duties for the rest of the morning. Got stuck in the register once for about 10 minutes and rounded up baskets, but I mostly did returns. For once, I got really far on them. I was almost done when I headed out at 1.

Put on There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown after I got home while I got dressed and ate lunch. Despite the title and this being found on the Charlie Brown Valentine DVD, the special has more to do with learning than love. The first half is a series of vignettes about the Peanuts gang at school and the troubles they have. The second takes the kids on a field trip to the art museum. Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Sally, Snoopy, and Chuck somehow mistake a grocery store for their real destination.

Headed out around quarter after 2 to run a couple of errands. It was a wonderful day for it. While it was hot, it was windy and not really humid, with a beautiful bright blue sky. Surprisingly, despite the nice weather, the Haddon Township Library was fairly busy when I arrived. The shelves were overloaded with media items! It took me an hour just to get the DVDs shelved.

Took out a few movies I'd been wanting to see this week. The Hunger Games has sort of lost its shine, but I figured I might as well finish the series with Mockingjay Part 2. The Hateful Eight is violent, but could be intriguing. And with school back in session, I think this is the right time to check out National Lampoon's Animal House. Also grabbed a Force Awakens kids' book with good pictures.

Westmont holds a small farm market on Wednesday evenings, on the block across from Primo's Water Ice, next to the (former) Westmont Theater. It's kind of like Oaklyn's Final Friday Festival in that there's more food trucks and booths than farm tables. They do have some farmers there, including the folks with the fancy heirloom tomatoes and Chinese beans I regularly see at Collingswood. The fall produce is starting to roll out. I saw plums, pumpkins, and winter squash for the first time this season. I got two little tomatoes from the tomatoes and beans booth, plus plums and a cucumber.

Since I was there, I opted to buy dinner from one of the tables. I had fish tacos from a cafe booth. Bought a can of Diet Pepsi from the cart selling hot dogs. Their drinks were cheaper. I'd never seen such colorful tacos. The grilled fresh fish lay in two soft taco shells, covered in bright red-purple cole slaw and a green jalapeno dressing. Thankfully, the dressing wasn't too spicy. I enjoyed my meal at a series of wobbly wooden tables, listening to a man behind me covering hits from the Who and Bruce Springsteen on his guitar.

Took the long way home across Collingswood and Oaklyn. I had considered getting water ice for dessert at Primo's, but I didn't want to dodge the traffic on Haddon Avenue for longer than I had to. Ended up at Phillies Yummies in Oaklyn instead. I'm glad I waited. Yummies' Wednesday special is 50 cents off all sizes water ice. The small neon-green, very minty Mint Chocolate Chip water ice was more than sufficient. I sat at one of the wooden tables on West Clinton and enjoyed it while watching little girls stream into dance class at Ovations a few doors down.

As soon as I got home, I went right in the bath. Ahhh. That felt great after my long ride. I listened to one of my jazz samplers and looked over a few Christmas craft books for gift ideas.

Finished the night with a little writing. Luke, Leia, and Wedge are meeting Ben Kenobi at the Boardwalk. Maz Kantana runs their favorite local amusement park. Hank and Charlie are late joining them, but they do finally arrive. Maz is a friend of Ben's and of Hank and Charlie, and she owns this place, managing it and selling tickets. She's tough, but she's one of those Shore characters everyone knows.

Give My Regards To Haddon Avenue

I began my only day off this week with library volunteering. I was a busy little bee today. I put children's books left randomly on shelves on a cart to be put away later, I organized the "A" picture books, and I did the children's DVDs. (The B picture books weren't quite as bad.) Despite the gorgeous, warm-but-not-humid day, the library was quite busy, mostly families with young children hoping to find entertainment for tomorrow and the weekend. The library was having it's own problems as I left. Their Internet had gone down, and according to an e-mail they sent out later, remains so.

Instead of heading towards Super Fresh, I went in the other direction. I wanted to look at Walgreens and see if they had any of this month's WCares WebKinz, as well as some more Care Bear Cousins. It took me a while to find the WebKinz, which were in a different spot closer to the front this time, but I walked out with a rare Lil'Kinz Bassett Hound, Bright Heart Raccoon, and Lotsa Heart Elephant.

Since I was in the area and not in a major hurry, I decided to further explore Westmont's end of Haddon Avenue. (The other end is the Collingswood Historic District.) If Collingswood is decidedly turn-of-the-20th-century and Oaklyn's West Clinton Avenue has a sleepy 30s Andy Hardy vibe, Westmont feels like I should be cruising around in a muscle car, blaring Tin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back In Town." The mix of 70s shopping centers, 90s storefronts, and 20s small stores (and the Westmont Theater) has a gritty semi-urban 70s vibe to it.

I stopped at a few stores. The book store was closed for the week, but I did pick up a patriotic-themed cardboard tiara and a bag of red, white, and blue stars to tape on my windows from a party store and peeked at the delicious goodies at McMillian's Bakery. I was sweating bullets by that point, so I headed for Rita's Water Ice for a Coconut Cream regular-sized ice.

The bike didn't feel right as I tried to take off down Haddon Avenue, and when I got off, I realized why - the front tire was flat! After my neighbor fixed the back tire only days ago! I'd taken the blue stationary bike today instead of my mountain bike. I wanted to test it after it was fixed, and the stationary bike has a basket. (I still haven't found one for the mountain bike.)

I was lucky to find a good-sized Ace Hardware and an auto repair/tire store two blocks down from Rita's. I bought the new inner tube from Ace and took the bike next door. The mechanic who owned the store and his granddaughter were nice enough to fix it for me...including after he accidentally punctured the inner tube I'd bought after discovering the tire was split. I ended up buying two inner tubes and a new tire, but the mechanic, his daughter, and the photographer who came by to do a photo inspection of the shop and helped out after he revealed he'd once worked in a bike shop, all finally got the bike back on the road. It worked well enough to get me home. (I just now have one white-walled tire and one black. Ace didn't have any white, and I was in no position to be picky.)

After I got in, I grabbed my laundry and went straight over to Uncle Ken's. I read The Elusive Pimpernel, talked to Dad, Jodie, Vanessa, and Rose, and had a fantastic swim in a super-warm pool. Rose is getting ready for her trip to Costa Rica. Everyone else is getting ready for tomorrow. We're going to head down to visit Uncle Ken's daughter Samantha and her family as soon as I get in.

Oh, and meet Kinsey the Lil'Kinz Bassett Hound! I thought a mystery book name was appropriate for a dog who comes with a "Detective Desk." Kinsey is named after Kinsey Milhone, the heroine of Sue Grafton's Alphabet series, a long-time favorite of mine. Kinsey came with her awesome Detective Desk, a Green Lava Lamp, and a Magic Carpet. She's now under the watchful eye of Linda the Collie in their Library Condo. The WCares finally paid off for me, too - I got a WCares mult-colored "Tubbie Tummies Bear" and an armoire, along with a recipe and 237 Kinzcash. I gave Kinsey the bear for her room. I have no idea where to put the armoire.

All Around The Town

I began my only day off this week with a trip to Collingswood to drop a few too-big items of clothing at the thrift shop and do today's counseling session. We mostly talked about my inability to focus. I tend to think about the future and the past, but it's hard for me to concentrate on a present that often doesn't seem worth concentrating on. We also discussed my tendency to get upset when things go wrong, especially at work. I don't like it when I can't control what's going on. I know that's not always possible, but it gets so busy, and there's all those people there, and I start to feel bad, though most customers are usually pretty good about it. I also admitted I haven't had the time to get to Yogawood, but I will try again before the next session.

I had a Turkey BLT and a fresh lemonade at The TreeHouse Cafe a few blocks down from Genesis Counseling. I won't be eating there much longer when I'm in Collingswood. Like the Abbie Road used CD store, they're moving to Market Street in Audubon.

After lunch, I decided to try something a little different before going to the library for volunteering. I seemed to remember seeing a Waldengreens at the corner of Cuthbert Road and Haddon Avenue in Westmont. I normally don't bother with Waldengreens, yet another generic drug store like Rite Aid or CVS, but they're teaming up with Ganz, the makers of WebKinz, for a special charity promotion. The WebKinz sold at Waldengreens in the month of June come with a special code in addition to the usual one. That code will net you special prizes and access to a game at the code shop. The Cuthbert Road Waldengreens only had three kinds of WebKinz, and they were all Lil'Kinz. However, one of the Lil'Kinz they had was the Orange and White Cat. This was the first I'd seen one, and their larger cousins are long retired. I also picked up a Lil'Kinz Cocker Spaniel.

I made another great find at Waldengreens. I discovered a box full of plush Care Bear Cousins while poking around in the toys aisle. Care Bear Cousins are basically the same thing as Care Bears...just with every animal besides bears. The Cousins weren't revived when the new Care Bears show started last year and are now rather rare. I found all of the stuffed versions but Proud Heart Cat (ironically the one I already had). I wanted all of them, but because I was buying WebKinz too, I settled on Brave Heart Lion and Gentle Heart Lamb. The fact that all four turned out to be $5.99 each just sweetened the deal.

I rode further down Haddon Avenue into downtown Westmont. I wasn't there too long because I wanted to get to the library, but I did have the chance to explore a little bit. Westmont is something of a low-rent version of Collingswood. It's still clean, but the buildings are mostly 60s and 70s vintage with the occasional older storefronts in the mix and the remains of the poor Westmont Theater. (Haddon Township is apparently in the midst of figuring out what to do with the "Grand Old Lady." I hope they decide soon. It reminded me of the Shore Theater, a similar old movie palace in Wildwood that was left to fall to pieces and finally met its fate under the wrecking ball a few months before I moved.) I stopped briefly at a mom-and-pop video store, mostly because I hadn't seen one since the last time I visited my folks in North Cape May.

I headed down Crystal Lake Road, passing Westmont's PATCO station (at least I know where that is now) and down to the library. I did the children's DVDs again. The librarians really seem to like the job I do with those. One said she was able to keep the DVDs straight for three days, before bad weather and a busy weekend left them jumbled again. The kids were long out of school by the time I got there, but the sun was also out and I didn't have too many interruptions. I made a quick stop at Super Fresh for tea (I got Twinings Indian Spiced Chai, which was on sale) and Dollar Tree for a shower curtain (I didn't get that - all they had was blue and tan, neither of which would go well in my yellow and sage green bathroom), before heading home.

I spent the rest of the afternoon vacuuming, dusting, and putting up most of the summer decorations (I'll dress the Sailor Moon dolls and Samantha in their summer outfits tomorrow or Saturday). That should finish off the cleaning for this month. I'll wash the trash can and the recycling cannisters next week. I ran out of time today and this weekend is supposed to be too hot to do much of anything. (Yahoo!Weather actually has an "Excessive Heat Watch" for the Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey area from now until Monday. Just wonderful.)

Oh, and meet Peter the Lil'Kinz Cocker Spaniel! Yes, he's my third WebKinz Monkee, named for Peter Tork. He came with his Bone Fridge and (rather appropriately) a Green Lava Lamp. As pet #40, he also came with a Super Bed Box; I chose a Big Top Bed for this month's Pet of the Month the WebKinz Elephant. The money Peter came with allowed me to set up my second "front yard," this one an entrance to King the Black Frisian's movie theater/loft room. I used the new Strawberry Glass-Topped Tables and older chairs for outdoor popcorn dining. The Lil'Kinz can play on the Cat and Dog Playgrounds and tubes (the cat stuff taken from the about-to-be-retired Cat Theme) before the movie.