Still the One

We got an early start this morning after I ate a quick breakfast, driving through Lee and Stockbridge and onto the Mass Pike. This time, we had no trouble anywhere, not even in West Springfield. There was no traffic on the road or near the fair. Lauren set her GPS to take us to the Price Rite shopping center, where the parking is cheaper. We dropped the car there, then made the five-minute walk to the fair grounds. 

The Eastern States Exposition, aka The Big E, is one of the biggest state fairs in the US. The moment you enter, you're immediately assaulted by a farm market building, booths selling everything from solar panels to hot tubs, and stands with bright boardwalk-style signs selling every possible kind of food that can be fried. (And a few that you can fry but probably shouldn't, like Kool Aid.)

We spent the first few hours wandering around, seeing the lay of the land. Decided to hit the Avenue of the States first, before they got too busy to walk around in. The Avenue of the States features recreations of each New England state's original government house. Massachusetts boasted wild honey, fresh lobster rolls, and Boston sports teams memorabilia. Vermont's included its fresh cheeses and a Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream stand. Connecticut had the New England Air Museum and Mohegan Sun Casino. People stood in a long line to wait for Poland Springs water and baked potatoes in Maine. New Hampshire had beautiful jewelry and thick slabs of fresh fudge and maple candy.

Next up was after a quick bathroom break was the Young Building, one of the two shopping buildings at the Big E. We made our way right to the booth that sells clothing and stuffed animals made from alpaca wool. Lauren found a fluffy lavender winter hat. I bought an adorable little lion I named Mack, after Betty's stuffed lion in The WENN Nutcracker Suite. We saw nothing else of interest there, so we headed out again. Took another stroll in the Better Living Building, but bought nothing there.

By this point, it was finally lunchtime. We spent another half-hour walking around, trying to decide what to eat. There were way too many choices! Lauren, who loves Mexican food, finally found a tiny Mexican stand. We both had quesadillas. Hers was beef. Mine was chicken. We enjoyed them at a table between booths.

Our next stop was the Midway. Lauren's not much for rides, and I did rides at Philly and Atlantic City this summer. Not to mention, the last time we played games, Lauren spent over an hour trying to win a big stuffed toy. We stuck to the cranes. I won nothing, but Lauren picked up a Captain America doll for her guy friend Rico.

We headed back out to the main concourse. I was hot and sweaty, and Lauren was sunburnt. It was a gorgeous day, sunny, blue, breezy, and dry, but it was also hot, probably in the lower 80's. I'd seen "mix and match slushies" booths all over the fair and thought I'd try one...until I saw all the bees buzzing around the booth! I had wondered where all the bees that seemed to be everywhere had come from. They must have flown over from the landscaping. I figured getting a pumpkin spice mocha frozen drink from a donut stand was safer. 

While I tried to decide on a cold drink, Lauren was looking over a leather goods store. I joined her just as she was admiring a table filled with every kind of cowboy hat in existence. She was trying on a fuchsia cowgirl hat with a pink and silver ribbon. I had to agree with the saleslady. Lauren looked really cute, and it was on sale. She not only bought it, she wore it for the rest of the afternoon.

After Lauren picked up a strawberry lemonade frozen drink from the donuts stand, we decided it was time to get out of the heat. Since we were in that area anyway, we sat down at the Court of Honor Stage. There were musicians gathering and a drummer practicing even as we settled on the yellow benches. Turns out the 2 PM concert was a yacht rock - aka soft rock from the 70's and 80's - cover band. They even had a guest who had sung the hit "Brandy, You're a Fine Girl" in the 70's and wrote the theme from Lizzie McGuire. They weren't half-bad. We had an enjoyable hour or so in the shade listening, resting, and clapping along.

I needed to use the bathroom, so we went back to the Better Living Building. We explored there after I finished, but once again, we saw nothing we really wanted. Lauren looked at socks with cute or unique patterns and looked for superhero toys for Rico, but we ultimately moved on with nothing.

There was one last thing we wanted to do at the Big E, and one ride Lauren didn't mind doing. An adorable little blue and yellow train picks up across from the Massachusetts Building at the Avenue of the States, driving down the streets nearby and back around the States Buildings. It's technically for kids, but we get a big kick out of it. It's like being in a parade. Everyone waves to the train as it goes by. (Although the conductor did have to shoo one person off who tried to get on without a ticket.)

By that point, it was almost 4:30. We had been walking for six hours, much of it in the hot sun, and were tired and sore. It was time for dinner. Lauren considered getting McDonald's, but we both ended up at Chipolte. She had sofritos with white rice, black beans, tomato salsa, corn, and cheese. I replaced the white rice with brown, the sofritos with chicken, and threw in lettuce with the other things. Yum! It was all good, but the bowls were so big, we ended up taking part of them home.

We headed back out again around 5:30. Same deal going home. Once again, no traffic, not even around the fair or as we passed by Springfield. The sun was just sinking behind the Berkshire Mountains when Lauren finally pulled into her garage. 

Since the Match Game marathon never materialized, I watched the Lawrence Welk Show episodes I didn't get the chance to check out last night. There's at least three on YouTube with a county fair theme. The earliest is from 1967. I thought Jo Ann Castle as the bearded lady and Jack Imel as a carny singing "Anything You Can Do" was a riot! In the 1971 show, Arthur Duncan dances "Meet Me In St. Louis," and Cissy and Bobby naturally get a country fair song from the original Mickey Mouse Club, which Bobby appeared on. Tanya Welch is a psychic who wonders "Have I Stayed Too Long at the Fair?" The 1975 show was the last time country singer Clay Hart was a regular. This time, Norma Zimmer got to sing "Have I Stayed Too Long at the Fair?"

Here's all three episodes, so you can visit the fair with Lawrence Welk and his musical family, too!

County Fair (1967)
County Fair Show (1971)

County Fair Show (1975)

Finished the night at Tubi with News Hounds. This is one of the earlier Bowery Boys movies, from when the group was still jelling. Slip and Sach are a copy boy and a photographer, respectively. Slip dreams of being a real reporter, going undercover with Sach to expose a sports gambling ring. Their friend Gabe, who works for the ring, finds Slip's story against his bosses and inadvertently has it published. Thing is, Slip was about to give up the story due to lack of evidence, and now the paper is slapped with a huge lawsuit. Gabe agrees to help the guys find Sach's camera and bring in the photos as evidence. 

I'm Into Something Good

Started off early this morning after a quick breakfast, heading through Lenox and Lee and down the Mass Pike. Lauren first stopped at a shopping center to get gas and for us to use the bathroom at a Stop and Shop. We used the bathroom again at a travel plaza along the Mass Pike. Otherwise, there were no problems in the small towns or the Mass Pike, no traffic anywhere.

We didn't have any trouble until we got off the highway and closer to Springfield. Lauren retired her GPS in favor of using the maps on her cell phone, since she already uses it for music. She thought it was wrong when it asked her to turn, so she kept on going. We ignored it twice before we finally turned and found ourselves on a leafy, tree-lined street going past the West Springfield Library. That ultimately took us to the Eastern States Exposition...but Lauren had wanted to park in the shopping center parking lot. We just ended up parking at the Big E.

The moment we entered the gates, we were assaulted by pink, blue, and yellow boardwalk-style signs for everything possible that can be fried (and a few things that can but probably shouldn't be, like Kool Aid). There were people milling around, but it wasn't too busy at 10:30 in the morning. We strolled around the grounds first, getting the lay of the land. Checked out one of the many long tents that sold leather goods, but didn't buy anything.

Explored the Avenue of the States next. Each of the New England states touts their wares in a recreation of their original state capitol buildings. Rhode Island started with spooky carved pumpkins from Roger Williams Park and Zoo. We passed by a Del's Lemonade stand, but even at quarter of 11, it was too busy to stop for a drink. People stood in a line for baked potatoes at Maine that went out the door. Connecticut had displays for a science center and Mohegan Sun Casino. Massachusetts pushed wild honey and memorabilia and crafts based on the Red Sox and Patriots. People bought Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream in Vermont and locally made soaps, creams, and jewelry in New Hampshire. 

After we left the state houses, we doubled back to the street running up to it. Lauren said she saw a unique pizza booth on our way up there. I've never seen pizza topped with pickles or Mexican street corn before. We had a slice of each. She got regular Coke. I had Diet Coke. Yum! Both slices were white, meaning without sauce, and drizzled with what I think was ranch dressing. Though the dill flavoring on the pickle pizza was tasty, I liked the corn pizza best. The sweetness of the corn blended well with the Mexican spice and the salty cheese. 

Since we needed to hit the bathroom anyway, we made our way back to the demonstration and sales buildings. We checked out a collection of prize-winning quilts at the New England Center. I wish I could have bought a few, but they were only for display. We walked around in the Better Living Building and the Young Building, but bought nothing in either place. 

The main reason we came to the Big E today was to see one of Lauren's favorite performers, former Herman's Hermits front man Peter Noone, who had a concert at 2 PM at the Court of Honor stage. This is the smaller mostly outdoor arena in front of the Coliseum and across from the back gates. Since there was already a pretty good crowd when we passed by at 1, we decided to get our seats early. We went with the picnic tables on either side of the venue, rather than the yellow seats under the tent covering. 

I didn't know Herman's Hermits still had so many fans in the US. It was literal standing room only...which is why I barely saw any of it. People sat on the other end of the picnic benches and stood all around me. Lauren stood up to get photos and footage for YouTube, but I didn't want to lose my seat. Even Peter commented on the huge crowds when he came over our way and had to climb up on a table to perform for the folks on our side. As he put it, it had been easier to get through Customs coming from his native England than to wade through that huge crowd!

I'll give Peter credit, though. He really can put on a show. Most of his set consisted of oldies from the 60's, including one saluting the three late members of the Monkees, "Daydream Believer." He did start off with a dynamic "I'm Into Something Good" and ended with more Hermits hits, including "Leaning On a Lamp Post" and "There's a Kind of Hush." He really got the crowd singing along to the raucous music hall ditty "I'm Henry the Eighth." 

(Speaking of the Monkees, the last concert Lauren and I saw at the Big E was Micky Dolenz and his sister Coco in mid-September 2008. The Court of Honor stage was totally outdoors then. There were concerns about a thunder storm during Micky's second show, which led him to half-joke about not wanting to get electrocuted. I suspect his complaints and similar comments from other musicians may have been why they ultimately put up that tent.)

After the show, we headed back towards the Midway. We'll be doing rides at Great Escape next week and were wary of games after Lauren spent an hour trying to win a big fish last year, so we just ended up doing the cranes. This time, Lauren did better than me. She won a purple Elmo and a sweet indigo Crayola bear. I tried for 20 minutes and only came up with a Beanie Baby unicorn named Harmonie. She's odd but cute, with her multi-hued blotches, glittery rainbow eyes and hooves, and twisted horn of sparkling gold and blue. 

By the time we finished with the crane games, it was past 4:30. The crowds had increased substantially since Peter's concert. Kids were out of school and were now running around, playing games and chasing each other. It had been in-and-out cloudy and cool all day, but the wind picked up during the concert as well. Not to mention, we'd been there for over 6 hours, and I was just plain tired of crowds. We finally headed back to the parking lot by quarter of 5. 

Had dinner at the same Chipotle we have the past two years. The blocky gray and red building is in an outlying parcel at a shopping center about three minutes or so from the Big E. We both had bowls with rice, tomatoes, cheese, beans, and meat. Lauren had plant-based sofritos, black beans, and white rice. I had spicy steak, pinto beans, and brown rice. We enjoyed our big and tasty meal at a counter along the window overlooking the parking lot.

We had far less trouble getting home. This time, Lauren stuck to the directions and the Mass Pike, passing by downtown Springfield before getting on the highway. We took a slightly longer way back after we got to Lee so Lauren could show me where a close guy friend of hers lives. Once again, no traffic anywhere, not even at the Big E this time.

After we got in, Lauren set up the Nintendo 64 her co-worker sold her last year. I remembered that Mario  Kart 64 has a VS mode where you can play with one or two or three other people, rather than them and the computer. We each chose four rounds, playing eight all together. Lauren beat the pants off me, winning six to 2. Most of the rounds were pretty close, though. I snuck by her in Moo Moo Farms, and she kept running into snowmen at Frappe Snowland.

Lauren tried Donkey Kong 64 briefly, but she couldn't figure out the gameplay in Adventure Mode without a manual. If memory serves me correctly, you have to do a couple of "training" mini-games before you can get started on that one. She finally decided it wasn't worth the effort, and we went online instead. 

Finished the night watching flop game shows from the 1970's. Game shows were in a precarious position on the networks as the 70's began. The few that existed were simple general knowledge quizzes. The Reel Game, for instance, tested people's knowledge of movies. No one won more than $1,000 at any given time. The show itself wasn't all that exciting, but it did bring Jack Barry back into hosting after he and his partner Dan Enright were caught in the quiz show scandals of the 1950's. 

Game shows became bigger and bolder in 1972 thanks to the hits The Price Is Right, Gambit, and The Joker's Wild. Suddenly, big shows with bigger payouts were all the rage. The Magnificent Marble Machine from 1975 let contestants and a celebrity partner play a giant pinball machine after guessing the name of a person, place, or thing from clues provided on what looked like a pinball machine's backbox. I can understand why this one didn't work. Pinball is more fun to play than watch, and the actual game wasn't really all that interesting. Roddy McDowell and Florence Henderson try to get that machine going.

50 Grand Slam brought back the tough quiz shows with people in isolation booths in 1976. Tom Kennedy asked two contestants questions based on their area of expertise. While one heard the question, the other went in an isolation booth. The first contestant would answer the question, then the second would see if they could answer the whole question. For some reason, there's even a golf game demonstrated in the premiere episode seen here.

The Wizard of Odds from 1973 was a variation. Alex Trebek had his first hosting experience in the US with this show that had contestants answering questions based on the law of averages. The second game had contestants choose which phrase didn't match the others. Yeah, not the most thrilling show in the universe, but Alex is as warm and enjoyable as he'd be in later shows.

Masquerade Party was a failed 1974 attempt to revive the 50's show that had a celebrity panel trying to guess who the famous person was under a costume. This one is more significant for giving Richard Dawson his big hosting break than for the goofy gameplay. Look for one of his fellow Match Game panelists in the first costume in the only surviving episode. 

Bill Cullen didn't have much more luck with Pass the Buck from 1978. Bill gives four contestants a topic, like the circus, and they have to give answers to match. If someone gets stuck or gives an answer someone else gave, the next person can give the answer and knock them out. If they miss, the contestant after them can take both out. Honestly, I thought this was cute, and Bill Cullen really seemed to have fun with it. It's too bad it couldn't survive competition from Card Sharks. 

Whew! is another failed 70's game that's a lot more fun than you might think. I wish Buzzr would take another crack at it. Watching people set up blocks on the huge board as the other contestant answers pun-based sentences, then run the "gauntlet" of Hanna Barbara-designed villains, is a lot of fun, and Tom Kennedy clearly enjoys hosting.

See what game shows worked and what didn't in the Me Decade with these truly unique flops!

The Reel Game (1971)

The Wizard of Odds (1974)

Masquerade Party (1974)

The Magnificent Marble Machine (1975) 

50 Grand Slam (1976)

Pass the Buck (1978)

Whew! (1979) 

Musicals On a Sunny Day

Got a quick start this morning with breakfast before hurrying out. I couldn't believe how gorgeous it was. The wind finally settled down, and while it remained fairly strong, it was nothing like earlier in the week. The sun was out, and there wasn't a cloud in the searing blue sky. 

Maybe that's why we were so quiet today. It was slightly busier than yesterday, but still nowhere near overwhelming. Audubon had a lot of events going on, too, including their Town-Wide Yard Sale. Not to mention, this is the last day of the month, and we're between holidays. It died so quickly and we had so much help by 2:30, I was able to leave with no relief and no need for one.

I'm furious about my schedule next week. A lot more hours...but I don't have my next day off until Friday! My last day off was TUESDAY! And it's all 6 to 8 1/2 hour shifts. One of the cashiers had family trouble and had to take off, and now we're even more short-handed. When am I going to get anything done? 

Took the long way home via Nicholson Road, as I did yesterday. It was busy with Saturday shoppers around the mall, but otherwise wasn't too bad. Even the White Horse Pike could have been worse. Most folks were likely either still at local events or at the Shore. At least everything is really gorgeous now. The leaves grow fatter and fatter on the trees; the gardens glow with pansies and tulips.

Went straight upstairs and into Match Game '78 while I changed and had a snack. Jon "Bowzer" Bauman made his first appearances on the show in these episodes, along with the only appearance in the original show of Rhoda regular Nancy Lane. They added a great deal of New York flair to the week, from Nancy's jokes about New Jersey to Bowzer showing off his 50's greaser look.

Watched A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song while going through papers on top of my printer and dusting the rooms. I go further into the third entry in this series at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Family Fun Saturday - A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song

Worked on writing for a while after the movie ended. White King Gene and Queen Helen are being held prisoner on their own thrones. They know what's going to happen - their memories work forwards and backwards, too - but the Red King still threatens King Gene with being stripped of his "muchness" if he doesn't give up his move to him. 

Broke for dinner at 7. Threw on PAW Patrol while I ate. The Pups are on vacation out west when the robotic dinosaur a diner owner keeps to advertise his wares suddenly walks off with his trailer and his wife. The "Pups Save a Robo-Saurus" and manage to get his wife back in time for her to watch her favorite show. "Pups Save a Film Festival" when Daring Danny X's overdone stunts keep interrupting everyone's attempts at making a movie for the local outdoor screen, including their own.

Finished the night with something unique at YouTube. I'd seen bits and pieces of the first Musical Comedy Tonight before, but I never found the full show until tonight...and never knew there was more. Sylvia Fine-Kaye, the witty songwriter wife of Danny Kaye, introduces us to the history of the Broadway musical, from the college-themed show Leave It to Jane in 1919 to Company in 1970, performed by major talent. 

In the first concert, we get to see Ethel Merman bray the title song from Anything Goes that made her a star in 1934 and be ecstatic when handsome Rock Hudson joins her for "You're the Top." Bobby Van and Bernadette Peters make a charming couple singing about how "The Best Things In Life are Free," while a redheaded Sandy Duncan is the perfect flapper leading the chorus through "The Varsity Drag" from Good News. John Davidson sings about "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" and leads the chorus through the rousing title song of Oklahoma!, and we get to hear Agnes DeMille narrate her famous ballet. Carol Burnett is a hilarious Aldo Annie singing "I Can't Say No." She, Duncan, and Peters return for Company. Duncan gets "Another Hundred People," while Peters joins Richard Chamberlain, whose legendary charm will certainly keep her from leaving for "Barcelona." Burnett gets to practice her drunk routine with "The Ladies Who Lunch."

The third entry focuses wholly on older shows. Beth Howland of Alice explains why she admires "Cleopatterer" in the big comic song from Leave It to Jane, while Broadway star Christine Andreas leads the chorus through the title song. Peter Noone and Clive Revell make odd choices for a brief excerpt from The Mikado, and Show Boat is represented by the 1936 Universal movie with Irene Dunne and Paul Robeson rather than a recreation. 

Other shows come off better. Florence Henderson sings a gorgeous "They Didn't Believe Me," Jerome Kern's first major hit. Patti LaBelle starts a "Heat Wave" with the chorus in a sequence from the Irving Berlin revue As Thousands Cheer. Donna McKechnie joins Dick Van Dyke for "Thou Swell" from the Rodgers and Hart A Connecticut Yankee and "This Can't Be Love" from The Boys from Syracuse. Elaine Stritch reveals what Morgan LeFay does "To Keep My Love Alive" in the last song Rodgers and Hart wrote together. Kaye Ballard joins McKechnie and Roberta Peters as they "Sing for Their Suppers" and reveal why "Falling In Love With Love" is a bad idea. 

Honestly, if you love older musicals like I do, this is highly recommended for the numbers recreating rarely-seen older shows like Connecticut Yankee and Good News alone. (And I hope the full second special shows up online soon - it apparently can only be found at the Paley Center in New York at the moment, though the Lady In the Dark sequence with Danny Kaye and Lynn Redgrave is on YouTube.)

Musical Comedy Tonight (1979)

Musical Comedy Tonight III (1985)

Winter Has Returned

It was snowing pretty heavily when I finally dragged myself out of bed around 9:30. I read The Darkness Knows for a little while and wrote in my journal, then had corn meal mush and half of a grapefruit for breakfast. Watched Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall while I ate. This 1992 concert brought stars of the stage, some of whom had actually appeared in Sondheim's shows (like Bernadette Peters), to sing some of the composer and lyricist's best work as a solo writer. Numbers ranged from patter songs for neurotic comediennes Madeline Khan and Dorothy Louden to touching ballads from Patti LuPone and Peters to operatic numbers from Sweeney Todd featuring genuine opera stars. There was also dancer Karen Ziemba having fun with comic Bill Irwin in "Sooner or Later," the Follies number "Broadway Baby" sung by then-child star Daisy Egan, and a harrowing song from what was then Sondheim's most recent show, Assassins, "The Ballad of Booth."

The snow and sleet continued through the early afternoon, then on and off for the rest of the day. I spent the time inside avoiding it. Thank goodness I was already off today! I mostly puttered online and worked on writing and ideas. Rusty Arlington is Han's mechanic and handyman. He was the one selling wooden hawks to Leia. He's starting to pack up his wares when Cedric, Mon Mothma's butler, runs into him. The two are good friends...when they aren't insulting one another. Rusty's taking a mysterious machine to the Industrial area in the back of the park and literally drags Cedric along for the ride.

Meanwhile, Leia has met Luke and Bail at the fair grounds. Luke is dressed as a swashbuckler for his fencing exhibition. Vader's airship is the major attraction. It's dark and sleek, with a long projectile on the nose that resembles a slender cannon.

The snow finally ended by 4 PM, and the sun began to emerge. By that point, I was less worried about actual precipitation and more about the wind. Ice-covered branches were falling or being blown off the trees over my home. They fell hard against my bedroom windows, sometimes so roughly that I was surprised the windows didn't break. I can still occasionally hear them.

Broke briefly around 2:30-3ish for lunch and to bake Irish Soda Muffins. The recipe I used from The Beanie Baby Handbook wasn't very good. It didn't tell you what to do with the butter once  you got it in. I cut it in, and...I don't think I mixed it well enough. On a suggestion in the Vermont Country Store Cookbook, I added cheese (Gouda was all I had) and rosemary. Tasted pretty good, but it melted in the pan and made a buttery mess.

Ran two snow-themed Scooby Doo episodes while I ate and baked. "That's Snow Ghost" from the original show has the gang on vacation at a dilapidated ski resort. The area seems to be haunted by a spectral yeti that can fly, a creature from an old Tibetan man's story. The creature seems to be hiding something, something that's tied into the sawmill nearby. It's "A Scary Night With a Snow Beast Fright" when the gang finds themselves in the Arctic. They were called their by their friend the professor, but he and the local Eskimo chief have vanished. The kids have to figure out what it was that the professor found...and where the gigantic dinosaur-like "Snow Beast" sprang from.

I got so caught up with writing and Pinterest, I didn't break for dinner until around 7:30. I enjoyed the Felix the Cat cartoons I watched yesterday so much, I put on one of the disc of the public domain animated shorts Lauren sent me and watched a bunch of random ones. Little Audrey thinks nursery rhymes are a bore, but in "Goofy Goofy Gander," a hip Mother Goose proves otherwise, at least until the gangsters from Audrey's comic leap into her rhyme book. "Tarts and Flowers" has Audrey helping her Gingerbread Man rescue his angel cake bride from the Devil's Food Cake.

Finished the night with more Three Stooges. They're "Hairbrained Barbers" who manage to make a British rock star happy, even though they've made a mess of his mane. Their boss isn't as pleased. Two little boys are "My Littlest Martian" when they dress as spacemen to play a trick on the Stooges. "Flat Heads" has a robber pulling into the Stooges' new service station, hoping for them to fix his flat tire. Their attempts at replacing the tire ends with them stuck in the tires...and the robber getting arrested.

Happy Endings

I was so happy to awake to a glorious, sunny spring day that I actually had off! Not only that, but I finished The Phantom of the Opera this morning, the last book on my Book List. I sprained my ankle in the fall of 2012 and was stuck at home for two months. One of the few good things that came out of that was I realized just how many books I owned that I either hadn't read at all, or hadn't read in years, or even decades in a few cases. Somewhere around February 2013, I took it upon myself to finally read them all. Of course, I bought quite a few, and received others as gifts along the line.

And I learned many things from this, chief among them being I need to stop putting off reading books when I get them. From now on, when I buy a book or take it out of the library, it goes on the "to be read" pile on my nightstand before it goes on a shelf. And I need to re-read the books I have more often.

Ran a quick Dr. Seuss special while eating breakfast. Dr. Seuss On the Loose is one of my favorite of the Seuss half-hour adaptations of the 70's and 80's. It's an anthology of three very short Seuss tales, the first two of which came from the Dr. Seuss On the Loose book. "The Sneeches" are yellow creatures, some with green stars on their stomachs, who live on the beaches. Sneeches with stars snub those who don't have them, until a monkey con-artist and his machines teach both groups a lesson in equality. "The Zax" are two stubborn critters who refuse to move to let one another pass, even as the world continues around them. Sam I Am is determined to introduce his favorite dish, "Green Eggs and Ham," to one poor guy, even as the fellow tries his hardest to get away.

Headed out around quarter after 11 to run today's errands. My first stop was the Collingswood Hardware Store. I wanted to see if they had any drain stoppers for the bathtub. Thankfully, the nice old man who runs the store knew what I wanted and was able to lead me right to it.

It was such a nice day, I decided to explore Collingswood a little, since I hadn't been there in a while. A lot has changed there. They finally opened that "sports museum" in what used to be a bank. The Candy Jar and the Blue Moon olive oil store swapped storefronts. There's a little knick-knack store called Clutter in what used to be the thrift shop. I checked out Frugli Consignments and the Candy Jar, but didn't see anything I wanted.

I had more luck at that great record shop I first explored in early January. They were just as good to me on my second try. This time, I came up with The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole (which will be replacing my very old cassette copy) and a Broadway cast album I've wanted for years, the 1959 musical version of Destry Rides Again, with Andy Griffith as the title character and Dolores Gray as the saloon girl who (eventually) loves him. The CD is out of print and fairly hard to find, so I was glad to run into this one.

Decided to try somewhere new for lunch. Serena's Cafe replaced the little groceria in the former Woolworth's that shut down last November after only a few weeks of business. The place was jumping when I arrived there around 1:30. I was lucky to get one of the only single tables. Most of the tables were huge Ikea-esque things with heavy wooden tops and spindly modern metal bottoms. The soft off-white walls were decorated with old mirrors and vintage and modern maps of Collingswood. They had breakfast all day, so I opted to try the Apple and Cheddar Omelet, with sweet potato fries and multi grain toast. The fries were a bit overcooked and tough and the toast was a tad charred, but the omelet was delicious, nice and slightly sweet and with just enough cheese.

Went straight to the Haddon Township Library for this week's volunteering session there. They weren't much busier than we've been at work. There wasn't really much to shelve or organize, only a few adults' DVDs and no kids' stuff or new books or CDs. I did find a few DVDs to take out. They just got in some of Doris Day's movies. I went with her second pairing with Rock Hudson, Lover Come Back. Also grabbed First You Dream, a concert featuring music from the shows of Kander & Ebb, and a new Sofia the First set.

I didn't need anything in Westmont today, but it was so nice, I treated myself to a Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie at a very busy WaWa on the way home. Ahh, I needed that. It tasted nice, very strawberry, with graham cracker bits.

Spent the rest of the evening when I got in finishing the first half of my Star Wars fairy tale. Vader, who, as a half-demon, has wings, has arrived and is in pursuit of Luke. He just hurt the Emperor Dragon's wing with his sword when an arrow shoots him out of the sky. It's Han, riding triumphantly to the rescue on Chewbacca. Luke heals the Dragon, and they take out the rest of Vader's army as Vader just manages to get back to Bast Castle.

Leia and Wedge arrive as the Rebels round up the rest of Vader's men. They, Cecil, and a wounded Arthur found and repaired Luke's father's sword and the Falcon, to Han and Luke's delight. The Emperor Dragon and his clan wish them luck and tell them that if they're ever in need, to just use the Force, and they'll hear them. Han and Wedge drive the others into the Woods in the Falcon. Luke goes to check on the remaining Rebels...but as he does, he swears he sees a little green man watching him...

And this is just Part 1! Part 2 is a combination of Empire and Jedi, and will follow the plots of both a bit less closely. I'll be starting that tomorrow. For now, look for "A Star Wars Fairy Tale: New Hope" at my writing blog, Fanfiction.Net, and possibly Archive Of Our Own in the next few days.

Had time to do First You Dream as I threw together a "cheeseburger casserole" (ground chicken, tomato sauce, chicken stock, onions, celery, frozen green beans, and the last of the Monterrey Jack cheese). This is a concert showcasing some of the best work of John Kander and Fred Ebb. Though they're best known as the composer and lyricist for the stage and film versions of Chicago and Cabaret, their work spans the mid-60's through the mid 2000's and includes everything from the mother-daughter stage show The Rink to the famous title song from New York, New York to two interesting flops from the late 90's and mid 2000's, Steel Pier and Curtains. (The former provided the concert's title number.)

This is a lot more intimate than my huge all-star Sondheim concert, and the singers are mostly stage favorites. If you're a fan of classic Broadway and film musicals or Kander & Ebb, this is actually a very nice way to spend an hour (and even comes with extra songs that didn't make it into the hour-long PBS special).

Summer In Atlantic City

I slept in today - I won't be able to sleep in tomorrow! I work at 8 AM. Since I'll be working early for the next two days, I thought I'd have a little fun today. I rode over to the PATCO around 11 and took the 11:23 to Lindenwald. The train to Atlantic City was a little late, but not too bad. Good thing, too. The 12:02 was packed! Literally. The train conductor had to keep telling people to move to the back cars and the front cars. I'd never seen so many people on their way to AC.

The traffic was bad when I arrived, too. I assumed it was because of the nice day. It was hot, a bit hotter than yesterday, but not humid, and a heavy wind kept things from getting too warm. Had a quick lunch of those Spicy Chicken Wonton Tacos at Applebee's after I arrived. It was rather busy for 1:30. I assumed it was the tail end of the lunch crowd.

I browsed in the Tanger Outlets next. This large mall area is the first thing you see if you enter Atlantic City through the Expressway. I didn't do all that well. I did find a cute turquoise and black floral-print skirt at Layne Bryant, but they had nothing in my size at Eddie Bauer, and nothing of interest at Toys R' Us. Much to my disappointment, the Disney Store I bought my toddler Merdia doll at two years ago was gone as well.

I finally just dodged the traffic and the scores of people toting folding chairs and headed for the Boardwalk. I went in the opposite direction from my last couple of Atlantic City trips, towards the Tropicana and Trump Plaza instead of the Taj Mahal. Might as well go this way while the Plaza's still open. A stage area set up for a concert revealed what all the crowds and traffic was about, not to mention the balloons and ads all over the boardwalk for South Jersey country station Cat Country. A popular country star, Blake Sheldon, had a free concert on the beach tonight. Alas, the concert was at 6. The latest train I could get away with catching was the 5:52. There wouldn't be another one until 8:15! I wasn't staying in Atlantic City that late.

I wandered around the boardwalk for a couple of hours. Stopped at one of those 99 cent stores with ancient knick-knacks that Matt at Dinosaur Dracula loves. While I didn't find anything nearly as cool as he did, I did pick up a rather pretty lace-trimmed floral fan (I always loved fans as a kid - they seemed so elegant) and a can of Diet Rite, which I haven't seen since I was a kid. The Diet Rite was surprisingly tasty - I never remembered RC Cola and Diet Rite being that good in the 80s.

Played skee ball and some of the Wheel of Fortune machines at the Playcade. I also tried Pac Man for the first time in years. Got pretty far at it, too, up to the second peach screen. I ultimately won a small plastic trumpet and six peppermint hard candies. My American Girl dolls will get the trumpet.

I dropped by Steel's Fudge for my favorite fruit slices. They had flavors I'd never seen before, like apple, pear, pomegranate, and pineapple. I got a 1/4 pound of the latter two to save for a treat later or tomorrow, and a coconut macaroon for right there.

By that point, it was past quarter of 5. Time to head back. I first stopped at one of the numerous t-shirt shops for one of the main reasons I went there. The Atlantic City t-shirt I bought a few years was worn out. It was time to get a new one. I bought one with a simple red, white, blue, and yellow Atlantic City lettering that looked nicely faded. It took a while for me to buy it, as there were two women haggling over the cheap trinkets under the glass counter.

I wasn't originally going to check out the Pier Shops, a huge high-end mall, but I saw a giant, bright colored candy store and couldn't resist taking a peek. It'Sugar had every kind of confection you could imagine...ironically except for fruit slices. I didn't see any, and what I did see was pricey, including the giant stuffed Nerds. I just went in the main mall instead.

The main mall wasn't that much more exciting. While it was certainly prettier than it had been when I was in college and would occasionally shop there, the fancy stores carried nothing of interest to me. The fountains were lovely and soothing, but the whole mall was much too dark, especially around closed stores. I could barely read some of the signage. The upstairs was especially dark and foreboding, for all the blue lights in the ceiling that were supposed to look like stars. I hurried down a wide ramp, hoping to find my way back to the boardwalk.

I did not find the boardwalk. Instead, I strolled into a world of flashing lights, card dealers, and lemons and 7s. I forgot that Caesers' is connected to the Pier Shops and had ended up on their casino floor. I had neither the time nor the funds for gambling, so I just kept right on going, following the signs around the casino area and across the glass and carpet walkway over the street that connects one part of Caesers' to another. The walkway took me past several gift shops and to an elevator, which finally took me to a bakery and cafe and the lobby. I finally ended up back on the street near Bally's. I now knew where I was. I just followed the crowds straight down to the Rail Station behind the Sheraton Hotel.

This time, there were no travel problems whatsoever. The train to Lindenwald departed on time, was mostly empty, and was only slightly late getting in. The PATCO train to Collingswood somehow almost missed stopping at the Ashland station, but otherwise came and went on time. I rode straight home after I made it to Collingswood.

I was putting together a chicken pasta salad for dinner when the phone rang. To my delight, it was Mom. I sent her a card and a letter a few days ago, just to say "hi." I haven't heard from her much since she started her new job at the Cape May-Lewes Ferry. She was in a good mood, though very tired. In addition to her job as a ticket taker and reservations assistant, she helped my sister Anny with her son Skylar's 10th birthday party earlier in the day. It was just his brother, his grandparents, his mother's fiancee, and a few local kids who were the children of Anny's friends. If the photos of them on Anny's Facbook page are any indication, they had a great time pelting each other with water balloons.

Ran most of 'Neath Brookyn Bridge while I ate dinner. We're back with the East Side Kids and a more substantial mystery. The boys help a young girl their age whose guardian was trying to force her to leave her paralyzed grandfather. When Danny (Bobby Jordan) goes back for her clothes, he discovers that her stepfather is dead. The police think he did it, but the Kids know better. Mugs (Leo Gorcey) goes undercover to infiltrate a gambling racket, while the others hide the girl.

Grocery Stores in the 21st Century

Spent the morning baking Peach Cupcakes and dubbing the remaining Monkees tapes. There was one full concert from 1987 left, along with a lot of bits and pieces. There were interviews with Micky, Davy, and Peter on Sally Jesse Raphael in 1987 (from them plugging their then-newest album, Pool It!). There was another interview and two songs with those three on the Rosie O'Donnell Show probably around 2000 (they mentioned Mike was off the tour) and a solo interview with Davy from what was then known as TNN.

My favorite item was from 1996. The original four Monkees released their first album really together since 1967. JustUs wasn't a hit, but it does have some good music, and I think it can at the very least be downloaded at Rhino's site. Along with the album and the primetime special revolving around the new songs, Rhino released a half-hour tape featuring promotional music videos. They were really fun, and in a few cases, better than what turned up on the special. (My favorite is Micky and Davy's "You and I" and the "Run Away With Life" that pokes fun at Davy's infamously large ego.)

Had a very quick lunch and ran some Looney Tunes shorts before dashing off to work. Work wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Our computer system was just completely revamped. The hardest part is figuring out the new buttons for WIC Checks (which aren't under the checks anymore) and for doing rainchecks. Not to mention remembering you don't have to hit the total button anymore or hit the sign off button twice.

It helped that we were never busier than on-and-off all day. It's the middle of the week an the middle of a month that's rarely busy anyway except for football weekends. I got in and out with no problems.

I even got lunch on the Acme. Apparently, someone gave me some praise while I was on vacation. I got a $5 coupon for doing a good job and bought myself a decent dinner with it.

Listen to the Band

Started out a lovely, sunny late summer day with a run to the Haddon Township Library. I wanted to get at least one library session in, and there were more videos to donate. There weren't many DVDs to shelve today, but I did put away a ton of children's books. Just Easy Readers that needed to be put away took up a whole shelf on the cart.

My feet are still really sore. I think I pulled a muscle. I made a quick stop at Super Fresh for sugar, then went a few doors down in the Westmont Plaza to the Bagel Shop for lunch. I wasn't that hungry and kept it very simple, just a bagel with avocado spread and tomatoes and some water. It was almost 2 by then, so it was just me, one other guy, and the soaps on ABC. I ate my bagel quickly and rode straight home.

Spent the rest of the afternoon at my apartment, working on things online and dubbing more videos. Today, I concentrated on transferring the two Monkees tapes Lauren sent me in late 2004. The first tapes have the biographical movie VH1 made in 2000, Daydream Believers: The Monkees Story, Head, and the E! Hollywood Story and VH1: Behind the Music on the group. There was also some random concert footage from 1997 and 1986 on the end of the tape, along with a Mike Nesmith interview on Good Morning America from 1996.

Right now, I'm dubbing the Monkees' 2000 Concert in Anaheim that featured Micky, Peter, and Davy. There's a series of music videos the guys did for their 1996 album JustUs that I want to transfer on this tape, too.

Waiting for the Weather to Change

The clouds were going in and out when I got up this morning. It looked like Mother Nature didn't know quite what she wanted to do. I made Peanut Butter Pancakes and dubbed That's Entertainment III. The last of the four documentaries about MGM musicals focuses on behind-the-scenes footage and numbers that were cut or dropped from the films.

Called Mom after breakfast. She was also awaiting the storms. The rain finally found its way to Cape May County this week. She was no longer worried about her parched garden - it finally had plenty of water. Dad's coming home this week as well.

Work was steady for most of the afternoon. It thundered off and on all day, and rained lightly once, but the storm held off. I got to and from work with no trouble, and picked up cooking wine and chocolate chips quickly afterwards.

Made a tomato-mushroom-Colby Cheese omelet for dinner when I got in and copied Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall to DVD. This 1993 concert brings in some of the biggest stars of the time to perform music from the shows Sondheim had done through then. Among my favorite numbers are dancer Karen Ziemba and comic Bill Irwin's hilarious "Sooner or Later" from Dick Tracy, Dorothy Louden's medley of "Losing My Mind" (from Follies) and "You Can Drive a Person Crazy" (from Company), Madeline Khan's "I'm Not Getting Married Today" (also from Company), and Bernadette Peters' touching "Not a Day Goes By" (from Merrily We Roll Along).

Switched to The Great Waltz after getting out of a much-needed shower. The first in a series of operettas I have on video that have yet to make it to DVD, this is the biography of composer Johann Strauss. I don't know enough about classical music to be able to tell you what's fact and what's fiction...but I do know the cinematography's so sumptuous, it won an Oscar.

We did finally get that storm, too...around 9:30, and for all of twenty minutes or so. I think the worst passed us by this time.

Perfect Halloween Weather

I was very happy to awake to a cold, windy, blustery blue and gold fall morning after the ridiculous heat and humidity we had earlier in the week. It doesn't feel like Halloween in New Jersey when you're running around in capris and shirtsleeves a week before the big day.

First stop of the day was the Oaklyn Library for this week's volunteering session there. The children's section was overloaded with 135 pumpkins for their big Halloween party tonight. I didn't want to mess with the gourds, so I concentrated on DVDs. They needed it, anyway. There were DVDs piled on top of each other, out of order, and in completely the wrong section.

I did get into the children's section enough to pull out two Winnie the Pooh Halloween-themed videos, the Halloween special Boo To You, Too and a collection of three horror-oriented New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh episodes, Frankenpooh.

Went straight to the Audubon Crossings Mall next. Made brief stops at FYE (they didn't have the Christmas DVDs I was looking for, and the Bugs Bunny Halloween DVD was too expensive for an hour-long special that's mostly older material anyway) and at America's Best for my contacts.

I noticed a Toys R Us Express had opened in one of the closed stores on the FYE side of the mall and browsed around in there. I sure hope they're sticking around after the holidays. I could use a place to shop for my nephews and cousins that's nearby.

After I left Toys R Us, I rode back over to the Acme for this week's grocery shopping. I didn't really need much. Got ground chicken for meatloaf later in the week. Continued to take advantage of the McCormick Extracts and Spices sale and bought Cinnamon Extract. Found the Dark Chocolate and Mint Limited Edition Nestle Chocolate Chips I've been dying to try. Got Acme Light Yogurt, this week's yogurt sale. Decided I wanted to try grating my own Parmesan cheese and save some packaging. The Acme's generic gourmet brand Parmesan wedge is $3.99, the same price as the plastic container of cheese, and the wedge is a pretty good size.

And of course, I had to get Edy's Pumpkin Ice Cream. I've been waiting for that to go on sale during the fall. Edy's Pumpkin Ice Cream is my favorite ice cream flavor, right up there with Bryers' Cherry Vanilla. Not surprisingly, the Pumpkin is only in stores between about mid-September and mid-late November. I've had it at least once a fall since my friend Amanda and I discovered it on a routine grocery shopping trip in college. Between the two of us, it was gone in less than two days. It's that good. Really tastes like pumpkin pie.

Rode straight home after I finished. I put everything away and went right back out again. I mixed business with pleasure and walked to CVS for shampoo, to the bank to deposit my paycheck, and to WaWa for milk and a Turkey Club Ciabatta Melt for lunch.

Miss Ellie called when I got in. I told her I'd help her prune the yard today. I went downstairs as soon as I finished my sandwich and banana. She wanted me to cut back as much of the bush next to the pine tree in front of her side of the house as I could without killing it. I had to leave plenty to tie for the men who pick up our sticks, too.

I was out for about two hours, from 3:30 to 5:30. Miss Ellie left half-way through that. I wanted to wait for her to come home and tell me where the twine was, but by 5:30, it was getting colder and she still wasn't home. I decided to wait on tying the sticks until tomorrow and headed inside.

I'd started a Crock-Pot beef stew earlier this morning, before I went to the Oaklyn Library. It was hot and bubbling and ready to eat by the time I came upstairs. I had that with leftover cauliflower and Edy's Pumpkin Ice Cream for dessert while watching the Pooh Halloween specials.

Almost all of the Pooh cartoons, including Boo To You, Too concerned the easily-frightened Piglet. In Boo To You, he gets so scared of Tigger's talk of Halloween ghoulishness, Pooh opts to cancel their Halloween plans in deference to the timid Piglet. Piglet feels bad about it, though, and goes after them. It takes a major scare for everyone to make Piglet realize that there's a lot more to Halloween than spooky stuff...and that being scared can sometimes be a lot of fun.

The other cartoons were more horror-oriented. Frankenpooh was a 100 Acre Woods spoof of Frankenstein that shows what happens when Piglet's imagination gets the better of him. Things That Go Piglet In the Night has most of the gang chasing ghosts...that turn out to be a spooked Piglet. Pooh Moon had a science fiction bent. When they land in a mud puddle during a camping trip, Pooh and Piglet think they're on the moon...but the rest of the gang just think they're monsters.

Since I had the VCR going, I switched to the concert Hey, Mr. Producer!: The World of Cameron MacIntosh after the cartoons were over. MacIntosh produced some of the most popular stage musicals of the 80s and 90s, including the very long running Cats and The Phantom of the Opera, the revue Side By Side By Sondheim, the French blockbusters Miss Saigon and Les Misrables, and well-received revivals of My Fair Lady, Oklahoma!, The Boy Friend, and Oliver.

All of those were represented in this huge concert, a gala event put on for Queen Elizabeth herself in 1997. Alas, the video didn't have the full show...but what was there was fabulous. My favorites included Bernadette Peters and British divas Julia McKenzie and Ruthie Hendall strutting their stuff in "You've Gotta Get a Gimmick" (originally from Gypsy, here representing Side By Side), Dame Judi Dench's devestating "Send In the Clowns" (also from Side By Side), Little Shop of Horrors' original Audrey, Ellen Greene, performing the ballad "Somewhere That's Green," and Jonathan Pryce reprising his big song "American Dream" from Miss Saigon.

(Some of the numbers that were cut and shown at the end of the tape were just as good, including Hugh Jackman's "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma! and Bernadette Peters being joined by a bevy of ladies of a certain age for a hilarious kickline to "Broadway Baby" from Follies.)

The Farm Market Is Now In Session

Started out a hot but breezy day with this week's Farm Market run. Today was also the day of Collingswood's City-Wide Yard Sale event. I passed by three yard sales alone heading for the farm market, though I didn't buy anything at that point.

Good thing, too, because I bought a ton at the Farm Market. The Farm Market was really busy when I got in around 9:30-10ish, though I could get around well enough. Strawberries and asparagus were gone, but I saw the first blueberries, cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini, and black and red raspberries of the season. In addition to the blueberries, yellow squash, black raspberries, and two cucumbers, I bought cherries, leeks, an onion, spinach, and two grapefruit.

I rode up and down the streets of Collingswood, checking out all the yard sales. Most of them turned out to be not that interesting, but I did find a few big ones with some good items. I picked up a large Playful Heart Monkey Care Bear Cousin stuffed animal and two CDs (Elton John's Greatest Hits Vol III and the first WOGL Ultimate Christmas Album) from one large multi-family yard sale in Collingswood. Another multi-family sale around the corner from me on Kendall Boulevard yielded two classic Winnie the Pooh golden books, Winnie the Pooh Meets Gopher (based after Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree), and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too.

I was so tired after riding around all morning, I spent most of the afternoon inside. I added my new DVD finds to the inventory, messed around online, and watched Night Court episodes.

I was a little young for Night Court during it's 80s-early 90s heyday (and we didn't watch a lot of NBC anyway), but I got into it when it re-ran on A&E during my college years and early years in Wildwood. Judge Harry Stone is the unorthodox, joke-loving judge in New York's wee-hours courtrooms who tries a wide variety of wacky oddballs. Bull Shannon is his huge, hulking baliff. Selma's the older one who makes wisecracks about her age. Mac's his assistant. Dan Fielding is the defending lawyer, and he's 80s stereotype #4 - the slick sleazeball, this one with a heart of very tarnished gold somewhere under the fancy suit. Billie Young is the other attorney in season two, but she was gone by season three, replaced by Christine Sullivan (who turns up in one episode early in this season).

The show's first full season isn't quite as wacky as the show would be later, but there's some fun episodes. I loved the one about Harry and the madam holding lots of secrets of New York's wealthy and powerful.

By around 3:30, I was bored. I decided to ride out to the Haddon Lake Dell amphitheater and take a look at that concert that was advertised there yesterday. After a few wrong turns, I finally heard country-esque music and made my way back to the hill where the small stadium-style theater is found.

Turns out the concert was JerseyJam 4. Local bands, singers, and songwriters show off their wares to support Multiple Scoleosis charities. The concert was free to enter, but they had a booth with food, JerseyJam t-shirts, and CDs from the groups and singers involved. I'd spent a lot of money at the Farm Market this morning and just ended up buying a bottle of water.

I'm glad I went to the concert. The crowd was mostly families, the relatives of the musicians, and people who happened to be walking through the park anyway, but it was still nice to be outside, hearing live, local music. The ampitheater is pretty nice, too. The red wood and stone seats aren't the most comfortable, but they're nice and sturdy, and most of them have a great view of the stage. I don't really remember any of the bands' names. The one I caught when I came in was playing country music. The second was a woman who apparently hadn't been writing music for very long - she'd trained as a nurse of some kind - but she had some nice, dark Sarah McLaughlin-esque ballads. The third band played long jazz jams. Another young woman sang one nice rock ballad before I headed out.

The hills around Haddon Lake Park are a bit steeper than the ones in Newton River Park. I was trying to ride up a very steep hill, but I wasn't getting far. I stopped to get off...but the bike just kept going! I tried to jump off, but the bike and I ended up tumbling on my left side into the grass.

My first thought (after I got over the shock of falling), was to check my knees. Thankfully, other than some minor scrapes on the side of my left knee, they and my legs were moving just fine. They were a little shaky, but besides my left thigh feeling a bit sore, nothing was really hurt. I think I pulled a muscle on and under my left shoulder and re-aggravated my sore elbow, but it's moving fine, and nothing appears to be broken. The bike didn't even get that hurt. I walked through the rest of the park, but once I hit Haddon Heights, I was able to ride home with no more trouble.

I had dinner when I got home and watched more Night Court. My beef stir fry came out very well, thanks to all those summer veggies I bought today.

Changing Plans

Today didn't go at all like I'd hoped. I got to Uncle Ken's around 10:30 to do the laundry, but Uncle Ken and Dolores already had laundry in the dryer. I had to wait at least an hour and a half before I could get mine in. I spent that time reading the new Daisy Dalyrumple mystery, Sheer Folly. (Very intriguing description of the architectural "folly" itself, a grotto, but a lot of the regular characters are missed, and some of the ones here seem like 20s stereotypes plucked from an Agatha Christie mystery.)

I went to the library after finally getting the laundry in the dryer. I had a LOT of laundry today. All of my socks were in the laundry, along with towels pulled after I cleaned the bathroom. (My last pair of unused socks had holes in them and had to be tossed. I ended up wearing heavy fur-lined clogs today that I can get away with going sock-less in.)

The kids were leaving their Story Hour just as I was arriving. They were so cute. Some even waved to me. I spent the rest of my hour after they left organizing the DVD's. Worked on the children's books for a while as well.

Alas, the laundry still wasn't anywhere close to dry when I got home around 1:30...and it wasn't all the way dry by almost 2, either. I was getting impatient. My original plans were to eventually get to the Haddon Township Library and volunteer there today, so I just grabbed the laundry, some of it still damp, and hurried home.

However, by the time I'd put away the dry laundry, hung up the damp laundry, and had lunch, I just wasn't up for the rush. I spent another twenty minutes debating whether or not to ride to the library before deciding that quarter of 3 was just too late to be running anywhere on the bike. I did go for a walk to WaWa later for milk and a chai tea (tasted faintly of lemon, but it was way too sweet) as the sun was setting, but I spent the majority of the rest of the evening making the bed, shaking out rugs, and vacuuming the apartment.

Watched a Monkees concert from 2001 that Lauren sent me years ago while throwing together a stir-fry made of all the of the leftovers in my fridge (and that Hickory Farms-esque stick of sort-of sausage I got for Christmas). Alas, Mike Nesmith had abandoned the show by then (something about him not wanting to tour), but Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Davy Jones were still very much in evidence. Micky in particular had fun - loved his "Goin' Down" - and the three are as amusingly hammy as ever. Shame I heard Peter Tork, too, dropped out not long after this, and the Monkees haven't really gotten along since. When they're together, something magic happens...when they aren't realizing that their opposite personalities don't really gel too well without the calming effect of a major backer.

Born to Run

I spent most of the morning on my usual Sunday chat with Mom. Mom herself is fine. Dad was at the dock with Keefe, whom he's paying to help with repairs around the boat. No, it's Rose and Anny who are in trouble.

Rose has had problems with depression in the past. Apparently, Craig found her depressed again. She's been hiding, not going out, not seeing anyone, talking suicide, not doing anything but school...again. She did this when she was in college in Washington DC around 2000-2001. I caught her once. It scared the living daylights out of me. According to Mom, she's now seeing a new therapist and is changing her medication, and both seem to be helping. I hope so. I've lost my grandmother, grandfather, and stepmother, and my favorite uncle has cancer. I don't want to lose a sister.

Anny's not doing great, either. Mom says her boyfriend Mike doesn't think their son Collyn is 100% his, despite the fact that everyone in Cape May County says the kid looks and acts just like him. They're going to have a whole custody battle and DNA tests and everything.

On the other hand, Mom had an excellent suggestion for me - Culinary School. It would be cheaper than trying to go to graduate school for library arts, and there must be a hundred fancy eateries and bakeries in Philly and the suburbs that could use pastry chefs. It would be something I could always do. As much as I love reading and books, I love to bake and cook, too. I've been thinking of writing cookbooks as well.

It was a lovely, sunny, reletively warm almost 50-degree day when I finally headed to work around quarter after 1. The Acme was packed, with long lines at every register and more than half the registers open. No surprise there. Not only is today the Super Bowl, but it's the first day of the month, and people are just getting their food stamps/government money/paychecks. I had no relief and left a little late, but other than that, work was perfectly fine and passed by quickly.

The moment I got off, I rushed home, changed my shirt, grabbed the pudding pie I made yesterday, and headed over to Uncle Ken's for his Super Bowl party. Everyone was there when I arrived - Samantha and David and their kids (who were playing bartender, with a few older kids kicking out little guys, much to their annoyance), Dolores and her kids and their kids (including tiny, almost year-old May), Mark, Vanessa, and Brittany, Dad, Jodie, Jodie's parents, and a couple of Uncle Ken's sports-obsessed buddies.

For once, the game was as good as the company. I only stayed for the first half, but one of the Steelers' running backs made an amazing 100-yard touchdown in the last few seconds of the second quarter, pulling them ahead. There were a batch of nifty 3-D commercials right after the first half (that NBC show Chuck looks almost kinda cute), and the Bruce Springsteen concert was downright amazing. He played two songs from the Born to Run album (which, ironically, I listened to this morning before the Beatles show), one new one, and "Glory Days." The Boss really was boss, with more energy than some people my age. It was a truly spectacular show.

And at press time, the Steelers just pulled ahead of the Cards and are winning 27-23, with just 23 seconds left in the game.

I'm A Believer

We once again made a trip through the Massachusetts wilderness this morning, this time on our way to the Eastern State Exposition in West Springfield to see former Monkee singer/drummer Micky Dolenz. I got quite a surprise when we ended up parking in the back yard of an enterprising local family. That would NEVER happen in Wildwood or Ocean City. (For one thing, most of the remaining residents of those towns don't HAVE back yards.)

We got our second surprise of the day when we got our tickets and went into the fair. The very first thing we saw beyond the gates was the stage where Micky was to perform, and there were not one, but two times listed for his appearances. Lauren said the fair's site only listed an 8PM, but it would seem there was also one at 3PM. We decided that since we had all day, we would stay for both shows.

We had some time to kill before the 3PM show, so we walked around a bit and got to know the lay of the land. While most of the fair was your basic fairgrounds with rides, games, souvenir stands, and food booths of every description, the fair did have many unusual attractions. Because it was an Exhibition like the World's Fair, there were lots of animal rides. There were pony rides and a ride on an elephant. Lauren and I took pictures of the goats, camel, and sleeping kangaroo in a petting zoo. We later took pictures of sheep and dairy goats in the Farm-A-Rama building. One of the sheep actually bleated when I pet him! "You win," Lauren said after that.

One of the big animal attractions was the Budwiser Clydesdales. Lauren and I snapped pictures of the famous team of Clydesdale horses who pull the Budwiser beer carts. Lauren even bought a WebKinz Clydesdale from a toy dealer just outside the Better Life Building.

The Better Life Building was huge and busy, filled with people and stands selling leather goods, hot tubs, furniture, food, and small appliances. I didn't buy anything there, but Lauren bought three leather belts for $10. (She says they were the woven-like kind that she can't find anymore.) It was really too busy to hang around in, so after Lauren got her belts, we hit the bathroom and head out. (That bathroom attendant was awfully friendly - a little too much, in my opinion.)

We walked around and explored until it was time to sit down for the concert. Lauren insisted on getting there early in order to beat the crowds. We sat down an hour and a half before the show. In addition to the (uncovered) benches in the main arena area, there were picnic tables on the grass on either side of the stage. These afforded us equally good views with lots more legroom.

After the show, we stood in line and got Micky's autograph. Lauren bought a photo of him from around the first season of the Monkees show. I just had him autograph the notebook I usually keep in my purse for random lists of things I need. (That autograph will stay in my purse as a good luck charm.)

It started to rain lightly towards the end of the show. To escape the rain, we headed over to one of the few indoor restaurants at the Exhibition, the Firehouse Restaurant. It was, indeed, a sit-down, counter-service eatery. We had Grilled Chicken Sandwiches (which were tasty but a bit slippery - Lauren took hers off the bun) while looking at the footage Lauren shot of Micky's concert with her digital camera and trying to decide what to do next.

After we ate, we decided to just walk around for a while until the next concert. By that time, the showers were in full force. We did walk around and take in more attractions...but we also got quite wet doing so. We walked over to the Midway area. We weren't going to buy the extra tickets for the rides, but we did play a few games. I won a cute little orange bear on the balloon dart game.

We eventually made our way back to the Avenue of the States. Each of the New England states had an exhibition house here based after their state capital building, toting the well-known wares of the state. New Hampshire boasted Stonybrook Farms Yogurt and Milk. Lauren bought flannel nightshirts for her dad from a Vermont booth, and I bought maple sugar candy and saw a booth for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. Rhode Island had a Del's Lemonade stand and a poster about legendary local radio and TV personality Salty Brine (both often mentioned by my friend Linda Young, a Rhode Island native). People were lined up half-way out the door for Maine baked potatoes, even in the pouring rain. Kids built with Legos and crowded around the Pez Dispenser booth in Connecticut.

I was surprised how crowded it still was, even with the weather. This probably had partially to do with many of the major attractions being indoors. However, as Lauren pointed out, New England weather is notoriously fickle and most natives are used to it. In Wildwood, people flee the boardwalk (and in many cases, the island) the moment a raindrop is seen. Unless you plan on spending the rest of the afternoon in the arcade or grocery shopping, there just isn't much to do on a rainy day in Wildwood.

By 6:30, we were cold and wet and ready to pack it in. We debated it on and off as we made our way back to the Center Stage and the gate we came in. We saw musicians tuning up on the stage and electricians fiddling with lights...and we finally decided that if Micky Dolenz could say "what the heck" and perform, so could we.

It was more than worth getting soaked to stay for the second show. The rain let up long enough for Micky and his sister Coco to perform "without being electrocuted" (as Micky said at one point), Lauren got more footage for YouTube, and we got to talk to a fellow Monkees fan who had come up for the late show from Boston. He was a middle-aged man who had actually worked on the Monkees show when they got their star on the Walk of Fame in LA and had recorded some footage of it. (He also mentioned that this wasn't the first time the Monkees had appeared at the Eastern State Exhibition. He said Mike, Micky, and Davy appeared at the Exhibition in 1969 when it was just the three of them, which makes sense. From what I've read, the three played a lot of similar fairs and carnivals during that time period.)

And yes, I even got my autographed photo. I opted for one of all four Monkees. (I did tell Micky he could sign over Davy, if he wanted.) Lauren topped me - she didn't want to spend more money on another autograph, so she had him sign a dollar bill!

Micky himself was in fine form tonight. In addition to well-known Monkees hit, he sang "Johnny B. Goode" (which he says was his audition piece for The Monkees show) and kicked rear on a great "Gimmie Some Lovin'" in the second show. Coco Dolenz did nicely with her solo pieces, one of my favorite Linda Rondstat songs "Different Drum." (Which, coincidentally, was written by one of the Monkees, Mike Nesmith.)

Not surprisingly, we went straight home after that, this time heading down the MassPike and other well-lit, straight highways. It was a fun ride despite the lack of a view. Lauren cranked up the heat and the Monkees music, and we sang our way across the Berkshires.

(Lauren also discovered the Massachusetts E-ZPass tolls have switched to a card system instead of tolls - you take a card in one toll booth and give the card to the person in the booth in the next toll. Simple...and cheaper.)

It turns out Lauren's parents weren't idle today despite the weather, either. They put up some lovely curtains over the French doors that look out to their deck and large back yard.

Here's Micky's website:

Micky Dolenz

And the site for the Eastern State Exhibition ("The Big E"):

Eastern States Exhibition

Broadway Baby

God, this sounds awesome. I so wish I could go up to New York and see this. I have the Lincoln Center concert version on DVD (found at Wal-Mart, of all places) and the Ann Millier Paper Mill Playhouse revival on a great two-disc CD set.

The story is deceptively simple - a group of former showgirls and their stage-door hubbies meet for a reunion when their theater is on the verge of demolition, and all kinds of secrets come out of the closet - including the true loves of two not-so-happily married couples.

The music is truly sensational, though. I listen to the Paper Mill revival CD set a lot, and the Follies concert DVD is incomplete but interesting if you can find it. I really hope Encores! moves this to Broadway - hey, it worked for their version of "Chicago."

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/105738.html