Ride Captain Ride

I wanted to sleep in a little this morning, but I was just too excited. Instead, I read short stories from the Disney anthology Storybook Land and The Paddington Treasury, the first two chapters of Felicity Saves the Day, and the first chapter of Samantha Saves the Day. Lissie and Sam demonstrate common vacations in their respective time periods. Colonial Virginian Lissie visits her beloved grandfather at a plantation. Sam and her family travel to Piney Point in upstate New York to enjoy a vacation in their private cabins by a lake.

Even before I had breakfast, I finished the last of the packing. Tossed the laptop, mouse, and all the attendant wires into a bag and loaded it into the blue rolling suitcase. Added other things I'd needed to use in the morning or the night before, like my toothbrush and hair brush.

Ran Strawberry Shortcake In Big Apple City while eating Honey Bunches of Oats and blueberries for breakfast. Strawberry is off to the title metropolis to compete in the Big Bake Off and win a fancy gazebo. The Peculiar Purple Pieman is the other contestant. He'll stop at nothing to make sure he's the winner! Good thing Strawberry made a lot of new friends in Spinach Village who are willing to help her out, including long-time series regulars Orange Blossom and Lemon Meringue.

The train to Cherry Hill didn't leave until 12:20. I didn't feel like sitting around in my apartment for two or three hours, so I took a ride to the Oaklyn Library. It was still very hot and humid (though not quite as hot as yesterday), and the heat once again must have scared people off. Once again, it was just the librarian, the TV, and me. She had on Women's Field Hockey when I came in. (New Zealand won 4-2 over Australia). They were about to go into Individual Dressage, but she changed to CNN, insisting horse-back riding isn't a sport. (I know quite a few people who would disagree with that, including my friend Linda Young, my cousin Samantha West, and her daughter Faith.) I looked over the DVDs (the adult titles were especially bad) and worked on the easy reader and picture book shelves.

Spent the rest of the morning making my bed, gathering the last few things I needed for my trip, and doing a few things around the apartment. Ran cartoons while I puttered. Garfield In the Rough takes the famous fat cat outdoors for a camping trip with Jon and Odie. He'd rather be doing anything else, including exercising. Just as he starts to wonder if nature ain't so bad, they hear that there's a black panther on the loose...and it's heading their way...

The Pink Panther has an even harder time on the road in "Pinto Pink." He's trying to find an easy way to get to California and thinks a horse is a perfect solution to his problems. The horse, on the other hand, has other ideas.

Rose picked me up at 11:45. I had far fewer problems than I did when I traveled to Albany on Columbus Day last year. None of the trains were remotely full. The train to New York was right on time. The one going to Philly was about 5 or so minutes late; the one going to Albany was almost 20 minutes late, thanks to having to sit on the track and wait to pick up passengers from another train. Had a tasty Waldorf Turkey sandwich for lunch at the 30th Street Station Au Bon Pain. 30th Street Station and Penn Station were busy, but not abnormally so. I took advantage of the extra time to color an old Care Bears coloring book (did Harmony and Cheer in a field of flowers) and work on story notes.

I learned my lesson last year. I checked a digital departure monitor when I arrived. It wasn't anywhere close to showing the gate yet. I sat down on the other side of the monitor and had a snack, then went for a walk around Penn Station, checking out a large Hudson Booksellers. On my way back, I noticed a sign that said it was the queue for the train going to Albany. I was the third person in line.

Met Lauren and her parents Mr. and Mrs. Miller at the gate. As soon as we loaded the luggage into the back of their van, we headed to a Denny's about ten minutes or so from the station. It was nearly 8 PM by then, well past the dinner hour, and they were very quiet. Mrs. Miller had a vegetable omelet. Lauren had a ham and cheese omelet. Mr. Miller had the Grand Slam. I had the Banana Pecan Pancakes, turkey bacon, and egg whites. (And Mr. Miller and I split Lauren's hash browns when she couldn't finish them.) We all had lemonade iced teas. Supposedly, Denny's had improved their buttermilk pancakes. I didn't see any difference, but they were still very tasty. I liked the turkey bacon, too. I might have to try that at home.

Mr. Miller, Lauren, and I were originally going to have Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie for dessert. Alas, they were all out. Mr. Miller and Lauren shared the Apple Crumble with Ice Cream. My Coconut Cream Pie was just as tasty as chocolate would have been. Mrs. Miller stuck to her cheesecake.

I'm set up in Lauren's room downstairs as we listen to an 80's pop station on Pandora, chat online, and enjoy the cool temperatures. It was in the mid-70's by the time we got out of Denny's, much cooler than it's been even here, and certainly down south.

We were originally going to go to Six Flags Great Escape tomorrow. First of all, the weather isn't supposed to be great. They're talking about major thunderstorms. Second, I just took three trains for 7 hours. I'm dead tired. We're going to ride back to Albany to hit up some malls there Lauren likes instead.

Spring Is Here, I Hear

I awoke to a chilly, damp, cloudy first day of spring. Today was also Mom's birthday. I called her after breakfast to wish her a good one. Apparently, Cape May County got a snow squall this morning, though it was gone by the time I called. I don't remember seeing one here. One of my customers at the Acme later reported seeing one as well, so maybe it happened really early. Mom's an early riser.

I bought some coconut on sale yesterday. I was going to make coconut cake, but I already have cake in the freezer, so I decided to make coconut bread instead. I also added pineapple that was in the pantry shelf and a banana that was getting really ripe. It came out very, very tasty. I used the basic Betty Crocker Fruit Bread Recipe, but swapped some of the shortening for buttermilk and mashed banana. It came out very moist, sweet, and crumbly.

After the bread came out of the oven, I felt like doing something outside. I was tired of the same old walk, especially after playing tennis yesterday. I dug around in my living room closet for my field hockey stick and ball and hit that around the park next door. When I got tired of that, I did laps with the ball around the VFW's parking lot across the street (doing my best to avoid the puddle-filled potholes). I had a really nice time. I goofed around and had a little unusual exercise. I really need to start doing stuff like this more often. I have badminton equipment from when Keefe used to visit in Wildwood, a jump rope, and a frisbee in the living room closet. It's time I started using them again.

I went to work about an hour after my field hockey practice. Work was busier than the last few days, but still not nearly as crazy as last week. My hours were lousy, too. While I do have two days off again, I only have 22 hours and work until 8 and 7 the whole week except for Sunday, when I'm off at 5:30.

Headed to the mall behind the Acme for dinner after work. I have at least seven meal choices in that mall (eight if you count Acme). Applebee's would take too long. The Wal-Mart Subway is lousy. Chick Fil'A's had a line going out the door. I wasn't in the mood for burgers (which eliminated Five Guys and Arby's) or pizza (Tu Se Bella). I finally settled on Fat Jack's Barbecue, since they were so good the last time I was there. They were just as good again. I went with the Pulled Pork Sandwich again, this time with the Green Beans n' (shredded) Ham side. The beans were a little garlicky, but still pretty tasty. The sandwich was as delicious as it was two weeks ago. The girls working the counter were really sweet, too. I made sure to leave them a nice tip in the tip jar.

Made a quick stop at FYE next. I hadn't realized season 2 of Get Smart was already out on DVD, but I saw it mentioned online and thought I'd see if they had it. I managed to grab their last copy for about $21. One of the boys behind the counter tried to talk me into getting Twilight. Ugh! Sounds like vampire glop to me. I wouldn't touch that with a 200 foot pole. I hate gloppy romance and I really can't stand mopey pretty boys.

Ended up back at the Acme to do my grocery shopping. Good thing I only need a few things tonight - grapefruit, kiwi, bananas, romaine lettuce, cubed steak, pineapple, yogurt, canola oil (I'm almost out). The Acme wasn't too bad by the time I got back there and I was in and out fairly quickly.

Making Plans

Today went much better than I'd anticipated for once. I was supposed to get together with my sister Rose so we could weigh each other for Weight-Watchers today, but she called this morning and said she was sick, could we do it another time? I was initially a little disappointed, but it may have been just as well. I got my laundry done today, bought 2-cent stamps so I could send out my bills without having to buy another book of stamps when I only bought one a month and a half ago, and pulled out my old field hockey ball and stick and hit the ball around the park and VFW parking lot, doing little drills with myself. That was fun. I threw a frisbee around yesterday, which was fun, too.

Work was busy for most of the night, up until an hour before I left, with few problems.

I have a general idea of what I'm going to do the rest of the week (finish cleaning, return library books, go to Philadelphia to chase bookstore jobs again), but something else I'd like to do is try to be more flexible with my plans. I can't keep getting upset when things don't go my way.