Christmastime Is Here

Began the morning with breakfast and The Bears Who Saved Christmas. When their family is stranded in a cabin on Christmas Eve, adventurous teddy bear Holly (Mary Kay Bergman) and her brother Christopher (Charlie Adler) take it on themselves to find a tree and make their owners' holiday a little merrier. They're helped by a flashlight that's afraid of the dark (Henry Gibson), a compass with no sense of direction (Johnathan Winters), and a kindly mother beaver (B.J Ward) and her son. 

Hurried off to work after that. I was only alone for the first hour. One of the college boys came in at 10 and took over the sweeping...and then another one arrived at 11 and did the sweeping. I was outside the whole time. At least it was a lot busier today than it was on Monday! People surprisingly had some pretty big orders. I figured most folks would just be grabbing milk and wrapping paper. Even with two other boys helping, we had to work hard to keep up with the carts. 

At least the weather was right for it. It was sunny, bright blue, and very windy, probably blowing 20 miles an hour. The temperatures were in the lower 40's, chilly, but not overly so for this time of year. 

Soon as I finished, I cut across Oaklyn to WaWa. Wanted to make use of those gift cards I got from the kids and get a treat for lunch. I got a roast beef hoagie, a soft pretzel, a peppermint cookies and cream smoothie, and a bag of potato chips. Normally, I'm not a chips fan, but I couldn't resist a bag of mozzarella sticks and marinara-flavored. That's not something I've ever seen before. I did have trouble ringing up the gift cards in the self-checkout machine. Good thing one of the women working at the cash register is a friend of mine and was able to help. 

Went straight home after that. Changed, then watched Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales while I ate lunch. This series of skits was originally made to be filler in an hour slot with A Charlie Brown Christmas, but it does have some entertaining material in its own right. Love Sally writing to "Samantha Claus," her method of getting a Christmas tree when she can't cut it down, and Snoopy's troubles as a sidewalk Santa.

Pulled out the old Christmas photos after I ate. The oldest of these go back to my very first Christmas in 1979, when Bruce and Mom were still together. I'm wearing the cutest yellow Mickey and Minnie Mouse pajamas! I can see toys I'd have for years in the background, including one I still have, TJ the Dakin teddy bear. TJ is currently sitting with the smaller Beanie Baby and Meowchi stuffies on the shelf over the hardback novels. 

There's photos from later in the 80's, too. I can see my second typewriter, the gray and white plastic one that actually typed (my first was a white and orange Tomy Typer), next to me as I open Battle Cat in 1984. There's a Polaroid shot in 1989 of me holding Candi, the porcelain doll Mom gave me that year. I still have Candi, too. Her gold ringlets are messy from many brushings. Her pink ribbon is faded and has rust spots, and her white dress is yellowed and dirty, but she's one of only three porcelain dolls I've kept over the years.

The focus in the 90's and 2000's shifts to Keefe and to Rose's parties with her friends. I should show the kids in the after-school program the photo of Keefe proudly holding out the packs of Pokemon cards I got him. I'm pretty sure that picture was from around 98-99. I'll bet most of the little kids have no idea they go that far back. Keefe's always loved to build, even when he was little. He was so thrilled with the K-Nex sets Mom gave him and the Bionicles Lego sets he got from me. 

Watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation as I sorted through the pictures. All Clark Griswauld (Chevy Chase) wants is a good old-fashioned family Christmas, with tons of presents under a huge tree and all of his family surrounding him. As often happens with Clark, what he imagines and what actually happens are two entirely different matters. The two sets of grandparents he invites over don't get along. The thousands of lights on his house short the neighborhood power grid. His yuppie neighbors Todd (Nicholas Guest) and Margo (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) are ready to strangle him for the mess his antics keep making in their home. Mid-way through, Clark's cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) and his family turn up in their rattletrap RV and cause even more chaos. In the end, as the tree burns and the SWAT team comes through the windows, Clark finally realizes that we can't make Christmas perfect...but we can make it memorable.

This is an old family favorite of mine that we all watched throughout the 90's. Mae Questal and William Hickey steal the last half-hour or so as dear, senile old Aunt Bethany and her exasperated husband Uncle Lewis. Brian Doyle-Murphy has a lot of fun as Clark's obnoxious boss, too. Scatological and sexual humor makes this for teens just starting their own Christmas breaks and adults who have probably been through almost everything Clark does here at one time or another.

Switched to working on The WENN Nutcracker Suite next. With everyone on the train, Betty has the chance to ask the Nutcracker about Pirlipat. She calls him Scott at first, but he still claims that isn't his name. She gently tells him that she'd never abandon him, no matter how many mistakes he made or how ugly he was.

Watched A Disney Channel Christmas as I worked. Mom taped this blend of two earlier Disney TV specials, "From All of Us to All Of You" and "Disney's Christmas Gift," in 1988, and I've watched it almost every year since. The first half is "From All of Us," with Jiminy Cricket introducing segments from winter or Christmas-related shorts like "Pluto's Christmas Tree," "The Art of Skiing," "Donald's Snow Fight," and the gorgeous "Once Upon a Wintertime." The second half showcases segments from Disney films that depict parties, gift-giving, winter, or magic, the Donald Duck short "The Clock Watcher," the two Santa Claus Silly Symphonies, and the lovely black and white Mickey short "Mickey's Good Deed." It ends with the Past segment from Mickey's Christmas Carol, which was so new when this first debuted, Jiminy says it's "now in theaters."

Moved to the Looney Tunes for Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales. Unlike the Halloween special, this one is all-new material. The first short is a take on A Christmas Carol, with Bugs as Nephew Fred, Yosemite Sam as Scrooge, and Porky as Bob Cratchit. The second takes Wil E. Coyote and Road Runner's usual antics into snow-covered mountains as the Coyote chases his quarry on skates. The third has the Tasmanian Devil invading Bugs' house dressed as Santa and how Bugs gets rid of him.

Next up was Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus from 1974. This charming retelling of the most famous editorial letter in newspaper history has Jim Backus as the voice of Francis Church, the editor who wrote the letter, and the story's narrator. The style screams "Bill Melendez" and basically looks like Victorian Peanuts with actual speaking adults thrown into the mix. 

Put on The Bishop's Wife during dinner. Bishop Henry Brougham (David Niven) prays for guidance in building his huge new cathedral. He can't secure the funding from fussy Mrs. Agnes Hamilton (Gladys Cooper), who insists on making it a monument to her late husband. He's working so hard, he neglects his lovely wife Julia (Loretta Young) and his daughter Debbie (Karolyn Grimes) and ignores old friends like the Professor (Monty Wooley). Henry gets quite a shock when Dudley (Cary Grant), an impossibly suave angel, turns up claiming he's the answer to Henry's prayer. Henry doesn't think so when Dudley proceeds to take his place with Julia, and she falls for him. The Professor reminds Henry that he has one big advantage over Dudley. He's human, and Dudley is not.

The cast is simply luminous in this charming tale. Young is so patient and lovely, you can understand why a bishop and angel almost came to blows over her. Grant's debonair angel is a lot of fun, too - check out his quick method of decorating Christmas trees! Highly recommended during the holidays if you're a fan of the trio or looking for a quieter holiday movie.

Finished the night with a couple of specials. I went further into The Small One and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog in 2022 and 2019 respectively.

The Small One

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Raggedy Ann and Andy In the Great Santa Claus Caper has Chuck Jones' fingerprints all over it. The antagonist is a very smart Wil E. Coyote-like wolf. This fellow isn't content to chase road runners. He creates an unbreakable substance he calls "Gloopstick" that he intends to cover Santa's toys with, so the children will have to buy toys from him. When Raggedy Andy is one of the wolf's victims, Ann and Andy avoid the claws on his machine and shows the wolf that their love is stronger than any Gloopstick.

Here's even more classic Christmas specials to watch before Christmas dinner tomorrow!

The Wish That Changed Christmas

The Night Before Christmas (1968)

The Smurfs' Christmas

The Spirit of Christmas 

The Christmas Tree

A Cranberry Christmas

'Twas the Day Before Christmas (A Chucklewood Christmas)

Fleischer Brothers Classics: Christmas Comes But Once a Year

Woody Woodpecker - The 12 Lies of Christmas

The Nutcracker (Russia 1974)

For Better Or for Worse: The Bestest Present

Ziggy's Gift

Olive the Other Reindeer

The Teddy Bears' Christmas

A Wish For Wings That Work

The Adventures of Candy Claus

And as Jiminy Cricket said earlier, from all of us to all of you, have a very merry Christmas, and the happiest of holiday seasons! 

Where Do I Go From Here?

Badly needed to sleep in today after the long couple of weeks I had! When I finally got rolling, I had a fried egg and tomato sandwich for breakfast while watching She-Ra. Picked up from where the set I found at the yard sale left off with "The Stone In the Sword" from the first season. When the stone in Princess Adora's sword cracks, she can't transform into She-Ra or rescue Bow from the Horde. She goes on a journey through magical caverns to repair it. 

Switched to Match Game '79 while making my grocery list and doing the dishes. In the first episode, the contestant is so thrilled when Elaine Joyce matches her unusual answer, both women jump all over the stage...and then Gary Burghoff leaps out and dances with the contestant, and everyone else jumps all over the place! Bill Daily nearly had a nervous breakdown trying to figure out an answer to the first question in the second show. 

Headed out towards the end of the second episode. Didn't really need a ton of groceries this week - I ate out of the fridge a lot, when Jodie wasn't giving me food - but I did need a few things that were on a good sale. Had online coupons for riced frozen veggies, sorbet and plant milk ice cream pints (went with passion fruit sorbet and coconut milk ice cream), peanut butter, and oatmeal. Found a small container of shrimp in the seafood section for dinner tomorrow. Restocked yogurt, cereal, milk, bananas, and hair elastics (my current ones won't hold my hair and keep sagging). 

Also found Clearly Canadian on a good sale. I used to love Clearly Canadian in the early-mid 90's. Bought it all the time from the Eckard's on Bayshore Road as I'd ride to and from the Villas Library. Too bad they're so expensive...because the tart cranberry flavor tastes as good and sparkling as I remember. 

Not nearly as happy with my schedule next week. Two days off (one for counseling) and my cashiering days are normal six hour shifts...but I have three 8 and 1/2 hour bagging days, two in a row. One of the baggers went on vacation, and a lot of people are on non-virus-related health leaves right now, or they've quit. Like everyone else who isn't an at-home job, we're just short on help. 

Put everything away when I got home, then made a Banana-Berry Smoothie while watching more She-Ra. Madame Razz explains how She-Ra came to acquire her famous home "The Crystal Castle," aka the huge pearly pink castle playset every girl in the mid-80's coveted (including us). Hoping to keep Hordak from destroying Queen Angella's home Castle Bright Moon, she befriended a group of trolls who were wary of humans to learn the secrets of the castle's magic. 

Headed out to get the laundry done after I cleaned up from lunch. It wasn't a huge load, but there were a few things I really needed to get done, including a sheet and work clothes. Sat outside and worked on story notes while my clothes were in the washer. It's still sunny, hot, and sticky humid here, but the laundromat was so busy, every chair was taken. Strolled to WaWa after I put everything in the drier for a Chips Ahoy Chocolate Smoothie (basically, Chips Ahoy bits and chocolate syrup in a smoothie - very tasty). 

Rose called while I wrote outside. Did I want to join them in the pool after I got home? Sure! As soon as I rolled in, I put the sheet back on, made the bed, then wriggled into my bathing suit and hurried out to the pool. Rose and her tribe and Reilly and her mother were already there. Jodie and her Aunt Colleen came out later to say "hi." A friend of Khai's came around later (and got into an argument with Rose over whether he could eat Doritos - apparently, he has a food allergy, and Rose wasn't sure). 

The pool water was amazingly warm, like stepping into the shower. Finley probably didn't even notice. She swam from one end of the pool to the other with me and her mother, climbing on my back and laughing when I dunked her under the waves. She's fearless in the pool, probably because she wants to keep up with the other kids. The older kids, for their part, think she's funny. The girls in particular treat her like their little sister and have no trouble playing with her and swimming with her. 

We broke up around 5 so Rose could take us home to make dinner. I dashed into my place to changed into regular clothes and finish putting away the laundry. Ran Match Game '74 as I worked. Janet Finn, who became one of the most popular and winningest contestants of the entire 70's-80's run, made her debut towards the middle of this episode. We got some jokes about whom the Three Musketeers would kiss when her initial audience match was "The Three __." Finley and Reilly came to pick me up...and it was a bit hard to shoo them away from the dolls and stuffed animals!

When we pulled into Rose's house, Finley showed me her room. Or what I could see of it under the intricate layers of toys, dolls, stuffed animals, hand-knitted blankets and sweaters, tap shoes, play food, and Disney Princess costume jewelry and ball gowns spread all over the floor. We were able to find her nifty play kitchen and see how she could open her "oven" and "refrigerator" and take care of her two little baby dolls with her doctor set. 

Rose's original plan was to use the grill for dinner, but she apparently ran out of propane. We had baked turkey tenderloin, green beans, and roasted potatoes for dinner. Yum! I loved it. The turkey tenderloin came out moist and flavorful. Rose thought she overcooked the green beans, but they tasted fine to me. Even the kids ate enough of it. 

After dinner, we looked at all the photos Jodie gave me a few months ago. Rose wants to scan ones she doesn't already have copies of, and I need to start scanning photos, too, now that I have a scanner. We showed Khai pictures of us goofing off in what's now Jodie's pool in the 1980's and feeding ducks on the bottom of the hill in her backyard where the dock now is. Finley got to see us at Disney World in 1986 and 1990, and all the photos we took in front of the giant alligator statues at the hotel we stayed at in Kissimee in 1986. They got to see the pool table and the organ Uncle Ken had in the den in the 80's and early 90's, and Rose and I with Mom visiting Dad-Bruce in Ft. Lauderdale in the early 80's. 

(Research later in the evening revealed that the Gator Motel is still there, though no word if the alligator statue survives.)

Rose also told me around this point that she lost her job as a lawyer for Camden County in March. Apparently, it was a thankless job, and not one she was entirely unhappy to let go of. While she and Craig considered remodeling their house, they came to the conclusion that it's really too small for their family. The kids want a larger backyard, and Rose wants a bigger kitchen and more room to breathe. They're thinking of moving to Hammonton, one of the small cozy suburban-style towns just outside of Atlantic City. Rose offered to find a house that either came with an attached apartment for me, or room to build one.

I have mixed feelings on that. On one hand, I've also put serious consideration into leaving the area over the past five or six years or so, since before the Manor Avenue house changed hands. As nice as my neighbors are, I never really fit in here. I'm tired of being a fifth wheel wherever I go and having no one in the area I can talk to. Even if Dad had lived, I never intended to stay at the attached apartment for more than two or three years at most while I figured out what to do next. 

I've had no luck finding apartments for rent I can afford here, either. That's the other reason I didn't move sooner. Most of the apartment buildings are situated on busy main roads or next to gas stations or car shops and often are not in the best condition. Attached apartments are not only getting expensive, they usually prefer people they know...and I don't know many people.

Trouble is...I don't know what to do next. I want to remain independent, and my needs are different than Rose's. I'm looking for people I can talk culture and do projects with, not good school districts and giant backyards. I'd rather find something near them but not next to them. I do like Rose's idea of the Atlantic City suburb area. Close enough to family and the Shore that it won't take long to see them, far enough away for the prices to be slightly more reasonable. Plus, I still know the area relatively well from going to college at Stockton and taking the train to AC. 

I also need to get away from the Acme. I'm going crazy there. I'm tired of dealing with customers, coworkers who have nothing in common with me, and the revolving door of managers. There's no chance for advancement, or doing anything besides the same thing I've done for 20 years. The only things keeping me from quitting tomorrow are my need for cheap health insurance and my fear of talking about myself. I'm still not sure how to promote myself or my writing. I don't really know myself well at all. I know what I like, but not what my values are, or what I need for my wellbeing. I'm not sure what I want or need anymore. 

Rose had one last project she wanted to do with the kids before I left. Evidently, they read either online or in a book on science projects that Mentos dropped into a bottle of soda will make fizzy liquid shoot high into the air! We stood back as the kids dropped mint candy into plastic liters of Pepsi on their front driveway. It did fizz and shoot up...a little, but not very high. Rose came to the conclusion that the bottles were too warm. They would try again after the bottles chilled. She and Finley dropped me at home shortly after.

Finished the night on The Roku Channel with The A-Team. It's a "Bad Time at the Border" when B.A encounters a little Mexican girl at a local baseball field and becomes attached to her. Turns out she fled from a truck carrying illegal immigrants into the country to be used in a slavery ring and wants to return to her mother, who is deathly ill at the compound where they keep the Mexicans. When they capture Hannibal as well, the others spring to the ready to rescue them. 

Food and History

Kicked off a sort-of-cloudy morning with breakfast and Blockbusters. The champ made short work of that sister team, but still couldn't make it through the Gold Run bonus round. He was having less luck with another pair when the show ended.

Switched back to My Little Pony while making chocolate chip cookies. The babies are frightened by a spirit they think is "The Ghost of Paradise Estate." It's really a bird-like shapeshifter who was sent by an evil squid creature to find a magical stone that'll restore his watery home and allow him to once more be in charge of Dream Valley. She doesn't want to do it, but the creature's holding her grandfather hostage. Megan, her siblings, and the Ponies do their best to help her find the pieces and stop the evil squid.

Returned briefly to Buzzr for Match Game '75 while pulling out the cookies, then got organized and headed out. I really just needed to do laundry. At least the laundromat wasn't busy when I got in, and I really only had a small load anyway. Worked on story notes while the laundry was in the washer, then treated myself to the new Mountain Dew Major Melon (watermelon-flavored) and a soft pretzel from WaWa. At least the weather wasn't bad. While it continues to be off-and-on cloudy, it was neither as cold, nor as windy as yesterday.

Let Super Password go in the background as I put away my laundry when I got home. Jo Ann Worley and Jack Jones were the celebrity word-guessers here. Jo Ann got her contestant to the Super Password bonus round, but they struck out there and in the Ca$shword mini-game. I also set up the Susan Branch calendar I ordered off Amazon. 

Finished organizing Dad and Uncle Ken's photos while half-watching Buzzr. Sweet Juliet Mills and her husband Michael Miklenda were the big winners on Tattletales, over George Hamilton and his smart wife Alania and Peter Haskell and his tough wife Cricket. The Whammies flew fast and furious during the second half of Press Your Luck. The champ managed to avoid most of them and picked up a Denver vacation, among other prizes. 

Made a few more good finds as I finished going through the bin. My favorite was a vintage cookbook, The College Cookery, from Burlington County College. I'm guessing it's from between 1965 and 1985, from the simple plastic binder design and sepia-toned print. I have no clue why Uncle Ken had that in the bin. I saw no familiar names among those who contributed recipes, and I'm pretty sure neither he nor Dad attended Burlington County College. Some of the recipes looked pretty decent, though. It was the only thing I kept for myself. Put everything else back in the box. I'll call or text my sisters and cousins later this weekend or next week and see what they say about it. 

Worked on writing after I dropped the bin in the den next to my entrance. Richard finally leads past a couple of sailors who try to feel up the ladies and down into the hold. Goodson taunts a very-much-alive Jack Nartz about the loss of his ship The Concentration and tries to persuade him to reveal the location of his buried treasure. Jack refuses - he intends the treasure for his family and crew. 

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Tried a recipe for "One-Pot-Spaghetti" from Uncle Ken's cookbook while I watched Match Game '74. It was pasta, tomato sauce, and water cooked with sautéed onions and ground beef in oil. I made it olive oil and added a little white cooking wine along with dried parsley. Oh, yum. Whomever complied this book knew what they were doing. Tasty and savory.

Gene literally rolled into Match Game, leaving Richard to joke about him falling down drunk. (Which wasn't true. Neither Gene nor Richard were drinkers.) Meanwhile, Scoey Mitchilll, who was notorious for never matching the contestant, actually got his first two matches towards the end. Bob Barker turned up in Match Game PM, but it was Charles who had to try to help the contestant win 20,000 in the end.

Sale of the Century was a nail-biter tonight. The ladies were neck-and-neck, buying no Instant Bargains or Cash. The one guy was behind almost the entire game, until he picked up a number card on the Fame Game that caught him up in a hurry. In the end, the other lady beat the champ by one question in the Speed Round. She didn't do any better on the Bonus Round, though.

Finished the night on Pluto TV with Lost Horizon. I go further into this long and peculiar epic 1973 musical at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

Cult Flops - Lost Horizon (1973)

Discovering History

Began a sunny morning with breakfast and Blockbusters. The solo man quickly defeated a sister team...but this time, he didn't do nearly as well on the Gold Run round. In fact, I think he got two answers right. He was doing better with another sister team when the episode ended.

Let Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour run briefly while I did the dishes, then switched to My Little Pony as I made the bed. "Somnubula" is one of the stranger episodes from later in the original series. The  Big Brother Ponies return to Paradise Estate to find all of the female ponies missing. The babies and Spike reveal they were lured by a voice heard from a carnival. Turns out this is a circus of horrors, as the owner is draining the ponies of their youth...and may do the same to the Big Brothers.

(We only had one of the Big Brother Ponies...ironically, one of the ones who came out the year after this episode debuted in the second and last release and didn't appear in this episode. His name was Barnacles, Between his pirate hat and Cutie Mark and his bright red ringlet mane and tail, I had to have him.)

Moved to Match Game '75 briefly, but I ended up in my bedroom. Wanted to text Rose about getting a bike with Jessa, but I accidentally ended up calling her. She wasn't happy. She said she's too busy right now in quarantine for dealing with anything...and that I need to take all of this up with Jessa. Which I did. I texted her, then spent the next hour or so doing research on bikes online.

Broke for lunch at quarter of 2. Made a chocolate-banana-coffee smoothie while watching Hart to Hart on The Roku Channel. They once again only have season 1 and 2 available. Went with "The Latest Fashion In Murder" from season 2. Jennifer is flattered when she and Johnathan are asked to pose for a fashion shoot. Her delight turns to fear when she finds a major model murdered at a fashion party, and then the owner of the magazine dead at the shoot...and she and Johnathan suspect she may have been the intended victim of the latter.

Took a nap for a while after the episode ended. Between chatting late with Lauren while she's off work (she's back working for another two weeks) and the increased hours pushing carts, I'm really bushed. In fact, I only got up because I heard dinging on my phone.

It was Jessa, but she wasn't texting me. She needed to ask Jodie about how her driver's license. I texted her and told her I needed to talk to her, too. She said she'd be around at 5:30.

That gave me time to work on some writing. Robert Walden and Dolly Martin make sure renegade former pirate Richard Dawson actually helps them free the other women. Lorrie McCaffery is upset that she can't see her husband. Marcia Wallace just wants to kick someone's rear. Richard tells them he knows where the crews are hidden in the hold. Gene agrees to let him lead them down there, as long as they all dress as sailors and look like they're just out for a stroll with him...

Broke at 5:30, but I didn't hear voices on Jodie's side of the house until quarter of 6. Not only was Jessa there, but Jodie's Aunt Colleen was visiting too. Jodie revealed that she finally got an actual job - she's working for her uncle in his tax office. Second, Jodie's been going through a LOT of stuff. Boxes are piled here, there, and everywhere. Among the boxes and bins were one filled with old family photos of Dad and Uncle Ken. Jodie initially gave it to Jessa, but I told her I'd go through it. I'm good at organizing things. 

(She also gave me a hoagie, but it was Italian with salami and bologna. I ate half, then tossed it. Too salty for me now, and I'm not a big fan of salami or bologna to begin with.)

After dinner, I went through the bin. I couldn't believe my luck. It was filled with photos and memorabilia going back a century. The oldest photos were of Uncle Ken and Dad's father Albert when he was young, likely in the early 1900's. The most recent were of Uncle Ken's daughter Samantha and her husband Dave, I'm guessing from between 2005 and 2007. There were even Polaroids of a teeny me with young Samantha and her brother Guy during what was likely my first Christmas in 1979, and two more of Rose and me in the early 90's. 

The vast majority of the photos came from between the 1930's and the 1970's, from the cars, clothes, and hair styles. Dad showed me a few pictures of my grandmother, Pop Pop Al's wife, before, but nothing like this. There were photos of Dad's graduation and what was likely his prom, with him handsome and beaming behind girls in pastel dresses. Uncle Ken was in World War II and Dad was in Vietnam; I got to see them in their sailor and army uniforms before they left. There were photos of Uncle Ken and Aunt Jayne's wedding in the 1960's, and them with baby Samantha and Guy. Lots of photos of what I suspect were family trips to Wildwood in the 50's and 60's, including Wildwood torn to shreds in what were likely photos of the major storm that rained devastation on the South Jersey Shore in 1962. 

And that's just the photos. Boxes and a full scrap book held articles on Uncle Ken's career in high school athletics, both as a player in football, baseball, and swimming and as a coach. I found the announcement for his and Aunt Jayne's wedding, a wedding card from his family, and piles of programs from Uncle Ken's football games in the 40's and 50's. There was even a copy of local newspaper The Retrospect from 1995 with a lengthy article discussing Uncle Ken and his many athletic achievements. 

I'll go through it, but I really need to get a hold of Jessa, Rose, and especially Samantha. Sam will probably want Uncle Ken's things, and I know the other two will really want to see this, too.

Watched Match Game '74 as I worked. Morey Amsterdam and George Kirby replaced Charles in this episode, and they both did very well, too. Richard had more fun tossing Brett's shoe away, while everyone else tried to figure out what's huge, covered with feathers, and called Moby ___ and Richard tries to figure out who stole his seat. Match Game PM had its own fun as Ron Pallilo joined for jokes about what a guy's wife says whenever she walks into a department store and Richard's reminder that the lady should have listened to him in the Audience Match. 

The champ dominated on Sale of the Century. The one guy couldn't get anything going. The other lady did better, but the champ killed at the Speed round. She still couldn't get the Bonus Round money, though. 

Finished the night online with No Maps On My Taps at Watch TCM. I go further into this documentary on three great black tap dancers at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Musical Documentaries - No Maps On My Taps

Cleaning Up at Home

Slept in a bit this morning. Began the day after reading and writing in my journal with breakfast and Blockbusters. The solo male contestant just keeps rolling, this time over a pair of sisters. He didn't do nearly as well in the Gold Rush round, only getting a few questions right. He was just starting on another sister pair when the show ended.

Swept the patio outside between my front door and the porch after the show. Dried leaves already gathered in great piles around the entrance and were starting to get into the house. I ended up sweeping them into one side of the garden near the porch. Didn't really know where to put most of them! The garden needs watering, too. Need to ask Jodie where the hose is.

Switched to the musical Bathing Beauty on DVD while making the bed, and then as I ran the vacuum and dust-mop. I go further into this 1944 musical with Red Skelton pursing Esther Williams in a girl's school at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Back to School Again - Bathing Beauty

I was taking the trash out to the garage when I ran into Jodie. She finally decided to start going through Dad's things in the main house, including all his photos. She handed me a bag of photos and told me to go through them and keep some and give the rest to Rose and Jessa.

Decided to go through them later. Cleaned the kitchen while watching Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. "Daniel's Lunch" is Excellent Egg Salad, made by his dad. He's upset when Miss Elaina claims she doesn't like egg salad. Teacher Harriet reminds her that it's ok to not like what your friends like, but to try to be nice about it. "Daniel's Toy" is his favorite wooden pull duck. Prince Wednesday doesn't like that, either, which also upsets Daniel...until Wednesday discovers that a pull-duck can be very useful for carrying rocks!

Moved to Tubi for Jem while having yogurt and blueberries for lunch, and then while sorting through the photos. Jem's a "Renaissance Woman" in a second season episode when she and the Holograms attend a Renaissance fair in England. The obnoxious young man who is about to be declared lord of the county is enamored with the girls' friend Danse...but so is Robin Goodfellow, a Robin Hood-like figure who robs from the lord and his father to give to the poor booth owners. The girls are against this, until they discover that the lord isn't the real ruler of the county. They have to avoid the lord and his greedy father to rescue Robin and find the real lord, before the impostor is crowned.

I called Rose earlier; she called back as Tattletales began. She said not to do anything with the photos. She wants to make digital copies of them, so we can all have our own copies and not have to separate them. She was still annoyed with Mom for not making digital copies of her photos before sending them to us last year. Hoo boy, and I'd already organized some into my photo boxes. I'd pull them out later.

Cleaned the bathroom while Press Your Luck was on. This time, everyone got some money in the first round; the Whammies didn't really hit until the second. One of the guys got slammed with Whammies in both rounds and eventually got knocked out. The only woman just barely beat the champ, hitting no Whammies and winning vacations to London and Las Vegas.

Rose came around as I was finishing the bathroom. Khai's still on a Garfield kick. She made a big lasagna, per his request...then he wouldn't eat it. She gave slices to me and to Jodie, and slices of chocolate cake, too. I tried to give her the photos, but she said she needed to talk to Jessa and look up digitalizing them. She did suggest checking out the hair salon she attends regularly in Audubon. Research later reveals that Splitting Hairs is expensive, but Rose says the lady who runs the place is nice, and it's not like I get my hair done a lot anyway.

Started writing after Rose left. Brett, Richard, and Lee finally get demon Malade through the door of the ballroom and out into the garden, with Betty protesting not to destroy her new fountains. Charles and Donald are trying to help mermaid Patti, while the two remaining wizards want to protect Betty and the still-unconscious frog.

Heard Rose and Jodie talking in the den while I worked on writing. In addition to clearing photos, Jodie's trying to figure out what to do with most everything else in the house, including the furniture. She gave me a lovely small dark-wood table and chairs intended for dolls. It's too big for the 12-inch Star Wars dolls and too small for the 18-inch American Girls...but it proved to be perfect for my floppy old stuffed bear Mint and the knitted Baby Yoda Lauren sent me shortly after Christmas last year. I put it in front of the shelf with my Christmas books and across from the bed - there aren't too many other places in my apartment where it can go.

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Jo Ann Pflug, Kaye Stevens (whose noisy laugh annoys many fans), and character actor Richard Long joined Gene and the regulars on Match Game '74 to make jokes about Snow White and figure out the many answers to "It's a ____" in the Audience Match. The contestant on Sale of the Century continues to buzz in way ahead of the end of many answers. It came pretty close to backfiring on him, as he missed quite a few. It was still enough to get him through the Speed Round and win a pair of lovely men and women's fur coats.

Finished the night online after a shower with the spooky early talkie horror film Svengali on TCM's on demand app. Svengali (John Barrymore) takes control of the mind of a beautiful young model (Marian Marsh) in Paris in the late 19th century after she has a fight with her lover Billee (Bramwell Fletcher) over her posing for artists in the nude. He molds her into the most beloved singing star of the day. Billee sees her five years later in concert and follows her performances. Svengali cancels shows in a vain attempt to retain his control over her, but she may still have feelings for Billee..and he knows he'll never really get her love.

Shadowy Gothic horror-romance benefits from Barrymore's magnetic performance as the hypnotist preying upon women who can feed him and become a vessel he can mold. Surprisingly atmospheric for an early talkie film; worth checking out if you love Barrymore or early horror.

Early Autumn Sunshine

I awoke to a phone call. Jessa wanted to know if I needed someone to pick up my bike. Not only did I appreciate the gesture, but I offered to make her pancakes for breakfast before we did it. I just needed an hour to read, write in my journal, make my bed, and get things organized.

I'd just put on Resistance as Jessa arrived. We continued with the episodes while I made us Chocolate Chip Pancakes for breakfast. "The Children From Tehar" are a duo with a 20,000 credit bounty on them. Kaz wants to find them in order to make the money to replace Tam's acceleration compensator, but it turns out that the children aren't runaways. They're refugees, the only survivors of a village in the Unknown Regions. Kaz has to figure out how to keep Captain Doza from figuring out where they are.

I didn't really pay much attentions to the episodes when I pulled out family photos to show her. She enjoyed seeing the photos of me when I was younger so much a while back, I showed her the photos in the other box. While there are a few photos of the Oaklyn side of the family, it's mostly my sisters and Keefe and my parents. Jessa didn't really get to see them in the 90's and early 2000's and seemed to enjoy them, especially my pictures of the many parties Rose and her buddies had in the late 90's-early 2000's.

She dropped me off at Dad and Jodie's around 12:30. I brought my laundry along with me, so I could pick up my bike and go straight to the laundromat from there. They were busy when I arrived; I barely got a washer. Worked on notes and ignored soap operas and talk shows as the crowds cleared out. Had no trouble getting a dryer.

Packed everything away, then made a grocery list and headed out. I didn't really need much, but I did want to pick up a few things. Found canola oil and broccoli on sale and a can of diced tomatoes and a container of pineapple chunks on the clearance shelves. Dug chicken legs and shrimp out of the meat coolers. Restocked milk, yogurt, brown sugar, and plastic sandwich bags.

Not happy with my schedule at all. While I have Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday off, I don't have anything near enough hours this week. I tried to tell the head manager that I needed more, but she said they'd been cut down this week, and I'd have to hope someone would call me in.

Cheered myself up at home with writing after I got everything put away and had yogurt and pineapple for lunch. Brett confronts Ira with her gun from the lighthouse, but Charles spills the beans that she used the last bullets to get Richard down. The oily producer proceeds to admit that he went after Brett because of her separation from Jack Klugman - he thought she was vulnerable. He calls jumpy Bill a coward (who is quick to remind him that he was in Korea), then leers at Fannie and Joyce. Joyce, who just got married, does not appreciate Ira leering at her and gives him a hard kick in the shin!

Broke for a quick leftovers dinner at quarter of 7. I wanted it to be quick because today was the last Final Friday Block Party on West Clinton. It was a beautiful day for it, sunny, breezy, warm, and dry. The sun was slowly sinking over the horizon as I strolled past families and teens on their way home down the street.

The Final Friday Block Party is Oaklyn's big food truck showcase on the block of West Clinton where the shops are. It's mainly a summer thing; today is the last one of the year. It was packed when I arrived. I could barely elbow my way through the families enjoying huge sandwiches from the food trucks and "edible cookie dough" from a booth. Kids ran around, sporting intricately painted faces, while their parents listened to loud music at the end of the block. Those food trucks are still too expensive for me. I ended up with tasty strawberry cheesecake ice cream from Phillies Yummies.

Ended the night with a pleasant stroll around the neighborhood. I don't often go for a walk at twilight. Pretty soon, it'll be too dark to go for walks at 7 unless it's Christmas and the house lights are on. I went all the way down Goff Avenue to watch the lights on the Ben Franklin Bridge come on and make a wish on the first star of the evening.

Dolls On a Hot Day

Started off a sunny morning with breakfast and more What's New, Scooby Doo? The Hex Girls of the movie Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost return in "The Vampire Strikes Back." They're doing a music video in a spooky castle in Transylvania, but a vampire keeps disrupting the shoot and scaring one of the girls. The gang catches the vampire...but it seems there's an identical blood-sucker who doesn't want the singers on his property.

After I ate, I pulled out the remaining box of Christmas photos. It took me over an hour, but I finally chose a picture of me bent over my little bright magenta Casio keyboard for an audience of toys and holiday books. I'm obviously focused on my playing - my tongue is out, and I don't even see the camera. I wish I could throw half that determination into everything I do today!

Continued with Scooby as I organized the photos. He's a "Homeward Hound" when he witnesses the six puppies of a champion golden retriever being stolen and is kidnapped along with them. While the gang tries to figure out who's behind the cat creature terrifying the dog show, Scooby evades the kidnappers and leads the pups back.

Headed out after the cartoon ended. Since I was just going to be in the neighborhood, I left the bike behind and went on foot. It thankfully wasn't as hot as last week, but it was insanely humid and hazy. That could be part of why it was so quiet. There wasn't a soul on Manor as I passed glowing gardens and rustling trees.

The Oaklyn Library wasn't really busy. It was just the librarians and me the entire 40 minutes or so I was there. I shelved and organized the adult DVDs and took a look around the kids' area. Dollar General wasn't any busier. I mainly needed sponges there. Also grabbed a chocolate cheesecake mix, a Bai coconut drink, and my favorite pecan roll to see if my food stamps had been refilled. (They were.)

When I got home, I had a quick lunch, then made the cheesecake....which was really more of a pudding pie. Added cocoa for more chocolate flavor. Did more Scooby while I worked. They head to a skateboarding championship in San Francisco, but "The San Fransycho" makes it more extreme than anyone planned when the ghost of an escaped Alcatraz convict terrorizes the show. The gang joins Fred's friend, real-life skater Ryan Speckler, to figure out what this criminal ghoul is after.

More real-life celebrities of the early 2000's show up in "Simple Plan and the Invisible Madman." Boy band Simple Plan is waylaid at a ghost town after an invisible person attacks their van and the Mystery Machine. The town is populated by some pretty strange characters, including an entrepreneur who want to put the town on the map and the obnoxious know-it-all Gibby Norton, who has a huge crush on Velma (to her general annoyance).

A "Large Dragon Is at Large" when a dragon starts terrorizing a Renaissance fair in Scotland and even kidnaps less-than-amused damsel Velma. The gang has to figure out how to rescue her, and what the former TV show star who plays Lancelot and keeps running to everyone's rescue has to do with it.

Changed the dolls into cooler clothes and bathing suits for mid-summer after the chocolate pie was in the fridge. Whitney, Molly, Samantha, and Jessa all get bathing suits. Molly's thick peach floral suit and Sam's navy jump suit and skirt with white polka-dot trim, black stockings, and white ruffled cap are AG suits for their time periods. Jessa gets the Luau Suit and purple jelly sandles from the modern AG collection. Whitney wears a purple popsickle print Our Generation suit with a ruffle skirt and white Swiss lace Springfield Collecition sandals.  I still haven't found a suit for Ariel. She gets a turquoise and orange tropical fish-print tank top and matching shorts that Lauren sent me with turquoise jelly shoes.

Felicity and Josefina come from eras where bathing wasn't considered lady-like. Felicity wears her purple striped Travel (and later "meet") Gown. Josefina gets her pretty floral-print beige Party Dress with the soft beige moccasins.

Cleaned the bathroom after I finished with the dolls. It wasn't that bad, but it did need to be done. The sink was probably the worst of it - it was pretty grimy. Went back to Scooby Doo while I worked. Scooby and the gang want to help a penguin get home in "Uncle Scooby and Antarctica," but they can't find his family in the ice. What they do find in the ice is a professor who went missing after he was attacked by a fish creature...but the professor and his assistant are more involved with this than the kids think.

It's "New Mexico, Old Monster" when the gang visits a Native American buddy of Shaggy's in order to enter Shaggy's sculpture of Scooby into a contest. A giant hawk seems determined to ruin Shaggy's chances at winning when he first steals the bust, then Daphne. The gang heads up the mesa to see what the bird really wants, dodging an annoyingly obsessed bird watcher on the way.

Did some writing around 4:30. Vader nearly chokes Ahsoka when she makes a couple of sarcastic comments that indicates that she knows more about the Empire than she'll admit. He lets her go, but he's not sure about whose side she's on...

Had leftovers for dinner while returning to Scooby. "It's All Greek to Scooby" is a similar story, only this time, the gang is in Greece, the monster is a centaur, and the fanatic is an aging professor who is obsessed with Greek mythology. Shaggy buys an amulet that may be the curse that unleashed the creature...and may be more important than it looks.

The gang is saying "Go West, Young Scoob" when they head to a Westworld-style wild west theme park. Gunslinging robots fight a heroic sheriff daily on the streets of the town, but the robots seem to have run amok. They join the eccentric creator and the robot sheriff to rustle up these evil-doers and find out who's behind the robots' misbehavior.

Finished the night with Lego Star Wars. It took me three frustrating tries, but I finally completed "Falcon Flight." It's hard to see the blue pieces against the black and gray space and asteroid background or find them hidden around the asteroids. I'm now half-done with the blue-piece challenges for Empire Strikes Back. Let's see how long it takes me to do the other three.

I heard thunder as I was playing. I had barely noticed it clouding over while I was writing. By the time I was on my last go-around with "Falcon Flight," it was windy and the rain was coming down in torrents. It's long gone, but I hope that'll bring down the humidity a bit.

Finishing the Photos

Started off a cloudy morning with early work. I spent most of the day alternating between doing carts and helping one of the managers to shelve two full carts of candy. Once another bagger came in, I stuck to the candy for most of the rest of the day. I just wish they didn't keep throwing me into a register every time they saw one person on the end of the line. It got a little steady during the noon rush hour; otherwise, it was pretty quiet. I ended up being a little late leaving when the manager wanted me to take back one of the carts of the leftover trash from the candy. Bought myself a pretzel to cheer myself up a bit and because I was a bit hungry from doing the carts earlier.

Went straight home after I finished my snack. Changed and went in the back room to retrieve the Christmas photo albums. I only have three small ones, not nearly as many as the regular photos, and one was literally falling apart. It took me less than an hour and a half to half-fill a shoe box with pictures, weeding out some repeats and photos that were too dark or blurry to tell what they were. At any rate, all of my photos are now in three boxes. Even the regular shoe box I used for the Christmas photos holds more and looks a lot better than those old photo albums! All but the one that fell apart will eventually be donated to Goodwill or the church thrift shop.

Watched more Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood as I organized. Learning about the great outdoors is the theme of this set. "Daniel Explores Nature" when his family goes to the park for a picnic. Katerina thinks it looks like so much fun, she joins in. They watch birds make their home in a next and get Daniel Sr. to put the nest back in the tree when it falls out. "Daniel's Nature Walk" has him joining O and X the Owl as they go for a stroll in the park. Even a shower can't deter them from their stroll. The boys love seeing a wiggly worm in the mud.

Katerina rejoins Daniel for day at the beach with his mother. They want to collect shells and find a starfish, but Mrs. Tiger warns them not to go too far, not to run, and not to get into the water without her. The kids can't always remember, but they're mostly pretty good at practicing "Safety at the Beach." It's "Neighborhood Clean Up Time" when a windstorm makes a mess of the playground. Everyone pitches in to help gather the debris...except for Katerina, who'd rather dance. Even she learns how important it is to pick up after ourselves when she falls into a pile of debris.

The final two stories revolve around Prince Tuesday's delight in playing with his brother and the little kids in the neighborhood. "Daniel Plays Ball" when Miss Elania makes up a game called Animal Ball that involves making animal sounds before you catch a ball. Dan just cannot catch it, until Prince Tuesday gives him some tips and encourages him to keep trying. He's less happy with Dan and his little brother Prince Wednesday when they play in "The Royal Sandbox" and use his crown to top one of their sand pies. He appreciates them saying "sorry," then asks them to clean up his crown to show that they mean it.

(Skipped "Fruit Picking Day" and "A Trip to the Enchanted Garden," both of which I've done before.)

And I definitely can relate to Dan's inability to catch that ball. I've never been good at catching balls, especially after one hit me hard in the face when I was in the Special Services School. I'll have to see if I can remember Prince Tuesday's suggestion to "give it a hug" when it comes near.

Moved to writing for a while after I cleaned up my mess from the photos. Han manages to get Boba of Gisbourne in the moat. Lando and Zeb bring over a couple of Merry Rebels to fish him out. That's when Han realizes that his three best friends in the world are missing. He, Yoda, and Zeb manage to strong-arm Lando into telling him where Leia, Luke, and Chewie went.

Had dinner at 6:30. Along with the last leftover chicken sausage, I made the most delicious warm salad of boiled broccoli and cauliflower and pasta over romaine lettuce, with home-made Caesar dressing and cheese. Made Ally's "Snappy" Ginger Snaps from my Beanie Baby handbook/cookbook for dessert.

Watched Sailor Moon Super S: The Movie while I ate. The Sailor Guardians are horrified to learn that strange beings have been kidnapping children all over the world. When Chibi-Usa becomes their next target, they spring into action. Turns out that they're dream fairies who have been ordered by a witch to bring her children to feed her Black Dream Hole in the hopes of swallowing the Earth! Sailor Moon teams up with a dream fairy to befriended Chibi-Usa to stop her and save her daughter.

Finished the night while the cookies cooled with more Angry Birds Star Wars. Returned to Dagobah for the final rounds of "Path of the Jedi." These were really hard. You could only use Luke, Han, Obi-Wan, or occasionally one of the pilot birds that split into threes. More often than not, it involved Han shooting or Luke aiming shots from a round droid just the right way to bring down objects that would make the whole frame collapse. At any rate, I did get the award, and Luke now has a longer and more powerful lightsaber.

Blasts From the Past

Kicked off the morning with breakfast and An American In Paris, the Oscar-winning Gene Kelly musical from 1951. I go into further detail on this romantic French tale at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

An American In Paris

The movie was almost done when Charlie called and said there were packages for me downstairs. That was a surprise. I hadn't ordered anything. Turned out they were from my mom. She sent me all my remaining childhood and school paraphernalia that she had at her house, including photos, my college degree (I have my high school degree - don't know how she ended up with the college one), and various awards and notices from high school. She even dug up the first poems I ever wrote, one entitled "Blue" that I believe I wrote around fourth or fifth grade, and one called "Snow" that I wrote in the Cape May County Middle School in 1991. The latter was even published in the school's newsletter. (And they were surprisingly mature for short poems I wrote when I was between 10 and 12.)

Mom sent all my childhood photos in a pretty black-and-cream box with fuzzy flower details. Not only were there pictures of me going back to when I was born, but she tossed in a couple of photos of Keefe, my sisters, her and Dad-Bill, and even one of a too-cute toddler Jessa. I was inspired by this to finally put all my photos together into boxes and get them out of aging, falling-apart photo books.

I called her to thank her for the boxes. She said she's been going through her house, trying to clear out things that she thought we'd want while she was still around. She spoke highly of all the awards Keefe, Rose, and I won for sports, music, and academics in high school (Anny...did her own thing) and praised the wonderful children she raised...and the wonderful adults we've become.

Went back to Buck Rogers while I worked on the photos. "The Satyr" reminds me a bit of another pioneers-in-unusual-places TV episode from the early 80's, "The Lady and the Tiger" from Tales of the Gold Monkey. Rather than being menaced by a tiger, the pioneer woman and her son whom Buck discovers on a mostly-uninhabited planet are under attack by a strange group of satyrs, men with horns and legs like goats. One seems especially interested in the mother and her child. Buck doesn't understand why, until he's bitten by a Satyr and starts turning into one himself.

Finally got hungry enough for lunch and put the photos aside around 1:30. Had a slice of cheese pizza, a slice of mushroom, and a can of Pepsi Cherry Vanilla at Phillies Phatties down the street. There were a couple of guys eating at tables and watching the NFL Live on ESPN, but it was mostly pretty quiet.

Next stop was the Haddon Township Library. They were saving all the DVDs but the regular titles to be returned later in the week, which didn't leave me with much to do. I put away the regular titles, then picked up a couple of movies and two more novels. I'm not up to anything really heavy this week. With all the trouble I've had lately, the British sci-fi movie Attack the Block is about as dark as I'm in the mood to get. I also decided for another blast from my past with Top Gun, and found more Daniel Tiger and the World War 1-set Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero in the children's section. Continued with the next Bryant and May title (after White Corridor, which I've already read), The Victoria Vanishes. Having had luck with one pair of quirky British detectives, I thought I'd go even stranger with one of the two Thursday Next novels the library has, One of Our Thursdays Is Missing.

Made two quick stops on the way home. AC Moore did have boxes for photos (and shoes), but they were all up high. I was glad I found a step ladder sitting around so I could reach one. They didn't have any boxes or anything for photos at Target. (And I forgot the other reason I was there, which was for shampoo.)

Returned to the photos after I got in. I decided I really wanted to get at least the regular photos finished. (The Christmas pictures will require at least one box to themselves and will be done tomorrow after work.) There were so many wonderful memories in those pictures! My favorite of the many with Keefe was an adorable shot of him beaming while looking over a coffee table with his stuffed Pikachu. (I'm pretty sure I'm the one who bought that Pikachu for him from the KayBee toy store in the Hamilton Mall.) Found photos of the last wedding I attended before Dana and Jesse's last year, the union of two of our neighbors (whose daughters I frequently babysat and were friends of Keefe's) at the fire hall in North Cape May in I believe the late 90's.

It was especially nice to see the childhood pictures again. There were a lot of Mom and a heavily bearded Bruce and tiny little me in their original home in Roseman's Boatyard in Cape May in the early 80's. Mom, Rose, and I spent my toddler years at her mother's home on the northern end of Cape Island. There's a couple of pictures of the great Alice In Wonderland costume Mom made for me when I was about 4.

She even sent my old school pictures and elementary class photos. I can't believe how early 90's I dressed in the Special Services Middle School and my freshman year of high school, in chunky floral pantsuits and tunics and long, dangling earrings that had to hurt my ears. (Not because they were heavy, but because my ears are sensitive and don't like cheap metal backs.)

The elementary class photos are also pretty interesting. Having started kindergarten in 1984, the outfits on the kids ran the gamut from little girls in frilly pink and flowered dresses with drop waists and boys in ties and tight slacks, to girls in skinny ties, vests, frizzy hair, and suspenders and boys in thick primary-colored sweaters, heavy jeans, and high tops by the time of fifth grade in 1989. (And some of the boys made some pretty goofy faces in the late 80's, too.)

Finished out Buck Rogers while I worked on the photos, and later as I ate leftovers for dinner. It's Snow Wilma and the Seven Generals when the Searcher come across seven little men on a bomb-running mission in "Shgoratchx!" The little fellows prove to be more of a harm than a help, using their telekinetic powers to get into everything on the ship and constantly annoying Wilma, who looks like no other woman they've ever seen. They accidentally damage the brain of obnoxious main brain robot Crichton...which may prove more damaging than any of their pranks when the ship heads straight for a star, and only Crichton's abilities can steer them clear of it.

"The Hand of Goral" gets even stranger. Buck, Hawk, and Wilma pick up a distressed pilot, but they return to a Searcher that's much-changed from the one they knew. The layout is different, and almost everyone is acting the opposite of their usual selves. Crichton is even friendly towards them! They have to figure out what's going on...and keep that seemingly innocent pilot from doing any real damage.

Buck himself is under fire in "Testimony of a Traitor" when an Earth general accuses him of working with the people who brought about the nuclear holocaust that destroyed the planet. Buck has no memories of any of this. Dr. Goodfellow uses a machine to uncover his repressed memories...and then, Wilma and Hawk race him to Mount Rushmore to see if they can prompt anything else.

It's the Searcher that's in trouble in the final episode, "The Dorian Secret." A race of masked beings known as the Dorians demand that Buck hand over a young woman of their own race hiding among a group of passengers who has been accused of murder. While Buck tries to convince both the crew and the Dorians that the woman is innocent, the Dorians' altering of the temperature in the ship cause the passengers to riot and decide to turn the woman in themselves.

(Disc 4 ends with the original two-part TV versions of the pilot episode. I already did that one once and wasn't really eager to do it again.)

And...that's it. The show was evidently canned mid-season. To be honest, I sort of agree with Buck himself, Gil Geraud, about the series' all-over-the-place tone. The second season in particular could veer from deadly serious ("Mark of the Saurian," "Testimony of a Traitor") to ridiculously over-the-top ("Shgoratchx!", "The Golden Man") in the space of an episode or two. I also suspect that neither season used much of Buck's original comics adventures besides Wilma, Kane, and Ardala (and the latter two vanished after the retool). Both seasons felt more late 70's/early 80's disco than 30's sci-fi, with everyone running around in short skirts and tight pants and tons of cleavage seen on both genders.

That said, I really enjoyed the series as a whole. It may be goofy, but there's a lot that does work, from some nice performances to some of the more interesting stories, like the first season's "A Dream of Jennifer" and "Mark of the Saurian" from the second season. Mel Blanc was a hilarious Twiki (glad they brought him back for the latter half of season 2), and Gray and Geraud made a fetching pair. I also enjoyed some of the more fun characters in the second season; genial Dr. Goodfellow and stuffy Crichton have a lot more personality than Dr. Huer and Dr. Theopolis.

I'm actually a bit surprised no one has tried to reboot this for a modern audience. It might actually be pretty cool to see what they could do with this story now, especially with the current drive to adapt anything that comes from a comic book. At any rate, if you have fond memories of this show like I do or are a fan of the campier sci-fi shows of the late 70's and early 80's, you'll have as much fun visiting this literal blast from the past as I have.

Remembering My Dad

I was up way too late last night and overslept. I barely had time to get dressed, eat breakfast, and round up the cookies for Anny and her crew before I heard from Dad and Jodie. I wanted to wear my black skirt, but I had no good shoes to go with them. I settled for black jeans, my dark teal long-sleeved t-shirt, and sneakers (and being warm).

It was cloudy, windy, humid, and way too warm, probably in the mid-70's, when Dad and Jodie picked me up around 10:30. Thankfully, other than a few sprinkles, the rain held off. We took the long away across the Pine Barrens, past Tuckahoe and Maurice River, onto the Garden State Parkway past Cape May Court House and Rio Grande. At least the foliage has finally started turning colors here. Some of the trees were really incredible shades of orange, rust, golden yellow, and lime green.

They dropped me off at Mom's house around noon. (Dad and Jodie spent the afternoon at the home of their friends Brian and Diane, who live in West Cape May.) Rose and her family and my brother Keefe and his girlfriend were already there, watching Trolls while Rose did Finley's hair. Keefe had come up from Norfolk, Virginia, where he currently lives. Mom didn't get in until later with cold-cuts to make wraps and sandwiches. I had a turkey-provolone wrap with spinach and pickles as Anny arrived not long after with her sons Skylar and Collyn, daughter Lilah, and boyfriend Jay.

One surprise was my Aunt Terri and her son Adam, up from the Smoky Mountains in Virginia. I haven't seen them since the late 90's, when Adam used to visit Anny regularly. (He and Anny are close in age and are good friends.) Aunt Terri is Mom's younger sister. We went to Thanksgiving at their house a couple of times in the 80's, and Rose stayed with her for a while in 2001-2002 when she was finishing school at American University in Washington DC. Aunt Terri knows I love to bake. She sent me the Betty Crocker Cooky Book that I get my Merry Christmas Molasses Cut-Outs and Cherry Coconut Bars recipes from for Christmas around 2000. I spent all of that Christmas Day looking over that book.

The memorial service was at Evoy Funeral Home on Breakwater Road in North Cape May, just five minutes from Mom's house in Erma. It's a beautiful old building with a pond and trees in front. I have fond memories of riding past it on my way to the Villas Library or to visit my friend Bridget in the 90's and early 2000's. I'd stop to get a Clearly Canadian at the Eckards across the street (now a Rite Aid) and wonder if it was just as grand inside.

It is. There was a nice, if musty, foyer with a fireplace when we entered. The brown and gold main room was filled with people. The line of people Mom, Keefe, and Rose greeted stretched all the way around the room and into the foyer. I saw Keefe's old friend Austin Carson and his mom Diane. Mrs. Carson was my teacher at Lower Cape May Regional High School in the 90's, and she became friends with Mom after Austin and Keefe got to be pals in pre-school. In fact, Austin helped Keefe with the flowers and decorations.

Grandma Ann, Dad's mom, is my last living grandparent. She's still very much alive and kicking at 91. (And she tells stories that are almost as good as her son's were.) Aunt Mary, Dad's vivacious younger sister who lives in Manhattan, was with her. They were joined by Dominique, the daughter of Dad's older brother Dennis, and her husband. Dennis and his family lived here briefly around 1990. I remember babysitting Dominique and how crazy she was about Barney the Dinosaur. I had to see a lot more of the videos than I would have preferred the winter I looked after her.

Along with several of Mom and Dad's current neighbors in Erma, I saw some of my sisters' long-time buddies. Sheila came up from Virginia; Colleen came from Harrisburg. They were Rose's best friends in high school, and they keep in touch with her via Facebook and e-mail. (And Colleen takes the train down from Harrisburg from time to time.) Joey is a teacher in Middle Township, representing him and his twin brother Jason, who just started a new job and couldn't get out of work. Anny's old friends Jenny and Rachel apparently live a few hours away, but keep in touch with Anny on Facebook and came down as soon as they heard. Dad and Mom were like parents to all of them.

The flowers were absolutely gorgeous, several of them sent by old friends of Dad's. One couple ordered a beautiful four-foot anchor made from white roses from a local florist. Another gave Mom a really lovely autumn bouquet for her living room.

It was nearly quarter of 3 by the time everyone sat down. Since it was so late, the pastor kept his speech brief. He quoted from the funeral home's obituary for Dad, talking about how Dad was a beloved "Poppy" to his grandchildren, and how he could relate because he had grandkids of his own. He spoke of Dad's 40 years as a fisherman, and how his loved ones always looked forward to when he came home.

And that's when I finally started crying...because it's true. We did look forward to Dad coming home from a fishing trip. He'd call from whatever boat he was working on, and we'd all gather around the phone, hoping to talk to him. And when he came home, in his oversized canvas work gear, he'd give us all hugs and kisses before his wife reminded him that he smelled like fish and that he needed to get in the shower.

I closed my eyes and just let the tears fall. Daddy is never going to come home again. I'll never get that fishy hug, or hear him tease Mom and call her "darlink." He'll never take me for a ride around Cape May on his motorcycle, never hug his grandchildren, or go fishing with Keefe or put Anny on his shoulders or play catch with Rose. Mom held my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, but I couldn't open my eyes. I couldn't face her, or anyone.

Daddy, I know you're in a better place, but...I miss you. And I always will.

I'd recovered by the time the pastor finished. Rose, Anny, Keefe, and I looked over the three boards filled with old photos of Dad Keefe and Mom dug out of our family collections. There were so many wonderful memories! I saw one of him and me from probably the early-mid 90's, from the giant pink-framed glasses I'm wearing. There was one of him holding Anny as a tiny infant, with a 6-year-old Rose perched on the arm of his favorite chair, I think from right after we moved to the house on Maryland Avenue in Cape May. There were a couple of him in his younger years in the 70's, complete with tube socks and a giant Afro.

Poor Anny was still crying. Rose hugged her...and I hugged them as hard as I could. Keefe looked over, said "what the hell," and threw his arms around the three of us. We stood there for a few minutes, laughing and crying and holding each other. It felt so good.

Jodie and Dad picked me up around 3:30. Almost everyone else was either going home, or back to Mom's house, including Mom and my sisters. Keefe was the only one who was moving on to the Red Brick Ale House, formerly the Bayshore Inn, Dad's favorite watering hole after we moved to North Cape May in the 90's. I think the after-party was mostly for Dad's old fishing cronies.

They dropped me off at my place around quarter after 5. I wasn't up for much more than scrambled eggs with cheese and mushrooms and Cranberry Flummery for dinner. After I ate, I pulled out my own collection of photos, looking for non-holiday pictures of Dad. Actually, along with finding pictures of Dad, I finally dug up some pictures I thought were lost, including the photo of me in my Velma costume from Halloween 2010.

I went for a walk in Wildwood Crest one day when I was bored around 2003-2004, during my time in Wildwood. Since I had extra pictures on my camera and this was the height of the hotel demolition spree there, I took photos of some of the vintage 50's-60's hotels before they were gone. Of the six or so hotels I photographed, two of them, the Three Coins and the Tahiti, were eventually victims of the wrecking ball. (I swear I took more photos, but I may have given some to Dad-Bruce, who used to work as a lifeguard in Wildwood during it's 60's-70's heyday.)

Watched episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood while I looked over the books. The show's premise was simply. Kindly Fred Rogers introduces kids to his home, his fish, and the unique residents of his neighborhood (inspired by his real-life neighborhood in Pittsburgh). My favorite of the real-life residents was the storyteller, who invented a sweet tale of a bubble that entrapped a king who thought it was bad. No one could get him out...except his daughter, who treated the bubble like the toy it was.

The second half of the show focused on the Land of Make-Believe, a world where puppets and humans interacted. This is where the piecemeal episode selection became a problem. The Land of Make Believe story-line ran throughout the week. Characters would refer to events in episodes that weren't included on the set. It was nice to see all the characters again, though, especially my old favorite Henrietta Pussycat. My favorite episodes had King Friday convince Lady Elaine to return to the Land of Make Believe with her revolving museum after he lifted a rule that banned play, and the rather sweet segment that had Lady Aberlin helping Daniel Tiger to test his new string walkie-talkie, then staying with him when it started to rain.

Finished out the night after a shower with Ant-Man and the Wasp. Why wasn't Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) in Avengers: Infinity War? He was under house arrest after the events of Captain America: Civil War. With only days left until he's released, he receives a message from Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfiffer), Hope's (Evangeline Lilly) mother, the original Wasp who is now trapped in the quantum realm. He passes the message onto Hope and her father Hank Pym (Michael Douglass). Despite not being happy with Scott over the Civil War incidents, they agree to get him out and leave a decoy so the FBI won't know. Hank manages to create a tunnel into the realm, but they need a special part to make it work. Unfortunately, the black market dealer they buy it from double-crosses them when he realizes how much money he could make off the suits.

Things get even worse when a young woman with unstable molecules (Hannah John-Kamen) appears to go right through them, shrinking Hank's lab to the size of a cube and taking off with it. She's the daughter of  one of Hank's former partners, who killed himself and his wife and damaged his daughter's molecular structure with one of his experiments. Now they have to get the lab back before the tunnel to Janet closes, all while making sure the FBI doesn't know Scott's out of the house.

While the whole "quantum tunnel" thing was a little strange, this was mostly just as much fun as the first movie. Lilly and Rudd in particular were having a great time as the couple who are still figuring out how to work all this shrinking and growing. (And Michael Pena was just as much fun this time around as Scott's goofy buddy Luis.) If you need a few laughs in your superhero films after the darkness of Justice League and Infinity War, you'll want to give this one a look.

(And incidentally, we did get lucky in one way. It didn't start really raining hard here until around 7, by which time I was already watching Mr. Rogers and long at home.)

Ho-Ho-Ho Holiday Fun

It was gloomy, raining, and way too warm when I got up this morning. I started my Christmas Eve by finishing this year's reading of A Christmas Carol. Since the last chapter of Christmas Carol is pretty short, I tossed in two American Girl stories that showed how difficult the holidays were in the mid-20th century.

Kit's Surprise takes us to Cincinatti in 1932. Kit Kittredge is not having the most fun Christmas. Her father is out of work, she just had an argument with her best friend Ruthie about her picking up the tab for their annual post-Christmas outing, and she's stuck working for nickels for her grouchy Uncle Hendrick. But when she lets her imagination roam and creates a special gift for Ruthie, she discovers just how powerful fantasy can be.

Molly McEntyre's holidays aren't going much better in Molly's Surprise, set in 1944 during the tail end of World War II. Her dad is overseas, and she's missing him more than ever. Her older sister Jill keeps telling her this Christmas is going to be "realistic," owing to the war. Molly wants the same kind of wonderful surprises her dad used to bring to the holidays. She and Jill learn that everyone in the McEntyre family is good at making surprises...and that Christmas miracles can come in the most unusual ways.

I got up early enough to enjoy some movies and cartoons during breakfast and before I went to work. Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas is an anthology of three festive tales featuring the Disney gang. My favorite is "Donald Duck: Stuck on Christmas." Huey, Dewey, and Louie wish it was Christmas everyday...and then regret it when they get stuck constantly repeating Christmas Day. After one day goes especially bad for their uncle, they finally discover the importance of family. Goofy's son Max has questions about the existence of Santa in "A Max and Goofy Christmas." Goofy becomes determined to show Max that Santa - and Christmas spirit - is real. Mickey and Minnie do their version of one of the most famous Christmas short stories in "Minnie and Mickey's Gift of the Magi." The two mice give up the things that mean the most of them to buy gifts for each other.

As the showers continued off and on, I decided to combat the gloom with some wonderful memories. I went in the back room and pulled out my Christmas photo books. I have pictures going back as far as my middle high school years, when Keefe was about 3. (One photo shows him as a toddler with a pacifier.) There were photos of Christmas Day parties with Rose's pals, of Anny getting that Lite Brite she wanted when she was sixteen (I never saw her happier), of Mom and Dad usually looking very groggy at 6 AM on a morning when everyone was otherwise off from everything.

Switched to Happy Days' first holiday episode as I got ready for work. "Guess Who's Coming to Christmas?" Fonzie, who keeps claiming he has a party to go to on Christmas Eve. Richie thinks otherwise. He convinces Fonzie to join his family's Christmas Eve celebration, despite Mr. Cunningham's continued insistence that the night be fore family only.

It was raining a little bit when I went to work, but not heavily. I was only slightly damp when I arrived. I'm glad I wasn't late this time. Needless to say, we were crazy for most of the morning and early afternoon, especially in the self-checkout lane. Jodie came through my line not long before my break. Yes, she and Dad were having their annual Christmas Eve party, and yes, I was invited. I'd rest at home, then go there. Work did slow down a bit after about 2:30 as more people started to head to their Christmas Eve events and get-togethers. I was fueled by sugar. They had lots of snacks in the back room - madelines, mini-brownies, mini-cupcakes, pastries, pumpkin and apple pie, those yummy soft sandwich cookies I love, and someone brought in a cookie tray.

When I got home, I ran Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too while changing and getting my gifts to give tonight together. When Pooh forgets to put what he wants on the Hundred Acre Woods' crew's letter to Santa, they retrieve it...but find they can't send it again. Pooh first tries to play Santa for his friends, then becomes determined to deliver the letter himself.

I found a little gift on one of the plastic chairs on my porch when I got in. My landlords Miss Willa and Richard gave me a very nice ceramic cup with a beautiful hand-painted Christmas tree, a mini container of Red Velvet Cake anti-bacterial hand gel, and a bag of home-made peppermint bark.

Headed to Dad's around 5. Although it was just Dad, Rose, Craig, Jodie, and Khai when I arrived, other people gradually turned up throughout the night. There was plenty of food along with my cupcakes and pumpkin mousse pie. Rose contributed a cookie tray, including tasty Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies and her heavenly Cherry-White Chocolate Cookies. There were baked ziti (I ate so much of that), Caesar salad, hot sausage, meatballs, very moist and flavorful turkey, a ham, macaroni salad, and rolls. Appetizers included shrimp, brie with blueberry sauce, and a pepperoni and cheese tray.

Khai and the neighborhood kids had a ball with the old-fashioned train set Dad had set up around the tree in the living room. They loved watching it go around and around, sometimes dropping plastic "cargo" pieces into the beds. The parents and I enjoyed Nickelodeon's Ho-Ho Holiday Special, which apparently Khai adores to the point where he's watched it five times. Goofy, punny random skits and musical numbers are whittled between a funny story that has some of Nickelodeon's current stars attending a big Christmas party at a huge house...and then being trapped there by a mystery person who doesn't want them to leave this party.

Considering I know nothing about Nick's current live-action offerings, I got a big kick out of it. No wonder Khai likes it. The kids are funny, the story is hilarious, and some of the skits are really cute. Check out the game show spoof and the number with the rapping "grandmothers."

The adults switched to Snoopy Come Home on Demand after they couldn't find any holiday specials on the networks. (It was 6:30. Most of the networks were still running news shows; most cable channels were in re-runs or showing holiday movies for adults.) I haven't seen the second Peanuts movie in a long time, and evidently a lot of the adults hadn't, either, from the delighted exclamation of fond memories of watching this on VHS. Charlie Brown is shocked when Snoopy up and leaves to visit his former owner in the hospital. This leads to a problem when Snoopy is torn between his two owners...but the strict no dogs rules that drive Snoopy crazy throughout the movie ends up working to his advantage...

Headed out around 7:30. It was a little foggy, but still very warm, probably in the lower-70's, upper 60's. I rode around Oaklyn, near Dad's house and the Oaklyn Library, looking at lights. I love all the colorful displays. The rainbow ones are my favorites, but those new sparkling floodlights are really pretty, too.

I went online in the living room as soon as I got in. I finished out The Monkees' holiday episode as I got organized. The groovy 60's rockers did their only Christmas show in the second season, just as the show was starting to get a little stranger. The boys think they're going to be play for a rich woman's party, but they end up babysitting her stuck-up nephew (played by The Munsters' Butch Patrick). They do everything they can to show the kid some Christmas spirit, but he's not impressed...until Mike Nesmith figures out what he really wants.

Did The Bishop's Wife next. David Niven plays the bishop, who desperately wants funds to build an elaborate new cathedral. He's neglecting his old parish and selling out to the rich, crotchety old woman (Gladys Cooper) who wants the cathedral to be a monument to her late husband. He's also neglecting his beautiful wife Julia (Loretta Young), their daughter Debbie, and their friends, including the eccentric Professor (Monty Wooley). His call for divine intervention brings in Dudley (Cary Grant), an impossibly handsome and suave guardian angel. He's supposed to be helping the bishop figure out what he wants...but what he's really doing is falling for Julia.

One of the three big Christmas movies released in 1946-1947, it wasn't successful at the time despite the wonderful cast. Too bad - this is a very sweet movie, with fine performances from the lead and a lovely final speech involving an empty stocking.

Remember WENN's Christmas episode also came out during its second season. In the show's only hour-long episode "Christmas In the Airwaves", the staff of radio station WENN is looking forward to a fun and festive Christmas 1940. Their plans are sent off the rails when the station's grieving owner and her nasty, miserly financier arrive. Their owner lost her husband the Christmas before, and she doesn't want to be reminded of anything about the holiday...including programming at WENN. The financier just wants the station to shut down. The cast tries to figure out how to get their holiday shows around the miserly accountant and prove to their owner that life and holidays go on.

I'm finishing the night with A Charlie Brown Christmas and It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown. I'll do a few more animated shorts after this, then end my Christmas Eve with music and chatting with Lauren.

From all of us to all of you, I hope you have the merriest of Christmases and the very happiest of holiday seasons!

Winter Was Too Warm

Started a cloudy, humid morning with breakfast and a couple of short holiday specials. The First Christmas Snow is an unusual religion-based Rankin-Bass special from the mid-70's. Angela Landsbury is the narrator of this melodramatic tale of a shepherd boy who is blinded in a lightning storm, then taken in by a group of nuns and a priest (Cyril Ritchard). The little boy dreams of the snow one of the nuns has told him about, but he's more worried that the well-meaning priest may send him to an orphanage.

Moved on to Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas Special as I prepare to run errands. Manny gets upset when Sid the Sloth breaks his treasured Christmas rock and tells him he's on the naughty list. He then says to his daughter Peaches that there's no Santa at all. Determined to prove otherwise, Peaches and the comic possum critters Crash and Eddie head to the North Pole to find the real Santa.

Headed out to run errands around quarter after 11. My first stop of the day was the Oaklyn Post Office. It took me longer to get there than it did in line. For some reason, the city of Oaklyn had to pick the Christmas season to do road work in front of the post office. Thankfully, once I got in, the line was short, and I had no problems sending my out-of-state packages to Linda and James Young and Lauren Miller and her parents.

Went down to CVS next. Even as I did, the clouds were breaking apart, and a sunny, too-warm-for-December day was emerging, to my surprise. It was supposed to rain all day! CVS wasn't overly busy. It was suddenly too nice for shopping. I just bought a 9 volt battery for my smoke alarm and Dawn dishwashing detergent on sale.

The Oaklyn Library wasn't any busier. In fact, it was just me and two librarians. I actually got to organizing the kids' books for the first time in weeks. I also got to give a hug to the older librarian, who is retiring after tomorrow. I'll miss her. She was always so sweet.

I needed skim milk and it was past noon. Time for lunch. I went to WaWa - to my delight, their quart of skim milk dropped from $1.65 to $1.45. Picked up a Gobbler small hoagie and a Mint Cream Smoothie for lunch. It was so nice and sunny by 12:30, I ate them at the picnic benches on West Clinton, outside of Studio LuLoo and Phillies Phatties. The smoothie was very green and very, very minty; the Gobbler was a total mess (other than it seems to be using real turkey slices rather than deli meat now).

Went home...then went right back out again. I had laundry to do. The sun had vanished again by this time, and it was getting a wee bit colder. Maybe that's why the laundromat was so quiet. It was dead the entire time I was there. I worked on story notes and listened to cooking/talk shows on ABC in peace. It's probably just as well my load took less than an hour anyway.

After I got in and put everything away, I went right into writing. Mr. Eldridge and the kids let two of the toy soldiers carry Pruitt off. He vows to get revenge on them, especially Scott. Scott does get a smitten but not quite convinced Betty to go with him to the Christmas Festival the next day.

Mr. Eldridge agrees to let them stay with him, Betty, and Scott in the Shoe that's owned by Betty's mother, the Widow Gertie Blue. While Scott plays with Alan and the Widow's other children, Lisa asks Betty about her relationship with Scott. She says she likes him...she may even love him...but she's not sure she can trust him. He may be charming and handsome and smart and makes her melt, but he's also a former criminal who's been known to tell more than a few fibs.

Around 5:30, I went into taking this year's Christmas portraits of the American Girl dolls and various decorations. I had trouble uploading them to Photobucket. I'll mess around more with them tomorrow and see if I can fix them. I also discovered that somewhere around here, it had finally started raining. I went outside to take a shot of Molly, but the porch was wet, and it was showering.

I finally made simple buttermilk pancakes for dinner, along with broccoli and a slice of meatloaf. Ran White Christmas throughout the evening. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye headline this smash hit 1954 musical. Two popular performers who are now producing a Broadway show falls in love with a sister act (Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen) and follow them to Vermont. They encounter their old army general, whose ski resort is suffering from a lack of cold weather. Musical numbers and misunderstandings follow as the men pursue the ladies and bring up their show to help the general regain his confidence. Slick and fun until the middle, which sags terribly thanks to the contrived romantic comedy cliches. Look for Bing singing the title number in the touching opening sequence set during World War II.

Finished a busy day with a nice, quiet bath. I read American Girl holiday stories while listening to one of my classical-based True Value Happy Holidays CDs. Kirsten's Surprise is her plan to kick off her pioneer family's holidays with St. Lucia Day, a favorite holiday in Sweden. She needs her father to get their trunks from the near-by town for her plan to work. When they're stranded in a blizzard, Kirsten discovers just how strong she can be.

Josefina's Surprise also revolves around popular regional traditions. Josefina isn't sure if she's looking forward to traditional New Mexican holiday events like Las Posadas. Her mother died the year before, and their Christmas wasn't much fun. When they discover that the altar cloth their mother embroidered was damaged in a flood, Josefina and her sisters learn how they can keep her memory alive.

Addy's Surprise takes us almost literally home, to Philadelphia in 1864. Addy dreams of buying her mother something nice for Christmas. She almost has enough money when her volunteer work helping newly freed slaves arriving from the south reminds her that freedom has a cost. Her Christmas turns out to be full of happy surprises...including the arrival of a member of her family.

(Oh, and the rain ended when I was in the bath. I don't think it's going now. It's supposed to knock down the temperatures - it'll be in the 40's by the weekend.)

As Time and Radio Stations Go By

I slept so late today, it was noon before I had breakfast! After I ate quick, I did a little bit of writing...and a lot of flipping through photos. A former cameraman on Remember WENN took candid photos of the cast and staff during the show's run. Some of them are really gorgeous! They've all been giving me wonderful fanfic ideas.

(Here's the link to the photos - hope you have some time to check them all out! There's over a hundred.)

Manged to get a little bit of writing in there before work. Mackie and Betty see Eugenia and Mr. Foley following Maple to the stable behind the Buttery Inn. They take cloaks and follow them, hoping to find out what's going on and what Maple's hiding.

Work was fairly quiet when I came in, but it picked up considerably during rush hour. There were a lot of WIC checks - checks that allow low-income families with small children and infants to purchase some food and baby formula - today, and a lot of problems with WIC checks. Acme was just bought by Safeway earlier this year and is in the process of switching to Safeway's generic brands. Not all of the new brands are in the computer yet. In other cases, the wrong items are in the computer and are working when they shouldn't. I got fussed at for allowing cans of vegetables that were too small to be rung up, even though they worked. I just wanted to get the women out of there by that point. Thankfully, my relief was right on time.

When I got home, I had leftover soup while finishing the WENN episode I started this afternoon. Quite a few of the shots in the Facebook photo collection were from the classic third season Casablanca spoof "From the Pen of Gertrude Reece." The station's receptionist has written a radio play with a plotline familiar to anyone who's even remotely a classic movie fan. Scott has the Rick role of the former soldier of fortune who doesn't care about anyone...until one woman (Betty) comes back into his life in his bar that's a gathering of many refugees from Europe and Africa. Mackie is the sardonic French major. Maple and Eugenia are musicians; C.J the technician is the bartender. Mr. Eldridge and Jeff are waiters. One of the sponsors give Scott "Letters of Transmit" that could get him out of North Africa. He'd love for Betty to go with him, but she won't leave without her war hero lover (Victor).

Gertie finally reveals that, like the writers of the real Casablanca, she's had a hard time coming up with an ending for her story. She, Betty and Hilary toss around a few ideas, but Betty doesn't like any of them. She finally types the name of the man she thinks the heroine ought to end up with...but then decides Gertie should come up with her own ending.