Of Belles and Muppets

Began the morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. Doctor Anna and Music Man Stan are "Firefighters at School" when they come to show the kids what they do. The kids are surprised to see a doctor and a music store owner volunteering, but they remind them that you can be more than one thing. "Daniel's Doll" is a baby doll his Grandpere made him. He wants to play parents, but his friends want to play other games. He finally convinces them that they can play many different roles.

Worked on writing for a while after breakfast. Brett holds Goodson at bay with a sharp knife she hid on her person as Bill Cullen lets Gene in. He demands Goodson takes them to wherever he's holding his crew and Jack, but Goodson has his own ace up his sleeve...

Broke for lunch at 11. Watched Muppet Babies as I made a quick smoothie. Poor Sweetums is upset when he squishes the yellow tomato Nanny wanted to use for their snack. He just can't control his great strength. Gonzo recalls "The Legend of El Tomahto," a golden tomato in a temple guarded by booby traps. Sweetums is just too big for his own good...until he realizes his great strength can be a major asset. Gonzo wants to play "Interplanetary Kickle Ball" on Planet Gonzo, but he has no partner. Kermit joins him. He plays so badly at first, Gonzo ends up doing everything himself...until he realizes he hurt his friend's feelings, and that the important thing is having a good time with him.

Headed to work shortly after the cartoon ended. This is the only day I was listed for cashiering this week. We weren't bad early in the afternoon. It got crazier the closer we got to rush hour, and we didn't have nearly enough help. At least two customers got upset when they were confused over a Nabisco cookie sale, and they wouldn't listen when I tried to explain it. At least everyone else was in a good mood, including the very sweet young woman who was my last customer of the night.

Went straight into my own grocery shopping after work. I mainly needed fruit and vegetables. Grabbed onions, mushrooms, grapefruit on sale, bananas, and spinach. Treated myself to peppermint white chocolate-covered cookies out of a cart filled with Christmas clearance bakery items. Decorator's sugar is buy two, get one. I ran out of green sugar making the Molasses Roll-Outs last month, and I was already out of blue. Thought I'd try white pearls, too. Had an online rewards coupon for free eggs. Restocked milk, cereal, brown sugar, mandarin oranges, oatmeal, and yogurt.

Not real happy with my schedule next week. In good news, more hours, Monday and Friday off. I just wish all my days weren't 7 and 8-hour shifts. That's a long time to push carts. I'm going to be absolutely dead tired after next Saturday.

After the Uber driver dropped me off, I put everything away while watching Match Game PM. Excited college students in the audience whose football team just won a game made this one of the noisier episodes. Gary Crosby, Fred Grandy, and former beauty queen Marjorie Wallace join Fannie Flagg and the regulars for jokes about what you use tenderizer on, while Brett helps a contestant with "Speedy ___."

Moved on to Sale of the Century by the time I was eating leftovers for dinner. No one really did that well early-on. The guy kept buying Instant Bargains; the ladies kept winning Fame Games. (I can't believe they all missed the Fame Game about George Lucas.) In the end, the champ bought the final Instant Bargain, breezed through the Speed Round, and won a shopping spree on the Match the Prizes board.

Finished the night on Kanopy, one of the two streaming sites the Camden County Library system is connected to. I found a recording of the one-woman play Belle of Amherst there. This is the show Charles Nelson Reilly took that extended hiatus from Match Game in late '74 and early '75 to direct. His good friend Julie Harris won a Tony as isolated poet Emily Dickenson, who spent almost her entire life with her parents and sister. She's absolutely splendid, conveying so much emotion or different characters with just a small change of her voice and face. Apparently, this was filmed for PBS when it was on Broadway in 1976, so it's not the flashiest show in town, but if you love Harris or Dickenson, or just want to see a riveting no-frills play, you'll want to look around for this. 

Went from plays to short stories for Bernice Bobs Her Hair, also made for PBS in 1976. Bernice (Shelly Duvall) is a shy girl from a small Wisconsin town whose cousin Marjorie (Veronica Cartwright) finds to be dull company. She teaches Bernice how to flirt with boys and dance all the latest steps. This works too well, and Bernice becomes very popular among the young men in the town, especially after she claims she'll bob her long hair. Marjorie, threatened by Bernice's sudden popularity, tricks her into actually doing it...but Bernice has her own way of getting even.

Slightly biting tale of manners and mores among the smart set, just as the 1920's started to roar. Delicate Duvall makes for a lovely Bernice, while Cartwright is perfect as her scheming cousin. Love the great costumes and sets that perfectly convey the early 20's setting, too. 

Welcome to Summer

It was raining lightly when I woke up this morning. I checked out the fly situation, then ate breakfast while watching seasonal Silly Symphonies in honor of the first day of summer. "Summer" was the sixth Silly Symphony, and one of the simplest. Like the spring short, it's pretty much animals dancing and eating each other in time to classical music. "Playful Pan" has the little faun helping the animals when the woods nearly burn down. "Bugs In Love" is the last black-and-white Silly Symphony, and one of the earliest to depict small characters fighting off a larger creature. In this case, the title bugs help two romantically-inclined ladybugs scare away a crow.

Worked on writing for an hour or so after breakfast. Leia and her friends are introduced to the rest of the crew. Bodhi Rook had lived in Jedha, one of the countries in North Africa that the Empire bombed. He worked for them, but ultimately defected and joined the rebel underground. Asians Baze and Chirrut joined after the Empire destroyed their temple.

Broke for a quick lunch at quarter of 1. Finished out the summer-themed Silly Symphonies while I ate and got organized. "Frolicking Fish" is just that - fish dancing in time to music. "Night" is similar, only this time with nocturnal creatures.

Headed out at quarter after 1. I got into Haddonfield for this month's counseling just in time. In good news, I've been getting more hours, and other than the bobbles with the King of Prussia Mall trip, Lauren and I had a great time when she visited last month. However, I'm broke again. I overspent on my birthday and lost most of my food stamps. Not to mention, I'm worried about both of my dads. Dad-Bill in particular doesn't sound great.

At the very least, Lauren and I aren't getting together this year until September. I have two and a half months to save money for vacation. In addition to upcoming 4th of July hours, I think I might talk to Dad and Jodie and see if I can do chores or housework to earn the money for the tickets and vacation, or if we could split it. I don't want to not go this year. First of all, this is my only real vacation away from Camden County. I don't even visit the family in Cape May much anymore. Second, Lauren and her parents look forward to my visit and have said that they'd be disappointed if I couldn't come.

I'm also hoping to try to get out a bit more this summer. The rule is, anything I go to has to be under 40 dollars, or better yet, free. There's a lot of inexpensive or free events, concerts, plays, shows, and fairs in the summer. Movies are cheap if you go in the early morning (as I discovered with Beauty and the Beast and Solo: A Star Wars Story) and lay off the concession junk food. A walk or ride to the local towns don't require much more than the cost of a soda and lunch.

(Incidentally, as for Solo not doing well...along with the problems usually sited - release date too close to the heavily contested Last Jedi, minimal marketing, a lot of competition - I've been wondering just whom Lucasfilm thought the audience for this was going to be. Most younger fans consider Han Solo to be a dead character, and many older fans have read the original books on Han and wouldn't dream of seeing anyone but Harrison Ford in the part.

That said, this and Rogue One were good movies, and I'm hoping Solo not doing as well as they'd hoped won't put Lucasfilm off the Anthology movies all together. A lot of people still want to see that Kenobi movie. Boba Fett is one of my least-favorite major characters, but he doesn't have a lot of back story, either, and they might actually be able to do some fun things with him.

I've said for a while that Lucasfilm needs to realize that they're not Marvel. The Star Wars films are complex creatures, and they need time to germinate. They should still release Episode 9 next year, then maybe take a year or two off to really develop all the movies and TV shows they supposedly have in production, including a cartoon series about the Resistance, at least two more non-Skywalker trilogies, and a TV show focusing on the Star Wars underworld.)

Mrs. Stahl let me get away with paying her 10 dollars co-pay, instead of the usual 20...as long as I put the remaining 10 away for savings, in my savings accounts or an envelope. I put it in one of my savings accounts. If it's actual, physical money, I'll spend it.

By the time I headed out around 3, the sun was out, the clouds were fleeing, and it was turning into a gorgeous day. Rode over to the Haddon Township Library to return my DVDs and do a little volunteering. I just put away the children's DVDs. There were a ton of those as it was, and they had another volunteer shelving the adult titles. Along with more The Lion Guard and He's a Bully, Charlie Brown, I grabbed some new releases. They had Paddington 2 in, a new PBS version of Little Women, and another Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, The Undead.

Went back to Westmont to take a look at their Summer Solstice Festival. There were plenty of food trucks and craft booths, along with a stage featuring local jazz bands. A kid's area next to the Westmont Theater/Planet Fitness had a huge pirate ship-themed bounce house, carnival games, face painting, a woman dressed as Belle in a lovely yellow gown greeting eager children, and a beer garden for their parents. I bought two slices of pizza (at $4 for two slices, it was the cheapest food deal there) and enjoyed listening to the jazz band and a yoga instructor encourage everyone to breathe deeply and put out their summer ommms.

Made a quick stop at the Westmont Acme on Cuthbert after I left the block party. I couldn't put off buying bug spray until the next time I get to the Audubon Acme. The flies were too nasty. No wonder I got three days off - they were dead when I came in, and at rush hour, too. I got in and out with no trouble.

Had my snack, then rode across Newton Lake Park in search of the "Matrimonial Garden." It turned out to be the brick half-circle terrace near the playground across from the Parkview Apartments. There were two tents, one white, one pink, set up near and on the half-circle when I arrived. I locked my bike to a tree and settled down on a bench. Other folks sat in chairs, on blankets, or on lawn chairs in the park behind us. An online pamphlet for the Camden County Park System mentioned "Shakespeare In the Park," the only major event happening in Newton Lake this summer. Since it was free and I hadn't been to a play in years, I thought I'd check it out.

It turned out to be a performance of Twelfth Night. Viola and Sebastian are twins separated in a storm. Viola arrives in Illyria first and dresses as a young man named Cesario to work for the Duke Orsino. Orsino is in love with the fair Olivia, but she's in mourning for her brother and won't see anyone. Olivia falls for "Cesario" when she delivers Orsino's messages to her. It doesn't help that Viola has fallen for Orsino. When a pirate brings Sebastian ashore, his close resemblance to his twin muddies the lake waters even further. There's also a subplot involving Olivia's drunk uncle Sir Toby Belch and his buddy Sir Andrew Agacheek making the pompous Malvolio believe Olivia's in love with him, with the help of Olivia's lady-in-waiting Maria.

I loved it. A park with a lake running through it turned out to be an ideal setting for this particular show. Characters made their entrances by real water, in a real row boat. Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and fellow servant Fabian hid behind real trees and audience members when Malvolio arrived to read their fake love letter. Characters watched the action from the park with the audience. It was a lot of fun. Special kudos to the guy who played Sir Toby. He was absolutely hilarious, and had a gorgeous deep voice to boot. Wasn't as impressed with the girl who played the fool Feste. She mess up some lines, and her singing voice wasn't that great.

It had turned into an absolutely gorgeous night, windy and cooler with a few clouds. The sun was just starting to slip behind the horizon as I returned to Oaklyn. Treated myself to a mint chocolate chip water ice from Phillies Yummies. Whew, was that minty! Clear-my-sinuses minty. Very minty and very green, with real chocolate chips. I enjoyed my treat while watching people stroll back from Tonewood Brewery and Phillies Phatties.

Finished the night at home, watching The Undead. This one skips way ahead to Season Eight, one of the later Mike seasons. While Tom Servo is declared a genius, the trio watch a Roger Corman movie from 1956 about a prostitute being regressed to her past life, a woman accused of witchcraft. The man who sent her back travels into the past to save her and see history change...but if she doesn't die, her future selves will. The movie itself was cheap but oddly interesting, with it's unique past-life medieval plot, even if it does look cheap as heck. (However, the only "undead" are three dancers towards the middle of the film who more closely resemble modern dancers than any current ideas of zombies.)

The Undead (Annotated)

(Oh, and I did spray not only the front window, but around all the windows in the living area I could reach to do so. Seems to have worked, at least for now. The flies are gone.)