Lovely Afternoon In Oaklyn

Got a late start with brunch and The Scooby Doo Show. "Scooby's Chinese Fortune Kooky Caper" has the gang stranded at a palace in Rampoo, China. Kim, the young owner, is about to inherit the castle's treasures...if the Moon Monster doesn't cast its shadow on him and turn him to stone! His uncle and the old caretaker insist that the only way to appease the Moon Monster is to throw the treasures in the river, but the kids suspect there's something more at work here than pleasing a legendary creature.

Scooby's All-Star Laugh-a-Lympics started off in "Florida" with the Really Rottens actually managing to win the swamp buggy race semi-legitimately. That was the last time they'd win anything for the entire episode. They got caught putting two Mumblys in the water skiing contest and using a crane to eliminate Hokey Wolf from the stock car race. Their rickshaw fell apart before they could finish that race in "China." No one was going to beat Grape Ape at gymnastics, and Blue Falcon pointed out that using Orly Octopus's eight arms and a magnet was not the fairest way to play ping pong.

Headed out to run errands after the cartoon ended. Though it was windier and a bit colder than yesterday, it also remained sunny and bright...and still not freezing like last week! Alas, CVS didn't have anything I wanted. I just bought a Propel there when my allergies started acting up. Stopped at a quiet Crown Chicken and Gyro to get a tilapia sandwich, fries, and can of Diet Pepsi for lunch.

Ate lunch, then worked on fixing my teal cardigan (and eventually gave up on it - it has too many holes) while watching The Legend of Su-Ling on Tubi. I go further into this charming direct-to-video animated Asian fairy tale from 1998 at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Honoring Chinese New Year - The Legend of Su-Ling

Watched the second half of The Price Is Right while working on the cardigan. Came just in time to catch a lady make a very big win on a "Second Chance" card during the Grand Game. The Hispanic guy who picked up a unique and very 80's bed on the Range Game eventually ended up in the Showcase Showdown. The first one had a rare combination trip and boat. The second was a hilarious take on "The Frog Prince." Princesses Dian and Janice would rather take gifts than kiss Prince Johnny, but feisty little Princess Holly doesn't care what their announcer looks like...and gets the car and the sweet announcer. 

Switched to Match Game Syndicated while eating dinner and moving older work from my Google Drive to a flash drive. They finished up the game show host week with Peter Marshall and Bill Cullen, then moved to the only week with comedienne Louise Sorrell (who looked and acted a bit like Bette Midler), along with Bill Daily, Joyce Bulifant, and Richard Deacon. Fred Grandy took over for Charles while he was out directing an opera. The last episode and the entire week afterwards are now missing due to Jimmie Walker forgetting to clear his syndicated appearances, so they went straight into the week with TV favorites Charles Siebert, Phyllis Davis, and Robert Donner for the last hour.

Finished the night with one of my children's fairy tale readings on LP. Snow White and Rose Red and The Goose Girl comes from England's Wonderland Records. They're charming musical retellings of the Grimm Fairy Tales, with Celia Johnson of Brief Encounter doing all the voices for the latter. Snow White and Rose Red has been one of my favorite fairy tales for years, and it's especially lovely, with the girls sweet even around the very annoying troll. 

Dolls at Home

I didn't feel very well when I rolled out of bed this morning. I had the chills last night, I was achy, and my back was really sore. I slept fitfully off and on until about 8:30. Finished Little Black Book by Kate Carlisle and wrote in my journal, then watched PAW Patrol at Paramount Plus. "Pups Save a Blimp" when they retrieve Cap'n Turnbot's weather-recording blimp after Mayor Humdinger steals it to change the weather in Foggy Bottom. "Pups Save the Chili Cook-Off" after Mr. Porter's oven blows up, spewing chili and making him sneeze uncontrollably. The pups decide to make Mr. Porter's delicious chili recipe outside. Mayor Humdinger thinks that's a great idea, too, but something seems a little off about his chili...

I found the most adorable little rolly-poly stuffed porcupine in a bag of unwanted toys in front of the Lutheran Church preschool yesterday. I'm not going to keep her, but I can give her to a nice family via Goodwill. I washed her, then fixed a hole near the top of her gray fur. Watched The Heat's On while I worked. I go further into the last movie Mae West made for 27 years at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

Cult Flops - The Heat's On

Switched to Split Second after the movie ended. I forgot Buzzr pushed this show back to noon. Came in during the second half of the first episode. It was close, but one lady finally forged ahead in what proved to be a very short Countdown Round. I was surprised as her when she chose the car on her very first try! They skipped ahead quite a bit, as they mentioned one of the two women in the next episode was a returning champion. This time, the other lady and the one guy were close for much of the game, but he got ahead on the Countdown Round. Once again, he chose the car on his first try.

After that, I switched to dressing the dolls for June and warmer weather. Samantha is in her tight pink Frilly Frock with the lacy skirt and pearly lilac boots. Josefina looks lovely in her Weaving Outfit with the tan and maroon flowered print on the skirt and maroon trim. Whitney wears the red, white, and blue bow themed Back to School Outfit with the blue cardigan and the adorable red strap shoes with the polka-dot bows. Jessa just wears a pair of jean shorts with the pink and yellow tye-dye flower t-shirt and the leather sandals from Ariel's birthday dress. 

Ariel is trying on the pretty flowered Walmart sundress Lauren sent for Christmas with the turquoise windbreaker. Felicity's in the white gown with the blue cabbage roses I found at a booth in the Deptford Mall years ago. Molly's Birthday Pinafore with the rick-rack trimmed ruffled sleeves is more appropriate for early summer than her April birthday. Kit is in her yellow Floral Print Dress. The white shoes from her birthday dress look better with this than the beige shoes that came with it. Put Barbara Jean in what amounts to her "Meet" outfit, the purple and magenta paisley mini dress she came in. Her original stockings are too fragile to wear, so she's in a pair of bright pink stocking with her own white strap shoes. 

Listened to the remaining two Judy Garland CDs while I worked. The first one was worth the entire four-disc set. Judy joins Bing Crosby for a batch of hilarious numbers I suspect were mainly recorded for his Kraft Music Hall radio show. The duo have a great time singing "Wait 'Till the Sun Shines Nellie," "Connecticut," "Who," and "Sam's Song." Bob Hope joins them for a satirical "Goodnight Irene." The fourth disc featured one of Judy's many appearances at the Palace Theater in New York. I liked her medley of songs from famous vaudeville performers who had headlined at the Palace when it was the hub for variety in New York and a hilarious "Couple of Swells." 

After that, I went down for a nap. I was too tired to do anything else. I had a temperature of 99.7 when I got up this morning! If I'd had work today, I would have called out. At least it cooled off considerably overnight. There was a wonderful, fresh breeze coming in my window that made sleeping a pleasure. I passed out around 2:30 and didn't open my eyes until after 6. 

After I finally rolled out of bed, I checked my temperature. It was now a perfectly normal 97.3. I was still tired, but I felt a lot less woozy, and the chills were gone. It was likely a reaction to the Covid shot I got yesterday. 

I still wasn't up to cooking, so I headed out to find dinner. Besides, it was too nice to be inside the entire day. The bright sunshine and soft blue skies were joined by those wonderful winds and far cooler temperatures, barely in the 70's. Grabbed a fish sandwich and Diet Pepsi at a busy Crown Chicken and Gyro and oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies at Los Amigos Bakery.

Had dinner at home while watching Match Game Syndicated. Foster Brooks, Scoey Mitchilll, and Real People hostess Sarah Purcell joined in here. Gene teased Scoey about actually smiling during the intro. (Which he should have done more often - he had a lovely smile.) The contestant surprisingly had more trouble with "___ Madison" in the Audience Match, considering Brett had been married to the man who played Oscar Madison.

Finished the night with the last of the CDs I've dug up lately. Malt Shop Memories was a series of 2-disc CD sets put out by Time-Life during the mid-2000's. The first disc in the "All I Have to Do Is Dream" set goes for teen drama, with sad ballads like "Teen Angel" and "Raindrops." I prefer more upbeat numbers like "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen" and "Little Bitty Pretty One." The second one is all about Motown and 60's R&B and soul, with hits like "Baby Love" by the Supremes, "Dancing In the Street" and "Love Is LIke a Heat Wave," by Martha and the Vandellas and "Twilight Time" by the Platters. 

Hazy Shade of Winter

It was sunny but windy when I got up this morning. I avoided the wind and cold by spending the morning eating breakfast and cleaning. Got the vacuuming done and washed the windows. The vacuuming took me a little longer than usual. I shouldn't have put it off last month. The kitchen in particular was really bad. I don't know why there's carpet in the kitchen. Tile, at the least, would have made more sense, or linoleum, given the age of this house. I also sewed up a rip in my good English Fog winter coat.

Watched The Drum while I worked. When his father is assassinated by his brother, a young Indian prince (Sabu) is taken in by a British military base. He befriends the garrison's drummer boy, as well as its head officer and his pretty wife. His uncle, however, still intends to make trouble. He's determined to drive the British off his land, even if he has to kill to do it. Not wanting to see his friends hurt, the prince tries to warn him...but when the head officers don't listen, his warning may come too late to save them all.

Enjoyable late-30's Technicolor action from England. Surprisingly doesn't lay the stereotypes on too heavily, even if most of the cast besides Sabu are obviously Brits playing Indians. This is on the Criteron Collection's budget Eclipse series with other Sabu movies; fun if you can find it.

Switched to some Danger Mouse as I finished the cleaning and got ready to run errands. He's the "Lord of the Bungle" in the early first season. Elephants are vanishing and turning up as sugar cubes in the tea of politicians. DM has to stop Baron Greenback from spreading them across the globe...and figure out how Penfold suddenly became Tarzan. "The Bone Idol" from the fourth season takes them to Tibet, where they have to keep an idol that could control all the world's dogs out of the hands of the Baron and Count Duckula.

Headed to the Oaklyn Library first for this week's volunteering session there. For an on-and-off cloudy day, they were surprisingly quiet. maybe because it was past 1 when I arrived. I organized DVDs and looked over the children's area before heading out.

Since I was already out and about, I did my grocery shopping today. Besides, I didn't really have a very big order. I got really lucky. Almost everything I needed was on sale. The Acme was having their periodic "buck a bag" vegetable sale. I grabbed scallions, oranges, bananas (also on sale), a jar of minced garlic, a small loaf of French bread topped with sesame seeds, and a bag of shredded vegetables. Restocked cream of mushroom soup, canned pineapple, white cake mix, sugar, tomato sauce, cereal (Acme's generic shredded wheat was cheap this week), brown sugar, and skim milk.

My schedule is, once again, a little odd. I still have three days off (Tuesday for counseling) and one long day. I'm later than usual on Monday, and it's still 19 hours instead of 20. (I don't know why they just can't give me 20, like they were.)

Headed straight home after I finished at the Acme. After more than two weeks, my Amazon.com order finally appeared. Just bought ink for my printer and a new record needle. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to hook it up to the player. When I did, it played beautifully. I listened to one of my K-Tel 70's records while putting everything else away.

Spent the next few hours working on and revising my story. Han and Luke are now going to the fair for Henry to display his revolutionary new steam engine and Luke to take part in a fencing exhibition. Both men are upset when Baron Vader comes back in and announces that they've captured some of the Crimson Hawk's men.

Leia says she thinks what the Crimson Hawk is doing is crazy and illegal but noble in a way. Han disagrees. The Crimson Hawk is just out for his own gain, like he is. The young duchess finds his attitude cold and unfeeling. Didn't he ever care about anything enough to fight for it? Han shrugs. He was a pirate, and now, he's a businessman. He loves money.

Finished out the night with more records and a decent dinner. I hadn't made burgers in ages. Threw together simple Turkey Burgers with steamed broccoli topped with shredded cheddar and slices of the mini French bread loaf. Yum. They came out perfectly savory and tasty, a little soft inside, a little brown on the outside. Did the original cast album from the stage version of 42nd Street and the soundtracks for Flashdance, Streets of Fire, and the 60's TV show The Roaring Twenties while I ate.

And we did get snow...for all of five minutes this evening, as I was writing. Otherwise, it was just windy, very cold, and on-and-off cloudy.

Plenty to Be Thankful For

It was another beautiful, sunny day when I got up this morning. Started off the day with some Thanksgiving and Christmas short stories and poems. In addition to the material from the Collier's Book of Holidays, I found two more stories and book excerpts. Pilgrim's Party is a short story from the early 60's Disney anthology Storybookland. Mickey takes the Disney characters on a road trip to New England, and then to Massachusetts, where they decide to celebrate the holiday at the recreated pilgrim's settlement at Plymouth. It's all fun and food, until Pluto steals the turkey! In the last two chapters of Kit Learns a Lesson, Kit Kitteredge isn't feeling very grateful for the boarders her parents have taken in to make ends meet during the Great Depression. She feels like a maid and is sure her dad will find work soon. It takes a surprising encounter at a soup kitchen to show her how important it is to be thankful for those around us.

Rose called while I was getting dressed. Mind if we switched to being picked up between 10 and 10:30? They had to drop Toby, their larger dog, off at Dad and Jodie's. That was fine. It would give me a chance to have breakfast and get organized.

I ate the last of the Carrot-Pineapple Muffins and a half a grapefruit, then finished packing while watching Thanksgiving specials. It's A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving when Peppermint Patty invites herself, Marcie, and Franklin over to Chuck's house for dinner. Trouble is, he's eating at his grandma's house. She doesn't appreciate the meal of toast, jelly beans, ice cream, and popcorn, until Marcie and Linus remind their friends that Thanksgiving is about a lot more than food.

The Mayflower Voyagers reminds us just what this holiday is about. In this episode of the miniseries This Is America, Charlie Brown, the Peanuts play pilgrim kids who come over to the New World with their parents to start over. The voyage to what we now know as New England is fraught with peril, including storms and crowded and miserable conditions. Things aren't much better at Plymouth, where starvation and disease plague the settlement. It isn't until the natives Squanto and Massasoit teach the settlers how to plant corn and hunt and fish that their lives begin to improve. They're so thankful for their bountiful harvest, they invite the Natives for a feast of Thanksgiving.

Garfield isn't feeling all that thankful in Garfield's Thanksgiving. Jon just invited Liz the Veterinarian over for Thanksgiving dinner...right after she's put him on a diet! It doesn't help that Jon can't cook a turkey to save his life. Good thing Grandma from the Christmas special knows how to make things right.

After Garfield ended, I listened to my lovely LP of mountain folk songs and old American songs while fixing one of my pairs of work pants. I just got them not long ago - I don't have the money to replace them. The very bottom of the seat split at the seam. I'd just finished sewing it as best I could (I'm terrible at sewing, but I can figure out enough to fix a seam) when Rose called, saying she'd be there in two minutes. I took my things and went downstairs...then came back upstairs briefly. Mom said to bring a pillow, and I forgot.

I went up with my 5-year-old nephew Khai, my sister Rose, her boyfriend Craig, and their mini-pincher Kelsey. Rose and Khai got up at 5 AM today to make her apple pie, and Khai was a very tired boy. He rested for most of the trip. We did make a stop at WaWa for drinks. I got Cherry Limeaide Sparkling Ice and a soft pretzel. Khai got Cheetos. Rose bought Monster Energy drinks for her and Craig. We admired the view of the lovely South Jersey countryside, including a horse farm. (Craig kept telling Khai to watch out for Bigfoot, despite Rose and I admonishing them that there's no such creature.)

We got in around quarter after 12. Everyone else was already there, including Mom and Dad, my sister Anny, her boyfriend Jay, her sons Collyn (7 next month) and Skylar (11) and their baby girl Lilah (10 months) and my brother Keefe and his new girlfriend Carmen. I spent most of the next few hours that I wasn't scarfing the vegetable and ranch dip tray and home-made cheese ball and crackers watching over the boys. They rode a bike and a scooter for a while, speeding up and down the dead-end street Mom and Dad live on, riding around houses where no one lived. When they got bored with that, I took them in the back to toss around a Nerf football, then a Frisbee. (And kept trying to get Skylar off the porch. I was afraid someone would break a window or Mom's beloved wind chimes.)

We went inside for a while to rest, eat appetizers, and watch TV. The Eagles-Lions game wasn't going very well. They did play a little better later, but they were mostly terrible. (The Eagles ultimately lost 45-14.) We had more fun with strange cartoons like Gravity Falls (Dipper is put on trial for arguing that reality is better than fantasy), Teen Titans Go! (video game spoof), and Phineas and Ferb (first Doofensmirtz helps Perry the Playpus' secret agent organization take down a tiny little scientist bent on destroying them, then Candace puts herself on a Groundhog Day loop when her last day of summer vacation keeps going badly and she can't bust her brothers).

We ran into some problems when we went back outside. Khai and Collyn both wanted to ride the scooter, but Khai's an only child who isn't really used to sharing his toys. They both got into a rather noisy argument on a neighbor's driveway across the street. Dad finally settled it by borrowing two older scooters from his next-door neighbor John. I also got a chance to chat with John and with another neighbor of my parents' a few doors down.

The boys and I were watching cartoons again when dinner was finally ready. Mom spent the afternoon fussing that the turkey was too small and greasy and bent out of shape. I usually eat the dark meat anyway and I don't like gravy, so yeah, it was a little dry, but not that bad. In addition to the poor turkey, there was mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole with marshmallows on top, potato rolls with butter, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, glazed carrots, pearl onions in white sauce, and home-made stuffing. I had a little of everything but the mashed potatoes. I'm not a big fan of white potatoes.

We all sort of broke up after dinner. Craig took Khai on a brief trip to the Canyon Club condos on the Wildwood Crest side of the Cape May Bridge to see his parents and brother. Rose and Anny were crazy enough to elbow their way through early Black Friday shoppers and pick up two things for their kids at Walmart. Carmen talked to relatives on her phone on the porch. Dad and Keefe stayed attached to the Cowboys-Panthers game. (The Panthers not only won 33-14, they knocked out Tony Romo again, too.)

I had an intimate conversation with Skylar. We walked up and down Willow Drive. When we got back to Mom and Dad's house, Skylar sat on the bed of Dad's white truck, and we watched the stars come out. He's such a smart kid. We talked about our siblings, our parents, our families, cartoons, and the things we both like.

Mom was starting to pull out the desserts when we came in. Skylar immediately swarmed towards Mom's chocolate cake. I went for the pumpkin pie and Reddi-Whip topping. I love pumpkin pie. It isn't Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. I had a couple of chocolate chip bars and a small slice of chocolate cake, but I just couldn't fit in Rose's apple pie. I'll have that tomorrow.

Played with little miss Lilah after dinner. She's absolutely adorable. I brought my stuffed turkey Plymouth downstairs to show her. She was absolutely fascinated by him. She sat in Jay's lap and kept patting and pulling at Plymouth, probably wondering what this strange, colorful thing was. She has big, round blue eyes like her mom's when she was tiny and fluffy, wavy brown hair. She's still learning to walk on her own, though her mom says she doesn't have a lot of confidence. She'll walk a few steps, then fall down. Jay and Anny's mostly been holding her hands.

Skylar, Khai, and I finished the night with our desserts and more cartoons. Even as we watched the very odd Wander Over Yonder (a strange little creature wants to make friends with everyone it meets - even an evil galactic overlord), Khai was falling asleep over his vanilla ice cream. Rose got him into his new Batman pajamas. He finally passed out on the couch in the living room, shortly before Anny took her crew home.

I'm taking a respite of my own while the remaining family members continue to eat and chat downstairs. I hope all of you had a beautiful Thanksgiving with your own families (including the Canadians, who had their turkey last month). Everyone else, I hope you enjoyed the last days of fall.

Last Day of Vacation

I slept in, then spent what remained of the morning working on crocheting and sewing projects. I'm making a big felt apple pot holder from the American Girl Molly's Craft Book. I sewed the leaves on this morning. It only required the whipstitch, which I can figure out. It came out pretty well; at least the leaves are on the apple now.

Had lunch at 1:30, then went for a ride around 2PM. It was a lovely day, cooler than it has been (51, according to the sign at Beneficial Bank on the White Horse Pike), but sunny and windless. I rode into Audubon. I haven't been around there in forever, not since I bought my WebKinz baby penguin back in January.

I had a really nice ride. I stopped at Abbie Road Used CDs to say hi to the owner, Bob. Got the greatest hits of John Cougar Melloncamp and a two-CD set The White Cliffs of Dover that I had on cassette, but the cassettes weren't in great shape. Bought macaroons from the nice lady at Dessert By Design. I even saw the little pastries my sister bought for the baby shower last week.

My next stop was Willie the Woodsman and Wife, the little gift shop on Pine Street in Audubon. The lady who owns and runs the shop, Gloria, told me they were having a buy one, get one free sale for WebKinz. Cool! I bought the Black Panther for me and something for my best friend Lauren for Easter. I had a nice chat with Gloria about my reluctance to go back to work next week, too. She's one of the only people around here who understand how I feel about my job. Yeah, it's great to make money, but the stress is driving me nuts.

I just rode around Audubon and Oaklyn for a bit after that. It was a great day for it. There were tons of people out. Kids rode scooters and did tricks on home-made ramps. Parents walked toddlers in strollers. Teenagers chatted together in small knots. People jogged, chatted on each other's porches, and worked in their yards.

Spent the rest of the evening quietly at home after I got in. I've had these vintage handkerchiefs I got for free from the thrift shop since I got them a few years ago. I was going to make them into clothes for the Sailor Soldiers, but I never got around to it. I used a pink and purple floral print and a tie that had been cut off of an old wrap and made...what I thought was going to be a skirt, but the hole was too wide. Sailor Neptune, my gracious model, is now wearing it as a poncho.

Watched The Incredible Hulk while crocheting and eating baked flounder with mushrooms, baked sweet potato, and sauteed cabbage and carrots for dinner. The second time seems to be the charm for one of my favorite Marvel superheroes. They'd apparently filmed the Hulk just a few years prior, but it didn't go over well at the box office. (Though I'd still like to see that one as well.) This version didn't light the world on fire, either, perhaps because it came out in the same summer as the massive hits Iron Man and The Dark Knight. That's a shame. Edward Norton's thoughtful take on Bruce Banner and the awesome action sequences (including that slam-bang finale) deserve a much wider audience. From what I gathered at the time, more people saw this for the cameo in the finale than for anything in the rest of the movie.

Oh, and meet George, the Black Panther, the last of my BeatleKinz! Like his mates, he now lives in the BeatleKinz' LondonKinz flat.