There's a Kind of Hush

I had a very quick breakfast, then we went outside and called Uber. Honestly, it was hot and humid, but not any hazier than it had been yesterday evening. I was more concerned about the mid-90's heat than the haze. At least we had no trouble there. The driver picked us up in 8 minutes and pleasantly chatted with us all the way up to Red, White, and Blue Thrift at Lawnside. 

Red, White, and Blue replaced the long-empty K-Mart the week before Memorial Day. I did so well there, I wanted to show it to Lauren. I made even better finds this time! Lauren turned up more workout shorts. I found a pair of jean shorts for work, a pair of brown shorts, two records, two books, and 3 CDs (one a two-disc set). The books were:

The Seventh Sinner by Elizabeth Peters

Forgotten Fairy Tales of Brave and Brilliant Girls

The records were:

The Disney Winnie the Pooh retelling of When We Were Very Young

True Value Happy Holidays Vol. III (The earliest True Value Happy Holidays I've found - before that, my earliest Happy Holidays collection was Volume 13.)

The CDs were: 

The 2-disc original cast album for the revue Closer Than Ever

Jack Jones - The Best of Jack Jones

Phil Collins - Dance Into the Light

Since it's two blocks down the White Horse Pike, our next stop was the House of Fun. I sorted through the bins of stuffed toys and looked over the racks and racks of sci-fi, action, and horror DVDs, but saw nothing of interest. Lauren was more interested in the back wall filled with every kind of Funco figure imaginable. She ended up with Captain America poised to attack and Deadpool dressed as Bob Ross. (I am not going to ask there.)

We hiked further down Atlantic Avenue to the Old Rail Tavern for lunch. We ate outside...which might not have been the smartest idea. Flies kept attacking our legs! On the other hand, our sandwiches were really good. Lauren had Southwestern grilled chicken and thick chips. I had fries and the same yummy Italian Chicken Cutlet I had back in May. Very tasty despite the bugs.

After lunch, we headed a block over to the Haddon Heights Antique Center at Barrington. This huge rabbit warren of rooms is filled with everything from antique china to depression glass to recent DVDs and Barbies. Lauren found a few things for her parents. I picked up two older Beanie Babies, Fleece the sweet lamb and Curly the brown bear. 

It may have only been hazy, but it was still really hot. Even the air conditioning at the Antique Center didn't help cool us off. We picked up drinks next-door at the Garnet Grill before heading down Barrington Avenue and Atlantic Avenue, under the 295 overpass and past the baseball field and Haddon Heights Public Works. It took us 20 minutes, but we did get into Haddon Heights, coming out next to Jane's Tea Room on Station Avenue. 

Our next stop was Doc's Finds, a gift shop and record store. Doc's records and CD have more and more begun to dominate. He has tons and tons of great stuff, and I never fail to walk out with something good. He had so much great stuff, I couldn't explore half his dollar bins because they were buried under more records. Lauren bought three CDs. I picked up six records, two of them with multiple discs:

The soundtracks for Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter and Working Girl 

The cast album for the 1970 revival of The Boy Friend with Judy Carne and Sandy Duncan (Still in its original plastic!)

Jefferson Airplane - Bless Its Pointed Little Head

Stage Door Canteen, a 4-disc collection of popular songs from World War II

The Hit List - 1982 2-Disc K-Tel collection

Cabana Water Ice is right across the street from Doc's, so we headed there next. They looked very different from the last time I was in there years ago. They were all white and chrome, with a fill-your-own-frozen yogurt section. I didn't want frozen yogurt. I wanted water ice. Once a family with three boys finally got their ice cream, I ordered a medium chocolate covered strawberry water ice. That turned out to be a very red, very strawberry water ice with chocolate bits. At least it was a lot less grainy than Cabana's water ice used to be! Lauren took longer to decide, but she finally got a gelati - sugar-free lemon water ice layered with vanilla ice cream and pineapple topping. Yum! It was delectably sweet and cool. We watched it while Law & Order: Special Victims Unit played in the background on USA.

By that point, it was past 4:30. We hurried down Station Avenue and across the White Horse Pike to the bus shelter. Thankfully, the 4:42 was slightly late, nothing horrible, and there was no traffic. We got off at Oaklyn and were home within 20 minutes. 

After we put everything away, we went right back out for dinner. This time, we ended up at a very busy Amoto Bros two blocks down the White Horse Pike. This dark-paneled local bar replaced a deli by the same name when that burned down. They were known for their amazing hoagies...and fortunately, both the deli and their sandwiches carried over to the bar. Lauren had a massive triple-decker sandwich that was so good, she ate it all. I couldn't even finish my Pilgrim Turkey Hoagie with stuffing and cranberry sauce. Lauren had sour cream and onion chips. I had regular. We chatted while watching the Phillies-Mets game. (Alas, later research revealed that the Phils lost, 4-1.)

Once we got home, she finished packing and went online. I watched Safety In Numbers. I go further into this 1930 romantic comedy featuring Carole Lombard as one of three ladies showing young millionaire Buddy Rogers how to live at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Safety In Numbers

Only a Northern Song

I had breakfast quickly, then called Uber. It was getting late by that point, almost quarter of 12. That may be why I had a hard time getting a driver. The first one canceled. Fortunately, the second arrived in 8 minutes. He dropped us off at The Nerd Mall in Woodbury within 15 minutes, with no problems on the road.

Woodbury is a lovely little town in Gloucester County, not far from Deptford. It's one of the oldest towns in the entire area. Some of the buildings date back to the Revolutionary War era. The Nerd Mall is in one of the Victorian buildings downtown. It's shelves and shelves and boxes and boxes of comic books, collectible action figures, board games, vintage video games, role playing games, and stuffed toys related to all of the above. I was hoping to find Match Game or Family Feud among the board games, but I only saw the Feud DVD game. I saw vintage Password games (two of them going back to 1962), but none of the others.

Though there's no longer an arcade in the back game-playing room, they do still have small arcade cabinets there. Some of them are small enough for the pre-school kids from Thomas Sharp to have no trouble reaching the controls! I did mildly well on regular Centipede. At least I got to the second round, which isn't something I could ever pull off as a kid. 

While Lauren finished buying wrestling Nintendo games and a collectible figure at The Nerd Mall, I found a tiny little deli-variety store next door. It was so small and family-owned, it had one of the widest varieties of drinks I'd ever seen in a store. I ended up with Sunkist Zero. Lauren got the limited edition Berry Blue Powerade when she joined me. 

Our next stop was 2nd Chance Thrift Boutique in the next block over. They're always something of a mess. I couldn't find anything I wanted in the jammed-full racks of old clothes and piles and piles of toys, CDs, and DVDs. Lauren had more luck and picked up a few shirts.

We did better at the Woodbury Antiques store on the next block. Situated in what appears to have once been a Woolworth's, this has more in common with a one-story Haddon Heights Antique Center than with 2nd Chance. For one thing, they sell actual antiques. Unfortunately, a lot of what they sell is very expensive. Lauren found three mini Beanie Babies still in their McDonald's Happy Meal bags that were a reasonable price. Their records are way overpriced, but I picked up two CDs:

Elton John - Ice On Fire

Grover Washington Jr. - All My Tomorrows

LC's Family-Style Restaurant was on the next block. They specialize in Latin American cuisine...but I suspect they didn't have a lot of help today. I never saw anyone besides the one girl behind the counter and a woman having lunch with her baby. We watched two and a half episodes of Spongebob Squarepants on the TV in the side room, including "Bubble Boy" (Spongebob's bubble friend annoys everyone in Bikini Bottom), "Something Smells" (Spongebob and Patrick think everyone is running away from them because they're ugly - it's their breath that's the problem), "Big Pink Loser" (Patrick takes a job at the Krabby Patty, then imitates Spongebob to win awards), "Bossy Pants" (Pearl's new ideas for the Krusty Krab are losing her dad money...and Spongebob has to fire her), and "Spongebob BC." (SpongeBob and his crew are cave sea-dwellers.) At least Lauren's Cubano sandwich and my grilled chicken sandwich with thick fries were pretty decent when we did finally get them.

After lunch, we headed across the street to On the Record. This time, Lauren didn't make any finds, but I grabbed two records and two CDs I really wanted after I dodged a couple of music-lovers searching the local band albums. The records were:

Beryl Berney Tells Your Favorite Stories: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Dick Whittington (I have no idea who Beryl Berney is. I do know I've never seen a record retelling of the British folk tale "Dick Whittington.") 

Ben Bagley's Cole Porter Vol. III (Cost me $25, the most of anything today besides lunch, but I love these Ben Bagley collections.)

The CDs were something I've wanted for a while. Yellow Submarine was the last regular Beatles album I didn't have. I've been looking for a good price on it for ages. Not only did they have it on CD for $6, but they had the blue "Songtrack" CD from 1999 for the same price. I bought both. 

The original SNTM Thrift Shop is next-door to On the Record. They're more like 2nd Chance with slightly better merchandise...but apparently, they're moving to better digs in November. They've already moved some things to a charming Victorian building about two blocks down Broad Street. I didn't find anything at either location, but Lauren picked up tank tops for her and shirts for her father. 

We hiked back to The Nerd Mall to pick up Uber. By 4 PM, it was hot, humid, sunny, and hazy, probably in the upper 90's. Thank heavens the driver didn't cancel this time, even if it took a little longer than the listed 13 minutes for him to arrive. We weren't going far, anyway. He dropped us off at the Deptford Goodwill in a little over 5 minutes.

The Woodbury Goodwill moved to The Plaza at Deptford back in March...and no wonder. The store was enormous, easily three times the size of the Woodbury building. It took me 20 minutes just to sift through all of the records piled on a bottom shelf, but I came up with:

Sesame Street Story Time

"Mama" Cass Elliott - Dream a Little Dream of Me

Walt Disney Presents the Story of Robin Hood (Which, ironically, I also saw at On the Record for $10 - a slightly less-pristine copy at Goodwill was $2.49.)

Plato's Closet is on the other side of the Plaza from the Goodwill. It's another local thrift shop chain, this one specializing entirely in clothes and accessories. It's so big, there's two floors. The guys' clothes are on the lower level. Neither of us had any luck here...but I'm glad to know it is there the next time I do need clothes for a decent price.

We finished up at Mt. Fuji Hibachi Restaurant a few doors down from the Goodwill. We didn't go for the hibachi. As Lauren said, we just wanted dinner, not dinner and a show. Lauren was fine with sushi and a large salad. My shrimp with udon noodles, vegetables, and a small salad were yummy, too. We enjoyed them at the quiet, dark-paneled room with the fish swimming around a tank in the lobby. (A mother's tired little boy was utterly fascinated by those goldfish as we were heading out.)

Another thing I like about the Plaza is it has ample seating. We settled down at one of the wide benches as I called Uber. Thank heavens after the last two, there were no problems here. The driver arrived in the advertised 8 minutes and got us home in 15 with no trouble.

Put on Match Game '75 when I got home. This was the last of three weeks to feature Cuban bombshell Louisa Moritz, and the only one with producer and character actor Sheldon Leonard. I'm not sure Leonard entirely got the humor, but at least he took all of the gangster jokes like a good sport.

I finished the night watching News Hounds on Tubi. Sach (Huntz Hall) and Slip (Leo Gorcey) are working for a newspaper again, as a photographer and copy boy respectively. Slip would do anything to have his story in the paper, especially after he turns up evidence of gangster Dapper Dan Greco (Anthony Caruso) fixing boxing matches. Sach gets photos of the gangsters, but loses the camera with the pictures when they figure out who the guys are. Slip never intended for his story to be published, but his friend Gabe (Gabriel Dell), who was working with the gangsters but got thrown out, has it published under the name of the sports reporter John Burks (Tim Ryan) anyway. The gangsters slap the newspaper with a four million dollar lawsuit. Now the guys have to find those pictures, or everyone will lose their jobs...and the paper will get into a heck of a lot of trouble. 

Rainy Day Women

Got a quick start today, heading out around quarter of 11. We couldn't cut through Newton Lake Park like we normally would. They're working on a new fishing pier, and the path is blocked by cranes and building materials. At least it was still sunny at that point. It was warm, not hot, but still sticky and very humid. We passed the spraying fountains in the lake's green waters and people walking dogs on their way to Collingswood.

The Collingswood Farm Market was in full swing when we arrived. Peas are gone, but summer produce abounds now. The booths groan with corn, blackberries, watermelons, cucumbers, peppers, green beans, zucchini, and every type of tomato known to man. Surprisingly, strawberries are still out, too. I didn't want to smush strawberries or haul peaches around, so I just bought blueberries and cherries. Lauren considered blackberries, but we just ended up moving on.

We had lunch at Jersey Kabobs. Having had breakfast the last time I was there, we went with brunch and lunch sandwiches. I had the Gyro Bagel - gyro-seasoned chicken and veggies on a bagel. (Sesame seed, in my case.) Lauren had gyro meat and veggies on an enormous hoagie roll. It was so huge and dripping with meat and cheese, she took half of it home. Half of the chicken on my sandwich ended up in the basket. I ate it with a fork. We had the most incredible soft, buttery white rice, too. And of course, we had to share a plate of their amazing baklava. We liked the regular honey-pistachio and the chocolate the best.

Spent the rest of the afternoon in and out of stores in Collingswood and Westmont. Lauren bought Beavis and Butthead figures and a wrestling action figure she wanted at Time Passages. I found a small Care Bear I'd never heard of. Thankful Heart Bear is a pretty orange and lavender girl with a lovely tummy symbol of turquoise paws reaching for hearts. She'll come out at Thanksgiving. I got a birthday card for a friend's teen daughter at Occasionette. Lauren got fruit drink mixes. She didn't get anything from a very busy Innergroove Records. I got three records: 

Soundtrack from High Anxiety (The most expensive record I bought today at $17, and I dropped it and chipped it when I was outside. Hopefully, it'll still play.)

Eric Clapton - Slowhand

Rockin' Easy - Two-disc Warners collection of light rock and ballads from 1975

We started towards Westmont after I got out of Innergroove, making a short stop at Secret Origins Comics. Lauren picked up a couple of Captain America titles. Normally, I have little interest in the comics shops, but the last thing I expected to see was a new DC Superhero Girls comic book! The line ended around 2017-2018, but they just put out another one, High School Reunion, last month. I grabbed it to go with the two I have at home.

Heavy clouds were building on the horizon as we rushed down Haddon Avenue to the WaWa on the corner of Haddon and Cuthbert. She got a soda. I got a Propel water. After we got out, we dashed across Haddon to Phidelity Records as thunder rumbled in the distance. We got inside just in time. Five minutes after Lauren followed me in the door, it started pouring. It rained just long enough for us to search the boxes of dollar CDs and and $2 records without interruption. By the time the rain started slowing down, she found three CDs. I picked up two CDs:

The cast for the 2008 Broadway revival of South Pacific

The one-woman show Elaine Strich at Liberty

And three records: 

George Harrison - Somewhere In England

Bing Crosby - A Bing Crosby Collection Volume 1 (Some of his earliest recordings, new on LP when this was released in 1978.)

Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Gershwin Songbook

The rain vanished all together as we made our way down Cuthbert Road, past the Acme and the fast food restaurants and the Westmont. By the time we made it to Sprouts, it was back to being humid and sunny, though not very hot. We both got prebiotic soda. I got peanut butter cookies, oat milk, yogurt, and  chocolate fudge coconut-covered almonds from the bulk bins.

We were too tired to walk the rest of the way home, and hauling way too much stuff! I tried to call Uber, but it took over 15 minutes just to get a driver, and another 20 for him to arrive. It was 5:30 at that point, the height of rush hour. At least there was no traffic and no trouble getting home when he did arrive.

We put everything away, then went back out for dinner. Lauren's friend Rico got her eating sushi, and now she loves it. I thought she'd enjoy Sakura a few blocks down on the White Horse Pike...and she did. They were quiet as can be when we slid in. She had sushi. I had teriyaki shrimp with brown rice and vegetables. We both had Arizona green tea to wash it down. She loved hers and wants to eat there again while she's here.

Dessert was at La Mortense Plus on the other side of Oaklyn. They have the most unique ice cream flavors. Lauren had chocolate banana with peanut butter, calling it her "ode to Elvis." I had orange cream with cookie pieces that was very citrus-tasting and absolutely delicious. We timed things right, too. There was only a mother and her two sons when we arrived. By the time we were seated at a blue outdoor metal table with our ice cream, the place was swarming with families and college kids and had a long line.

 After we got home, we finished the night on YouTube. Tonight, Match Game Productions honored Family Feud's 50th anniversary with the best episodes of the original Richard Dawson ABC run. Family Feud began in July 1976 as a spin-off of the Audience Match on Match Game. Richard had proved so popular there, he was tapped to host. Two families square off against each other, answering survey questions. The first family to earn 300 (later 500) points goes to the Fast Money bonus round to win $5,000. 

Unlike Match Game, Feud was a smash hit right out of the gate. Audiences loved watching families give strange answers and win big money, not to mention see all the stuff they'd give Richard and how he'd react to the weirdest events. There was the lady who answered "fish" to "vegetable you fried," or the one who said "September" when asked during what trimester a pregnant woman started to show. Rich got some of the most unique gifts, too, including a goofy curly red wig from a redheaded family so he'd "blend in" with them! He looked more like a clown in a three-piece suit. There was also the family who sent in their audition via tape. Everyone was impressed, even though Richard told audiences that they didn't really need to do that. They also did a lot of celebrating on this show, including Richard's birthday, producer Howard Felcher's birthday, and the week of Christmas and New Year's. 

Celebrate 50 years of Feuding with these heartfelt and hilarious episodes!

Family Feud Saturday Classics - 50 Year Celebration Marathon

Cherry Hill Park

I slept in...and actually slept this time. I didn't get to calling Uber until past 12:30. The driver going to the Cherry Hill Library arrived within 8 minutes, not bad for rush hour. We did hit a little traffic in Haddonfield, but still arrived at the Cherry Hill Library in less than 20 minutes.

The Cherry Hill Library is the biggest library in the Camden County area, and it has the largest remaining book sale. They didn't have records this time around, but there were plenty of CDs, children's books, adult books, and tons of DVDs! Lauren bought four classical and instrumental CDs for her father. The children's book section was too noisy and busy for me to find anything there, but I had more luck with the other sections. I got the cozy mystery Stranger In the Looking Glass by Jan Fields, Fletch Lives on DVD, and four CDs:

Hot! Hot! Hot! - Pier 1 Imports collection of tropical-themed songs from 2002

Jimmy Durante - As Time Goes By: The Best of Jimmy Durante

The Rolling Stones - Rewind

20 #1 Hits of the 20's (They had CDs for the 30's, 50's, and 60's too, but I figured this had the rarest songs.)

After we finished, we got soda from the vending machine in the cafe area, then went next-door to Casa Puebla. This Mexican restaurant is so local, it's in a normal residential house. It was surprisingly busy for 1:30 when we arrived with families and local workers looking for tacos and burgers. Lauren had fried pork tacos for lunch. I had an enormous and very tasty chicken burrito with tons of Spanish rice. That huge burrito filled me up so much, I barely had room for a cup of pineapple water ice. Lauren went with a non-alcoholic Pina colada. It came in a hollowed-out pineapple, topped with pineapple rings, whipped topping, a cherry, and one of those little paper Japanese umbrellas. And yes, she drank the whole thing and loved it.

It was cloudy, killer humid, and relatively cool as we made our way down King's Highway, probably in the lower 80's. Big fat drops started splashing down when we were less than a block from Lucky Strike. Thankfully, we made it there just as the shower was getting heavier. 

Lucky Strike (formerly The Big Event) has been Cherry Hill's premiere bowling alley for over 60 years. As you can guess on a day with such nasty weather, it was busy with families, college students, and couples on dates. Lauren and I played three games. To be honest, neither of us are very good. Lauren won all of the games and got the highest score at 73...but I'm the only one who got two strikes in the second and third games. (We also got to see more World Cup games on the monitors, along with golf. Research later revealed that Spain beat Belgium 2 to 1.)

Lucky Strike also has a small arcade in the back. It doesn't have as many games as Round 1 or Dave & Buster's, but it's cheaper and the games use far less points. Lauren and I spent the next 40 minutes or so running from Nerf Arcade to Lane Master bowling to the cranes to the basketball games. I came up with over 2,800 points...but there was no one at the prizes counter. I saw a sign that said you had to go get the lady at the front desk if you wanted something. It was already pretty late. I decided to save my points for another time.

Thankfully, the rain was long gone by the time I called Uber. It was slightly sunnier, if still very humid. The driver arrived in 9 minutes and got us to Ollie's in less than 10. I'm glad he took the longer route down Clements Bridge Road. I got to point out Sussex House, the Playa Del Sol, Jefferson Health, the pizza place, and the dessert bar to Lauren.

People who only shop at the Cherry Hill Mall and don't check out the other stores next to it and in back of it on Church Road are really missing something. The Ollie's is huge, stuffed full of all kinds of books, discontinued food, and other great random junk. Lauren bought bags of candy and trail mix. I got The Peanuts Lunch Box Cookbook, recipes intended for lunches and kid-friendly snacks, based on (and showing the) original comic strips.

Led Lauren a block down to the brand-new Red, White, and Thrift that opened in March. This good-sized store used to be a Big Lots, meaning it had plenty of room for clothes, home goods, toys, and media. I found one paperback mystery, Murder of a Snake In the Grass by Denise Swanson, a pair of Faded Glory jean shorts (haven't seen that brand in years), and one CD, the second American Musical Theater Smithsonian collection. My best find here was a fluffy stuffed Share Bear. She looks like the design from the 2002 run - she has lighter lavender fur, her eyes are more like the originals, and she has her original soda with two straws tummy symbol. Lauren came up with more workout shorts.

IHOP is almost directly across from Ollie's, so we went there for dinner next. The only other people in the place when we came in was a dad and his two lively daughters. I had yummy strawberry banana pancakes, scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, and hash browns I didn't have the room to finish. (Oh, and I appreciate that IHOP's pancakes aren't the size of the plate. They're a lot easier to eat in one sitting.) Lauren had a massive spinach and mushroom omelet topped with cheddar cheese and salsa and said it was amazing. I had an iced tea. Lauren had a vanilla coffee latte that she said was more like a vanilla milkshake with a little coffee flavor. It was just picking up when we headed out. 

Our final stop of the day was 2A Thrift at the Cherry Hill Plaza next-door to the Cherry Hill Mall. Thank heavens they finally finished remodeling the exterior! We had no problems getting inside. I found the movies Enchantment and Buck Privates on DVD (I've been looking for Buck Privates - I have its sequel, Buck Privates Come Home, but I've never been able to find the original), a sleeveless blouse with a beautiful stained glass-like leaf design, a K-Tel record collection Images, and the CD Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook. Lauren picked up a few tank tops for working out.

With the construction ended, we could call Uber right from 2A Thrift. The driver arrived in 15 minutes just as the sun went down. He had to take an alternate route because of an accident on the turn-off to Cuthbert Road, but we still got home in 15 minutes.

I finished the night after a shower with Beauty and the Beast on YouTube. From what little I can gather online, this Ruby-Spears animated special is from 1983 and was made for something called Kenner Family Classics. I never heard of it, but I wish I had. It honestly follows the Perrault version pretty well. It's one of the few animated retellings of the original story I've seen to include Beauty's brothers (who love her and make a misguided attempt to rescue her from the Beast) as well as her spoiled sisters and where her father doesn't mind her being with the Beast as long as it makes her happy. Considering the prince is turned into a Beast for turning a fairy away, I can't help but wonder if someone at Disney saw this version before they made theirs. 

Oh, and I got my schedule while watching YouTube. To my surprise, I have no schedule. I'm off Saturday along with the rest of my second vacation week. I wasn't expecting that! Either the head bagger came back, or they corralled enough college boys to not need me that day. I'll go to the farm market...then probably spend the rest of the day watching movies or napping. 

Sunny Afternoon

We were up so late, I grabbed a really quick breakfast and called Uber the moment we were both ready. The lady arrived in 8 minutes, not bad for quarter after 11. We arrived at Abbie Road in Mt. Ephraim in a little over 5 minutes.

Abbie Road is a wonderful record/CD store on King's Highway in Mt. Ephraim. Lauren and I have been friends with Bob, the kindly, grizzled older owner, for years. He greeted us warmly with hugs and asked us how we'd been. I've been buying media from him since I moved here in 2006 and he was still in Collingswood. He always gives us the best deals. His store is one large room filled to the ceiling with shelves and shelves of CDs, records, and music DVDs. Lauren found five CDs, including a rare Micky Dolenz singles set, the That Was Then, This Is Now Monkees greatest hits collection, and a 2-disc Elvis set. I only got one record, but he was having such good CD sales, especially on jazz titles, I ended up with 13 CDs. The one record was the soundtrack from Murder By Death (another movie I didn't know had a soundtrack). The CDs were:

The cast album for the 2011 Broadway revival of How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying with Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette 

Top TV Hits, a 1995 2-disc Entertainment Weekly collection of TV theme songs 

Soundtracks from Casablanca and Batman Forever

Rhythm of the Pridelands, a 1995 CD of African-style music "inspired by" The Lion King (I've had the cassette version since it came out - I didn't think there was a CD.)

Songs That Got Us Through World War II, collection of hits from the early 40's

Eartha Kitt - "Miss Kitt," To You

Julie London - The Unforgettable Julie London

Miles Davis - Porgy & Bess and Doo-Bop

John Coltrane - Giant Steps

Dave Brubeck - Jazz Impressions of Japan and Quiet As the Moon (The latter is the soundtrack from an episode of the Peanuts series This Is America, Charlie Brown.) 

By 12:30, our stomachs were starting to rumble. It was time for lunch. Neither of us felt like waiting that long, so we just got pizza at Tony Roni's on the corner of King's Highway and the Black Horse Pike a couple of blocks down from Abbie Road. Lauren had pepperoni and a square slice of cheese. I had the regular triangular cheese and a "supreme" - basil, tomato, mozzarella, and very small pepperoni slices. She got a Diet Pepsi. I had an iced tea. We timed things right, too. We'd just started on our pizzas when a line of big men in hard hats and bright yellow road construction vests came in to order lunch. 

Though it was much hotter than it has been, probably in the mid-80's, sunny, and thickly humid, it was still nice enough for a walk down the Black Horse Pike to the Audubon Crossings Shopping Center. We started off at Goodwill. Lauren didn't get anything here, but I found the James Cagney gangster drama White Heat still in its plastic and AM Gold 1969, a collection of hit songs from the year in question that includes "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" by BJ Thomas, "These Eyes" by the Guess Who, "Someday We'll Be Together" by the Supremes, and "Put a Little Love In Your Heart" by Jackie DeShannon. 

We were in and out of stores for the next hour or so. Lauren bought candy at Five Below and Marshalls. I got nice illustration markers and glitter markers for a friend's teen daughter at Five Below and mini coconut patties at Marshalls. I never do well at Ross, but Lauren picked up two pairs of shorts. She got energy drinks that were 2 for 5 at the Acme. I got the Powerade Water that's on sale for 99 cents and had an online coupon for the Xochital blue corn chips. 

Took another long walk after we left Acme, this time down the Black Horse Pike and Kendall Boulevard into Oaklyn. After all that walking, we needed a stop at Common Grounds Coffee Shop. Thankfully, they were less busy than they tend to be earlier in the day. We had no trouble getting a seat while Lauren had a root beer coffee float (she said it was delicious - really tasted like root beer and coffee) and a cannolli (which she also liked). I had a slice of my favorite crumb cake and strawberry shortcake crusher. I didn't realize it had coffee in it. Oh well. I could use the caffeine (even though it did give me heartburn later). 

The Score Records is directly across the street from Common Grounds. I've been dying to show this place to Lauren ever since it opened last August. In addition to records, CDs, and DVDs, it also sells stickers, pins, motel-style keychains with funny sayings, t-shirts, local art, and mini album covers on refrigerator magnets. The owner is also a total sweetheart. Lauren grabbed two pins, three keychains, and a Weird All Even Worse magnet. I found two records and a CD. The CD was Madonna's Something To Remember. The two records were:

Fire Into Music, a jazz/funk collection

The Commodores - Nightshift

After we finally got home, we rested for about an hour and a half before heading back out to get dinner. We weren't up for much more than picking up sandwiches at a quiet Crown Chicken and Gyro. Lauren got a kebobs gyro. I had a chicken sandwich that was amazing, perfectly fried and juicy. We both had their tasty thin greasy-dry fries. She got a Diet Coke. I had a citrus diet green tea that was so good, I wish I asked the girl at the counter where they got it from.

I had Match Game '75 on before and after we went to get dinner. Most of the night finished off the week with Joan Collins and Scoey Mitchelll. Spencer for Hire and Vega$ star Robert Urich and soap sweetheart Jamie Lyn Bauer appeared next week...much to Brett's delight when she got to give Urich his welcome to the show kiss!

Finished the night with Paw Patrol. Snooty Winnie Winnington thinks the jumping contest is for her horse Felicia. She has to drive into the swamp when Mayor Goodway tells her it's a frog jumping contest. "Pups Save a Show Jumper" when Winnie's van and Felicia's truck get stuck in the bog and Chase and Rubble have to pull them out. "Pups Save the Salmon" who can't get around a beaver dam to the ocean. Skye also has to rescue Alex from being stuck in the logs on the dam. 

Red, White, and Matches

Began a gloomy Memorial Day with material from Colliers Harvest of Holidays. Since Memorial Day began as Decoration Day honoring the soldiers who fought and died during the Civil War, all of the material revolves around that conflict. The most touching is the lone prose piece, "Light Bread and Apple Butter." A starving Union soldier and his dog wins the trust of a mother and her brood with his good manners and his volunteering to chop wood for them in exchange for the title meal. The poems were "Barbara Friechie," "The Sword of Robert E. Lee," and "Sherman's Ride."

Switched to Disney war-related shorts while I ate breakfast. Though Mickey Mouse didn't really figure into the World War II shorts, he did do one short based around World War I in 1929. "The Barnyard Battle" pits scrappy Mickey against huge Hun cats. Mickey uses his wits - and a convenient piano - to take those big cats down.

Goofy and Donald Duck were far more popular by the time the US entered the war in 1941. Goofy managed to get into two war shorts. "How to Be a Sailor" starts off as one of his typical how-to spoofs, with Goofy learning semaphore and trying to tie knots, but it ends with war footage and him being shot at the enemy. "Victory Vehicles" gives us a variety of conveyances, from Pogo sticks to literal golf carts, designed to get Goofys to where they're going without using rationed metal or gasoline. (By the way, I agree with Leonard Maltin in the intro to this cartoon. The song "Hop On Your Pogo Stick" is rather catchy.)

Donald was by far the biggest and most beloved character in Disney shorts by the 1940's, and he had the lion's share of war-related material. "Donald Gets Drafted" when he's swayed by the glamour offered on the recruitment posters. He wants to be a flyer, but Sergeant Pete would rather have him stand attention on an ant hill. He does finally get to fly after a disastrous check-up in "The Sky Trooper," but not in the way he planned. He finally gets the best of Pete in "The Vanishing Private," where he's doused with an invisibility paint while camouflaging a cannon. Pete follows "The Little Man You Can't See" on a Merry chase around the base. 

"Der Furher's Face" won an Oscar in 1943 for its surreal imagery depicting Donald dreaming he's a worker in a Nazi munitions factory. "Fall Out-Fall In" has Donald first trying to set up his tent, then attempting to sleep as the snores of his fellow soldiers keep him awake. "Commando Duck" is sent into the heart of Japan to contact their men. In the end, he's able to wipe...no, wash...out the enemy with the help of a rubber raft and a lot of water.

The Pink Panther was one of the few major animated characters to join the Vietnam War in "G.I Pink." Unlike Donald, he was swayed by the power, but doesn't have an easier time than Disney's irascible duck did 25 years before. Cranky drill sergeants, angry mascots, and land mine-ridden obstacle courses make him wish he'd just stayed at home. 

Headed out after "G.I Pink" ended. I just caught one of the new NJ Transit buses up the White Horse Pike. The lack of stairs is probably intended to make the bus more wheelchair-accessible, but while they're cleaner and smell better, the seats are harder and a lot less comfortable. I had no idea how you asked the driver to get off. There were no buttons, like on the old buses. I originally said Barrington, but Lawnside was closer to where I wanted to start anyway. (I later discovered that you pull on a yellow rope to get off, rather than a button.)

Another Red, White, and Blue Thrift Shop just replaced the long-empty K-Mart in the Lawnside Shopping Center a few days ago. Between the cloudy, warm weather, the new store, and this being one of the few things open on a major holiday, you can guess that they were mobbed. I did manage to dig up a few interesting items. I had no idea Major League had a soundtrack, let alone one on LP! I had even more luck with CDs: 

Journey - Raised On Radio

Diana Ross - Anthology (2-Disc set)

Soundtrack from Prince of Egypt

The Great Ladies of Rock & Roll: The 60's

And one interesting-looking young adult book: 

The League of Secret Heroes: Cape - Book One, by Kate Hannigan

Hiked down to Barrington after I left Red, White, and Blue. Thank heavens the weather held. It hadn't rained since this morning...and to my knowledge, it hasn't rained again since. It was just gloomy, cloudy, humid, and warm as I headed across Clements Bridge Road to the Old Rail Tavern. I had a tasty Italian Chicken Cutlet with provolone cheese and sauteed broccoli rabe and crunchy sweet potato fries with cinnamon cream cheese dip on their covered patio area while listening to a large family chatter on the other side of the room and half-looking at the college men's lacrosse game on TV. (Princeton killed Notre Dame, by the way, 16-9.)

The Barrington Antique Center is two doors down. This rabbit warren of tiny rooms filled with every possible vintage item, from Victorian glassware to relatively recent DVDs and Barbies, is open all week and on most holidays. My best find here was a stuffed version of Rick Raccoon from Shirt Tales. I had no idea there even were stuffed Shirt Tales. Rather appropriate, given I've been watching the show. (I'll have to look around for stuffed versions of Digger and Pammy, too.) Grabbed a bag of buttery sour cherry thumbprint cookies that were really yummy. I also picked up two children's records, The Care Bears' Birthday Party and readings of two original Winnie the Pooh stories. 

I originally wanted to get a drink at Berri Caffeinated, but they were closed by quarter after 3. I just walked down to the White Horse Pike to wait for the bus instead. Once again, it was on time, and there were no problems. I pulled the rope just in time. They let me off at the perfect spot to get home quickly.

Went straight into another Match Game Memorial Day marathon when I got home. In addition to many of the same episodes seen on Saturday, this one expanded to feature soldiers who appeared on Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour and Match Game '90 as well. The Match Game '90 episodes were the hilarious Veteran's Day week shows with Marines as contestants and in the audience. The Marines really adored soap stars Karen Wittier and Fiona Hutchinson, cheering everything they said or did. In the case of Karen, their affections were warranted. She proved to be more than a pretty face when she twice won big money for the contestants. Fiona spent most of the week flirting with Ronn Lucas and Scorch.

Match Game Holiday Extra - Memorial Day Celebration 2026

Finished the night with two more wartime shorts, this time from Universal. "21 Day, Once a Month" debuted just weeks before the US joined the war, making it perhaps more timely than Universal planned. Woody Woodpecker has a cameo in this parody of the peacetime draft featuring toy soldiers. He also figured into one of the few wartime shorts Universal did. Like Donald, he wants to be an "Ace In the Hole," but his sergeant has him shaving horses. The Big bulldog definitely regrets it when Woody finally does get into the air!

Let the Good Times Roll

Began the morning with breakfast and the last episode of Pac-Man I'll be doing for now. (The series finale is a Thanksgiving episode I watched last November.) It's "Super-Pac Vs. Pac-Ape" when an organ grinder's monkey eats Super Power Pellets and grows huge. Super-Pac tries to help, but it's Pac Man who has to rescue Pepper when Pac-Ape grabs her and starts destroying Pac Land. Pac Man hopes their new computer will change their lives, but "Computer Packy" bites off more power pellets than he can chew when PJ messes around with it and it sucks in Pac Baby, then the two of them.

Honestly, the first cartoon based after a video game...isn't bad. It's very much of its time, especially in the slightly goofier second season. I definitely like the first season better, where the focus is on Pac Man and his family and the ghosts and he's more of a hero. Neither PJ nor Super Pac add a whole lot in the second season. Super Pac's antics and incompetence are good for a few mild chuckles, but PJ is just obnoxious, a Pac-Fonzie without the charm. Worth checking out if you're a fan of 80's kid action cartoons, Pac Man, or want to see what Pac Man would look like on the small screen.

Did a few things online, then headed out. Collingswood was having its first major outdoor fair of the year. The Green Festival was on the street and parking lot behind the old brick school building on Haddon Avenue. It was booths filled with plants, flowers, local Collingswood information, and information on lawn care, ecology, composting, and indigenous flora. I didn't buy anything, but I did run into one of the little boys from Healthy Kids who sits at my table and his mommy. I waved and told them I was out walking around.

The real reason I was in Collingswood was to hit Innergroove Records for Record Store Day. The small, narrow store was jammed with records, CDs...and record collectors looking for great deals. I managed to dodge the collectors long enough to pick up: 

Theme from Growing Pains - Steve Dorff and Friends (Collection of songs from 80's TV shows - including the title sitcom. I almost bought this on my birthday, then decided to wait for Record Store Day. At $12.99, this was the only Innergroove album that cost more than $2.)

The Official Music of the 23rd Olympiad Los Angeles 1984 (Yes, the 1984 Olympic music collection. I thought it was especially appropriate with the Olympics going back to LA in 2028.)

Gold Rush '79 Volume 2 (K-Tel collection)

The Best-Loved Music of Christmas (I mainly bought this for the nifty pop-up cover.)

Diana Ross - Diana

The Beach Boys - The Beach Boys' Party!

The Cars - The Cars' Greatest Hits

Went down the block and across the street to Haddon Culinary after I got out. I was there for a drink. Picked up a Diet Dr. Pepper, a treat, and a container of their amazing house-made potato chips. 

Had a quick lunch when I got home while watching two episodes of Bluey on Disney Plus. Bluey and Bingo are excited to spend "The Weekend" with their dad Bandit. Bandit gets so into a game he and the girls playing where Bingo is a statue that keeps moving around, he doesn't hear when Bingo points out a bug that resembles a walking leaf. Chili insists that her daughters do "Housework" and clean up their blanket fort, but their way of walking while they put things away is so funny, their parents end up watching them instead.

Hurried off to work after I finished eating and changed. I was slightly late, which was the worst thing that happened all day. They were really busy when I got in. I needed help around 4 PM to gather carts. The later it got, the quieter it got. By the time I left, the store was much quieter. At least it was a gorgeous day for pushing carts, sunny, breezy, and much cooler, a perfect lower 70's. 

Picked up a gift card for my nephew Khai for his birthday tomorrow after I finished. I can't believe he'll be turning 16! I brought his card with me and dropped it off at his mom's house on my way home. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, and I wasn't planning on riding the bike. 

Since it was still open and two blocks away, I stopped at The Score Records on my way home. They're smaller than Innergroove, and I didn't make as many great finds, but I did pick up a few good titles:

Peggy Lee - Miss Peggy Lee Sings the Songs of Cy Coleman

Lena Horne - Nature's Baby

Aerosmith - Rock In a Hard Place (This was the most expensive here at $13.) 

Bruce Springsteen - Greatest Hits (The lone CD I picked up today.)

Changed and had dinner when I got home, then spent the rest of the night watching the Saturday Match Game marathon. With The Lone Ranger in re-runs on TV and radio, questions joking about his relationship with Tonto and what he and Tonto did out there on the plains were heard throughout the entire run of the 1973-1982 series. They weren't always the most politically correct, and several episodes with Native jokes are no longer seen on regular TV. In one episode, Charles tied his tie around his head in his idea of a Native headdress as his answer to a question. (This was also the episode where Gene got mad at the cameraman and attacked him.) Another featured Bertha, the sweet older woman contestant whom the panelists were so kind to. They fanned her, got her a seat, and Johnny Olsen brought her water. There was also the early episode with the charming British contestant who needed the money because he and his wife had gotten into a car accident the day before. His wife was in the audience with a bandage around her head.

Of course, there were occasional questions about the other Indians, the ones from India. They weren't any more politically correct than the Native American jokes. In one episode, Gene and Betty White ended up on the floor to demonstrate how an Indian fakir blows on a horn to charm a snake. There were also more jokes about "Gunga Dingy" than you can shake a snake charmer's basket at.

At any rate, take a trip out west and to the mystical east with these wild wild episodes!

Match Game Saturday Classics - Lone Ranger, Tonto, and Indians

Here Comes the Sun

Began the morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. Watched the episodes that introduced Daniel's autistic friend Max in honor of Autism Awareness Month. "Daniel Meets a New Friend" and learns there's things he can do to understand him better, like waiting for him to join in or not yelling around him. It's too loud for Max, but Daniel wants him to see his father's new clock. They find a way for "A New Friend at the Clock Factory" to join in. 

Switched to Pac Man while getting organized. Pac-Man becomes "Public Pac-Enemy No. 1" when he's mistaken for the gangster Pretty Boy Pac and sent to prison. Pretty Boy thinks he can take Pac Man's place, until Chomp Chomp and Sour Puss attack him. "The Old Pac-Man and the Sea" ends up sinking with the captain of the barge when the Ghosts attack their garbage barge carrying Power Pellets. They end up fighting the Ghosts in Paclantis for the amusement of the Pac-Queen.

Spent the next few hours getting ready for spring. I took my laundry downstairs, then took down the Easter decorations. Stripped the bed, put on the spring/fall sheets, and brought the winter sheets and blankets downstairs to be washed. When I finally brought my laundry upstairs, I pulled out my warm-weather clothes and put the cold weather ones away. It's supposed to be chilly tomorrow and Wednesday, but it'll get warm again after that. I don't think I'll need the turtlenecks, heavy jeans, or flannel nightgowns until fall returns. I also traded my fall-colored Pikachu and Eevee backpack with the spring-colored white and sage green one. 

Listened to The George Benson Collection while I worked. Pretty much every hit Benson ever had is here, from 80's radio staples "Turn Your Love Around" and "Give Me the Night" to the instrumental smash "Breezin'" to covers of "Here Comes the Sun," "White Rabbit," and "The Greatest Love of All." I remember hearing these on the radio and thinking how wonderfully sophisticated and sexy this sounded, how, well, breezy it was. 

After I finished with the clothes, I called Uber. It was late, past 2:15, but there were a few things I wanted to do in Cherry Hill. Good thing I wasn't in a hurry. It took 15 minutes for the driver to arrive going to Cherry Hill. Thankfully, it only took 7 for the one going home to find me. 

Started at Honeygrow. After a lot of carb-heavy lunches and brunches this weekend, I thought I'd try their salad bowl. I did a make-your-own with baby spinach, spring mix, broccoli, spring peas, feta cheese, toasted chickpeas, shrimp, grape tomatoes, and crunchy onions. Washed it down with their dark cherry punch. Oh yum. A nice mix of flavors, and I really liked those tasty chickpeas! 

The other reason I ate at Honeygrow is it's a block from Lucky Strike, formerly The Big Event. I'll save bowling for when Lauren visits in July, but I did spend 40 minutes running around the arcade area, spinning the pirate wheel and the monster wheels, throwing rubber axes at a target, dropping balls, making basketball shots, dropping ping pong balls in cups, and playing a lot of Nerf Arcade. I made over 1,500. Ended up getting a really cute stuffed animal that's a unicorn on one side and a pink dragon when you reverse it. I gave her the German name Eldelgard, which means "noble guard" in German, Eldie for short.

Another Uber driver took me to Red, White, and Blue Thrift in Cherry Hill, behind the mall and next-door to At Home. It's basically the same thing as Second Avenue Thrift, with all-cash payment instead of cash and card. I didn't get a lot here, as I don't really need a ton of clothes here, but I did find a nice copper cake/casserole pan, along with a book, a CD, and a record: 

The Commitments, Vol. 2 (the CD)

The record is The MGM Treasury of Bedtime Stories, a children's retelling of four fairy-tales

The Train to Impossible Places by P.G Bell (the book)

Made my way across the street to Second Avenue Thrift next. They're still working on the exterior of that shopping center. I had to walk into the store under a plywood entrance. It was normal inside, though. My best finds here were two gorgeous heavy cookie sheets, one in red, one in purple. No interesting records or CDs, but I did also find two books: 

Beauty by Robin McKinley

Paws and Effect by Sofia Kelly

Took out the recycling when I got home, then got dinner and went straight into Match Game '90. I came just in time for Chuck Roast's first episode. The punk puppet was supposed to be Ronn Lucas' temporary replacement for Scorch, who supposedly was trying out for a movie. (He didn't get the part.) Despite Chuck getting on everyone's nerves (including Deborah next to him, who stuffed his arm into his mouth), he would be back several times in 1990. Scorch thankfully was back by the next episode and got to flirt with Brett Somers, doing her first of three weeks on the show next to her old drinking buddy Charlies Nelson Reilly.

Finished the night at YouTube with game shows revolving around drawing and art. Art-themed shows go back further than you might think. Picture This was a CBS summer replacement series in 1963. A celebrity - William Bendix and Alan Young in the one existing episode - chooses an object, and the other celebrity tells the contestant how to draw it. If the contestant can identify the object, they get the point. If not, the other team gets the point. In the bonus round, the celebrity drew up to six objects for the contestant to guess. Interesting idea, and while it wasn't all that exciting, the basic idea would be refined for drawing games to come.

Fast Draw from 1968 was the same idea, but now the contestant would draw a person, place, or object, and the celebrity would have to guess what it is. Basically, it's Picture Password, with drawing instead of descriptions. Anita Gillette wiped the floor with stage star Robert Alda here.

Win, Lose, or Draw and Pictionary were hit board games before they were hit game shows. Win was the creation of Bert Convy, who hosted the syndicated version until 1989, and Burt Reynolds. Reynolds appears in the episode I have here, with Betty White, Annie Potts, and his good friend Dom DeLouise. Basically, one team draws a subject and tries to guess it, then the other team does it. The bonus round had the winning team drawing as many words and phrases as they could in 90 seconds. My siblings and I loved the teen version on The Disney Channel, and I really wish I'd seen more of the adult show, too. What's on YouTube is a lot of fun.

There were four attempts to turn Pictionary into a game show. The first one was a kid's show from 1989 that had heavy Double Dare influences and only lasted a few months. The most famous version was hosted by Alan Thicke in 1997. It's the same idea as Win, Lose, or Draw, only they're just drawing phrases, and each celebrity has to draw the same word. If the contestant playing with them gets the word, they get the money. This is just as fast-paced and fun, and it's a shame that it only lasted a few months. GSN tried reviving it in 2000, but it never got past the pilot stage. It did much better on Fox in 2021 and in syndication from 2022 to 2025. 

Not all art-themed game shows involved contestants making art. What In the World was a Philadelphia panel show filmed at the University of Pennsylvania that had a panel of experts (including Vincent Price in this 1955 episode) guessing and appraising art works from around the world, mainly African statues and masks here. Kind of dry if you're not an art fan yourself, but this ran from 1951 to 1955 and would continue on Philly public television stations until 1965.

Explore the world of art and make some artworks yourself with these hilarious and informative shows!

What In the World (1955)

Picture This (1963)

Fast Draw (1967)

Win, Lose, or Draw (1987)

Pictionary (1997)

Fascinating Rhythms

Got a quick start this morning with breakfast and Little Bear. Little Bear can't sleep, so he makes "Little Bear's Wish" on a star and imagines what his wishes are. Hoping to get him to sleep, Mother Bear tells him a bedtime story that sounds a great deal like his wishes. Little Bear is bored when his father is painting the house and his friends are busy, so he plays with "Little Bear's Shadow." Little Bear forgot "A Present for Mother Bear," so he goes to find her one. His friends have their own ideas of what to give Mother Bear, until Little Bear decides they should all give her gifts.

Absolutely no trouble with Uber whatsoever today. I was quite shocked when the morning driver arrived in 2 minutes! The one going to Thomas Sharp came in 4 minutes, and the one going home took 7 during the height of rush hour. Got to both jobs right on time, and there was no traffic anywhere.

The Acme was fairly busy for a weekend where the only thing going on is the start of March Madness. Maybe it was the weather. Though the rain's gone, it's still chilly here, windy and in the lower-mid 40's. At least I generally didn't have trouble with the carts. Other than having to dodge people reorganizing items in the pharmacy section and doing a few returns, there were no problems whatsoever.

Got my schedule while at work. In good news, though I have fewer hours next week, they're still more than the week before. I'm back to the Wednesday double-shift and regular Acme work on the weekends. Next Saturday is 6 hours, though - the head bagger took that day off again. 

After I changed into a regular shirt, I got a treat for dessert tonight that was cheap on the bakery cart, then headed to the Audubon Crossings Shopping Center in the back for lunch. Hadn't had pizza at Tu Se Bella's in while. I got in just ahead of the crowd ordering pizza slices and hoagies. I enjoyed a slice of Hawaiian (pineapple-Canadian ham), a slice of broccoli-shrimp, and Diet Pepsi while watching Great Britain and Mexico play each other in the lead-up to the World Baseball Classic. (Later research revealed Mexico walloped Great Britain 8-2.)

Strolled across the parking lots to Five Below to get a snack to eat with the kids. Grabbed a Rice Krispies Peanut Butter Chocolate treat. Couldn't resist grabbing a Cherry Coke Float Zero for later, too. Didn't find any good records at Goodwill this time, but I did pick up the 5-disc CD set for the PBS miniseries Broadway: The American Musical in its original case for $5.99.

Speaking of the kids, this should be their last day in the library for a while. The playground is now completely clear. There's only a little snow around the edges near the picnic tables. Good thing, too. They were pretty wild today. I had trouble with my 9 kids in the bathroom, and even more taking a gaggle of girls to the bathroom later. Two of the older girls spent more time playing with the water and soaking the floor than washing. 

They did more running around in the library than dancing to "Ghostbusters," a kid-ized version of "Pink Pony Club," and songs from KPop Demon Hunters and Lilo and Stitch. I spent the time coloring with a couple of kids and showing them my new artwork of Snake King Pruitt and enchanted wizard Victor in Legendary Tales of WENN. I even showed some of the littlest kids photos from Remember WENN on my Pinterest to give them an idea of what I was basing the story on. 

Went straight into dinner and Match Game Syndicated when I got home. The first episode had Jack Klugman replacing his ex-wife Brett and complaining that the panelists don't get gifts like the contestants. The remaining shows were from the next week, when Marcia Wallace, Joyce Bulifant, and Betty White all rotated sitting in Brett's seat. They all seemed to have a marvelous time doing so too, especially Marcia. 

Finished the night with the first two discs of Broadway: The American Musical. In all honesty, with the exception of some of the super-old material on the first disc like Eddie Cantor singing "If You Knew Susie" and Bert Williams' "The Moon Shined Over the Moonshine," I have almost all of these songs on their original cast albums, or at least in collections. It's still really cool to hear them all together, from Joel Gray standing in for George M. Cohan singing "Give My Regards to Broadway" on the start of Disc One to Carol Lawrence and Larry Kert hoping for a wonderful "Tonight" from the original 1957 cast of West Side Story at the end of Disc Two. 

Other favorites on Disc One include Fannie Brice's definitive "My Man," Fred Astaire and his sister Adele demonstrating "Fascinating Rhythm," Paul Robeson giving us an unmatched "Old Man River," Ethel Merman blaring "You're the Top," and even Irving Berlin himself with "Oh How I Hate to Get Up In the Morning." Favorites from Disc Two include "Come Rain or Come Shine" from St. Louis Woman (one of only four cast albums on the set from the 40's onwards I don't currently own), Ray Bolger leading the audience through "Once In Love With Amy" from Where's Charley, Enzio Pinza's gorgeous "Some Enchanted Evening" from South Pacific, Carol Channing squeaking "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Gerald Price introducing American audiences to "Mack the Knife" in the hit 1950's revival of The Threepenny Opera, and Barbara Cook's truly amazing coloratura showcase "Glitter and Be Gay" from the original 1956 Candide. 

Malls and Games

Began President's Day with breakfast and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. There's "Fractures" in the Rebellion as they argue over how to use the Heart of Etheria super weapon. Adora and Bow think it's best to let sleeping weapons lie before they destroy the planet, while Glimmer thinks it could be harnessed to defeat the Horde. They're all shocked when Scorpia suddenly turns up to tell them that Entraptra is on Beast Island, but they don't trust her...until they admit that they're all misfits in one way or another, and she wonders if she's found a place where she can finally fit in. Meanwhile, Glimmer tries to get the truth from flippant Double Trouble, while Adora, Bow, and Swift Wing sneak out the rescue Entraptra.

Called Uber after the show ended. To my surprise, I got a driver in 3 minutes at quarter after 11. He came in a snazzy orange Jeep, too. No trouble getting to the Deptford Mall at all. There was no traffic anywhere, not even around the mall or on the highway.

Started off at Round 1 Arcade. There were a lot of games down, including Lane Master and Ring Toss. Thankfully, plenty of others were still going. I spent the next hour going from Tetris to giant Pac Man to giant Space Invaders to Bust a Move to skee ball to a Wizard of Oz wheel to Centipede Chaos. Couldn't get anything out of the cranes, but I did earn enough points for a cute little Beanie Baby French bulldog named Portia. 

After a quick peek at FYE, I headed to Red Robin for lunch. Considering it was 12:30 by the time I got there, I'm surprised they weren't busier. I didn't have to wait at all. I went with one of their big promotions, where you could get certain sandwiches with a side and a drink for a fixed price. I got a Red Robin Double Burger, steak fries, and an unsweetened iced tea for $10.50 (including tax but not tip). The burger wasn't bad, juicy if a bit flat. I always love their steak fries, though, nice and hot and perfectly seasoned.

Unfortunately, I also got a text from Jessa while I was there saying that she had to cancel this week, but we could do next week. Bummer. I look forward to our dinners together. I don't really have too many adults I talk to on a regular basis. Plus, her birthday is this week, and I have a Valentine's card for her, too.

I was in and out of stores after lunch. I looked at t-shirts in the Junior Plus section at Boscov's, but I just ended up getting Jessa a birthday present. Browsed at Toys R' Us, but didn't see anything I needed. Hit the jackpot at Box Lunch. They were having a buy one, get two for free sale on clearance items. I picked up a cute Wicked t-shirt, a Wicked pocket insert for mini backpacks, and Jacken the Squishmallow Sea Slug. (He's cute, but I can understand why he was only $3.99. And the pockets and Jacken were the freebies.) 

Headed across the street around 2:30. On one hand, it was cloudy, gloomy, and breezy. Though it's colder than it has been, probably in the upper 30's-lower 40's, that's still nowhere near the Antarctic temperatures we've been getting lately. It was actually a rather pleasant walk across the street, made even more so by the fact that it looks like they're finally moving something into the former Christmas Tree Shoppes building next to Aldi's. (Later research revealed it'll actually be three buildings, a Nordstrom Rack, a restaurant, and Blinds To Go.) 

Barnes and Noble was even busier than the mall. I didn't see any books I desperately needed, and I still have tons to read at home, but I did find two records for relatively decent prices. Until today, the only Beatles albums I was missing were Please Please Me and Yellow Submarine. I finally found Please Please Me today, along with A Boy Named Charlie Brown. (Later research reveals it's not the actual soundtrack. It's a reprint of an earlier Vince Guaraldi album that was originally titled Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Oh well. I'll put it in with the jazz albums and keep looking for the actual soundtrack.)

Since I got a dollar off tea or coffee coupon with the records, I went to Starbucks for a snack. Had a chai latte and an Oreo brownie. The Oreo brownie was thick and fudgy, filled with crumbly Oreo pieces and vanilla cream. The chai latte was sweet and slightly spicy. 

The Uber going home picked me up at Barnes and Noble in 10 minutes, not bad considering it was past 4 PM by then. There was traffic going over the still-under-repair ramp into Collingswood and Mt. Ephraim, but it moved faster than I thought it would. I was home by almost 5.

Took my laundry downstairs, put everything away, and did a few chores, then put on the first episode of Good Times in honor of Black History Month. I have at least 25 TV DVD sets I haven't gotten around to watching yet, many of them full series. Instead of trying to binge-watch all of them (many of them being very long-running sitcoms), I'm going to rotate seasons with the longer shows. In this case, Good Times kicks off with "Getting Up the Rent." Florida (Esther Rolle) and James (John Amos) Evans are shocked when they get eviction notices. Their children J.J (Jimmie Walker), Thelma (Bern Nadette Stanis), and Michael (Ralph Carter) try to help in their own way. Florida doesn't approve of James playing pool for the cash and goes to get it in her own way.

Switched to Match Game Syndicated next. Fred Travalena figured into two of the weeks, sitting next to Brett during the one with Betty Kennedy and Robert Donner and in the fifth "smart guy" seat next to Fannie Flagg. Fred's many voices prompted several jokes, including Brett wondering how his wife felt about sleeping with so many different voices at night.

Finished the night at YouTube covering the career of Geoff Edwards. Edwards had been a TV and radio host who did several unsold pilots before he finally landed Hollywood's Talking in 1973. Jack Barry's revival of the short-lived Everybody's Talking from 1967 had three contestants trying to guess who or what celebrities seen in short filmed segments were discussing. The segments were cute, but the game play was rough - it wasn't easy to figure out what they were talking about just from the segments. The show ran three months, ultimately being replaced by the far more successful Match Game revival. 

Edwards hadn't gotten along with Jack Barry, but found the wacky Chuck Barris to be more congenital. He hosted The New Treasure Hunt for Barris from 1973 through 1977. Ladies were called onstage to open up colorful boxes. They initially chose a box, then a card with money attached to the box. They could keep the money, or go for the contents of the box. The contents might lead to a big car or prize...or lead to a silly skit and much cheaper prizes called "klunks." Alas, both ladies hit "klunks" in the episode I saw. Edwards finally left when he thought his boss was getting a little too sadistic with the ladies on the "klunks." He'd briefly host a revival in the early 80's.

He also had trouble with Jackpot! in 1974. This Bob Stewart show had a group of people reading riddles for a contestant. If the contestant could guess the riddle, they would remain queen or king of the "hill." If they got it wrong, they'd have to step down, and the person who read the riddle would have their turn. The more the riddles were answered correctly, the higher the Jackpot got. There was also a Super Jackpot...and that was won in the only episode currently existing with audio and video intact. Apparently, the format was changed to a more typical question-and-answer show later in its run. The original NBC show only ran a year and a half. It would do far better on USA and in syndication in the late 80's. Edwards hosted the final, syndicated season of that run.

When the word-based Bob Stewart show Shoot for the Stars didn't fare any better in 1977, Edwards returned to syndication for Play the Percentages. This one had so much format trouble, it ran through three different versions of its format during the show's eight-month run. The format seen in this pilot episode would be slightly tweaked for the actual series. By March, the couples were replaced by solo players, and it would be more of a straight quiz. Nothing worked. Edwards was charming, but the rotating formats were confusing in any version.

Edwards was much happier taking over Starcade from Mark Richards in 1983. Unlike Richards, he was willing to study and learn about video games and those who played them. In fact, he did his homework so well, he became a gamer himself for the rest of his life. Two contestants answer questions about video games, then play a then-popular video arcade console. Whomever has the highest score gets to win prizes on a "guess the video game" mini-game, then plays one of the remaining games and tries to beat the game's average score. No wonder Edwards fell in love with video games after this. This show is really fun to watch even now, especially if you're a vintage video game nut.

Edwards' last non-lottery game show would be The New Chain Reaction. He took over from the blase Blake Emmons after a few weeks in 1986 and would host for the rest of its run. I used to love playing along with the contestants and watching them make word chains and seeing who could get all the letters first. This was Edwards' other Canadian/US cable show along with the Jackpot revival. I fondly remember seeing both on USA as a child and thinking how much fun they looked.

Avoid klunks, make word chains, hit the Starcade, and play the percentages with this jack of all trades charmer!

Hollywood's Talking Premiere (1973)

The New Treasure Hunt (1974)

Jackpot! (1975)

Play the Percentages Pilot (1980)

Starcade (1984)

The New Chain Reaction (1987)

Jackpot! (1989)

The Grass Is Always Greener

Began the day with breakfast and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. It's "Boys Night Out" when Bow, Swift Wing, and Sea Hawk are feeling neglected by their ladies and head to a local tavern for some fun. That "fun" ends with them kidnapped by first pirates, then the Horde, and Mermista, Adora, and Glimmer having to rescue them. Mermista's feeling better after having saved her boyfriend, but Bow isn't as happy that Adora and Glimmer are still on the outs. Meanwhile, Catra also learns a lesson about friendship when she finds Scorpia gone and realizes it's no fun doing a villain monologue when no one's there to hear it.

Called Uber after the episode ended. Unfortunately, there were few cars out at quarter of 9, for some reason. I couldn't get one for almost 20 minutes and ended up being 15 minutes late. Not a good thing, as it got busy later on. I have no idea why we were busy. All of the holidays are on the weekend, and we're not supposed to get any kind of bad weather until next week. The weather was even decent, windy and cloudy but nowhere near as chilly as it has been, probably in the mid-upper 30's. In fact, I had so many carts to do I was almost late getting out.

Grabbed frosting and cupcake papers to make Valentine's cupcakes sometime this weekend, then headed out. Had lunch at Tu Se Bella's. They were totally quiet other than a boring court show when I sat down with a slice of ham-pineapple, a slice of mushroom, and a Diet Pepsi. Both were yummy, as always. I love Hawaiian pizza.

Instead of returning to the Acme, I headed across the street to Goodwill to browse and see if I could find some Valentine's Day gifts for myself. I hit the jackpot with records. Someone donated pristine copies of classic jazz albums and a more recent jazz LP. Found a fairly rare cast album and an old-time radio show, too: 

The original cast album for the 1981 Lauren Bacall Woman of the Year musical

Two episodes of Fibber McGee and Molly (The LP was still in its original plastic!)

The Bill Evans Trio - Explorations

Jon Batiste - We Are (This was a surprise. This came out in 2021. I rarely find recent records at thrift shops. I think Explorations is a recent reprint, too. I also saw pristine reprints of Kind of Blue and Mingus Ah Un, but I have those on CD.) 

Went next-door to Five Below after I bought the records. I was there for a Rice Krispies bar to eat with the kids at snack time, but I also found a Care Bears Valentine's Day Squishmallow I couldn't resist. I never heard of the all-red All My Heart Bear before today. Online research revealed that he was originally a Target-exclusive Valentine's Day bear in the 2000's who is still used for Valentine's Day toys and online game extensions by the franchise. I wasn't originally going to buy him, but after I called Uber and had 12 minutes to kill, I went back and got him.

I'm rather glad I did. I showed him to the kids when I got to the Thomas Sharp School (right on time), and they loved him. They all wanted to give him hugs and pet his soft fur. Two of the girls even gave him kisses. Though I had 10 kids at my table, they were generally pretty good. No trouble cleaning up this time, and though they were a bit rowdy at the bathrooms, I at least got them in and out with a minimum of fuss.

We got them to the library a little earlier this time. By and large, things went a bit better than yesterday. First of all, no coloring. We're out of any kind of regular coloring paper, and the kids are too inclined towards ripping the rolled paper we tape on the tables after they get bored stenciling on them. Second, the head teacher was out sick, and she has the dance music, so no dance parties, either. We played calming instrumental music on the big speaker instead. I read books to the kids and admired their magnetic tile towers and space stations. 

Two of the older boys still threw fits. One got angry when I told him to share the building blocks with the younger kids. The other just ran around, threw himself on the floor, and wouldn't do what he was told. The first ended up going back to the cafeteria. The second got into trouble with several teachers, including the head of the company who was in for the head teacher today. He behaved slightly better when we moved the remaining six kids to the cafeteria right before I left.

When I got home, I went straight into Match Game Syndicated. They're on the week in 1980 where all of the panelists but Brett either were currently game show hosts (Dick Martin, Peter Marshall, Bill Cullen) or would be in the future (Betty White, Elaine Joyce). Elaine got to prove she's a lot smarter than she lets on with a big $10,000 Head-to-Head.

Finished the night with Remember WENN. Everyone at the station agrees to a "Work Shift" after Mr. Eldridge's mix-up with the scripts leaves the entire staff feeling frustrated. Smarmy inspirational guru Arden Sage (Greg Germann) claims he has the answer - they should "walk a mile in each other's shoes" and switch jobs for the day. That works about as well as can be expected. Eugenia is too nice to sell time to sponsors, Maple can't type well enough to write shows, Betty can only play "Chopsticks," and Hilary absolutely cannot handle the switchboard. They learn a lesson all right when it turns out Sage's "money" is more hot air than cold cash. (If nothing else, this episode does end the running gag about what Mr. Eldridge does at the station. He's the go-fer, the one who fetches the coffee and runs all the errands no one else has the time or inclination to do.)

Betty tells Maple and Scott about her first day at the station in "Past Tense, Future Imperfect." Victor's habitual "grandeloquence" and his long words just mixes her up and makes her think he's coming on to her. She tells Mackie...and before you know it, the entire station is convinced that Betty is a loose woman. Victor finally explains why he hired her - because she may lack polish, but he appreciates her energy and her ability to come up with ideas on a dime.

Winds of Winter

Began the morning with breakfast and Paw Patrol. "Pups On Ice" rescue Jake and Alex when they're stranded on the side of a cliff after Alex's sled goes out of control. "Pups and the Snow Monster" have to figure out what the strange creature that's scaring off the skiers and that Alex filmed is.

Called Uber after the cartoon ended. Not only did I have a large, heavy bag of donations I wanted to drop at Goodwill, but despite it being sunny outside, it was also cold and gale-force windy. It was no day for a bike ride, even if I could fit the bag on my bike. They took 12 minutes to arrive, but at least there was no traffic anywhere, not even around the entrance to Wal Mart. I even got the driver to drop me off around back, so I could bring the bag right to the donation center.

Was in and out of stores for the next hour. Goodwill was surprisingly quiet for them. The cold day must have scared people off. I bought The Gourmet Cookie Book, which collected the best cookie recipe from Gourmet Magazine from every year of its publication, and Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook in peace. Got a card and a gift card to Five Below for my niece Lilah, who turns 9 on Monday. Went across the street and picked up new underwear at Lane Bryant. Between good sales and their rewards program, I got six pairs for 30 dollars. 

I hadn't had lunch at Tu Se Bella's in ages. It was almost 2 PM by the time I got there, and there were only a few people enjoying pasta and sandwiches in booths. I had a slice of Hawaiian (Canadian bacon and pineapple) and a slice of broccoli-shrimp pizza with a bottle of Diet Pepsi while half-listening to a talk show on the TV on top of the soda cooler. Walked back to the Acme, where I picked up the Uber to Thomas Sharp School. They only took 5 minutes to arrive and got me there in a little over 5.

I think you can guess that the little kids didn't go outside today. It was just too cold. We tried to separate them into groups when they arrived, but I'm not sure it took. They're used to being able to sit wherever they want and play with whatever they want. We spent most of the time after lunch in the library. I colored with some of the kids. Three girls used stencils to make colorful leaves and animals on paper taped to a table. Others built with magnetic tiles or bristle blocks. Another teacher read to kids at the front table. I sat with the kids who were coloring pictures or drawing their own. They were fascinated when I drew Betty, Hilary, Bear Scott, Eagle Victor, Troll Jeff, and Puppy Enid from Hilary and the Beasts. We'd just moved the remaining kids, including my last diligent artist (who creatively turned a Pokemon picture into a nifty robot) when I finished.

It was still so cold, I took Uber home, too. This time, they took 10 minutes to arrive, not bad at the height of rush hour. There was a little traffic on the White Horse Pike around the corner of the Pike and Collings, but it could have been worse. I was home in five minutes again.

Got organized when I got home, then took a shower, had dinner, and watched The Vagabond King. I go further into the 1956 version of the operetta that would be the last film of soprano Kathryn Grayson at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Cult Flops - The Vagabond King (1956)

Switched to the soundtrack from the Disney Sleeping Beauty while working on the Vagabond King review. This is the original 1959 release, with the lush orchestrations by George Bruns. Unlike most soundtracks of this time period, we get the full songs as heard in the film, even the fathers' comic "Scrumps." Apparently, it was the first true-stereo soundtrack, and it still sounds good to this day, even on the slightly scratched copy I picked up from Innergroove Records last month. 

Finished the night with Remember WENN. Scott's latest scheme is an all-news day, but his attempt to turn WENN into CNN goes sideways when they can find absolutely nothing earthshaking to report. It turns out to be "Some Good News, Some Bad News" when they first attempt to find news on the street, then Scott makes his own drama. Meanwhile, Eugenia the organist, worn out from her all-night program, is replaced for the rest of the season by bubbly former stripper Maple LaMarsh.

"Don't Act Like That" introduces Giels Aldrych (Roddy McDowell), Hilary's former mentor who now runs an acting school. He first attempts to teach the WENN actors about stage projection, but they discover stage acting and acting on the radio are two entirely different things. When two interns, sweet and wordy teen Enid Farleigh (Melissa Dye) and celebrity imitator Gus Kahana (real-life cartoon voice artist Jeff Bergman), are brought in, the actors go on strike, until they realize how much Enid and Gus have to learn about radio. 

Rainy Days and Matches

Began the morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. "Mr. Malik Comes Back to School" to play his harmonica for the kids and introduce them to his hermit crab. The kids love dancing and pretending to be hermit crabs, but Mr. Malik has to remind them that they need to stop playing, and that there's a time for playing and a time for listening. Daniel and Katrina love making a snow cat, but Henrietta reminds them that there's a time for playing, and a time for listening. They go on "Daniel's Winter Walk" while heading home.

It was pouring cats and dogs when I got up late this morning. I was hoping the weather would subside, but the rain was still coming down at quarter after 1. Considering how bored I got the last time I sat around and did nothing on a Saturday off, I wanted to get out and do something. I grabbed a coat and called Uber. Surprisingly, they were there in 4 minutes.

They let me off at the Barrington Antique Center around 1:30, but I slid into The Garnet Grill first. Surprisingly, they were rather busy for 1:30, with one long table filled with locals chatting. I had a Camden-style chicken cheesesteak with Diet Dr. Brown cream soda and chips. "Camden-style" turned out to be on a round Kaiser roll rather than a hoagie roll, with tons of sauteed onions and cheddar cheese. Yum. Nice, warm, and filling on a messy day.

I wasn't the only person who thought this was a great day to visit the Barrington Antique Center. They were packed when I arrived around 2. I spent the next hour sorting through their piles of just about everything you can imagine, from depression glassware to fanciful Hilary Booth hats from the 40's and 50's to vintage toys and relatively recent DVDs. Found two authentic Cabbage Patch Kids outfits for my Cabbies Carrie and Dulcie, a cute gray, pink, and white knitted sweater with white knitted bloomers and red houndstooth check overalls with a frilly white short-sleeved blouse. Found one record, the 3-disc Original Gold Sessions soft rock collection. On my way out, while waiting for Uber, I spied an old industrial crate sitting on the front steps that would be perfect to finally thin out my jazz records. They're packed into the two crates I have for them now. And everything but the cookies was 20 percent off!

I wanted to go further to Doc's Finds in Haddon Heights and check out a new thrift shop in Audubon, but the rain just wasn't stopping. This was no day for wandering around. I called Uber...and spied the crate just after they said they'd be 11 minutes. That gave me just enough time to buy the crate before the lady arrived. Neither drive was longer than 5 minutes despite the continuing showers and chilly weather.

When I got home, I organized the jazz crates and dressed the Cabbies for winter while watching Geppetto. I go further into this Disney TV musical from 2000 with Drew Carey in the title role at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Family Fun Saturday - Geppetto 

Finished the night with the Saturday Match Game marathon. One of the writers' favorite questions parodied TV Guide listings and other TV shows of the time, usually the cop shows that dominated the airwaves in the 1970's. Ironside, Columbo, Kojak, and Cannon were their favorite targets, but such lesser-known cops as Banaceck and Harry-O got shout-outs occasionally too. The Rockford Files and Charlie's Angels got in later when Joe Santos of Rockford and David Doyle of Angels became semi-regulars around 1978. Usually, they were cracks about Kojak's bald head, Ironside's wheelchair, Columbo's rain coat and what he keeps in there, Cannon's girth, the Angels'...assets, or how tough the others were. 

There were TV jokes in some of the most beloved episodes of the entire series, like the time Richard gave "Benedict" for "__ Canyon" in the Head-to-Head. Or when Leslie Easterbrook, later of Police Academy, appeared on the show in 1980 wearing enormous shoulder pads that pre-dated the 80's shoulder pad fad by at least four or five years. Or an early syndicated episode with the most adorable and funny middle-aged lady who even knew how to put Gene in his place. Or when Elaine Joyce gave an answer Gene didn't like, and he untied her halter top. She held it on while avoiding Gene and Richard's attempts to help fix it.

Check the listings for laughter in this hilarious marathon!

Match Game Saturday Classics - The TV Guide Listings Marathon (Part 2)

Night of the Beautiful Noise

Got a very quick start with a granola bar and Supermarket Sweep on Buzzr. They were just starting the bonus round when I turned the TV on. I stayed for the first half of the next episode before calling Uber around 11. They arrived in 4 minutes, which I very much appreciated, and got me to the Silver Diner in 20 minutes.

I was originally going to eat at IHOP, but the Silver Diner is closer to the Cherry Hill 24 AMC Theater. I had two huge pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and a tiny cup of sliced strawberries and a mint leaf. Disappointing for the Silver Diner. Their pancakes are usually really good, but the plain ones were a bit dry until I drizzled syrup on them. The scrambled eggs were bland, and they didn't make the bacon crispy enough. 

Hurried past the walkway to the Cherry Hill Mall and down to the theater. Since the ticket to Song Sung Blue was on sale, I treated myself to a large popcorn and soda. Uh...they were both way too large, not to mention expensive. I finished about half the popcorn and didn't fill the soda close to all the way.

I'd missed the first few commercials when I finally found the theater. Most of them weren't all that exciting, anyway. I haven't seen the original Devil Wears Prada yet, let alone have any interest in the sequel. Reminders of Him looks like a sweet but typical melodrama. 

As for Song Sung Blue, I go further into this biography of a Neil Diamond tribute duo at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Song Sung Blue

Made my way over the footbridge to the Cherry Hill Mall after the movie ended. At least it was a nice day for a walk! Cold and very windy, but also sunny with only a few clouds out as I crossed the traffic-filled highway to the Cherry Hill Mall parking lot.

Spent an hour or so walking around in the mall. To tell the truth, I don't need a ton of stuff right now. I looked at FYE, Go! Calendars and Books, the Squishables store, and Miniso, but only bought an aqua cable-knit sweater and a green polo shirt (the latter on clearance) at JC Penney to use up a coupon. The aqua sweater is too big, but that's all they had. They were really picked over.

Headed across the street to the green-roofed shopping center around 4:30. It was really a mess over there. They're remodeling the exterior of many stores in preparation for the new Dick's store and sports grounds that'll replace the Cherry Hill One office building. The road in front of Total Wine was blocked off completely. 

Thankfully, 2A Thrift Superstore was just fine. In fact, I did really well here. I found Molly: An American Girl (the only historical-based AG movie I haven't seen yet), the first season of the early 2000's A&E Nero Wolfe, a yellow sweater (that I didn't realize until after I bought it was also too big), and a blue cardigan.

My best find here was the only record I managed to dig up. I've wanted The Vamp of the Roaring 20's, the follow up to the soundtrack for the TV show The Roaring 20's, for years. Ironically, there were even two copies. I grabbed the one with the album in better shape.

It was dark when I got out. I didn't want to walk anywhere else in the dark, so I picked up Uber at the thrift store...which probably wasn't the smartest idea with the construction around and the road for much of the shopping center blocked off. It took the guy 10 minutes to arrive, and he had to turn around after picking me up instead of going straight through.

Went straight into The Wild Wild West on the way home. "The Night of the Colonel's Ghost" has President Ulysses Grant insisting that he must go to Gibsonville to dedicate the statue of the late son of an old friend of his. Turns out, the town has largely been abandoned except for a young woman and her noisy brothers who run the hotel, a slick lawyer, the dedicated sheriff, and a prospector. There's been a rash of "broken neck" murders. The townspeople suspect the ghost of the colonel's son, but Adam West thinks there's a less supernatural explanation to the mysterious deaths.

Put on Match Game '79 while I had my usual granola and yogurt breakfast for dinner. They're on the first week with drunk joke comedian Foster Brooks, which gave us a plethora of cracks about the panel's drinking habits. Sarah Purcell was also seen here.

Finished the night after a shower working on the Song Sung Blue review while listening to the real Neil Diamond. The only Diamond album I currently have on CD is 12 Greatest Hits Vol. II. Though "Forever In Blue Jeans" is the only number from the album that made it to the movie, I have a bigger connection to this one. These are the Diamond songs I remember hearing most often on the radio during my 80's childhood. In fact, one of my favorite Diamond songs, "September Morn," can be found here. Other familiar Diamond hits here include "Beautiful Noise," "America," "Love On the Rocks," "Longfellow Serenade," "If You Know What I Mean," and his heartbreaking duet with Barbara Streisand, "You Don't Bring Me Flowers."