Lovers In the Snow

Began the morning with a late breakfast and the musical version of Golden Boy. Sammy Davis Jr. headlined this 1964 Broadway reworking of the 30's play. Here, he's an angry prizefighter from Harlem who falls for white woman Lorna (Paula Wayne), the girlfriend of his manager Tom Moody. Apparently, just the idea of a white woman in love with a black man was shocking at the time. Nowadays, I'm more concerned that the upbeat songs by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams don't really reflect the downbeat drama. "Don't Forget 127th Street" and "The Road Tour" are completely random chorus numbers. "This Is the Life," the first act finale, is much better and wound up being a fair-sized hit at the time.

The copy of Golden Boy I got from Innergroove in 2017 also came with something called Hoboken Saturday Night by The Insect Trust. Research reveals this was a jazz-rock fusion band from the late 60's-early 70's. Hoboken was their second and last album, and though melding jazz and rock can produce some pretty strange sounds, there are some interesting songs here, with my favorites being the title number and "The Eyes of a New York Woman." 

For once, I broke with plenty of time to call Uber. The driver arrived within five minutes. I had to feed a friend's cat and rushed out just in time to catch them. Though it was raining by that point, it was still just rain, and not doing anything besides being wet. We got to the Acme in five minutes. I arrived early enough to buy chocolate chips for a recipe I plan on making tomorrow.

Work surprisingly wasn't that busy, even before the Eagles game began at 3. I guess everyone got their panic out yesterday, or the rain scared them off. I had no trouble gathering carts, not even when the afternoon bagger left at 3:30. The rain stopped around 2; the clouds even broke up at one point. By 4 PM, however, stinging, silvery sleet fell in torrents. That was gradually replaced by all snow around 5. I spent the last half-hour in the parking lot dodging the snow plow and frantically gathering the last of the carts. 

Considering how hard the snow was coming down by 6, it goes without saying I had a harder time getting a ride home. The first driver wasn't arriving for 25 minutes...and canceled about half-way through that. The second finally came in 12 minutes. For a guy driving in a snowstorm, he was very pleasant and funny. As he said, we got home slow, but we did get home without incident.

(The Philadelphia Eagles had their own fun in the snow. From what I gathered, they handled the messy weather slightly better than the Los Angeles Rams, enough to beat them 28-22.  They'll be having a rematch with the Commanders next week for the NFC Championship.)

Grabbed dinner when I got home and fed my friend's cat, then spent the rest of the night watching tonight's YouTube game show marathon. This time, the theme for Betty White's birthday weekend was game shows Betty appeared on with Allen. Considering they met while playing the original 1961 Password, it's appropriate that their first joint appearance as husband and wife was on a week in 1963 on a week with their good friend Jack Paar. Jack definitely wasn't in Betty's league as a player, blurting out at least one Password (though he did do decently at the Lightning Round).

Password wasn't the only game show the Luddens did together in the 60's. They appeared on What's My Line together as Mystery Guests twice, the first time to announce their marriage. Their friend Arlene Francis figured it out both times. They also appeared on the panel of the network Line and syndicated To Tell the Truth together in the late 60's and early 70's. (Truth ended with a man who lost his home and family in a forest fire and wrote a book about it; I hope it's still in print, considering what's going on in LA now.) Betty stumped Allen as the Mystery Guest when he was on the panel of a 1970 episode hosted by Wally Bruner. 

In addition to the famous week Allen and Betty did together on Match Game in 1975 and the surviving 1981 nighttime episode, Allen did a week solo in 1974. After he gave a really lousy answer, Brett tore it up and handed it to Betty in the audience! A few minutes later, Fannie Flagg handed Betty her bad answer, too.

Betty appeared several times on Liar's Club, which Allen began hosting in 1978. Buddy Hackett, Peter Haskell, and the show's producer Larry Hovis join her in this hilarious show that had panelists giving descriptions of weird antiques and contestants betting on who was telling the truth about it. They also appeared many times on Tattletales. I got to see the last day from the week they did with Jamie Farr and his wife Joy (who remains with him to this day) and Eddie Mekka and his then-girlfriend Shirley.

The Luddens did other versions of Password together. Betty took over hosting for a week during Password '75 so Allen could play the game (very well, I may add). She also came out for the last episode, despite not playing that episode. Betty made frequent appearances on Password Plus, before and after Allen departed. Allen and Robert Pine helped her after she twisted her ankle coming down the stairs one week. She was also around for the infamous episode where Dick Martin argued that "French" should have been accepted for "France." 

Betty continued doing versions of Password even after Allen's untimely passing in 1981. She was a frequent guest on Super Password, including the final episode with Christopher Hewlett. I don't think anyone else would have gotten away with destroying the hated "toaster" used for the Cas$hword mini-game words! She said that Password was like a phoenix and would rise again...and though it took 20 years, she was right. Betty appeared on the 2008 Million Dollar Password with Adam Corolla, hosted by Regis Philbin. They even did a montage of her with Allen on the original Password. She did the last episode of the original Password as well, this time with Frank Gifford years before he married Kathy Lee. 

The password is...true love! See Allen and Betty through the years in this warm and delightful marathon.

Betty White Birthday Celebration - Featuring Episodes With Allen Ludden Together On Game Shows

Laughter for All Seasons

It was sleeting lightly when I headed off to work for my first of three early work shifts this week. Unlike the last couple of times we got winter precipitation, the sleet only stuck to the grass, not roads and sidewalks. I had no problems getting to work. We were surprisingly quiet for the beginning of the month. Everyone must have either been recovering from yesterday, out of town for spring break, or avoiding the cold weather. I spent most of my shift doing returns. I also gathered baskets and put away some carts before the afternoon bagger arrived.

Though the sleet was long gone and melted by 1, the chilly winds and on-and-off clouds remained. I went straight home. Had leftovers while watching an episode of Garfield and Friends from the first season in honor of April Fool's Day yesterday. "Maine Course" has Jon and the pets befriending a live lobster originally sent as a meal. They finally decide he's not a house pet and take him home to the Atlantic Ocean. It's "No Laughing Matter" when aliens invade US Acres to take the world's humor. Roy, Orson, Wade, and the chicks tell them jokes to get rid of them...but Roy discovers that slapstick is the most potent weapon of all. "Attack of the Mutant Guppies" takes Garfield and Nermal into the sewers to find out if the rumors about giant fish are really true.

Took down the Easter decorations while running another TV show episode about the importance of humor in our lives. "The Princess Who Never Laughed" is one of the last episodes made for the fantasy anthology Fairie Tale Theatre. Ellen Barkin is Princess Henrietta, who has been trained to be a very serious princess by her father (Howard Hesseman), who fears he'll lose her the way he lost her mother. When she demands a little entertainment, he holds a royal laugh-off to see who can make her crack a smile. It's Wienerhead Waldo (Howie Mandel), a pig farmer, who finally teaches the royals a lesson about comedy - we often derive the greatest pleasure when the joke is on us.

Worked on writing for a few hours. The group spends the night chatting about their future plans. Jyn and her boys will take Twilight the horse and the cart to Coruscant, where they plan to meet with other Rebel cells to stall the Mid-Summer Festival. Han and Leia will ride Falcon and Luke to Alderaan Manor to meet with Bail Organa and bring him to Coruscant to help the rebels. They finally separate after holding a small funeral for Obi-Wan on the side of the road.

Had leftover quiche for dinner at 6. No one knows more about making people laugh than the Three Stooges. Larry, Moe, and Curly are hired to cheer up a little girl whose dad is missing in "Nutty but Nice." They finally decide that the best way to help the kid would be to find her father, who was kidnapped by thieves. Good thing he has a distinctive yodel that will help them track him down.

Did about 40 minutes of Wii Sports after the Stooges ended. I had a lot of fun with boxing in this session. Did three games in a row; won all three, two by knock-outs. Also worked on the bag and punches with the "trainer." Also got a bronze medal in Hitting the Green on golf; worked on Target Practice in golfing as well. Didn't do so well on hitting baseballs. Cooled down with a good round of bowling.

Ended the night after a shower with A Man for All Seasons. Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield) refuses to sign a letter to the Cardinal (Orson Welles) that would allow King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) to divorce his current wife and marry Anne Boleyn (Vanessa Redgrave) and to become the head of the Church of England. More is a devout Catholic and doesn't want to put pressure on the Church's power in England. He even refuses to allow his daughter Meg (Susannah York) to marry a Lutheran. More is made Lord Chancellor, but it doesn't last long as Henry finally breaks it off with the Catholic Church and he resigns. He won't even take an oath that announces Henry as the head of the Church of England. He's arrested and put on trial, but refuses to reveal why he wouldn't sign the oath. He finally loses his head...but in doing so, is eventually made a saint of the Catholic Church and a true "man for all seasons."

The sumptuous production and some intense performances saves this from being a snorefest. Scofield won an Oscar as More (he'd already won a Tony for the role on Broadway). I also liked Leo McKern as the scheming Thomas Cromwell and Wendy Hiller as More's wife Alice. Hiller and Robert Shaw were also nominated. The movie won Best Picture for 1966 and Best Director for Fred Zimmerman, as well as for its screenplay, cinematography, and costumes.

For all the elaborate staging, this does still feel like a filmed play at times, very talky and dry, often with little going on until the trial. It's not for action junkies, but fans of costume dramas, English history, or the cast may find this dark trial tale quite involving.

Snow In the Springtime

It was still just cloudy when I finally rolled out of bed this morning. Despite the weather, I opted to honor the first day of spring during breakfast with a couple of cartoons. It's "Spring In Acme Acres" during the first season of Tiny Toon Adventures. Babs and Buster introduce three cartoons with (very) mild spring themes. "Love Among the Tunes" has the Elmer Fudd Cupid turning his arrows over to Conrad so he can go on vacation. The none-too-bright vulture proceeds to create some odd matches, including Babs and Montana Max. "Elmyra's Spring Cleaning" proves to be hazardous to all of Acme Acres, especially one poor fish whose bowl she sucks into her vacuum cleaner. "That's Incredibly Stupid" is a parody of the goofy stunt-based game shows that were wildly popular in the late 80's-early 90's. Plucky keeps making Dizzy do all the stunts, but the last one proves to be more than even Plucky can handle.

Did a few shorts while getting ready to run errands. "Springtime Serenade" seemed very appropriate, given it had started to snow by the time I put it on. This later Walter Lanz Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon is one the few the character did during his starring years in color. He and Fanny are proprietors of a summer resort who, along with the other animals of the farm and woods, are delighted that spring is here and they can get their cleaning done. A grouchy old groundhog is determined to spoil their fun with predictions of bad weather. They don't believe him at first, until the snow actually begins to fall.

"Springtime" is the second of the seasonal-themed Disney Silly Symphony shorts (and the third Silly Symphony period), and as such, is the one of the most basic. It's pretty much just animals dancing and eating each other in time to classical music.

The snow was just coming down as a light squall when I headed out. My first stop was the Oaklyn Library. Considering the weather, I was surprised there was even just one other person there besides the librarian and me. I organized DVDs and half-listened to the blather on CNN. I did end up taking out some movies here. They get new releases quicker than the Haddon Township Library. Found Coco and Thor: Ragnorok, along with the French ballet-themed animated film Leap!

The snow and wind were both picking up by the time I left the library, around quarter of 1. I was going to go home, but I really wanted to return the Haddon Township Library DVDs. My next day off is Saturday, and they usually have plenty of help that day. Thankfully, the traffic wasn't too bad at that point, though the snow was just starting to mix with ice and sting my face.

Needless to say, the Haddon Township Library wasn't busy, either. I didn't have nearly as much to do this week as I had last week. Just shelved the children's DVDs and CDs and audio books. Didn't take anything out here; I don't know when I'll be able to get here again.

By 2:30, the snow was quickly turning into sleet. Beyond really hurting when it hit my face, it was making the sidewalks and back roads more than a little slippery. I went straight home, dodging early traffic that may have been let out early due to the weather.

Made some calls when I got in. Today is Mom's birthday. She was spending it buying a new car after the old one was totaled in a crash. They got luckier than we did weather-wise; at press time, all they've gotten has been rain.

I called Dad before that, hoping for a ride to work tomorrow. Jodie called me back while I was talking to Mom. When I did get through to her, she told me what I'd suspected all along. The roads are a sheet of ice...and if they continue to be messy, she and Dad won't be going anywhere tomorrow. I don't want to call out and lose my 8 and 1/2 hour day, but if no one can get out, I may have to consider that.

Did two more spring-related Silly Symphonies while I got organized. "Birds In the Spring" is what the title implies. We follow a family of birds in the late spring, particularly one cheeky little fledgling who gets into big trouble when he leaves the nest for the first time. "The Goddess of Spring" is the myth of Persephone and Hades retold as a full-blown mini-opera. This was one of several Symphonies Disney made as a test for Snow White. While some of it is lovely (the dancing in the "Mighty Hades" number is pretty nifty), other bits show that Walt's animators had a long way to go (Persephone dances like she has no bones).

Spent the rest of the afternoon inside, working on my story. Han continues to be fussy after Obi-Wan and Luke go off to work on spells, insisting on sleeping in the cart and turning it into a tent. Leia helps him. She finally decides it's time to bury the hatchet with this man, especially given he's not in great shape. He agrees. He finally thanks her for having saved him earlier and asks her if she'll teach him how to handle a sword. Only if he shows her how to handle a mechanical bow; she's never seen one before.

They finally make it to Scarif, a dusty port city. Obi-Wan tells them they'll look for people to help them get to Coruscant and deal with Palpatine and who know about Han's real identity there. Leia points out that unicorns are rare, and Luke might attract unwanted attention. He makes his horn invisible and the rest of him look more like an ordinary horse.

Got so into writing, I didn't break for dinner until quarter of 7. Used up the last of the spaghetti sauce, along with spinach, mushrooms, and Parmesan and mozzarella cheese, to make Italian Scrambled Eggs for dinner.

Played more Lego Star Wars as I ate. There's one piece in "Retake Theed Palace" I just cannot get to! I'll have to look that one up online. Had a much easier time finally finding the red brick in "Darth Maul."

Finished the night with Can-Can. The 1960 film version of the Cole Porter show keeps most of the original show intact, but eliminates the artist subplot. Satine Pistache (Shirley MacLaine) runs a nightclub in Paris that's notorious for performing the scandalous, leg-baring can-can dance. Her lawyer boyfriend Francois (Frank Sinatra) and a laid-back judge (Maurice Chevalier) are more than happy to look the other way. A newly-arriving judge (Louis Jordan) is less willing to play Satine's game. He tries twice to get her arrested and actually succeeds the second time. She tries to seduce him into changing his mind, but ends up falling for him. Francois doesn't like that one bit! Satine has been trying to get him to marry her, with no success. Now she has a judge who is more than willing to comply. Francois responds by getting her drunk at a high-society party, where she embarrasses herself. But Satine has her own way of getting back at him...and proving that the can-can is really good, clean fun for all.

Overlong fluff, but it does have some good numbers, notably "It's All Right With Me" for Sinatra and an attentive Juliet Prowse (in her first role), "Live and Let Live" for Chevalier and Jordan, MacLane's "Adam and Eve Ballet," and the full version of the can-can with Prowse and MacLane in the finale. I'm especially fond of the colorful and evocative costumes, which gained a deserved Oscar nomination (along with the score).

This is still a favorite of Mom's. She saw it as a kid and introduced it to us when it came out on video in the early 90's. If you're a fan of the cast, Porter's music, or like your musicals on the lighter side, this musical might be all right with you, too.

I'm really crossing my fingers. It snowed and sleeted on and off all afternoon. The snow stopped around quarter of 5, and it hasn't really done anything since then. Right now, they're saying anything from 5 to 10 inches. Yikes! If it's going to do that, I may be stuck here. We'll see what happens.

Ice Is Not Nice

Started off the morning with one of two winter-themed episodes in the first season of Sailor Moon. "The Snow, the Mountains, Friendship, and Monsters" takes the girls to a ski resort, where Rei and Usagi are hoping to join the Moon Princess skiing contest. They hit a lot more than a rough course when it turns out that the contest is a trap and the Negaverse is involved.

Spent the rest of the morning working on writing. Han, Chewie, and BB distract the trolls guarding the others. They get Poe out first; he helps free the rest. Only Rey is missing. Kylo Ren has her, hoping to force her to marry him. The entire group manages to get past the trolls...but Hux and Phasma block their way...

Broke at 1 for lunch. Watched the other first season Sailor Moon episode based around cold-weather activities as I ate. "Paired With a Monster: Mako the Ice Skating Queen" moves from skiing to the more rarefied world of figure skating. The Guardians are thrilled when an Olympic gold-medalist figure skating pair holds skating lessons at a new rink. Makoto's natural athletic ability captures the eye of the male skater...but not only is his partner jealous, but it turns out they've been recruited by the Negaverse to help them get their hands on the Silver Crystal.

The clouds were moving in just as I was leaving for work. I figured I'd be ok on the bike. I did clean the bathrooms early on, but I was mostly outside, rounding up carts. It wasn't busy when I got in, but as the weather got worse, so did our customers. It started raining lightly around 3:30-4. The sleet didn't arrive until past 5. At least the relatively warm day, in the lower 30's, had melted the parking lot somewhat. It didn't help our vestibule. After I finished doing outside trash, I rounded up another bagger to help drop salt on the front patio.

The sleet was starting to wind down when I rode home. The main roads were fine. I didn't have any real problems until I got to Manor Avenue. I went as slowly as I could, and even then, I almost slipped a few times. I had to walk even slower up my steps.

Did two episodes of Good Eats that were perfect for sleety, rainy nights as I made baked beef sausage, roasted green beans, and mashed cauliflower for dinner. I really can't do most of the recipes in the episode on Dutch ovens - they require grills or something that can cook with coals - but it's interesting to watch anyway. Cooking fish and vegetables in pouches made from parchment paper is something else again. I may have to give that a shot sometime.

Ended the night with Grand Hotel as I went online. The mother of all all-star movies shows us what goes on during a 24-hour period in an expensive hotel in Berlin in the early 30's. "People come, people go, but nothing ever happens," claims battered Dr. Ottenschlag (Lewis Stone). He's obviously not looking in the right places. There's something happening in every corner, from the dying former accountant Kringelin (Lionel Barrymore) befriending the penniless Baron (John Barrymore), to the Baron pursuing the retiring ballerina Gruinskaya (Greta Garbo), to the ruthless businessman Preysing (Wallace Beery) trying to close a major deal, to his secretary Flammchen (Joan Crawford) just wanting out by any means necessary.

The cast makes this classic drama watchable today, especially Lionel Barrymore as the accountant out to really live for the first time, and Garbo as the ballerina who thinks she's found love in the Baron's arms...only to lose him to tragedy. If you're into the cast or other all-star movies from the 1930's, this Oscar-winning Best Picture is worth catching.

Running On Ice

I ate the last of the grits for breakfast while listening to the George Harrison CD I bought on Saturday. Ringo Starr is my favorite solo Beatle, but I like a lot of Harrison's work, too. I picked up this particular CD because it included my two favorite Harrison solo songs, "All Those Years Ago" and "Blown Away." "Got My Mind Set On You" is the first song on the CD; I remember when that came out in 1987. Having been a toddler when "All Those Years Ago" came out, "Set On You" was really my first encounter with Harrison. He's always been Mom's favorite Beatle. (She likes the quiet guys. Peter Tork is her favorite Monkee.)

Didn't get out to run today's errands until quarter of 1...and got a nasty surprise when I did. It was damp and gray but not raining when I awoke this morning. As I walked out the door, I could feel myself get pelted with ice. I skidded across the porch, just as I realized that it was sleeting. I made my way carefully downstairs and checked the roads before I left. The roads were wet but fine, with no ice anywhere. Goes without saying that Newton Lake Park wasn't terribly busy. I saw one jogger and one duck swimming on the defrosted part of the lake as I hurried to Cuthbert Road.

The weather scared people away from Haddon Township Library, too. I organized DVD's with no interference of any kind. Other than they still have too many Scooby Doo titles to fit on the kids' shelves (and a few S adult titles that wouldn't get in), I was able to shelve everything without trouble. The librarians had more problems than I did. Their computer system went down (probably due to the weather) and had to be rebooted.

It was back up by the time I was ready to take out some DVDs. I grabbed new titles for The Cat In the Hat Knows A Lot About That and Sofia the First, along with My Little Pony: The Movie. The only adult movie I rented this time around was Lincoln, the well-received biography Steven Spielburg did a few years ago with Daniel Day Lewis as the title character and Sally Field as his wife. I thought it would be great for Lincoln's birthday and President's Day.

Though it looked like it had sleeted again while I was in the library, it was gone by the time I got out. I was taking no chances. This wasn't a day for lingering. I kept the rest of my errands short. Checked Tuesday Morning to see if they had Ever After High dolls. Yes, they'd just gotten lots of them in, including Briar, Raven, Maddie, Cupid, one Blondie, Legacy Day (fancy outfit) Raven and Apple, and Thronecoming (prom gown) Blondie, Raven, and Cupid, along with the Hat-Tastic (tea-party-themed) playset that included Maddie. Nothing I hadn't seen before except for the Thronecoming dolls. I'm only looking for the basic "Signature" dolls.

A stop at Dollar Tree was even quicker. I just wanted a few Valentine's Day cards for family members and a birthday card for my stepsister Jessa. (Hers is Friday.) It took me longer to stand in line than it did to choose cards.

I just made it to the Westmont Bagel Shop in time for a quick lunch before they closed. The owner mopped the floor even as I ate my Turkey Club Sandwich on whole wheat, fries, and macaroni salad. I watched Jeopardy! and listened to the oldies on their radio.

Made one more fast stop at Thriftway for milk. I was originally going to get it at WaWa, but I really didn't want to go anywhere else. After I got out, I went straight home. The traffic wasn't horrible, not even on Cuthbert - I got out just as the rush hour was starting.

There was a huge box sitting on the front apartment porch when I got in. The ice did stick to the walkway that lead to the front apartment, so I had to be really careful getting it off the porch and up to my apartment. (Richard finally salted my porch and steps later. Hopefully, he did the front for Charlie and his men, too.)

The first part of my Amazon order had arrived! I bought a new Jensen record player and the next Ever After High doll I was looking for, Cedar Wood. The record player is a simple replacement for my old turntable. I bought that from a novelty catalog at least six years ago (with Lauren's help). The Jensen is nothing fancy, no big speakers or added gadgets, but I just want something to play records. That, it did. Billy Joel's The Bridge played just fine and sounded even better. (And thankfully, the plastic top is attached this time. The last one was removable, but I couldn't figure out how to get it back on.)

I got Cedar out next. Cedar is the sweet-natured artist daughter of Pinocchio. She's been cursed to never tell a lie, which is more than a little inconvenient, what with all the secrets floating around Ever After High. (Especially the rather big one her roommate and good friend Cerise Hood is hiding.) Not being a princess or an eccentric tea party lover, Cedar's outfit is a little simpler than the fancy get-ups Maddie and the princesses wear. Her dress is a cute purple and pink variation on her dad's famous outfit from the Disney movie. She has a schoolgirl-ish Peter Pan collar instead of a necklace. She does have a ring and earrings, along with a cute bright green cricket clip in her hair. Her hair was crunchy with a ton of styling goop out of the box. I gave it a good washing. She's another one who sheds badly, but unlike Briar and Blondie, she does seem to have retained her curl.

(The neatest thing about Cedar is her vinyl. It's actually textured to look like she's a real wooden puppet girl. It doesn't just extend to the places that show, either. It's all over her body except for her face. This makes her one of the most detailed - and definitely one of the most unique - dolls in the entire line.)

Ran The Cat In the Hat's newest tales while pulling everything out. The theme here is simply Let's Take An Adventure, as The Cat and the kids take trips and learn how seeds and animals travel. "Amazing Journey" is one of the most interesting, teaching Nick and Sally how Salmon Samantha swims upstream (and up a waterfall) to calm waters to lay her eggs. The kids and The Cat use "Maps!" as they play pirate on an island and look for treasure. "I See Seeds" shows the group how seeds travel long distances when a bird grabs the Thing-A-Ma-Jigger, and they use seeds to go after it.

Finished the night with Bloomer Girl on my new record player and braised celery in chicken stock with a leftover chicken leg for dinner. This 1944 musical had Celeste Holm as Evelina, the youngest daughter of a hoop skirt manufacturer right before the Civil War, who gets involved with her aunt Dolly Bloomer and her crusades for women's and African-American rights. The southern gentleman her father is trying to marry her off to (David Burns) mostly sides with her, to the point of even releasing his slave (Dooley Wilson). Not everyone's so amused, and even the lovers quarrel after she's arrested for showing off her aunt's new trouser-style garments for women in public. It takes the arrival of war to reunite them and make him understand the importance of rights for all.

Harold Arlen and E.Y Harburg did some nice music for this somewhat fanciful historic tale, including "The Eagle and Me" for Wilson and "Right as the Rain" for the young lovers. This was a hit in the nostalgia-starved mid 40's and was made into a TV musical with Barbara Cook 10 years later, but hasn't been seen much since then. Thankfully, both the cast album and the TV version are available and easy to find on Amazon and other sites.

Raining In the New Year

Today was Laundry Day. I read my new Indiana Jones paperback while Dad took down his Christmas tree. His (real) tree is three times the size of mine both ways...but he and Uncle Ken don't have nearly as many decorations as I do. (Or maybe they do and they just have more room to display them.) I ran to CVS for eggs and milk (the latter for Dad and Uncle Ken) while my laundry was in the dryer.

As I walked to CVS, it started to sprinkle lightly. Nothing big, just some spitting. Dolores (and The Weather Channel) said we were supposed to get sleet later. We did get some sleet later...for about ten minutes around 2PM, by which time I was at home and working on getting my Christmas decorations down. By the time the displays were put away and I was just shoving the last of the bears into their plastic bin, it was back to sprinkling. It sprinkled while I rode to work, and was misting when I got out. It finally started raining harder about a half-hour ago.

Work, thank god after yesterday, was steady when I came in, dead when I left, with no major problems other than the lack of help.

Festival of Ice

First of all, Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate it! Today is the first day of the Jewish Feast of Lights. I'm not Jewish, but there were several Jewish families in Cape May when I was a kid. One December, each class in Cape May Elementary was assigned a different country. They'd study it's holiday customs and even do a craft or recipe related to the country. Rose's class did Poland. Mom hung her "Polish angel" in the house for years. Because of the Jewish kids in our class, mine did Israel. We had a wonderful time playing with dredals and making potato latkas. To this day, I still love the dredel game...and potato latkes are sooo good!

Second, the weather has not been pleasant here, a reminder that today is also the Winter Solstice, the first day of winter. I awoke this morning to sleet and a porch that was sheer ice. I didn't want to call for a ride after what happened last week, and I couldn't ride my ice-covered bike, so I lowered myself down the icy steps (soaking my pants doing so) and walked to work. I was fifteen minutes late...but as it turned out, so was everyone else. The rain had stopped by the time I arrived at work. By the time I was finally finished, the sun was out, and most of the ice had melted. I told them I'd stay an extra fifteen minutes to make up for my lateness (and make sure I got the money)...and ended up staying about five or ten minutes more because, like yesterday, it was just so darn busy! Thankfully, a co-worker was nice enough to give me a ride home.

I had settled into listening to the Eagles game (they played poorly and lost to the Washington Redskins 10-3) on the radio when Jodie called. They had hoagies and wanted to know if I was up for joining them. I'd just finished the cranberry bread I'd made for my neighbors and was only going to listen to the game and watch The Bishop's Wife for the rest of the night, so I figured...what the heck?

Jessa drove me there and back. Dad's finally home. He, Jodie, and Jessa bought their (huge, natural) tree today and were going to decorate it tonight or tomorrow. Dad put up the lights on the house, too, and all the house decorations were out, including their massive collection of Christmas stuffed animals and Jessa's stocking. (Only kid in the world with a flamingo on her stocking.) We had hoagies and soft pretzels and chatted with Dolores as she showed off what her granddaughters had given her for a Christmas party - a Nintendo DS. (For those of you who, like Jodie, Dolores, and me, are video-game illiterate, the DS is the fancier, more interactive version of the hand-held Game Boy.) I watched the Eagles-Washington and Jets-Seahawks games with Daddy while Dolores, Jodie, and Jess worked on figuring out Brain Age 2. (I don't think they ever really got very far.) The Jets-Seahawks game was really interesting. They played in a snowstorm! (The Seahawks won, incidentally.)

I'll be doing cupcakes for Christmas presents tomorrow. It's really windy out there now. Gusts are supposed to get up to 40 miles an hour and stay that way until tomorrow afternoon. I don't think I'll make it to Yogawood, but if it does calm down by the afternoon, I'll try for the Acme luncheon.

There's Snow Place Like Home for the Holidays

Actually, more like sleet and rain, but it didn't sound as good in the title. Anyway, it did snow a little today while I was at work. It mostly sleeted and rained, though. I think it's raining now. It doesn't sound like sleet.

Other than the odd weather, not a whole lot happened today...although today generally went better than yesterday did. I started the morning after breakfast with this week's laundry session. I had a little trouble getting Uncle Ken's TV working (he has so many remote controls, I get confused as to which one goes to which device), and by the time I finally did, it was time to put the laundry in the dryer. I returned the Christmas books I took out a couple of weeks ago to the Oaklyn Library, then went back to Uncle Ken's house and watched The Backyardigans. I've only seen a few minutes of "The Swamp Monster" before. Uniqua and Pablo are tour guides eager to show off their boat and their swamp home. They lure a skeptical Tasha and Austin with the promise of a "Swamp Monster" lurking beneath the surface of the murky water...and get quite a shock when they discover just what IS under the swamp!

It started sleeting while The Backyardigans were on. I walked the short way home, managing to get up my steps despite the ice gathering on them. The rest of the time before work was spent editing this month's Monkees role play and a few random holiday stories we've written in the past week and eating a quick lunch. (Look for the main story in the next few days!)

Work was steady to busy, with some annoying people but nothing like last night. And it looks like we're getting more help for the holidays. Three new baggers started tonight, and Sue, the head of the cashiers, was training four new cashiers this evening. Riding home from work wasn't as fun. It was raining lightly when I arrived at work, and had sleeted and snowed on and off for the rest of the evening. It was sleeting lightly when I rode home. The sleet and snow isn't sticking to the ground (it's still too warm), but it IS sticking to my porch and steps. It took me forever just to get upstairs.

Oh, and I called Mom this morning to wish her and Daddy a happy 24th anniversary! Mom was home. Daddy wasn't; he was out fishing. Mom was on her way to doing the laundry and in a very good mood (understandable - she just became a grandmother again last week). She, Anny, and Skylar were going to see my brother Keefe play the drums in Lower Cape May Regional High School's Christmas Concert. He's a really good drummer who's won awards for his work. Anny's boyfriend Mike is taking care of the new baby Colin while they're out.

Libraries On Ice

Urgh. Another long and frustrating day, though this time I actually managed to get some things done. Not surprisingly, given how often it's happened in the past few weeks, I was awaken by the Acme calling me in at 10AM. This time, though, I said no. I wanted to get some things done, and I didn't like the sound of the weather. It was supposed to snow and possibly sleet later in the day, and I didn't want to be riding home from work in it.

After I hung up, I spent at least a half-hour laying in my bed feeling guilty. On one hand, there was the weather to consider, and the fact that my last day off was Thursday and my next day off isn't until Saturday. Maybe it was babyish, but I didn't think I could last more than a week without a day off again. Besides, I really wanted to send some Valentine's Day items and my stepfather's birthday present.

On the other hand, I really shouldn't have turned them down. They might consider me unreliable and not ask me anymore. When you need help, you need help. Not to mention, the extra money would be nice, especially since it's rare that I'm not broke at this time of year. It's selfish to not help people out when they ask. You can't think of yourself all the time. You have to consider other people.

I finally talked myself out of calling Donna back to say I changed my mind. I did want to make it to the post office and bank, if nothing else. I spent the rest of the morning after my breakfast of banana pancakes signing cards, writing checks for bills, and preparing Daddy's package.

The post office had a short line, but was otherwise no problems. The bank didn't even have that. It was dead as a doornail. I was in and out in less than five minutes.

It had been flurrying on and off since the morning, but nothing serious. I figured, since the snow seemed to be holding off, that I'd go do my library volunteering and run a few errands.

Big mistake. I ran into some tree branches trying to slow my bike while riding down the hill the Westmont Plaza's on. Thankfully, other than a few scratches on my nose, I stayed on my bike and my glasses were fine (the branches pushed them down when I ran into them).

The bike didn't wear so well. Much to my horror, I discovered when I got to the library that the wire for the back brakes had gotten twisted and popped off. I've been so terrible to my bikes. They're both getting rusty because I haven't gotten tarps for them yet. I'm surprised nothing like this has happened sooner. I'm a very irresponsible person. I should learn to take care of things better. (And of course, the area's only bike repair shop wasn't open today.)

Much to my surprise, the library was busy when I entered. Since the kids weren't out of school yet, I assume people were avoiding the weather or getting something to read and watch just in case the snow got worse. The librarians were too busy to talk to me or give me an assignment, so I just put the children's DVDs in order again. I was disappointed that I never got a chance to ask them about where they went to college and how they financed it.

The snow DID get worse as I headed back out. I made my usual stops at AC Moore (their Valentine's decorations were almost gone and there was nothing good left), Super Fresh (icing for the cake I was going to make the family here; also got some cardboard Easter cutouts for my walls), and the dollar store (Valentine's Day cards).

The snow had picked up as I entered AC Moore, and by the time I made my way home, it was sticking. It changed to stinging sleet and frozen rain around the time I hit the White Horse Pike. I stopped at 7-11 really quick for a hot chocolate and soft pretzel. (Thank goodness the Mint Hot Chocolate machine actually had hot chocolate in it this time!). I wish I could have stayed there. I slipped and slid half-way down West Clinton Avenue before I finally decided the sidewalks were too treacherous to be walking on and hit the street instead. The less-used Manor Avenue was even worse. The road was just as slippery as the sidewalk there. I was taking as small of steps as possible and still move. I touched a car; the rivulets of rain water were frozen solid. I was one big icicle when I finally got in my apartment. I had ice EVERYWHERE, from my green knitted hat to my sneakers.

Even my cake didn't turn out well. I wanted to make a strawberry cake and use up some frozen strawberries that were in my fridge for a while, but I put way too much water in the batter. The one-layer heart-shaped cake turned out well enough for me to frost, but no amount of baking could firm up the mushy cupcakes. I threw them in my freezer for later. I was going to give my biological dad, uncle, and their families and sweethearts' families a cupcake-cake platter, but they're just gonna have to settle on the cake.

Actually, I'm now glad I didn't go to work. Super Fresh was ghost-town quiet when I was in there, as was AC Moore. (The dollar store was slightly busier, probably because the kids had just gotten out of school at that point and were fishing around the store for cheap candy and junk.) At any rate, I suspect the Acme may have ended up not needing me anyway. Less than a half-hour after I finally got home, my porch was a sheet of solid ice. It started raining around 10, and while it isn't quite as bad as in the evening, it's still pretty icy out there.