A Rainy Day In New Jersey

It was cloudy and downright cold when I got up this morning. It was so cold, I had two blankets on for the first time since at least April. It felt very nice and cozy. After the dry heat we've had all summer, I'm very glad to have weather that really feels like fall.

I got up early enough to get my laundry done, with time to pull out the winter clothes when I got home. While it is a bit early for turtlenecks, I don't think I'll be needing my bathing suit or tank tops again this year, either. It's supposed to get into the lower 70s by the weekend, then just drop back into the 60s and stay there. Like I said, fine with me.

It was still just cloudy when I rode to work. Work was very busy, a combination of the beginning of the month, many local sports events, and today being the last day of a big 4-day sale. I was in and out with no problems, other than I had to put my bike in an alcove in the storage area in the back of the store instead of the back room. A manager and a bagger were cleaning the back room for some customer service classes we're supposed to be having over the next few days.

More Updates to The Riverside Rest

I've now moved my fanfiction for the 80s sitcom Perfect Strangers to Balki and Larry's Office. Lauren will eventually have stories there as well.

The Office

Windy Day For A Picnic

It was still sunny and bright when I finally got up around 9:30. I wrote in my journal, then made Whole Wheat Pancakes and a pear for breakfast and ran the Brunch With the Beatles show. "The Songs of John Lennon," whose 70th birthday would have been this week, was the them. In the reverse of how they usually do the shows devoted to one of the Beatles, they started with his solo work, including my two favorites from the Double Fantasy album, "Woman" and "(Just Like) Starting Over."

Called Mom after I finished breakfast. She didn't really talk for very long, though she seemed like she was in a good mood. She did say it was cloudy and windy in Cape May County and looked like it was going to rain.

The clouds finally started rolling in as I worked on editing more Bowery Boys stories for our site. It was colder and still very windy as I changed into my work clothes and left a bit early to enjoy Oaklyn's Town Picnic.

The Town Picnic is Oaklyn's big fall festival. I went to it last year, and I was glad I could get there again. It's on the big field behind the Oaklyn School at the end of West Clinton Avenue. There was already a long line for food when I arrived. I had a pulled pork sandwich, cole slaw, and a couple of cookies. I've had a rather dry throat for the past few days, thanks to allergies working overtime, so I had some root beer water ice, too.

There were plenty of other things to do at the Town Picnic. Kids stood in long lines for fire truck rides and a bounce house and slide. There was a face painting booth and a craft booth. PNC Bank had a booth and was giving away freebies. I got incense, an orange tote bag, and a pen. I'll give the incense away as a Christmas gift. I donated a dollar to the Oaklyn Library for a raffle for a lovely Halloween-themed quilt. There was a local band playing their own alternative rock tunes. There were football throws and softball catch games.

I went straight to the Acme from the Oaklyn School. I'm glad I got there early. Between the big Eagles-Redskins game this afternoon, the Phillies' last regular season game, myriad parties and fall festivals this weekend, and this being the beginning of the month, it was very busy all day. It was so busy, we didn't really have enough help, even though no one called out. Thankfully, it had slowed down enough by 6 that I was able to leave with no problems.

It started raining slightly on my way home, just big drops that didn't amount to much. The wind had picked up even more, though, and it was cold and dreary. I just left my bike in front of the apartment and headed to Uncle Ken's without even changing, so I could see the game, too.

Turns out I needn't had rushed. The Eagles played a terrible game and ultimately lost 17-12. I did have a grilled cheese, turkey, and ham sandwich for dinner, and I got to say hi to Uncle Ken, Jodie, Dad, and Samantha and David and their brood for a while.

The game was so bad, I came home early and opted for The Dress Circle instead. "The Shows of October" was the theme. Broadway favorites that opened in mid-fall included Cats, High Button Shoes, the Lena Horne vehicle Jamaica, How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, and one of my favorite Broadway flops, Mack and Mabel.

The Bowery Boys' Basement Clubhouse

Oh, and I was able to add the newest section of the site I now share with my best friend Lauren Miller, the Riverside Rest. Welcome to The Bowery Boys' Basement Clubhouse, the Web's only place to find fanfic for 40s and 50s B-movie comedy favorites The Bowery Boys!

The Basement Clubhouse

A Humdinger of a Book Crop

It was a glorious day for this week's farm market-yard sale run. The storms had passed, and the sky was blue and gold and as sunny as could be. It was so chilly last night, I had to close the windows in my apartment.

There weren't nearly as many yard sales out this week as there have been the past few weeks, but I did find some nice things. I picked up five records in pristine condition from one sale in Oaklyn - three Frank Sinatra albums from the 50s and early 60s and two Disney book-and-record sets. I haven't listened to the Disney sets yet, but Sinatra albums look and sound great.

The farm market was packed again, which wasn't a surprise, given the nice weather. Everyone is selling piles of pumpkins this year. All of them look gorgeous. This dry weather we've had has been great for pumpkins, unlike the constant rain that rotted them last year. I picked this year's big pumpkin for my living room and two smaller pumpkins for decorations.

(I don't carve pumpkins or put them outside where they can rot. I keep my pumpkins until after Thanksgiving or they go bad, whichever come first.)

After I left the farm market, I walked a few blocks to this year's Collingswood Book Festival. The Book Festival is a street fair for authors and book sellers that Collingswood holds every year. Unlike the May Fair and Craft Show, there's no craft booths here or booths that don't relate to books in some way. They did have a block off the main street as a separate section for children, including a puppet show, games, and appearances by kid lit characters like Where's Waldo and Clifford the Big Red Dog. (And for some reason, the mascot of the local minor-league baseball team, the Camden River Sharks.)

I was disappointed to see that while there were even more author booths this year, there weren't nearly as many used book sellers. I was still able to find Christmas presents for a friend and for my nephews.

I rode around after I left the Book Festival and looked for yard sales. I only found one more, on Eldridge Avenue in Collingswood. I picked up a stuffed Scooby Doo here for my Velma Halloween costume.

Headed home after that. I wanted to get my crock-pot beef stew together for dinner. I did that and put everything away, then decided it was too nice of a day to be inside. I rode over to Capitol Pizza for lunch. I ordered a slice of broccoli and mushroom pizza and a Coke Zero. After I left, I went for a short ride around the neighborhood.

Nice day or no nice day, I had other things to do besides run around on my bike. I unfortunately discovered while I was making the bed that Verizon had gone down AGAIN. It was really bad for a couple of weeks last month, then stopped doing it. Obviously, it's back to doing it again. I really wish I could upgrade to FIOS, but it costs too much.

I wanted to get some chores done before I called Verizon. I swept the porch, which needed it again after this week's storms. I took my rag rug outside to air, and I vacuumed.

I finally did call Verizon around 5. Tech support took me through reconnecting me online. They said they'd send an automatic message if they detected anything in the next 24 hours. Well, they'd better send one a lot sooner. My internet went down again about 20 minutes ago. I lost an hour's worth of writing time and got really upset. I don't know why they can't just increase the darn signal, and that's that. It's not like I'm far away from headquarters.

After I finished with them, I worked on some backing. I made low-fat Apple-Spice Cupcakes with white cake mix made with buttermilk and egg whites and baked rye bread from a British baking book I took out of the library. I had my beef stew for dinner while kicking off this year's Halloween festivities with Garfield's Halloween Adventure, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and another spooky Bowery Boys film, Master Minds.

Early Autumn

First of all, would this fellow named James who keeps insisting I need help please stop posting here? For the past few months, he's been claiming that I'm autistic and racist and might hurt someone. He called me an idiot for getting Red Skelton's name wrong. Spare me the nasty comments and your so-called pleas for help. Right now, I'm getting the kind of help I need...the kind that comes from friends, family, and books on self-help. Your kind of help is no help at all. You're just making me feel worse, not better.

This has been a rather long day. I awoke to heavy rain and decided better dry than sorry. I spent the morning working on editing the Bowery Boys stories Lauren and I have wrote over the past few weeks. Look for them at the new "Bowery Boys' Basement Clubhouse" page at my site within the next week.

The rain let up enough by 11:30 for me to walk to the Acme to pick up this week's paycheck and do my grocery shopping. It was only raining a little when I headed out, but it still made for a very pleasant fall walk. The rain we've had all week has made everything green and growing again. The leaves are just starting to turn colors here. I saw some very pretty ones leaving smears of red and brown on a driveway. The plants along the Oaklyn ramp are covered with seed pods in every shape and size. The wildflowers are growing in profusions of gold, magenta, and white.

The Acme wasn't busy at all when I arrived. Due to the weather, I opted to just go grocery shopping and get my schedule and paycheck today. I didn't need a lot, anyway. I mostly needed meat - bought small steaks for stir-fries, ground turkey, shrimp, and those dollar fish packs. I restocked my yogurt (Yoplait has great Light flavors - I can't wait to try their new Black Forest Cake) and my brown sugar, and indulged in a sale on Fiber One, my favorite granola bars.

The clouds were finally starting to break up as I walked home. I went upstairs and put everything away. I made an omelet with Parmesan cheese and vegetables for lunch and ran Spooks Run Wild, one of the two East Side Kids horror-themed movies. I actually thought this was by far the best of the ESK run. The boys get lost in the woods while sneaking out for a date and encounter a haunted house, Bela Lugosi, his midget helper, and lots of spooky goings-on. In fact, I think this was the best of all five of the East Side Kids/Bowery Boys scary films. There was tons of atmosphere, and the scares and laughs were mixed up much better than in the later Bowery Boys horror movies. Bela Lugosi was marvelously spooky, and I liked the twist with his character at the end.

I did the other one, Ghosts On the Loose, later. It wasn't nearly as much fun. In fact, it was more a typical find-the-Nazis romp than a horror film. It's probably the best known of the East Side Kids movies due to a very young Ava Gardner being the ingenue, but neither she nor Lugosi make much of an impression here.

I decided to give the bike another chance after yesterday, since it was almost 3 by the time I finished lunch and I really didn't have the time to walk to the bank. I ended up walking half-way anyway. The chain came off again. I did make it to the bank and home, but it was really annoying.

And I'm broke, too. I don't have enough money in the bank right now to cover my rent. It's just going to have to be late.

When I got home, I grabbed my tools and tried to figure out what was wrong with the bike...but all I did was curse at the thing. My neighbor Michael heard me and came in back to find out what was wrong. He did finally help me figure out what was wrong. Some of it was I put the break on wrong yesterday. Some of it is simply the chain is getting old and really can't be tightened further. It'll probably hold out for now, but I may look into getting a chain when I finally have some money again.

Ironically, after all that fuss, I cleaned for the rest of the evening. Got the kitchen done, then made tilapia, Persian Cucumber Salad, and roasted red potatoes for dinner and watched Piglet's Big Movie.

Piglet feels left out of the plans the other residents of the 100 Acre Woods make. They keep telling him he's too small to help. He sets out to show them otherwise. Meanwhile, the others think he's lost and use his scrapbook of pictures of his favorite memories to find him...and learn that even the smallest person can have a big place in your heart.

Like The Tigger Movie, which came out a few years before it, Piglet is a sweet tale about one of the most beloved Winnie the Pooh characters. It's not quite as good as Tigger Movie. A lot of it is segments, but it's all tied together very well. Carly Simon wrote some lovely music, including the cute march for Pooh, Piglet, and the gang when they're on a trip to find the North Pole.

Deflated Balance

Yes, I awoke to discover that my tire had a slow leak and had deflated overnight. Of course, by the time I got outside, it was too late to fix it. I pumped it and hoped it would hold out long enough to get me to Collingswood.

The tire wasn't the only problem today. We did get that crazy rain overnight, and while it wasn't raining when I got up, it was hot and unbearably humid. The clouds remained heavy and threatening. I could only hope that they'd wait on any rain until late at night, after my errands in Collingswood and work.

Yoga was a bit of a pain. We concentrated on working the stomach and the core muscles, which meant a lot of crunches and bridge-work. I've gotten somewhat better with the bridge pose, but no matter how hard I try, I can't lift myself for full wheel.

Much to my frustration, the tire was flat again when I went outside. That wasn't a problem while in Collingswood. I just wheeled it to the Collingswood Library for this week's session there. I mostly shelved and organized the DVDs.

I ended up walking home. I was in luck where the weather was concerned. It stayed cloudy all through my walk, and remained so when I got in. There was much yelling and cursing, but yes, I did change the tire. I was especially proud of the job I did because it was the back tire. I've avoided changing the back tire myself because of the chain.

Well of course, the chain fell off on my way to work. It fell off twice, and made me late. I was very upset. I hate being late. Good thing the managers took it better than I did. Turns out I wasn't going in for anyone anyway. While work was much busier than Tuesday and went faster, it still wasn't crazy-busy. I was in and out with no more problems.

A stock manager who saw me come in was nice enough to put the chain on the bike for me, and I rode home with no more bike problems. However, there was a few weather problems. It was windy as heck. It started raining a little while I was on my way to work and had gotten worse by the time I left, though still not the monsoon-levels everyone around here had feared. I'm lucky the monsoon held off until I'd been home for over an hour.

Before the Rains Came

It was actually sunny when I awoke this morning. Though I was up late last night, I'm really kind of glad I got up when I did. I got quite a bit done today, starting with editing the Bowery Boys stories Lauren and I have been working on over the past few weeks.

I ran into trouble when I came downstairs. My back bike tire was flat. It seemed rather odd. It was perfectly fine last night. I thought I'd change it, but the nuts were screwed on the wheels so tightly, I couldn't get them loose! I was working on getting them off when I noticed the cap from inner tube was missing. I have no idea how that happened. It was on when I came home last night. Oh well, I've been meaning to pump the tires anyway. I took the cap off one of the other inner tubes I have, pumped both of them, put the tools inside, and went on my way.

I stopped at Dollar Tree first for sponges. They've only had the really light, foamy ones for the past few weeks. I like the thicker ones better. I desperately needed them. I had to dig around a bit, but I did find a bag of two. I would have preferred a bag with more of them, but I'll take what I can get for now.

Headed to the Haddon Township Library next. They weren't that busy, as I could tell from the smaller-than-usual stack of DVDs. I put those away and did some of the children's books. I took out a book on crocheting stuffed animals, a book of dessert recipes, a fantasy novel, and four DVDs - The Toast of New Orleans, Sahara, The Piglet Movie, and the most recent Backyardigans set, Operation Elephant Drop.

My tire felt a little less full as I was riding home. I'm not sure what happened there. I might have just been in such a hurry to leave that I didn't fill it right. I pumped it again when I got home, and it seemed fine later.

I had a meatball sandwich for lunch on the roll I'd bought from Doria's Deli on my way home. After lunch, I went for a walk around the neighborhood. It was getting cloudier and a bit more humid, but nothing intolerable. There were lots of people out and about. Kids were heading home from school. Their parents and grandparents swept porches, cleaned yards, and prepared for the upcoming storms.

(Incidentally, it rained a little bit while I was riding home from work, but hasn't done anything but look gloomy since. It must be waiting for early morning.)

Incidentally, something else I saw a lot of on this walk was fall decorations. A lot of people didn't decorate last year. Maybe they're feeling more festive now. Some people even have their Halloween decorations up already.

I spent the rest of the evening when I got in at home. I swept the porch. I cleaned the bathroom, which needed it badly, especially the tub. It's been a while since I've refilled my cookie tin, so I made Stir-and-Drop Oatmeal Cookies, one of the easiest and lowest-fat recipes in The Betty Crocker Cooky Book. Since the oven had already been on and I had the cookie sheets out, I make Oven-Fried Eggplant to go with my tilapia and zucchini for dinner.

Watched The Backyardigans while I cleaned and had lunch and The Toast of New Orleans during dinner. Superheroics of all kinds was the theme of this Backyardigans set. Tyrone and Pablo play Backyardigans In Black in an attempt to deliver an elephant to an Indian sanctuary (and teach Uniqua that elephants do NOT make good pets) in "Operation Elephant Drop." "The Magic Skateboard" was a solo story for Tyrone, with Uniqua doing the teaching this time, as she reminds the moose boy that practice, not magic, makes for totally radical skateboarding.

The two superhero-oriented stories were the best on the set. Tyrone once again does the teaching as he shows typhoon-blowing Pirate Pablo, animal-imitating Jungle Girl Tasha, and tough Princess Strong Blossom Uniqua how to get along as they rush down a cavern to stop a boulder from blocking a lava geyser and break the world in half!

My favorite was "The Flipper." In this take on both The Incredible Hulk and Pablo's tendency to go into tizzies, Pablo and the girls are "Meteor Trackers." They discover a meteor heading straight for Earth! Pablo has an amazing invention that might be able to head it off...but he runs into a shelf during one of his panic attacks and knocks a jar of space gunk on him. It turns him into an Incredible Hulk-like green monster whenever he hears the word "meteor." Only holding his teddy bear can bring him back. Tasha and Uniqua do their best to try to stop the meteor...and stop Pablo from showing the world what he's like when he's mad, too!

The Toast of New Orleans was the second Kathryn Grayson-Mario Lanza starring vehicle after That Midnight Kiss. It's basically the "discover Lanza and turn him into a gentleman" story again...this time with the twist of being set in New Orleans and the Louisiana bayous during the Edwardian era. The change of settings and more elaborate sets and costume helps tremendously. I enjoyed Toast far more than the bland Midnight Kiss. So did a zesty cast that includes David Niven as Grayson's fiancee, Rita Moreno as Lanza's girl in the bayou, J. Carrol Naish as his uncle who would rather be back in the bayou fishing, and James Mitchell as Lanza's best friend. The music's better, too. In addition to the operatic sequences, we have some songs written directly for the film, including the oft-reprised "Be My Love."

Rain, Rain, Please Stay!

It was gloomy, cloudy, and humid as heck when I finally got out of bed around quarter after 9 this morning. Even so, the weather made me really happy. We desperately need a week's worth of rain.

I spent the morning volunteering at the Oaklyn Library. I mostly organized the DVDs. I don't know how they get so out-of-order. It's not that hard to put everything away where it belongs. Little kids who don't know their ABCs yet have an excuse, but teenagers and adults know better.

I did take out a book today. To Be Continued is one of my favorite books about movies. It has pictures, cast lists, and plot descriptions for every serial made between 1929 and 1956. As a fan of swashbucklers and old-fashioned action, a lot of these are right up my alley. I forget which library in Cape May County had this (Courthouse? the Villas?), but I used to take it out a lot when I lived down there.

I stepped out of the Library and into a nice, soft shower. I did need milk, so I walked over to WaWa. The rain began to let up as I headed home. Even so, between the milk and the weather, I kept today's walk brief.

Spent the rest of the afternoon having lunch, watching Bowery Boys movies, and working on editing stories. Lauren and I are hoping to relaunch my (barely used) personal website, The Riverside Rest, as a site for our joint fanfiction. I'll remove the recipes and links and keep the essays, my original fiction, and fanfiction on interests that Lauren doesn't share (like the short Scooby Doo story and my Remember WENN fics). We've done two Bowery Boys fanfics in the past couple of weeks and are currently at work on a third, based around Beauty and the Beast.

That was a lot more exciting than work. I was almost late to work, but it scarcely mattered. Work was totally dead the entire night. It got slightly steady during the usual 4-6 rush hour, then went back to being dead again. It took me all of 20 minutes to do the few returns. I was never so bored in my entire life. I thought my shift was never going to end.

Inside Jobs

I awoke to the sounds of rain on the roof and a ringing telephone. Yes, the ringing telephone was the Acme. Could I come in at 1? There was a call-out. For once, sure! No problem. That would give me enough time to get the laundry in. I was going to either bake or clean today as well, but I can do that tomorrow. Extra hours are extra hours.

The rain was welcome, too. It rained all last night, and it was raining again this morning. Thankfully, the rain had let up by the time I was heading for the laundromat. It must have kept a lot of people at home, though. The laundromat wasn't anywhere near as busy as it usually is on a Monday morning.

Good thing I didn't really have much laundry to do. I had just enough time to ride home, get everything put away, have leftover Pepper Steak for lunch, change into my uniform, and head for work. It rained while I was in the laundromat, but by the time I got out to the White Horse Pike, it was just humid, cloudy, and windy.

The weather cleared the Acme out, too. Though it did get busier during the usual 4-6 rush hour, we were generally dead for most of the day. I spent part of the last half-hour doing returns. There were no major problems, and I got in and out easily.

When I got home, I had leftover tomato, zucchini, and meatballs for dinner and watched The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters, the last Leo Gorcey-era Bowery Boys movie I hadn't run yet. It might be the strangest one they ever did. Slip and Sach go to a spooky old house to ask the owners if the local kids could use the lot for playing baseball. It turns out, however, that the owners would rather be using them to experiment on instead of negotiate with!

This was one of the strangest movies of the very odd mid-50s Bowery Boys entries. A lot of it is generic monster-haunted house fodder...but then, there's the man-eating tree. And it's nice to see them picking on Slip and Sach for once, instead of just Sach.

Football and Family

I spent the morning just hanging out at my place. It was dark, dreary, and cool. Which, considering the recent bout of hot weather we've had, was actually pretty nice. It's probably just as well. I didn't sleep well last night and was dead tired when I got up too early around 7:30. (I didn't get to sleep until almost 2:30 last night!)

It was nice to get to hear the whole Brunch With the Beatles show. "Songs Released in the Fall" was the theme today. Heard "Penny Lane" and "I Saw Her Standing There," among others.

I called Mom twice; got her the second time. She was running errands before the Eagles game and didn't really have the time for much talking. Anny had talked her into taking the boys so she could have some down time. Sky and Collyn, however, wanted a home-cooked meal...so Mom found herself having to fill the fridge.

Headed to work about an hour after I got off with Mom. Work was on-and-off steady, with no really major problems. Actually, I figured it would be busier than it was, given today is a football day. My relief was on-time, and I was in and out with no major problems.

The weather even cooperated. It sprinkled a bit on my way to work, but the rest of the day has just been gloomy.

The moment I got home, I changed into one of my Eagles T-shirts, grabbed my purse, and headed right back out again. This is the first time this season that I got to see even part of the Sunday football game. There were quite a few people at Uncle Ken's house when I arrived. My cousins Karen and Jim were celebrating the Minnesota Vikings' big win over the Detroit Lions, their first win of the season. Dad was eagerly awaiting the big showdown between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets later in the day.

I walked into an Eagles slaughter-fest. The Jacksonville Jaguars couldn't get near them, and finally just seemed to lose interest by the second half. The Eagles ultimately routed the Jaguars 28-3, with Michael Vick proving Andy Reid made the right choice in quarterbacks with his 4 touchdowns.

Uncle Ken made me cheesesteaks with his delicious fried onions, and I played hide-and-go-seek with the kids until it got too dark to hide.