Jeannine Riley

            On Sunday morning I forgot as usual that the clocks were changed. My phone and computer change the time setting automatically but I always forget to manually change the alarm and so it went off at what was now 4:00. My first clue was that on Radio Canada Frank Sinatra was singing “Nice n Easy” when there would normally be classical music playing. I did half the sun salutation and then got the sense that something was off. I looked at my phone and saw that I'd done it again like I do twice every year. I went back to bed but I couldn't sleep so I got up at 4:30 and did my yoga half an hour early. 

            I spent some extra time trying to memorize the fourth verse of "Arthur, où t'as mis le corps" (Arthur, Where'd You Put The Corpse?) by Boris Vian, but I didn't quite get it. 

            I worked on editing “Le vieux rocker” by Serge Gainsbourg in Christian's Translations and it's almost done. I should have it published on the blog tomorrow. 

            Near the end of song practice my A string broke. Fortunately, I have lots of extras and I changed it but it cut into my time. 

            I weighed 87.8 kilos before breakfast. 

            I weighed 89.2 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of lemonade. 

            I worked on my Shakespeare essay.

            In the afternoon I was leaving for my bike ride but when I got outside my building I realized that because of the time change it was going to be dark an hour earlier. I went back inside and got my red back flasher. I had intended earlier in the day on removing the tape that holds my front flasher on my headset and recharging the batteries, then re-taping it before my ride, but I forgot. 

            I rode to Yonge and Bloor and it was pretty much dark at that halfway point, so I turned on my back flasher. It's scary riding in the dark without a front flasher but I was lucky it was only a Sunday with lower traffic density. 

            At Yonge and Dundas a cyclist came barrelling through the stream of crossing pedestrians while balancing on his back wheel and howling joyously but maniacally. I could still hear him blocks ahead of me.

            As I passed Trinity Bellwoods Park there was damp cool air rolling out of it. It's amazing what a difference riding an hour later makes on the atmosphere. 

            While riding I thought about As I Lay Dying. Cash fell from the church. He's a carpenter. He's building a coffin. A coffin is a long low thing and long low things travel. The dying woman watches the coffin being built. The youngest boy caught a big fish. The fish is another Christian symbol. Christianity is about preparing for death. 

            When I was unlocking my building door the little old woman who panhandles outside my window approached me. She asked for a dollar but I said “Sorry.” She said “You don't have to be sorry. Everybody's broke.” She asked, “It's Sunday isn't it?” She commented on what nice weather it was for November and how it should be snowing. She surprised me when she said she'd be 59 on December 17. It was the longest conversation we'd ever had. I think her name is Bea. 

            When I got home I cut the tape that holds my front flasher on, removed the batteries and put them in the charger. I weighed 88.5 kilos. 

            I worked some more on making notes for my Shakespeare essay on Autolycus from The Winter's Tale. I started trying to organize my notes thematically so as to figure out which theme is best for my essay thesis. 

            I made pizza on naan with Roman red pepper sauce and extra old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching an episode of Gomer Pyle. 

            In this story Sergeant Carter gets a call from Hollywood telling him he's been selected to appear on a show called “Win A Date.” The show is similar to the real show “The Dating Game” that was very popular around that time. Carter actually applied to appear on the show but he tells his girlfriend Bunny that he was ordered to go on the show by his commanding officer for the sake of Marine public relations. Bunny does not believe him and she doesn't like the idea that he would be going to Hawaii with a strange woman, especially since he's never even taken her to Catalina Island. Gomer drives Carter to the studio and then Carter invites him to stay and watch the show. One of the other contestants is a very handsome Marine sergeant but the third Marine who was supposed to appear called to cancel at the last minute. Seeing Gomer there they ask him to step in but Gomer doesn't want to. Thinking that Gomer would not be much competition Carter orders him to participate. Meanwhile Lou Ann goes over to Bunny's place to watch the show and she is very surprised and angry that Gomer turns out to be a contestant, since he never told her. The three contestants are behind a panel like on The Dating Game and a beautiful young actress named Wendy Sparks is asking them questions to determine which one she will choose. Her first question is whether the men would kiss her on the first date. One says “What better way to get to know me?” Carter says he wouldn't on a first date because he's a Marine and a gentleman. Bunny tells Lou Ann that her first date with Carter he was like an octopus. Gomer says he wouldn't but he would shake her hand. Her second question is “What would you do if we were marooned on a desert island?” Carter says he would be a Marine and a gentleman and not take advantage. The other Marine answers that the first thing he would do would be to destroy the life raft. Gomer says he would first look for shelter and then water. Wendy chooses Gomer but then he tells the producer he doesn't want to go and that he should pick Sergeant Carter. Carter tells Bunny he's been called away on a secret mission. Lou Ann is relieved that Gomer didn't want to go but when she hears him say Carter is going she tells him Bunny will be upset. Since Carter had assured him Bunny was okay with the date he'd thought he was doing the right thing. Carter is looking forward to going when he gets a call that Gomer arranged for the other Marine to go. But by then the damage is already done and Carter gets his foot stomped twice by Bunny. 

           Wendy was played by Jeannine Riley, who co-starred in “Strike Me Deadly.” In 1963 she won the part of the eldest daughter Billy Jo Bradley on “Petticoat Junction.” She played Bambi Berman in the Jerry Lewis film “The Big Mouth.” She played Betsy in “Sheriff Who” and was cast as Daisy Mae in the pilot for the TV series “L'il Abner”, which was not picked up. She co-starred in “Electraglide in Blue.” She was a regular on “Hee Haw” for two years playing a Daisy Mae type character. She played Lulu McQueen in the short-lived sitcom “Dusty's Trail.” In 2020 she wrote a book called “The Bolder Woman: It's About Time.”