Lela Bliss

            On Saturday morning I felt more relaxed than I've been in a while now that I've finished my Shakespeare examination. One more exam to go next Wednesday and then I'm free until January.

            I worked out the first six chords for the intro to “Bambou” by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I weighed 86.8 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I went down to No Frills. I guess the grapes in Chile and South Africa are out of season. I got three bags of navel oranges, a half sirloin pork roast, mouthwash, kitchen bags, coffee, spoon size shredded wheat, herbal tea lemonade, Greek yogourt and skyr. When I cleared out my basket at the checkout I didn't see my other glove but the cashier said it had already rolled through. 

            All of my PC fabric shopping bags have little holes and I ask every time if they have any but they never do. This time I asked and they did. The bags have double handles now, one set shorter than the other. When I was bagging my stuff I couldn't find my other glove again. The cashier said it was caught on one of the bags of oranges and already in my bag.

            I weighed 86.9 kilos before lunch. I had Breton crackers with five year old cheddar and a glass of limeade. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride to Bloor and Dovercourt. It was extremely windy and it made me swerve sideways a few times. As I was riding up Brock Avenue a big box of discarded Christmas decorations blew across the road in front of me. Then it tipped over and the pine cones, gold ornaments, and other items came spilling out and crawling desperately along the street in the wind. I weighed 87.1 kilos when I got back. 

            I finished editing my notes from the last US Lit lecture. There was an email from Professor Morgenstern saying she had put all of the slides back up on Quercus. I wonder if she read my course assessment comment in which I said “the slides could have been up a little longer.” I was only missing the slides from November 23 so I downloaded them and inserted the text from the relative ones into the text of the lecture. I put all my US Lit lecture and tutorial notes in one document. 

            I made pizza on naan with Arabbiatta sauce, pieces of a salmon fillet and extra old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching an episode of the Addams Family. 

            In this story Morticia, Gomez, and Lurch return from a bat hunting trip. The front gate that opens and closes by itself is addressed as a person for the first time when Morticia says, “Thank you Gate!” But Morticia and Gomez are disappointed when they get back to discover that while they were gone Mama has taken up fortune telling again. She uses a crystal ball from the chandelier and has set up a tent in the middle of the living room. She has a customer when they walk in and she tells her that she is going to jail. Morticia tells Mama she has to shut it down but she begs for one more customer. Unfortunately the next customer is actually a cop and Mama is arrested. It turns out that Gomez really is a lawyer albeit a very unconventional one. He has never lost a case but he has also never won one. Mama's fine is only $10 but Gomez wants to take it to court. They go up against Judge Saunders who holds the whole family in contempt for their antics. After finding Mama guilty he is about to also sentence the family when his wife walks in. She is the woman we saw with Mama in her tent. Mrs Saunders was recently arrested for kicking a police officer who fined her for jaywalking. She says that proves Mama really is psychic and she demands that the judge let her go. He does so and Mama is free.

            Mrs. Saunders was played by Lela Bliss, who costarred in the silent film “Pretty Mrs Smith” in 1915. She played Adele Johnson on “The Stu Erwin Show.” With her Canadian husband, Harry Hayden she ran the Bliss-Hayden Miniature Theatre and the Bliss-Hayden School of Acting in Beverly Hills from the 1930s until 1955. Their students included Marilyn Monroe, Doris Day, Betty White, Veronica Lake and Mamie Van Doren. It later became the famous Beverly Hills Playhouse. 

            The officer who arrested Mrs Saunders was played by Gail Bonney.