No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on December 26, 2015

This morning I went with the family to the new Center for Puppetry Arts museum along with the new Jim Henson wing.

In a word “WOW”!

If you haven’t been to the CPA, now is a great time to start. If you have and haven’t been recently, I highly suggest that you go. You can find more information here

For me it was probably a bit more personal because back in the 1980/1990s I worked in the museum for a while. I helped install temporary exhibits. I took care of the main collection. I dealt with having to move all the puppets out so they could do asbestos abatement. I gave tours. Did a little bit of everything thing there and had a good time.

So the museum is near and dear to my heart.

I was amazed at what I saw and how well it was put together. There is a great combination of interactive parts of the exhibits along with information that was in the sweet spot between not enough and overwhelming.

It was nice seeing puppets still there that were there when I was worked at the museum. My only disappointment was that the Mad Hatter that Tony Sarg had made was not on display because I wanted to show that to Caroline because she now has context for who Mr. Sarg was.

The Henson wing is fascinating for both the breath and scope of the information they give you. I think my favorite room was the Creature Shop room with all the bits and bobs they use to make muppets including some pattern pieces. Very educational. Caroline loved that they had characters from Dark Crystal and Labyrinth in the collection. Peter enjoying watching our reactions to the whole thing.

Highly recommended.

I am grateful that I got to see this with my family.

photo credit and rights to Donald O’Shea
Kermit and Me
(For the VI: This is me standing to the left of Kermit the frog who is in a director’s chair with a megaphone. I am wearing a black shirt that says “Keep Calm and Puppet On”. )

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 25, 2015

We opened presents, had eggs benedict, and went to see Star Wars the Force Awakens. This evening we are having roast beast and then going to see some friends and then the Doctor Who special. A fine Christmas for me.

The weather on the way down was some of the worst we have driven in to go anywhere. Rain, wind, and fog in various combinations gave us a new meaning for the words hazardous travel. But we got here in one piece and intact.

Tomorrow I get to see the redone Center for Puppetry Arts and the Henson exhibit, which I am looking forward to it. Then lunch with an old friend at the slice and pint.

Sunday my brother, sister-in-law, and my nieces are coming to Atlanta. Caroline is looking forward to seeing her cousins.

Sunday is also the day we are going to start our return home.

I am grateful for my parents being flexible about things.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 23, 2015

Or car trip or train travel or however you are getting to where you are going. If you are staying home, I hope those coming to visit you arrive safely.

Today we have the cat sitter ready to take over the house. I have a car to pack and we start our yearly Christmas trek to Atlanta to visit my family. At some point my mother might have all four of her kids in the house at the same time.

After Christmas I plan to get back on blogging on a regular basis. I have slacked off terribly and I realize that writing out whatever comes to my head tends to free up my brain and bring my writing abilities on line so I can work on other projects.

I need to get some other activities back into my schedule. I feel like I have been on hold since the beginning of December. Gym has been mostly kept up from week to week. I am hoping to up that from three to four days a week but we will see. I need the exercise to stave off a laundry lists of things that can go wrong with my body. It is one of the best Christmas present we could get. Caroline is now old enough to use the gym and the weight room. I have had to figure out how she can use some of the machines but it is possible. So all three of us can go now.

But right now my brain is focusing on everything that needs to be done before we leave. Presents are wrapped. Clothing is ready to pack. Various toiletries ready to go. Overnight bag packed.

Now to finish up cleaning up and the cat boxes and we will be ready to go.

Safe travel to everyone traveling.

I am grateful for getting things done in a timely fashion.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 17, 2015

Tonight Caroline, Peter and I will be at the Fourth World Comics Star Wars showing thanks to the lovely people at Fourth World. It will be nice to see the film with a rather enthusiastic crowd. I have managed to stay pretty much spoiler free so I have little idea what I am walking into other than it says Star Wars on the sign.

Star Wars has been a touchstone for me for many years now. Since I saw it on Memorial Day weekend back in 1977 in fact.

I can honestly say that I have seen that film more than I have seen any other film in my life thanks to the summer of 1978 and a dollar theater I could walk to from my house.

I didn’t expect back then to have the number of adventures I have had due to that film.

I think if I went back and told myself that I would meet the cast over the years I would not believe myself or that I would work on both Star Wars fiction and non-fiction at Del Rey/Ballantine or that I would make so many friends over the film including a number of them that worked on the films.

But all of those things have happened and more.

I am looking forward to seeing what is next for Star Wars tonight. And even if it is not my cuppa, I still have the original film that started it all and still makes me smile.

I am grateful to George Lucas for creating Star Wars.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 8, 2015

Caroline decided that for her 13th birthday, she wanted a Harry Potter party.

Simple and complicated at the same time. There are a lot of ideas and how to’s for Harry Potter parties out there on the Internet. However Harry Potter items are no longer available for sale in party stores so we had to make our own along with figuring out what was going to happen during the party itself.

So behind the cut is a rather photo heavy of the crafty things we got up to for the party.

(more…)

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