Number of days in Amsterdam – 260
Number of days without a bike theft – 256
Days since it last rained – 0 1
Quick quiz: Who is the most amazing creative mind of the 20th Century?
Nope. Try again.
You?
That’s close. Try again.
Wait, someone said it. I heard it from the back.
That’s right. It’s Jim Henson.
At my earliest exposure, which would have been Sesame Street, I don’t think I even knew who Jim Henson was, but I was a massive fan of his work. Then there was The Muppet Show as well as The Muppet Movie, Great Muppet Caper and Muppets Take Manhattan to be sure, but I also was a big fan of his lesser known works, like Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas and Tale of the Bunny Picnic.
And then there was the Storyteller, Labyrinth, the Muppet Christmas Carol, and The Dark Crystal.
And don’t forget Fraggle Rock… yeah, I was a Jim Henson geek.
The guy was a genius, taken from us way too soon. The worlds he created fueled much of my imagination as a child.
OK, this isn’t meant to be a post where I just list off all the Henson I can think – because there is more. It’s about trying to instill that same sense of wonder with my daughter.
We have a few puppets now, and I try to do little puppet shows for the Kitten during the day.
We have the Sokkies, Molly Sock and Stanley Sock, a fuzzy duo whose relationship to one another has yet to be determined – are they brother and sister? Good friends? We’re not sure yet. We just know that they’re soft and fuzzy, and they love to kiss Kitten on the head and she loves to scream happily at them.
We also have some Christmas finger puppets – Sinterklaas, Zwarte Piet and the horse – that are ready for year-round performances.
Which is what we did today. Sinterklaas popped in to talk to Kitten about being a good girl so that he could bring her lots of toys this year.
And then she ate his head.
I hope the real Sinterklaas doesn’t hear about this.
Someday, I want to get her a puppet theater, when she’s ready. But I think we may build one together. It will mean more that way, and I doubt Sinterklaas will bring her one anyway, not after the whole head-eating incident.
Storyteller was great!