A dream I never thought I'd see.

Ever since I was a young girl, I adored The Muppets. I was a member of The Muppet Show Fan Club, I adored Sesame Street, and I have seen all (I think) of the Muppet movies.


I even wanted to be a Muppeteer. Which I believed was not happening in my lifetime.

But now, at the ripe age of (almost) 51, I got to experience a true dream. At Seattle's Museum of Pop Culture, they are running an exhibit on Jim Henson.

And I took pictures!

Kinda French, Kinda Beat Poet.

 I got to design two Muppets on their universal body. I could have kept going, but I wasn't going to be a total jerk and take time away from the children. 

It wasn't easy, though. :) 

I even tried performing a Muppet, but I didn't get any video. Hee!

I called this one The Farm Wife.

Thank you, MoPoP and the Henson Family for giving us all chance to be dreamers again. 

 

Curiosity: Rice Museum of Rocks and Minerals

Exploring is very important for writers, dreamers, lovers, and well, everyone, really. I like discovering cool things about my local area. So I visited the Rice Museum of Rocks and Minerals.

The museum building was originally constructed by Richard and Helen Rice as their family home in 1952. Richard Rice, a logger by profession, incorporated many rare Oregon woods, such as myrtle wood and quilted maple, in the fabrication of their house. The Rices built a gallery in their basement to display their amazing personal mineral collection. In 1997, the entire building was converted to a public museum, and an additional gallery building was constructed in 2005.

I love learning how the world works. Learning just a little bit of this geology was enough to get my imagination firing.

Enough talk! Let's look at their amazing, mind-opening stuff.

I don't even remember what this is, but wow!

The Charming Mother in Law with an enormous opal.

Imagine the forces it took to create such beauty.

The perfect place for a wizard to meditate.

These agates make these "landscapes" all on their own!

I could see a sort of fantastical entity hiding in here.

Ancient Tiger skull. Yowza!

I love Lapis Lazuli.

What story do you see in this piece?

The Rice's amazing house.

This makes me think of the wings on my angels in the Blood Wings series.

I think Lance's wings float like the chalcedony...

Can't you just see the feathers?

Photos of the Moment

The Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona is a magical place. Upstairs, each country on each continent is represented by their musical instruments.

Here are some Pacific Rim copies of European instruments. Since the Philippine Archipelago is low on metals, they recreated these instruments in bamboo.  What a way to make what you have work for you!