It was still warm at 2:30 a.m. when we finally wandered into bed, so I was in a sleep shirt under the regular sheet and cover, with the fan in the window. As we shut off the light, the shades began to sway back and forth.

I woke up at 3:30 to put an extra blanket over me, take the fan out of the window, and put on some socks!

As much as I hated to do it, I had the alarm clock set for 10:00 a.m. It was time for that long-delayed trip to Walmart before the churchgoers got there. The strategy worked—except wretched WallyWorld was out of my yogurt as well as Campbell's chicken broth. At least they had the tortillas!

So when we got done at Walmart we had to go to Kroger anyway. We stopped at Lowes first to get a bag of safflower seed for the "ravening flock" outside our back door and also bought more seed at Kroger along with some yogurt, lean ground pork, and a few other items. The chill meant we didn't have to rush between stores or going home.

We ate once we got home and put everything away, including dinner for Schuyler's wild cousins. A little after one we headed out to the Atlanta History Center in my car, since I needed to stop at Costco for gas.

This was fun, but, boy, I'm glad we had the coupons...I remember when the AHC admission used to be $8. We are really paying for that recent addition; it's now $15 to get in. This is okay if you haven't seen the museum before; the Civil War gallery, the history of Atlanta, the Bobby Jones exhibit, and the Native American display are all terrific. But for just two small exhibits, $30 is a bit much!

The Norman Rockwell "Home for the Holidays" exhibit was very simple: just framed Saturday Evening Post covers along the wall. Most of the themes were Christmas, but there were also a few Thanksgiving covers, some miscellaneous, like the "Happy Birthday" cover with the teacher and her class, and a couple of the infamous April Fools covers. Plaques at each end of the display briefly told Rockwell's story. I love Norman Rockwell and would love to go to the museum in Stockbridge (MA) someday.

The Jim Henson exhibit was really fun. It opened with the series that originally brought Henson to public attention, a children's show called Sam and Friends done in Washington, DC. The clip they showed from the series, about Visual Thinking, was very clever and funny. Some of these really need to be released on DVD, maybe a "best of." Who cares if it's black and white?

Of course the emphasis was on the Muppets, starting with their appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, then of course to Sesame Street and The Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock, plus the two fantasy films Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, but they also showed clips from Henson's various commercials and also an original film that he did called Time Piece, one man's surreal journey of trying to escape his day-to-day life.

Dotted between the storyboards, artwork, and video presentations were showcases, most which included Muppets. Kermit met you as you walked into the exhibit; this was a second or third generation "Kermie," from the 1970s. The original Kermit, who had much larger and less froggy legs, was made from a ping-pong ball and Henson's mom's old spring coat! There was also an early Ernie and a decade-later Bert, a spray-can character from one of Henson's 1960s commercials, Rowlf the dog, and several others. The final exhibit was an 18-minute summary and tribute to Henson that made me sniffle. He died all too soon.

You had to exit through the gift shop (it's a State Law...LOL).

It had only been chilly when we left the house, but when we emerged from the History Center, it was downright raw; the wind had picked up again and had a steel edge to it. It was still overcast, and had there been more moisture in the clouds and it had been just slightly colder, I would not have been surprised to see snowflakes. As it was, the thermometer was standing at 38°F.

We stopped by Borders on the way home and I bought a fantasy novel that looked interesting. I haven't read much fantasy, except the Valdemar books, for years. They also had all their Christmas food items half price and I got a sizable (nine ounce) container of Sunny Seeds. Yum! I love Sunny Seeds.

For supper we had what is becoming our usual, thin-sliced turkey breast served in a salad. We get a pound of this at Trader Joe's, along with a bag of baby greens. James mixes the greens with two little cups of mandarin oranges, a couple of handfuls of slivered almonds, and a handful of Chinese noodles. (We also put friseè in it when we have some.) It's dressed with Kraft Light Asian Sesame dressing. Then he takes the turkey, slices it thin, and warms it up in a little teriyaki sauce. Served together, it's quite nice.

Since then we have been watching the news, and then What's My Line? and To Tell the Truth.

Labels: food, museums, television

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