Portrait in Linen

Day’s Highlights:

• real, live mummy (oxymoron)
• the original Kermit, made from Jim Henson’s mother’s spring coat
• Jim Henson’s original concept storyboards for a Community Coffee commercial (I had NO idea he was raised in the South. I have a new respect for Jim Henson–if he made art for Community, he’s a community hero to me.)
• playtime with marionettes
• Baton Rouge Library
• cartwheels and backbends around downtown fountains
• stained glass dome (gorgeous photo by “Albert the Gator” here) and lacquered spiral staircase (photo here) of Old State Capitol Building (closest thing to a castle that we’ve ever seen)

I think the good citizens of Baton Rouge have it in for me.

• $20 parking ticket–failed to notice the “Bus Only Zone” sign.
• “I’m sorry–we don’t allow photos in the museum. The Jim Henson exhibits are on loan from the Smithsonian, and there are copyright issues. I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to delete those photos from your phone.”
• “Please don’t touch the wall.”

But, the kind ladies at the Shaw check-in desk did allow me to partake of their complimentary coffee stand. Granted, it was Mello Joy, but desperation knows no brand loyalty. I shall Pay It Forward.

Biggest news by far, though: Rocky has made his first official contribution to a professional television project to be aired for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Stop-motion animated commercial was written/directed(/produced?) by Gary Schwartz of Hollywood, California. Four festival participants–all teenagers–spent the entire day concept-ing and filming with Mr. Schwartz’s enthusiastic guidance. Rocky’s would be one of the pairs of hands that

moved-the-figures (snap)…
moved-the-figures (snap)…
moved-the-figures (snap)….

This particular project will be the first collaborative, aired project he can include in his CV. And this, before he even really knows what a CV is. I sense he’s going to end up being exactly what he wants to be. A mother could ask for hardly much more, other than he reserve his seat at God’s dinner table, and he find a wife who thinks the world of him. One down, two to go.