Ciao Readers!  Happy Almost-Back-From-Turkey-Day!

So, today we venture to the Albuquerque Museum for the Jim Henson Exhibition, which just got underway this past week.  While our museums can’t compete with the big guns (or apparently even Omaha, Nebraska – which gets a Monet even though they have 100K less people than we do (see last post)), this is a pretty cool exhibit.  It features a history of Jim Henson and the muppets and we even get some of the real muppet puppets on loan from a bigger museum in NY.

So, a little personal history, which also explains why this exhibition is a big deal to me….

I was just a few months shy of turning 3 when Sesame Street premiered on November 10, 1969. As you may know, it just marked its 50th!!! anniversary!  When I was a kid I LOVED the muppets – so much so that my 13 imaginary brothers and sisters that all lived in an imaginary dresser were muppets, not people (insert psychoanalysis here). My favorite easy-read books were all from Sesame Street, and the one pictured below, The Monster at the End of This Book, was my all time favorite, and an original is on display at the museum (notice the price in the corner):

Even as an adult, I still love the muppets and my own Jim Henson Muppet Factory puppets have starred in their own epics, such as “The Puppetinos Move to Italy.”

In any case, there were several cool old muppets from the 50’s and 60’s (I didn’t realize most of the muppets were created for commercials, like Rowlf the dog for Purina), some old sketches, notes and videos, and several actual muppets (though not the 47 the museum in NY has – play small violin here). I tried my best to take photos without people in them, but this is a big deal for little ‘ol Albuquerque and it was a full house….Enjoy!: