Lise's Ramblings

For several weeks now, I’ve savoured one to two pages daily from Imagination Illustrated: The Jim Hensen Journal . In this book, curator-archivist Karen Falk and Jim Hensen’s eldest daughter Lisa Hensen combine excerpts from the Muppet creator’s journals with photos, sketches, script doodles and biographical notes, spanning 1954 to 1988. What a joy! While most of us know Jim Hensen’s work―ranging from Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock through to The Muppet Show and scores of other TV specials and movies―people recognized his talents well before any of those accomplishments. By the time he headed off to the University of Maryland, nobody could overlook Jim Hensen’s creativity. He had illustrated high school publications, designed sets for shows and performed from time to time. As a freshman, he secured his own TV show, Sam & Friends , and started a poster business of his own. He quickly moved on to creating funny commercials for Wilkins Coffee Co. In 1958, the ...

Am I the only one who thinks of Grover's near-and-far skit while zooming in and out with a camera? OK, maybe that's just me. As much as I love that Sesame Street clip, I like zoom capability even more. Telephoto lenses and optical zoom technology can score you a picture that looks like you were right beside your photo subject. Digital cameras and even mobile phones that let you snap close-up shots without disturbing wildlife make photo outings       AWESOME!!! Red Fox in the Cavendish area of Prince Edward Island National Park Pin It (Note: Trust me, you'll want to disable the digital zoom option or you'll end up wasting your photo opportunity. You'll also want to steady your camera on a tripod or anything else that's available, because zooming in magnifies movement and can interfere with your photo quality.)

 Oooooh, it's a Big Wheels. Flashback to the early 1980s!  In the past, I’ve blogged about special places remaining relatively unchanged . Today, I highlight toys that have barely been affected by the passing of time. Even with the abundance of Dora, Elmo, Disney princesses, Lightning McQueen, LeapFrog and Baby Einstein toys in store aisles and family playrooms, it’s amazing to see how many retro toys still exist. After all these years, you can still buy the following toys brand new: ·           the basic Fisher-Price Rock-a-Stack (tower of coloured rings) ·           the Play-Doh Mega Fun Factory (or as my niece calls the squishy stuff: Oh-lee-oh-lee-oh) ·           a Barrel of Monkeys ·           wooden xylophones, puzzles and building blocks ·      ...

Oh, the varied ways to enjoy grapes. You may relish just tossing cold, seedless grapes into the air and catching them in your mouth. Chefs and bakers cook up dried grapes in bread pudding, butter tarts and raisin bread. And on a hot day, you can reach into the freezer to treat yourself to rum raisin ice cream. Even grape leaves serve a purpose. In Greek cuisine, dolmades are a popular appetizer with grape leaves wrapped around rice and meat concoctions. Gardeners train grapevines to climb trellises. Then, the vines and their fruit are grown on a larger scale at wineries, where people harvest, crush, ferment and bottle grapes to cater to our thirst for vino . Children’s television programmers even use non-alcoholic grape juice to instruct and entertain. Recall Ernie and Bert explaining the difference between more and less in the classic and comedic delicious grape juice skit (a circa 1970s episode of “Sesame Street”).   Apart from consuming grapes in their many form...