Like many days when I was a kid it starts with Sesamee Strret and it ends with a snack,
One of the things I liked about Sesamee Street from an early age was the guest appearances. One of the ealriest I remember probably since I like puns so much is when the cast of Bonanza came on the show. They were on a lot of season 2 and did segments where they counted or recited the alphabet or demonstrated math problems like the video below.
In the episode I remember they do a play on the Ernie and Bert banana in my ear sketch (original sketch below) except instead of saying banana in my ear they actually say Bonanza in my ear. Epic!
Sesamee Street has continued with their guest appearances. I just discovered this gem with Billy Joel and Marlee Matlin (CODA, West Wing, Children of a Lesser God) . I'm a big Billy Joel fan and also love writing new lyrics to old songs and Joel does this by tweaking one of his standards and adapting it to Oscar The Grouch.
#################################################################################
Yesterday I had one of my days where I was out of the house at 6:30 and not back for good until after midnight. I was home for about 90 minutes in the afternoon. My wife and daughter were preparing for an impromptu game night, where they had invited several people a day or less before the party was slated to begin. A few people did manage to come, but when I was home the only people they had heard from were unable to attend. This gave me an idea for a wry observation which I shared on my personal FB page:
A lot of times when people can't make it to an event you've asked them to attend, they will respond with something like "that sounds great, but I'm busy that day". Just once. can't they say "That sounds like an awful time, but I'm not doing anything. See ya at 7."?
##########################################################################
This morning, Amy and I were judging another speech tournament. This time it was at held at Lucy's old high school. When you walk in the hallowed halls of a high school there are pictures of accomplished student athletes and plaques with the names of students who received accolades, awards, accomplishments, and some words that don't start with A like scholarships. None of those halls in any of those schools contain my picture. I wasn't that kind of athlete, and I was not that kind of student. However the apple must have fallen far from the tree because my daughter class of 2024 is pictured at least twice and her name is engraved on a plaque as a recipient of a scholarship for mastery in Language Arts.
Ending the day with a snack
My college friend Angela Rumbold's birthday was earlier this week. We had many fine times over the years. When she first moved from Illinois to Georgia, I had occasion to visit her there and she introduced me to boiled peanuts. It was love at first soggy bite. years later when I lived in South Carolina for 2 years the boiled peanut became my go to snack as there was a street vendor outside our local Walmart. I generally did not go more than a fortnight without grabbing me a bag.
When I ventured back to Illinois in '97 to forsake all others and marry my best friend, I also ending up forsaking regular visits with my favorite boiled legume. This +25 year absence of a boiled peanut routine ended about 2 years ago when I discovered inside A BP in Frankfort, Illinois where my sister in law lives, a boiled peanut station. So now 4 or 5 times a year on visits to her family I get the fruits of Jimmy Carter's first job (Boiled Peanut deliverer).
Tonight was one of those nights. My Niece Gracie was in a production of Finding Nemo Jr. Which is not it turns out a quest to find Nemo's progeny but a children's adaptation of the musical Finding Nemo. I was glad to attend, but everyone in my family knew there was a boiled peanut quid pro quo in my attendance.
Well that's all the Team Saturdazzle I have for you today. We learned some math, heard some jokes, watched some videos, I shared some stories and even had a snack. It's not exactly 3 points and a poem, but it will have to do.
