November Birthdays

A friend of mine reminded me recently of one of my all time favorite television programs, Connections.  A British scientist, historian and journalist, James Burke, put the Connection series together, as well as several other similar series.  Mr. Burke is now in his 70's and has a website with all of the videos of his shows.  You know it.  George and I were glued to the computer watching these things.  If you've never seen Connections, search for it on YouTube.  You won't be sorry.

November is turning out to be a pretty popular birthday month.  Of course, my birthday is lasting for the entire month.  Last night we had a celebration for the birthday of one of our neighbors.  These neighbors are all such great cooks and last night was no exception.  I made what Mama used to call a 5 Cup Fruit Salad which turned out great.  George even went back for seconds and thirds.  When the birthday girl arrived, not all of us were there.  Some of the group had gone home to bring back other dishes.  So, it was a surprise for both of us.  We had decorations, food, cake, singing, backyard fire in the fire pit and of course, gifts.  I personalized one of  Cajun Stitchery's gift bags and also a wash cloth with her name.  We had a theme of rest and relaxation.  The gifts were all associated with a soothing bath and included a candle, bubble bath, back scrubber, pumice, manicure set, hand lotion, liquid soap, and more.  We even included a little hand puppet -- mainly because I love hand puppets.

Hand puppets are easy to make.  You can make hand puppets out of so many things.  Of course, I sew mine, but they can be made out of plastic bags or paper bags, as well.  You can make them with an arm on both sides and the head, with the body just hanging fabric.  Or, you can make them without arms and make the mouth move.  A very simple one is a finger puppet.

All of that reminds me of an incident that occurred many years ago when the TV series Laverne and Shirley was popular.  In one episode, Shirley was trying to cheer up Laverne and using make up, she made and upside down face on her own face.  She then leaned over the back of the sofa with her head upside down and a cloth covering up her nose and mouth.  The show was hysterical.  One day I was playing with my boys and I drew the upside down face on my forehead and did as Shirley had done in the show.  We laughed and had a good time but, I forgot to wash the face off.  Later that day, one of George's friends came to the house and I greeted him at the door.  He looked at me with a peculiar look, came into the house and during his entire visit, he kept looking at me very strangely.  It wasn't until he left that I realized that I still had my face painted.  Embarrassing!  But funny.