Crocker and Looney Tunes

In December and January, the Crocker Art Museum hosted an exhibit of the artwork and technology that went into creation of the old Warner Brothers cartoons: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, and Roadrunner, et al. Marty and I went to see it a couple of Sundays ago, and were as much entertained by the smiles beaming from the faces of old and young as by the cels and backgrounds on display.

I was a little disappointed when I saw how small the artwork is. The cels and backgrounds were 8 1/2" x 11"! Storyboards and model sheets showed the stable of artists how each character should look from different angles. Two DVD players in different rooms played a series of 'toons and attracted kids to grandparents. It was obvious that some of the kids had never seen these cartoons before, and it was interesting to see that their humor and lessons are still as fresh as when they were first produced.

So what's our connection? Marty is a diehard fan of Warner Brothers! In fact, on our honeymoon on Kauai, he found a video store, rented a player and VHS tapes, and we watched Daffy, Sylvester and Tweety and company for 3 days! (And did other things, too, like scuba diving off Barking Sands and the Na Pali coast.)

10 Years, 50 Quarters

The photo's not the best, but I wanted to celebrate right away! I got the Hawaii Quarter the other day, and now my state quarters collection is complete.

It's been an interesting 10 years, learning about each state and the picture it chose to represent itself in the series. When I started, Daughter was 5 and Son was 10. Keeping an eye out for the new quarters became such a part of my life, I was astounded to see how much time has elapsed - it's 2/3 of Daughter's entire life!

I found each quarter in "working" money. That is, I never went to the bank to buy the new quarters, but waited for them to show up in change as I bought things. So there was a little leapfrogging going on as I acquired newer quarters while still waiting for previous issues to turn up.

Now I'm collecting the presidential dollars. This will be harder, as I think the only place I know I can get dollar coins in change is at the post office's stamp vending machines. So far, I have one dollar of about 8 that have already been issued. This may take 2/3 of my life to complete!

Library? No - Grocery Store!

Don't know if this comfy chair is still there, but I was thinking that management had the right idea - making their store "sticky" by providing incentives to linger. I'v been carrying this photo around for a while - since before Christmas - waiting for an opportunity to upload and share.

I don't even remember which store it was, now, but the chair certainly was a nice touch. You can tell I've been way too busy when I have to find my entertainment in our local grocery stores!