Yesterday, while visiting Leif and Anders (and Janet, too, I SUPPPOSE), my Mom drew a few tiny pictures in the corner of a piece of paper (fruit, a conifer, cereal, etc.), then Leif took over. After a while he handed the completed masterpiece back to her saying, “Here is your ECTOMORIAM.” Ah, yes, an ectomoriam. Here is a scan of said “ectomoriam”:
My Mother's Ectomoriam

Here’s a more comprehensive view of my Mother’s Ectomoriam:
The whole expanse of my Mother's Ectomoriam

Oh – What IS an “ectomoriam,” you ask? Well, Leif penned a detailed description of an “ectomoriam” on the back of the work of art:
Ahhhh - NOW I see!

So there you have it. That was very…illuminating.

I would like to point out my favorite character in Leif’s magnum opus. It is this one:
Go, GO LUCHA LIBRE Elmo!!!

My Mother started drawing the character. Says she:

It was supposed to be Elmo, but my markers weren’t working correctly.

Hmm. What is it that they say about “blaming your tools?” Whether or not she considers her illustration a failure to realize the true face of Elmo, I LOVE it, because I think it makes him look like he’s wearing a Lucha Libre wrestling mask. (I also really like his left leg, which is 7.5 inches long – FIVE TIMES the length of his entire personage!!!) Elmo as Lucha Libre, somehow, just seems right to me; I did, after all, learn most of the Spanish I know watching Sesame Street. You know – abierto. ¡Cerrado! ¿Abierto? ¡CERRADO! This will come in very handy when I go on my “open” and “closed” tour of Mexico. I can also say “I’m sorry,” “I don’t understand Spanish,” and “One moment, please,” so that should cover everything else. Oh – but wait – my trump card is: blanqueador sin cloro. (That means “non-chlorinated bleach.”) If I say if with FEELING…

Now this whole Lucha Libre Elmo thing has me thinking. We’ve had Tickle me Elmo®, the giggling sensation, and now we have Bird’s the Word Elmo, Sing & Hum Elmo, Shout! Elmo, Check-up Time® Elmo, Potty Elmo®, Hokey Pokey Elmo, Bilingual Elmo®, E-L-M-O®, Elmo Loves You®, Chicken Dancers Elmo, and, the mysterious T.M.X®, – I say be FRIGHTENED, very, VERY frightened – to be released on the tenth anniversary of Tickle Me Elmo®. Why NOT Lucha Libre Elmo? Perhaps Bilingual Elmo® could just don the costume and change his phrases to wrestling-related terms. It could work.