I feel like I have a couple options here: I can post this nonsense with no explanation at all (which could be fun) or I can make an attempt to go back and figure out how I got here. Either way there will be questions, but there may be fewer with an explanation.

This sign says it best:

As we all know, a d ay without art is a d ay without s unsh ine, a situation I will never face because of days like today.

Any given day this month I’ve had more things to celebrate than I’ve had time. I’ve passed up golden opportunities to celebrate Frog Jumping Day, Dance Like a Chicken Day, Buy a Musical Instrument Day and Leprechaun Day. I’m a little sad about that last one but it happened on a very busy day when I was baking pies and there’s only so much time in a day.

Suffice it to say that I have to make choices. I have to look at my multitude of options, determine which subject speaks to me and then how best to honor it with a budget of about $5 and the time I have in the afternoon before Bikram yoga class because I’m a busy girl.

Some things are obvious (Star Wars cakes), others need planning, and some days I have a couple of worthy candidates so I spend time combining and incorporating two disparate holidays into the same celebration (Diets in Space). Sometimes those holidays easily mix and match and other times you have a day like today.

Today is World Turtle Day. I enjoy the World days because they indicate that the subject is too big for just a national or international celebration. Instead, the earth itself needs to pay attention, get involved and possibly plan a party.

In other news, today is also the anniversary of the Bonnie and Clyde shootout that ended their lives and their reign of mayhem.

I’m going to give you a moment to consider how you might combine a holiday and a day of remembrance, were you given the chance. Got some ideas? Awesome. I’d love to hear them.

For myself, I did a lot of baking over the weekend so I wanted to do something art-y today. Something fun. Something crafty. Maybe build something or make something. This led me to wondering what the Bonnie and Clyde shootout might look like with turtles in the pivotal roles, thinking maybe I could stage a scene and have some fun with that. From there it’s a short leap to the only known turtles with legs and arms that could carry guns, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

At this point I’m going to pause to acknowledge that this explanation leaves holes giant enough to pilot the Millennium Falcon through, but it’s the best I can do. Who can even explain why I would consider staging the Bonnie and Clyde shootout with turtles? Even I’m stumped by this question.  I can only say that’s it’s May and this is my 20^th (ish) holiday and it can’t all be Star Wars and Friday the 13^th and drinking on the patio. Smaller holidays need love too.

After I had a plan and some pictures to work from, I chose the medium of playdough because I knew I could make it and color it to my specifications. It turns out it’s easy to make, though color mixing with food coloring leaves a little subtlety to be desired. I won’t go into the intricacies of building a machine gun with playdough because it’s just ridiculous and didn’t go all that well.

I have a lot of respect for people who do claymation but I question their judgment because one afternoon of positioning figures in playdough makes me certain that I need never to do it again.

Without further adieu, I present to you Clyde:

And Bonnie (that’s a beret on her head, a’la Faye Dunaway):

In happier days:

And full of holes.

Bet requested the x’s over the eyes because she said otherwise it looks like they’re throwing up and that’s gross.

Is there more to say? Probably there is. But this is more than enough for now.

Happy World Turtle Day!

RIP Bonnie and Clyde.