Oh dear, this year seems to be the year of best intentions. I am so sorry for having neglected my blog for some time. Though it doesn’t mean the Dedes have been neglected.
You might know I have lost a few of my major sources of income at the end of last year and I have been working hard to secure new income streams. Now six month later everything came to fruition at once and this just means I am rushed off my feet to fulfill all my promises. My book of “101 recipes with flour and water” is still not finished, however, I am using it a lot, but I am stuck on 51 recipes. My backyard chooks deliver an invaluable addition to my diet too.
Recently I have taken on a part-time teaching job. My first salaried job in 20 odd years. Even though I have been teaching for a long time, it was always on a contract basis. It seems with a salary inevitably come the politics… Something I want to steer clear off as much as possible. Navigating the foul ground takes a lot of energy. Believe me, I feel some good puppet stories coming on….
The Festival of Performing Objects is about to start. This weekend I have to deliver the Dedes I want to show in the exhibition. Every Dede is keen to pack up and go. Some of them will just sit in the Gallery for the month, while others will get action in the stop-motion workshops of the last week. I have to make a decision who is going to do what. I did a lot of work in the early days of the organisation unfortunately with all the changes to my working life poor Kim (the manager of the arts centre) had to bear the brunt of the recent weeks. She did an amazing work luring puppeteers out of the underwood. I am very confident it will be a fantastic exhibition.
It looks like we are getting quite a bit of attention. The first article about the event was published this week.
dedepuppets 
“What a pity, what a pity” as Mr Punch has been known to say. If I’d known about the festival I might have come. Cest la vie! Maybe next year. Congrats on your new job. Tony
Oh the festival is on for a month…. A nice weekend away in lovely New Zealand :)
We are planning to do it every 2 years. This time round we just sussed out the New Zealand puppetry landscape. It was a pretty daunting job. :)
2016 – I’ll keep it in mind. Perhaps by then I’ll have Mr Punch and Judy up and running. I’d planned to do my first rehearsal with the grandchildren today but the family have other ideas. Have a good festival. Tony
Looking forward to seeing you at the exhibition opening next weekend. Ill come up after class. Im looking forward to seeing all the animated objects , including yourself!
Sorry I have turned into an inanimate one… But love to see you at Orewa