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Gross–mess party

December 4, 2014 //
0

crossmess Party

The Dedes haven’t had much to laugh about this year so they decided recently they need to have a fun Christmas Party. Not like last year when we quietly forgot about Christmas. They still are talking about the year before, when my friend Rae and I took them to North Head for a picnic . I am surprised they talk so fondly about this event, as half of them got drunk and in my opinion they shouldn’t remember anything but their headache the next day. You can imagine how wary I was when they said they don’t mind if I can’t take them anywhere this year, and they would be happy if I gave them the key to the liquor cabinet one night when I was going out. Ah well, as I have neglected the Dedes a little this year I agreed and even replenished the stock before I left.

What a mistake!

Okay, Pig and Professor get always sloshed when there are drinks to be had. No surprises there – but the rest of them?! It obviously got totally out of hand. Well, some of the Dedes were wise enough not to show up at all. After all, it doesn’t take an Einstein to figure out what will happen when there is plenty of booze for free. Bad Conscience, always on the lookout for easy victims, was rubbing his hands in anticipation of the aftermath. He had a field day! Plenty of victims to choose from. Witch, who is a teetotaller, was well-intentioned and went to keep an eye on things and also to rain on Bad Conscience’s parade. By the time she arrived things were already getting out of hand and she retreated early into the art cupboard as nothing could be done to avoid disaster. Philosopher, who is interested in how the Dedes tick had a quiet beer in the corner and watched the bash in amazement. He told me later, the new Dede, Top Dog (I haven’t talked about him yet) made a real nuisance of himself. He made unmistakable advances towards Lou, the young puppy. Lou didn’t know how to fend him off and in the end went and hid. “Ah well, you know how it is, Christmas parties, eh” Philosopher finished his account, shrugging his shoulders. Everyone else also seemed to think it was just a bit of drunken fun. I was gobsmacked as what I was hearing bordered on sexual harrassment. It should not be taken lightly, not even under the cloud of alcohol.

Today Witch came to me and complained bitterly. “I don’t understand” she said, “the others get plastered and make fools of themselves, but they vent anger at Philosopher and me! They blame us for not having fun at their silly party!”

“They are only angry with you because you can tell the story,” I consoled her, but she was still shaking her head in disbelieve.

 

 

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Creative Writing, Fun, Relationships, Social Network

Beans

November 25, 2014 //
5

planting out

Today was the big day. Dee came round with some seedlings and beans to plant out. As I suspected for a while, the only Dede truly interested in gardening is Mouse. She virutally wanted to hop into the basket with heritage beans, but when Dee showed her the seedlings she had been raising for us, Mouse clapped her mittens in excitement and then ran off to fetch her shovel. Dee had to show her what to do next. But before we could plant the seedlings I had to put more compost and potting mix down. Mouse just couldn’t lift the big heavy bags.

Dee showed her how to plant out the young beans and when it came to the tomatoes, Mouse wanted to do it all by herself. She nearly disappeared in the soft bed, but she seemed to have fun.

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Fun, gardening, Hand Puppets

Garden tour

November 21, 2014 //
0

garden tour

My new garden is progressing nicely. The Dedes have been watching me the last few weeks, now it is my turn to watch them. I was worried our gardens might turn into some sort of a race. Who will have their beds prepared first? I needn’t have worried. I am well ahead of my little friends. It’s mainly due to the fact that I have help from Simon, a language student from Germany who is currently staying with us. He needed some exercise after dinner last night and thought digging over the backyard would be just the right thing to do. I was amazed how quickly he turned the the area from looking and feeling like a gypsy camp into something quite respectable.

The Dedes were watching from inside. Later they admitted they had forgotten what Dee had instructed me to do before planting out. Being smug and knowing I am well ahead with my work, I graciously repeated what I have learned so far about soil nutrition. Here is what I did: First I raised the beds. This put the clay we dug out from under the house during the renovations last year to good use. Of course the clay is totally depleted of anything healthy, as nothing has been growing in it for 5o years. To nourish it, I spread the chicken poop which I collected over the last few months. On top of this I put a thick layer of grass clippings. Dee had organised Sam, the lawnmowing man, to dump the clippings from his round in our front garden. (It does sound like a gypsy camp, doesn’t it?).

This morning I invited the Dedes on a garden tour so they can have a closer look at my progress. Not many came, though.  I think it was the chicken poop that put them off.  Mouse was not impressed with her mates. It looks like she has been landed with all the work again.

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Fun, gardening, Life

Spring activity

November 18, 2014 //
0

mouse gardening

Yesterday Mouse, the little working bee Dede, came up to me and asked, “Hey, can I have a spoon and a fork?”

“What for?” I asked suspciously.

“Mmhm.” she said, “You know we are bored, so we have been watching you over the last few weeks.”

“Oh, dear!” Earlier in the year I decided to turn my garden into a producing vege patch. I have to admit, I tried to do it a couple of times before, but it never worked as I don’t really know what I am doing. This year I have the help of Dee Pigneguy, a well-known garden guru in our area. And even though I still don’t know what I am doing, I am very confident that under the watchful eye of Dee, it simply has to work.

Mouse knows me very well and she could tell what I was thinking. “Yes”, she said, “We want to have our own vege patch.”

“But you could help me. More hands make lighter work!”

“No way!” She shook her head vigorously. “You are too difficult to work with. You always know everything better. We want to do our own thing! We even have our own chook, you know, Loudmouth. She has already produced so much manure. Now we are ready to roll.”

“Where will you have your patch? If you are not helping me, I don’t want to have you in the backyard!”

“We found this neglected pot on the deck. You know, the one you got last year for Christmas and the herbs in it just died…”

“Ja, Ja, Ja. Tell everybody about my incompetence.” To shut her up, I went to the art cupboard and rummaged for a plastic spoon and fork. We will see how successful you guys will be, I thought to myself. It’s not as easy as it looks.

“Could we have some metal cutlery instead?” the cheeky thing asked when I handed over what I had found.

“First you prove to me that you can stick to it. I know you guys! If it works I might find you some better tools.”

She wasn’t happy, but grabbed the tools and went straight out onto the balcony.

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Creative Writing, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships, Social Network

Another one tries

November 6, 2014 //
2

little manager

Recently I was asked if I could teach fiber art in the foundation studies at school. I am really excited about the prospect. And I am not the only one. You should have heard the puppets cheering when I  brought home the sewing machine from school one day to refresh my skills. Little Devil decided on the spot that he will be the stylist and ordered a black tie straight away. So he is the new self-appointed manager and he will take charge of all the fashion concerns of the Lil’ Dedes as he is thoroughly convinced, if I’d only made proper dresses for them, they would easily find admirers and could be sold to good homes. Last week he invited my friend Cath for an urgent breakfast meeting and talked her into sharing her table at the Birkenhead market two days before Christmas. Good on him for being so proactive!

But then he wrote out a long wish list of new Lil’Dede characters and dresses I have to make before then. And this is always the crunch point. The Dedes, little or big, are not lacking ideas, it is just that I am always landed with all the work. Though this time I obliged and started making the dresses right away. After all, I have to refresh my skills. It was all in a bit of a rush. The first dress on the list was for  Lil’Walrus. Obviously Little Devil thought this particular chap was in desperate need of sushing up. Just between you and me, that one’s an ugly character. I am not even sure whether it is a walrus or a mole. But Little Devil might have overdone it a bit. He had designed a green robe with a lace collar. Ah, you should have seen the big tears when Lil Walrus came out of the changing room. Little Devil on the other hand was very happy with his choice. I suspect they won’t be the only tears between now and Christmas.

walrus

Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, craft, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Get real

October 29, 2014 //
1

sponsored puppets

I woke up early this morning to pounding rain on the window. A very unusal sound. Normally I wake up to the chickens clucking away, right under my bedroom window, demanding their breakfast. It was early too. I checked on the chickens by looking out the window. The sad little bunch was up and had found refuge under the chicken coop. Lately I have struggled to get up in the morning. It is not like the old days when I would jump out of bed and sit for an hour writing on my blog before breakfast, then go on and do my honest job. But today, after I checked the chickens, I stayed up and thought I would do a spot of early work. To my surprise I found Harvey and Push Push stitting on the studio table having what looked like a deep and meaningful conversation while looking out the window admiring the wonderful red blossoms on the bottle brush tree. Harvey seemed to be peeved off. “Can you imagine?” I heard him say to Push Push. “She has forgotten to remind me of Mr XL’s birthday. She really doesn’t fulfill her obligations to the sponsors.”

“She didn’t forget my sponsor’s birthday in September!” Push Push remarked.

“You can say what you want. She is a slacker! I wish we had the old days back!” At this moment Push Push realised that I was standing in the doorway and signalled wildly at Harvey to shut up. Harvey turned round and said: “Get real! It’s true and she knows it herself!”

“It’s not quite that bad” Push Push tried to appease. But I had to agree with Harvey. He is right and I promised to do better. “Ah well, I know you promises” said Harvey and hopped back into the art cupboard. “You better keep your promise this time” added Push Push in a motherly tone. “Everyone’s patience is wearing a bit thin.”

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Studio One workshop

October 12, 2014 //
4

little skeleton

Last week I had this great workshop at Studio One in Auckland. It was supposed to be a holiday programme for kids from 10 to 14. Truth was the youngest was just 8 and I was a bit worried, that the age difference would be too noticeable. Surprisingly it wasn’t at all. They all played wonderfully together and came up with this lovely story not to judge a book by its cover. I am always amazed about their creativity. Isn’t this skeleton just gorgeous? It is made out of two shuttlecocks and pipe cleaner by thirteen-year-old David. We had so many characters in the end we could easily have made a few films…. But what I really like is that they come up with one story as a group and work on it together.

For me personally it was a wonderful break from the drudgery of school and it became very clear to me that I have to get back into the swing with my puppets. I have three projects on the boil and have to make up my mind which one I am starting first. Life is definitely too short…

And here is the film we’ve created.

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Categories Absurd, Art, film, Fun, Life, Stop Motion, workshop

A bit of magic

September 7, 2014 //
2

Life is a bit of a chaos at the moment and when this happens the blog has to take a back seat. There is one more film from last week to put up, which is really an easy task and only takes a minute. But I got side tracked again, as I took in a homeless person this week and preferred to have good conversations around the dinnertable rather than popping down to the computer to work on my blog. Yes, a real conversation beats sitting in front of the computer anytime. So, here slightly delayed the last film we made at the Festival. This one is an impromptu impromptu. Impromptu for me, as I wasn’t prepared for the participants and impromptu for them as they weren’t expecting it at all. It was a a group of 8 to 10 year-olds. I had accidentially set up the stage in the wrong room. Luckily three out of the four people that had enrolled in the worksho pthat day were sick. We just got into the swing with the last remaining person when a group of kids showed up for their weekly art class. There was a bit of a discussion who’s room it was. It turned out that the volunteer at the reception had forgotten to tell me I should set-up somewhere else, so I offered my participant to come to the next workshop at my studio when the group will be bigger. She was very happy with this solution. So my assistant and I started packing up when the art teacher suggested we should run the workshop with the kids as we were here anyway. Working with kids is so different from working with grown-ups. Workshops with kids are full on, as they all want to talk at once and you have to channel their engery.No way I could run a workshop without an assistant. But it is great fun, I thoroughly enjoy seeing them getting right into it.

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, film, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Stop Motion, workshop

Alien Encounter

September 1, 2014 //
0

The results of last week’s workshops could not have been more different. On the first day we had only a small group. Half the people who had booked  into the workshop were taken ill as a nasty cough doing the rounds in Auckland. We still had great fun and in my opinion it shows in the little film.

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, film, Fun, Stop Motion, workshop

Good riddance

August 31, 2014 //
0

Last week I did three workshops as part of the Festival of Performing Objects. In those  workshops the participants used my Dede puppets to come up with an impromptu play and then acted the story out. During the process props have to be created on the fly. The story might end up totally different than originally anticipated. The film I put up today, was the one we did last. The group did not know each other, which of course adds another dimension to the workshop. So it took a while until they came up with a subject they all could relate to. Of all three workshop this one was certainly the most structured story and thought through from from beginning to end.

Normally I would take around 200 pictures during a workshop. In this one I got barely 90, so it is a bit of a stretch. But i think the result isn’t too bad.

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Categories Art, Comedy, Exhibition, film, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Stop Motion, workshop
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