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February 21, 2013 //
4

deutsch Frauleins Art

I knew it, I knew it! The Dedes can’t make up their minds about what they should do for their anniversary. Even worse, they are quarreling over whose idea is best. They are not used to brainstorming I guess. They are poo-poohing each other’s ideas and at any one time, one or the other puppet is sulking because they think their opinions don’t get the respect they deserve.

Sure enough, last night Deutsch Fraulein visited me in a huff. Her idea was shot down in flames. Of course, she is convinced her idea is the most wonderful one and she tried to lobby me to take up her case. Deutsch Fraulein would really like to have a photo competition called “My Dede World”. All the Dedes would be eligible to take part and enter one photograph, an interpretation of what’s important to them as a Dede. The viewers could judge which photograph is the best. Needless to say, Deutsch Fraulein has recently taken up photography and is out and about with her camera all day long. It’s a typical trait of the newly converted: She is overdoing it a bit and is getting on everyone’s nerves.

She showed me one of her latest photographs. “So what do you want to say with this?” I asked

“I don’t know, it’s just pretty, isn’t it?”

“There’s more to photography than just snapping something that looks pretty!”

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Photography, Relationships, Social Network

One is sulking

December 22, 2012 //
2

cat arguing

Overall the Dedes are a mellow lot. Even Cat does not touch Mouse, despite it is totally against her nature. Sometimes we can observe Cat eying Mouse up and watching her every move, but she wouldn’t pounce on her. It is not that Cat respects Mouse, no, she doesn’t. Their lifestyles couldn’t be more different. Cat believes Mouse is a goody two shoes and a busy body. The truth is Cat just can’t be bothered with Mouse. Cat is a student of Urban Social Structures and has to roam around the neighbourhood a lot for her studies. Apart from this, she sleeps a lot and eats even more – as every good student does – and when the tom cats come out at night to party, she is there too.

Last night Cat came  to visit me. She does this very rarely. She keeps more to herself unless she is hungry. So I was expecting that she wanted to score a free dinner and invited her to stay for a bowl of my broccoli soup. But she declined politely.

“I have to say, I was incensed by Mouse’s behaviour today!” She was airing her disapproval of Mouse using a cat punching bag.

“It wasn’t a real cat, not even a stuffed one” I replied

“She truly hurt my feelings! And I want you to address it”

“That is between you and Mouse, I can’t interfere here. You know I try not to take sides.” I refused to help her out.

“But sometimes you have to take sides, for example when there is an outrages injustice”

I had to reminded her that she got six toy mice at her last birthday party.

“Yes, but that is normal, isn’t it?” she replied sulkily, looked at me like only a cat can, and slinked off.

She is another one I might not see for a while….

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Photography

That little schmoozer

November 23, 2012 //
6

I have noticed the Dedes who were at the gallery are somehow different from the home crowd. The ones at home are a lively bunch. The travelers seem somewhat sedated in comparison. I expected them to be brimming with new ideas and stories.

Far from it!  Boy, Liar and Ms SM sleep all day (and night). Alien – who needs no sleep – sits in the middle of the lawn speaking to his people at home, where ever this might be. He doesn’t even need a phone. He just sits there and smiles and from time to time laughs out loud. Watching him, I get the feeling he is terribly homesick.

That leaves Smug Little Devil to bath in the attention of the home crowd. Of course everybody wants to hear some stories and he is the only one who likes to talk about it. I heard through the grapevine that he loves to tell everyone how terribly I failed in selecting the best team for the excursion. He could have done a much better job.

He uses a silly little trick… He schmoozes each Dede by telling them they definitely should have been chosen for the trip and he would have so much preferred to have stayed with them for six weeks than with the other losers he had to go with (… the ones I had selected). I am not entirely sure what he is trying to achieve….except unsettling everyone.

Help! What shall I do now? If I don’t nip this in the bud right now, I will have another riot on my hands.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Photography

Back to normal

November 22, 2012 //
0

When I left work last night, it looked as if I had got all my files back. It took eight hours to transfer the recovered files to a different hard drive. I will have to have a close look at them today. The Dedes were noticeably relieved about the news and they were all very compassionate about my mishap and said nice words. Except for Smug Little Devil  (one of he puppets that just came back from the exhibition).  I had forgotten about his irritating habit of laughing out loud at other people’s mistakes. As if I had deleted the data deliberately. Who would do that? But as if his devilish, and rather arrogant guffaw wasn’t enough, he adds insult to injury by telling you what you should have done in the first place. He always knows and he always knows best.

In the beginning I thought he is quite a nice little puppet, but now, I just want him to shut up. Of course he told me I should set up a back up system that doesn’t take long and doesn’t cost the earth. As if I didn’t know this myself.

Gee, was I happy it was Wednesday and sports night. So I could excuse myself swiftly. When I left I heard him say to the others “You know all she needs is a back up system”

“Let it go!” I heard in various voices.

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Categories Art, Fun, Life, Photography, Relationships

Poor Puppy Day

November 7, 2012 //
4

I should declare the 6th of November “Poor Puppy Day”. We all know fireworks scare the wits out of animals, but Lou has taken Guy Fawkes particularly badly this year. While Cat and Mouse are back to their usual business, Lou is still lying on the sofa under the blanket and feeling sorry for himself. He has done so all day yesterday. Okay, he is young and he suffers from mood-swings: One week he is totally over the moon and it is all happy, happy, joy, joy.  The next week he is lethargic and doesn’t move an inch from his chosen patch.  I have to be honest with you here, seeing the young puppy like this makes me feel extremely uncomfortable, as I don’t know what to do when he is down. Shall I just leave him to it or shall I talk to him? I haven’t figured it out yet.

Tomorrow Bobby and Clay Head will come around and interview us about the email. Maybe I should ask Bobby if there is a chance to train Lou as a sniffer dog. A bit more routine might help.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Photography

New Entrants

November 5, 2012 //
2

Clay Head told me I should give Bobby a break and let him do his job. Fine by me. I have other things to deal with this week. Next Saturday is the puppeteer workshop I am running with the “Older Women’s Network”. It has been on my mind for weeks. The duration is 1.5 hours and I have arranged and re-arranged my approach on how to spend that time at least a hundred and fifty times. I haven’t developed a formal outline yet. Instead I have made new puppets. I thought puppet making will clear my mind, unfortunately I came up with more silly stories.

The picture today shows the latest entrants, bar Bobby. He is doing his rounds with Clay Head trying to find out who cancelled the party. So he was too busy to attend the photo shoot. Cash Cow is a bit slow, she hasn’t got her colours yet. In fact she is Cash Cow V2. The first one didn’t work out, so I remodeled her into a monkey. Cheeky little thing pushed himself to the front to get his skin first.

The new entrants are (in the back row from left): Rob Daylight, the daylight robber and Daredevil the wannabe hero. In the front row: Cash Cow with the empty udder, Monkey (no explanation needed) and Harvey, the rabbit with a gambling problem.

These puppets I have made especially for the workshop – they are members of the Touch Troupe. The idea was to have this troupe as a set of public performers who might not pop up on the blog much. But then Cash Cow has already moved into my garage, she needed a cheap crash pad. She is so broke she can’t afford to pay rent anywhere else.

Here goes this idea!

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Photography

Aftermath

November 1, 2012 //
0

Wednesday night is sports night, so I left the Dedes to their own devices. When I came home, they were lying on the sofa with stuffed tummies. Obviously they had been out collecting lollies, despite my explicit veto. I have to say, I didn’t feel sorry for them. Sunny’s permanent grin was gone, he looked like he was close to throwing up.  He didn’t in the end, but I hope it taught him a lesson. I am soooo happy that Halloween is only once a year.

Back to normal… We still have a vote going on, to decide who will get the job of heading the investigation into the cancellation email. It is a very close race… Bobby (the newcomer) is at the moment one vote ahead of Ducky (the dye in the wool politician) and Clay Head (the external consultant). ––  I love statistics :)

Unfortunately, like any other election, participation is pretty poor and to be honest we have only had one vote so far. My official statement of course is: “We are not releasing the figures”. If we don’t get any more votes by Friday (New Zealand time) when voting closes, it will be Bobby, who will head the investigation.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Photography

Egg on my face

October 31, 2012 //
0

Sometimes I wonder if the Dedes think I have no feelings… They really made me cry this morning. But let me start at the beginning.

Last night we had a discussion about Halloween. A few of them wanted to go trick-or-treating. As I am European I am not used to this custom and I immediately said: “This is for kids, you are supposed to be grown-ups!”

Someone (it might have been L’Artiste) replied, “but we are small and when we wear masks nobody will notice. We will just take you along as adult supervision.”

“I am not letting the Dedes go around the neighbourhood extorting lollies from the good people. –  And I certainly won’t take part in it! That is a sound No. Do you read me?” I was surprised they bought it so quickly. The reply to my no’s are usually …but, but, but… Not this time. They shrugged their shoulders as if they wanted to say “We didn’t expect anything else from you” and disappeared swiftly whispering to each other.

What a big fright I got this morning when I was about to fetch the newspaper… Totally oblivious and still half asleep, I opened the door and there they were… sitting on my doorstep. They were all prepared with the good organic eggs from my fridge and a big bag… and worse, they all wore angry looking masks of a suspiciously familiar looking face. “Trick or treat” they shouted, but I had no chance to answer or even close the door quickly… the first egg landed fair and square on my knee …and it almost broke. Thank goodness they are no good at throwing anything.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Photography

Put to Vote

October 30, 2012 //
4

The main discussion point between Philosopher and myself on Sunday was how we could solve the mystery of the cancellation email. Neither of us want our friend Mouse upset. It really unsettles the Dede world. We also agreed I couldn’t be in charge of the investigation. I am too close to the case and a few of the puppets distrust me in this regard. Personally, I think I could be neutral –  I want to shed light on the whole affair as much as Mouse does, but many of the puppets now believe I am biased for one reason or another. This would make the job so much more difficult for me than for anyone else who comes in from the outside. I will quite happily step aside and let somebody else deal with it. Mouse wants action. I want results…

So I put an email out yesterday to all the Dede puppets asking for submissions as to who should head the investigation and here are our three candidates. I am now putting the vote to the public – Who shall we engage?

1. Bobby

The Policeman would be the obvious choice, but he is still at the Academy. He will have his exams next weekend, so we would only have to postpone the investigation by one week. I also have to point out it would, of course, be his first big job in the real world.

2. Ducky

He put himself forward. He is a politician without office and I am not so sure how well liked he is by the Dedes, (but that shouldn’t affect his ability). Nobody  has seconded his nomination, and I have left him on the list only because of a lack of any other candidates. Good on him for holding his hand up!

3. Clay Head

Clay Head  is a Dede at heart (he was born a Dede but later converted to clay. As he is the only clay head, he must be pretty lonely). He was put forward by Philosopher and seconded by Devil. I have to elaborate a bit on this external consultant. Not being a real Dede he of course has no vested interest in the outcome whatsoever. I have to reveal though, that he fell off a table at a young age and lost one of his ears. So his hearing is impaired and I am not sure if he sustained any other injuries that could affect his judgement. I also have to put a caveat on him: I know that Clay Head, Devil and Philosopher were in the furnace together (that is much like kindergarten in the Dede world). There could be an aspect of the old boy’s network in his nomination.

Any thoughts? Can you help the Dedes make a decision?

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Categories Art, Life, Photography

Wake-up call :)

October 29, 2012 //
4

Philosopher and I sat together for a long time last night. He is the most non-judgemental puppet I know. Of course I filled him in about what had happened last week while we drank a bottle of wine and devoured the chocolate fish they had brought home.

As a consequence Bad Conscience came to visit me this morning. At 5:23 am! He told me off and pointed out that the scale moves scarily to the right and I am getting older too. If I don’t want to have a body with niggles here, there and everywhere I should live more healthily. Would you believe this at 5:23 am in the morning? Did he have to tell me then? I asked him if this could wait until the sun was up. What does the sneaky puppet say to me? “I find you more perceptive at this hour of the night!”

“But I will have forgotten by sunrise”

“I will just keep coming back until you get it” he said. And I know he meant it. He is very persistent.

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Categories Art, Fun, Life, Photography
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