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More resolutions…

January 2, 2013 //
9

brunch discussion

The first day of the year was all quiet. Most of the Dedes went back into their box and had a good rest. The more sensible ones – the ones that didn’t overdo it the night before – had an extended brunch on the deck in the sun. It was an amazing hot day, one of those where you think the world is standing still under a vivid blue sky. All you can hear are the cicadas in the bushes.

None of the puppets felt like talking much, but finally Witch asked me: “So what are your resolutions for the New Year?” …And I had thought I got off lightly by only having to make sure they kept theirs.

“In what respect? For myself or for you guys?”

“Is there a world outside the Dede world?” Witch asked. I had to laugh out loud. “Of course there is!” Immediately I thought up my first personal resolution for this year: ‘Make sure real-life  friends don’t think I am going totally gaga over the Dedes’. I don’t want them to call the men in white coats and have me committed!

“We are not really interested in your other life” Devil added, “so what are your  resolutions in respect to us and the blog?”

“Ah well” I said to buy some time. I hadn’t really thought about it. I am not big on making plans. “I promise I won’t put any of my other stuff up this year. I  know you guys didn’t like it last year when I put some of my photographs up. The blog will be entirely Dede.”

“Now that is a big ask! It would be nice if you’d finally learned it is not all about you!” Devil said. “I will remind you in due time… ”

“We could make a competition out of this” Foxy Lady suggested. “The one that can keep to their resolution the longest will be ‘Resolution Champion’.”

“But New Year’s resolutions are private affairs, aren’t they? Nobody is supposed to know!” I interjected.

“Don’t be daft” Devil said “No, you have commit publicly, otherwise it is pointless. Isn’t it?”

“But I know what everybody said. I am the keeper. I will let you know when someone falls off the waggon!”

“No, no… All the resolutions should be public!” Everybody who was at the brunch agreed. Now, this was a total misunderstanding on my side obviously. I had read the resolutions and stored them away safely in a nice box.

What do you think? Would you tell other people what your resolutions are? Shall I make all the Dedes’ resolutions public?

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

Resolutions! What else?

January 1, 2013 //
2

prof and pig drunk

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope you are in better shape than Professor and Pig today :). These two guys didn’t even make it to the count down at midnight. They were out of it well before then and slept right through all the hoohaa of welcoming in the New Year. Okay, it is not too difficult to miss the arrival of the New Year in New Zealand. It is not like in the colder parts of the world, with big fireworks everywhere. We have fireworks at Guy Fawkes, but now it is summer and the high season for bush fires, so open fires would be a real hazard. We also live in a very quiet neighbourhood, which is even quieter now as all the neighbours are on their big vacation at the moment.

So what else can you do, but drink?

I left shortly after midnight to skype to the other side of the world. I think it is funny to talk from the future. After all, we were already in 2013, while in Germany they still had to see out stuffy old 2012. When I came back Professor and Pig hadn’t moved an inch. They were still lying in the same position on the sofa, Pig hugging a last bottle of beer. Some of the other Dedes were discussing a silly note  to write and photograph together with the pair, but they couldn’t come up with anything. Two days of partying certainly had taken it’s toll on everybody. The wit had gone, off on holiday with the neighbour’s kids.

Witch, a teetotaler and a health freak, had the idea to write down a New Year’s resolution of ‘Drink less’, then she went up to Professor and nudged him until he groaned: “Hey Professor, are you okay with this resolution? ‘Drink less’.”

“Certainly” he mumbled.

“Then sign!” She pressed a pen into his hand and held the paper under the tip. Professor managed to scribble a P. She then went on to wake up Pig who dutifully placed his X next to Professor’s signature.

Someone suggested we all come up with New Year’s resolutions and thought I should judge whether they manage to keep to their resolutions or not. I was surprised how many thought it was a good idea. Not all of of them agreed of course, but most of them wrote down what they wanted to do for this year and gave me their folded up pieces of paper to keep safe.

I will remind them in due time!

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

Devils at loggerheads

December 31, 2012 //
4

devils at loggerheads

The birthday was supposed to be a lovely day. Mouse had baked a cake, put a candle on it and invited everybody to have a piece. Now Mouse isn’t a big eater and the cake was very little. I would call it a muffin, more so than a cake, but for her it was a big thing.

So they all sat down and everybody commented nicely on the big effort Mouse had gone to, to make it yet another wonderful day, when Smug Little Devil arrived. He always seems to be the last one on the scene.

He took one look at the cake and said: “I thought we were having a Black Forest Gateau! What is that shrivelly little thing?” Mouse fought back her tears, but Devil, her old mate, came to her rescue: “What is it with you? Can’t you say something nice for a change?”

“Why?” Smug Little Devil replied “Am I not right? It is supposed to be a birthday cake. Does this look like a birthday cake to you?”

“It’s a cake, birthday or not” Devil replied.

“And I am a devil! I say what I want. Like it or not!” Smug Little Devil didn’t back down.

“But I am THE Devil!”

“No, you are a wuss! You should be called Wuss”

Devil jumped towards Smug Little Devil horns down and really angry. He was ready to fight.

“Whoo hoo!” Witch butted in and commanded: “you both sit down now!” Strangely enough, they listened to her and sat down meekly at opposite ends of the table. “What is it with you two? Tell me! It’s not really about the cake, is it?”

Smug Little Devil immediately started telling  everybody that he thinks Devil is not a genuine devil, he is far too soft. While he was saying his piece we could see steam coming out of Devil’s ears. He didn’t seem too mellow right now. When it was his turn he told us that it pissed him off that Smug Little Devil had such a similar name. People might think they were one and the same, but no, they are only very veeery distant cousins. Smug Little Devil is still such a novice. He doesn’t know the ‘Code of Devils’ at all… really he is a disgrace to all devils as he uses his destructive remarks willy-nilly. He doesn’t achieve anything, but gets up peoples noses. In the  ‘Code of Devils’, first page, first paragraph, it clearly states to use unsettling remarks carefully for the greatest effect, basically when nobody expects it. Then people have to think about what was said. During Devil’s speech Smug Little Devil had his usual smirk on his face. It was so obvious he didn’t take any of Devil’s words in.

“So what can we do about it?” Witch asked. “Rename him” Smug Little Devil answered immediately and pointed at Devil “He is not worth the name!”

“I am Devil, I was the first one. I know the ‘Code of Devils’! No, you have to be renamed!” All the other Dedes cheered. “Yes, we love our Devil, he is the one!”

Philosopher said: “There’s no need to rename anyone. The horns of the little one will grow with his wisdom. Just give him a nickname for now, how about calling him Smutan from now on… short for ‘Smug Satan’… Anybody for cake?” and he leaned forward to take a piece of the plate.

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

Happy Birthday Dedes

December 30, 2012 //
13

waiting for birthday-2

Yes it is true, the first Dedes are turning 1.  It is difficult to pin point their real birth date. Isn’t that sad? All I remember is that it was between Christmas and New Year 2011 and it was raining! I vaguely remember their father, Procrastinator. I was supposed to tidy up my studio, but the pile of old newspapers wanted to be turned into something and this is how the story started. The first one that popped out was definitely Devil, quickly followed by Mouse, Witch, Deutsch Fraulein, Pig, Professor, Philosopher…. I can’t remember the exact order, just who was in the initial lot. Naturally I don’t want to rob them of their big day of celebration. Pity about all the other holidays around this time of year. Who cares, we decided to declare the 30th of December to be the Dede birthday.

Last night they were all hanging around a bottle of champagne we received as a Christmas present and waited for the clock to strike 12. You should have seen their long faces when I told them I am not opening the bottle as I am seriously concerned about their drinking. Remember the Christmas party at the park? Can you imagine anything more scary than a carload full of drunk Dedes? I can now! It is forty sober Dedes wanting a drink and coming for you, because you are the only one who can open the bottle.

“Just kidding” I relented and popped the cork. “Happy Birthday to all my Dedes!”

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

What a welcome?!

December 28, 2012 //
2

her fault

I arrived back home late last night.  I didn’t take any of the Dedes with me on my holidays, as they accused me of favouritism as soon as I picked one of them up to pack into a box. So I left them all behind. This wasn’t a good move as it was raining non-stop where we were and a bit of hands-on puppetry would have gone down a treat. Never mind!

When I came home, all the lights were blazing. I tip-toed into the house to surprise the Dedes. It was a really bad idea as I overheard their discussion. They were sitting around on the living room floor lamenting about the poor participation in the poll.

Smug Little Devil said: “It is really her fault isn’t it? She should not have gone away in the hot phase of voting.”

“Why, what could she have done?” Socialite asked.

“Don’t you know the old saying ‘out of sight out of mind’!” Smug Little Devil replied. “She should have reminded our readers throughout week that they should vote!”

“But she was somewhere with no internet connection and anyway… maybe we only have nine readers?” Foxy Lady pointed out. “No way” Mouse butted in, “we have way more than that…”

“You know how to use the computer” Socialite turned to Mouse now. “You could have reminded the readers!”

“I am not doing anything without being given a mandate. She didn’t instruct me to send out reminders.”

“So we are back to what I said… It is all her fault, isn’t it?” Smug Little Devil pointed out with his unpleasant smirk on his face.

“Give her a break” Philosopher entered the conversation “She is allowed to have a break from us from time to time… She has put so much work into us all year… Where would we be without her?” Tears welled up in my eyes when I heard this nice remark and I was about to enter the room and hug Philosopher, when Smug Little Devil countered Philosopher’s words: “That point of view is futile really… you might as well say where would we be if we had a more driven Master? I believe we could be out there known by heaps more people. We could go travelling and could have a new exhibition somewhere every month. You can’t convince me that she is best for us!”

This made me turn on my heals and leave the house again, so I could come back making a  big racket this time, announcing my arrival to even the deafest of puppets. They all came running out of the living room towards the back door and shouted “We are so happy to have you back.” Leading the pack was none other then Smug Little Devil. I won’t tell you what I thought…

We are very close to the big finale: the winner of the ‘Super Dede 2012’ competition will be announced tomorrow! If you haven’t voted yet, here is the poll again. When I checked last, Mouse was leading. To read a summary of their performances, have a look at the previous post.

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

Your final vote please!

December 23, 2012 //
2

finalists again

Over the last three weeks, our final five candidates have been through the wringer 3 times. It is now time to establish who had the best performance overall to find out who deserves the title: ‘Super Dede 2012’. The lucky Dede doesn’t gain anything from the win. There is no acting contract or monetary riches waiting for him or her… It was the taking part that counts. However, for the readers of the blog, any comment to a post during the competition goes into the draw for a signed copy of original dede puppet book: Hermit’s web or the few friends I need, I hand-craft my self. Additionally, there are two consolation prizes of a pack of ten dede postcards.

First of all, a big thank you to Devil and Detail for organising the event on such a short notice, they did a formidable job. Yesterday they were busy writing summaries for all five candidates to remind you what has happened and to help you with your voting. Voting is of course anonymous and the poll will stay up over Christmas (I’m going on a holiday to a remote place with no cell phone reception and dial up!). The winner will be announced next Saturday!

Happy voting!

Summaries

There were 3 tasks to fulfill. In the first week the candidates introduced themselves, in the second week they had to answer questions and in the third week they had to perform a skill.

Pig

pig one

 Put forward by his mate Professor, Pig had a rough start as he had to battle stage fright. Not a talkative Dede at the best of times he answered the questions in round two very briefly. In his performance in the third week Pig used his weakness as a strength. The performance started off well, but was spoiled by a comment from the audience and ended in disaster.

Mouse

mouse one

 entered the competition as she has to have her fingers in all pies… She started off with a hiss and a roar, very well prepared and rehearsed. Due to too many other commitments her second and third week performances were relatively weak. In the second week she accused the artist of depicting her unfavourably and in the third week a complaint was lodged by a fellow Dede about her insensitive skills performance.

Cash Cow

cow one

 entered the competition as she thought there would be some prize money. She tried hard to be different but came across a tad frumpy and whingy. One commenter remarked she was not convincing, as her eyes didn’t match her anwsers. Her skill was a solid yoga performance.

Harvey

harvey one

 The gambling rabbit, sort of tricked his way into the competition by employing a canvasser. His motive for taking part is to make friends and preferably to find a partner for life, but his performances left everybody speechless. His skill performance was a speed challenge that ended in a punch up with another puppet.

L’Artiste

L'artiste one

 entered the competition for fun and to be able to tell the tale afterwards. He didn’t expect anything and just went with the flow. His performances were solid but without highlights. For his skills performance he showed us one of his artworks and he is now craving to slip back into solitude.

And here is the poll:

A very big Thank you to all our readers from Dietlind & the Dedes. Have a Merry Christmas.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Social Network

Mouse de-stressing

December 21, 2012 //
2

mouse and punch bag

Hurrah, we made it… Today is the day of the last contestant in the ‘Super Dede Competition 2012″ and it is Mouse! She still has to show us her skills. Ah well, we all know her skills, she is the best organiser one can think of. She really can work miracles. Apart from this, we don’t know much about her, she is as quiet as her proverbial church mouse relatives when it comes to revealing anything about herself. She is very good at talking about others. She is a great gossip and strongly believes “gossip makes the world go round, the world go round”.

Even though she is the best organiser in the world, she is pretty stressed in the pre-Christmas period. I have entrusted her with buying all my Christmas presents for the family, and this, believe me, is a major task. Right after Christmas, Mouse not only has to put on a big show for New Year’s, no, there is an even bigger event on the Dede Puppet Calendar…. an important birthday… Devil and fourteen of his Dedes mates turn ONE!  But please refrain from asking Mouse what she has planned for this big event. At the moment she is just  too stressed.

Mouse’s headquarters is in the kitchen and we were not surprised to be invited to meet her there for her skills performance. Mouse held a little speech on how badly the timing was for the ‘Super Dede Competition’, so close to Christmas. She never should have applied to become a candidate and she certainly won’t put her name forward for next year’s show.

“I didn’t have much time to think about what I can show you. Running around like a headless chicken is my forte, but all of you have seen this before. So I thought I’ll let you in on my biggest secret. I will show you how I de-stress!” She ended her speech and we were all curious. Then she opened the pantry door, hopped inside and disappeared into the darkest corner.

“You are not expecting all of us to hop into the pantry, are you?” Detail asked. We heard something rustling in the back. “No, no wait” Mouse called out from the depths of the cupboard. A second later she appeared with a huge punching bag in shape of a …cat!

“I do boxing exercises to keep my fitness up and to relief stress.” She hung the punching bag from the lamp shade and started dancing around it hitting it every so often. It looked very elegant, but I was surprised how vicious some of Mouse’s blows were. I  looked around for my friend Cat, who was somewhere in the crowd. She had quietly slipped to the back of the spectators. When everybody asked if they could have a go, she finally slid out the back door.

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

Harvey, the speedster

December 20, 2012 //
2

harvey cheating

The ‘Super Dede 2012’ competition is nearing its end with Harvey, the gambling rabbit, being the second to last to show off his skills. He had instructed us to assemble on the deck in front of the house. He admitted he had difficulties making up his mind about what to show us, as he has so many skills. Finally, he decided on demonstrating how fast he can run. He believes he is the fastest Dede on the planet.

Detail looked at her daughter Minor and remarked bitterly: “Some of us know very well how fast you can run”, but nobody took much notice of her. Only I looked closely at Minor and wondered if I could spot a resemblance there.

Smug Little Devil asked: “Is there a turtle in the house?” and Deutsch Fraulein (German girl) added: “If not, a hedgehog will do?”

Harvey was unfazed by all the comments and explained the procedure while limbering up: “I will run around the house ten times in 10 minutes. Should I fail,  I’ll shout breakfast for you all this morning. If I succeed, you will have to serve me breakfast in bed for the rest of the year. Does this sound like a fair bet?”

Personally, I have no idea how long it takes an average Dede to run around my house, but some of the Dedes seemed to think the offer was worth a bet. Obviously they were all quite hungry and were looking forward to their breakfast. They didn’t believe big-mouth Harvey would be able to do it.

“Who is counting the laps?” Smug Little Devil asked.

“You can do it, if you want” Harvey said confidently, while he got in position at the starting line.

“Okay… Ready, Steady, Go….” and off he went like a rocket, disappearing round the corner in a flash. It didn’t take long and he showed up on the other side.

Smug Little Devil called out loud: “Lap 1…. Lap 2…. Lap 3…. Lap 3….Lap 2…. Lap 4… ”

Gee it was boring. I decided to go inside and put the kettle on in the meantime. And there I saw Harvey coming in through the wide open front door, sliding down the corridor and jumping out the bedroom window….

I wasn’t there when Harvey and Smug Little Devil had their punch up, but breakfast is on me today.

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

Ok, ok – not ok

September 16, 2012 //
0

A few years back I attended a training course for a volunteer organisation. One could describe the course as psychology for lay people. Most of it was common sense. But there was this one diagram describing the basic mental attitudes, which I found very good. I re-drew it this morning; something I wanted to do for some time. Yep, I know representatives of each and every one of those four catagories.

Personally, I am oscillating between the two left images (as I guess most women do!) When I am in the top left, everything is honky dory. I strongly believe in win-win situations and I work hard to achieve them. When I am in the bottom left, my soul mate comes in very handy :). Thank you!

Problems arise, when I come across someone who has the mental attitude of the top right quadrant. Often I simply walk away, but I can also turn into a lioness, particularly if  a third party is involved. Lioness mode, believe me, is not a pretty picture and it is very exhausting, so I try to avoid it… Unfortunately I am not always successful.

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Categories Art, Fun, Life, Relationships, Social Network

My secret to Happiness

September 14, 2012 //
5

First a warning: Most people actually don’t want to be happy –  as truly happy people are so, so boring. What makes life interesting are the spikes, not equilibrium.

I have learned to embrace my ups and downs. I have learned that the proverbial brick wall stops me only temporarily. I don’t have to force my way through it, there is always a way around it. Finding  this detour often requires a pause, to sit down and ponder.

On my personal list of happiness there are only two items, and they are by no means fame and riches. On my list is one item you should have and one you shouldn’t. Not too difficult, is it?

The item you absolutely need to have is a soul mate!

What you need to get rid of are any personal expectations you have of him/her, so that you will keep this gem  for a long long time to come!

As easy as…

Funnily enough, most of my friends seem to think the first part is the difficult one. In fact it is the second, the working on the relationship, trying not to re-model the person you’ve found to fit your ideas. Without expectation the ideas will grow together in due time :)

Then when you hit the brick wall your fall will be cushioned!

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Categories Art, Fun, Life, Relationships, Social Network
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