Archives for posts with tag: friends
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Kept waiting

February 13, 2013 //
2

harvey mouse

Mouse wanted to know more about Pavlova and waited to catch Harvey on his own. “So, when are we going to meet your girlfriend then?” she asked, trying to be casual.

“I don’t know” Harvey shrugged his shoulders.

“Are you sure she is your girlfriend?”

“Of course she is!” was his angry reply.

“So why don’t you introduce her to us then? Are you embarrassed?”

“Why should I be?”

“C’mon, we saw you guys yesterday… She is a rat!” Mouse pointed out.

Now Harvey exploded: “So what! She is very special!”

Then it all poured out of him. She is from a long line of sewer rats, but she wanted to educate herself. She put herself through school despite the total lack of family support. They didn’t understand why she wanted to go through all the trouble, as there was enough food down there in the sewers. They all said they were born to be sewer rats and there is absolutely no need to study. But Pavlova didn’t want to sit out on the ledge of a pillar and watch the water drip down the pipes all day. She had the strong feeling there was more to life than that. She worked very hard to get where she is now. And it did pay off. She is now a research assistant and works in a lab. He, Harvey, thinks she has done really, really well indeed, and is terribly proud of her.

Mouse became more and more  embarrassed while Harvey was telling her the story, but at the same time she was very intrigued and proud that, once again, it was her who had the hottest news first.

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

First sight of Pavlova

February 12, 2013 //
6

harvey and pavlova

Of course the Dedes are watching Harvey’s every move as they are so curious about his fiancee Pavlova. (They have already agreed it is a very unfortunate name). Last night, they finally got the long-awaited first glimpse of her when the two love-birds had a clandestine meeting in the back garden, where they spoke under their breath.

Gee, she certainly isn’t a stunner with her extremely long teeth and the huge gap between them. Harvey doesn’t seem to mind a bit. He looked at her so tenderly but he might be wearing rose-tinted glasses. From where the Dedes were standing they didn’t look like a close couple. In fact it appeared rather one sided and they gave the impression they had some sort of problem.

After overhearing the prying crowd’s conversation I would advise Harvey to introduce Pavlova as soon as possible to the rest of the Dedes before gossip becomes rife. Unfortunately it can happen… a new puppet appears on the scene and the first remarks by the close-knit group of Dedes are nothing but scathing. They jump on every exposed weakness. I had to tell them not to be mean. Poor Pavlova. She might have a rocky road ahead of her!

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

Harvey’s news

February 10, 2013 //
6

harvey smuggy

Remember the gambling rabbit, Harvey, who cheated his way into the Super Dede competition before Christmas? He made himself scarce after he realised he offended a few too many Dedes, in particular the female ones.  The ladies were really upset about his behaviour. One of them, I think it was Foxy Lady, said they should have left him in the 1970’s, the way he talks! She certainly wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole.

Now he is back!

And by Dede he has changed! He has got quieter. Gone is the hyper-activity and loudness. The Dedes were stunned and wanted to know where he was and how he’d fared. He told them he had dug himself a burrow on the hilltop and watched the sun rise and set each day. He knows now the way he treated women was totally wrong. If he had continued like that a serious relationship would remain a pipe dream. And he can reveal it now, this was his New Year’s resolution… he desperately wanted to find a partner.

One day, when he was down, he poured his heart out to Philosopher. No woman, at least none of the marrying kind, wanted to stick with him. Philosopher suggested he should go into recluse for a while and ponder about the importance of life. Because if he wanted something so badly, but couldn’t get it, his approach must be wrong.

“And?” Mouse, the little gossip asked outright, “how is the love-life then?”

“Great!” Harvey rejoiced. “I found my princess!”

“Who is it?” “Do we know her?” “What does she do?” Everybody wanted to know more.

“No, you don’t know her, she just moved here. Her name is Pavlova…”

“Oh, don’t tell me!” Smuggy said deprecatingly. “She is not one of those, is she?”

“What do you mean?” Harvey walked up close to him and looked him in the eye “I recommend you too should sit on a mountain top for a while. It would do you a world of good. Honestly, you don’t even know her. Only because she has a foreign name doesn’t mean she is one of … as you call it… those! I forbid you to talk about my fiancee like this!”

There was a noticeable silence. Mouse and Foxy Lady looked at each other –  this was indeed a novelty… Harvey defending the reputation of a girl. They knew there and then, that she really must be someone very special.

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

Lost interest

February 8, 2013 //
8

Devil and sculpture-1

I should have known it, really! After what I said yesterday about Sunny… he has lost interest already. He is not known for his stickability! He left his sculpture lying on the doorstep and walked away. Just like that!

This morning when Devil got up he saw a little white dot sitting on the edge of the jumbo bin. Nobody knows how it got there. It must have walked and climbed all night. And now it was sitting there, looking into the abyss.

Devil was out in a flash and called: “Don’t jump, don’t jump!” The little sculpture looked up and Devil continued in a soothing voice: “I know you are not real, but there is no need for this.”

A thin little voice answered: “I know I am rubbish, just let me go where I belong. Then it’s over and done with.”

“No, no, please don’t” Devil said, “You are a cute little thing. What was said on the blog yesterday wasn’t about you… it was about Sunny. Him not having ideas of his own.”

“But they said I am a fake… And it is so true.”

“Don’t worry, you are not the only one” Devil shook his head. “We still love you.”

“Really?”

“As long as you don’t pretend to be something else!” Devil added quietly.

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

Exhibition

February 6, 2013 //
6

sunny scavenging-1-2

Today is a holiday in New Zealand. It is Waitangi Day. On this day in 1840 some (but not all) Maori chiefs signed a treaty at James Busby’s house in Waitangi. The document put the inhabitants of this country under English protection. Unfortunately the translation into Maori sounded somewhat different from the English version. And of course it is wide open to interpretation.

I am relatively relaxed today and finally summoned all my courage to tell the Dedes that I will have a Solo Exhibition at the end of June for two weeks. I haven’t signed the contract yet, but it is pretty much teed up. So, why did it take me so long to tell them?

When I first started to discuss the exhibition with the gallery back in November, the curator suggested I should sell the puppets at the show. But I am very hesitant, after all they are the protagonists of my books and my blog. I can’t just sell them off. But of course, the gallery needs to earn some money. So I will have to have something to sell. Fortunately I still have four month to think about it. It could be large photographic prints (but would someone be interested in buying them?) or some specially made puppets that don’t appear on the blog (How much use is a single puppet?). Questions and more questions and I don’t know the answers yet. I had to promise the Dedes though, that all the existing puppets are safe. Don’t tell them, but I crossed my fingers behind my back, when I promised. I admit, it’s not a very nice thing to do, but who knows what happens in four month. Never say never!

The Dedes seemed to have mellowed a bit since I last broached the issue of sales back in November. Then I had a riot on my hands and it took nearly a week to calm them down. Today, they just said it was wonderful news and they are looking forward to having a gig in the real world. Then they went off and continued doing their own thing. It makes me wonder if some of them aren’t ready to emigrate. Maybe Bobby is looking for a new job, or Cash Cow wants to move out of the garage. Who knows!

After my announcement, I made myself a cup of tea and sat on the deck for a while. I watched Sunny scavenging through the builders rubble and putting stuff to one side in a little pile. Sunny is a wannabe artist and he even imitated L’Artiste’s dress today. Personally, I don’t think I have ever seen him do any work. Though he is very good at talking about what he is going to do one day, when he has found a patron. So, I was more than surprised, seeing him dragging bits and pieces onto the deck.

“What are you doing there?” I asked as the stash grew.

“An artwork of course, I thought, now that you have organised a gallery space, I might be able to slip one or two of my artworks in. You wouldn’t mind, would you?”

“I can’t promise right now, I have to see them first.”

“I have this brilliant idea and you have to brace yourself… You will be blown away, just wait!”

First I have to see if he actually finishes something by the end of June.

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

Lou’s heartache

February 5, 2013 //
2

love sick lou-1

With the new crammed living conditions, Lou’s heartache flared up again. He is head over heels in love with Skeleton and doesn’t know what to do. Skeleton on the other hand finds his attention extremely scary and doesn’t want to have anything to do with him. She is in a steady relationship with Monster and has no intention of leaving him. Young Lou is quite depressed about it all and lies around a lot, doing nothing but staring into space.

This of course affects all the Dedes in a way and everybody has an opinion. I had to think long and hard about how to deal with it, and finally made up my mind last night: I am going to write a follow-up book to ‘Hermit’s Web’ in which Lou’s sufferings of unrequited love are recounted. A book just gives me that much more space to characterise everybody involved in more detail. I am really excited about sitting down and writing a longer story again and of course taking all the pictures to go with it. And don’t worry, the reports of daily life will continue on the blog.

When I told Lou about my plans, he just shrugged his shoulders and said: “Who cares, she still won’t love me”, but I thought I could detect a slight smile around the corner of his mouth. I think he might be just a smidgen pleased that somebody finally takes his pain seriously, even though he would never admit it.

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

Caught

February 3, 2013 //
4

pig catflap

A building site does have a strange attraction, doesn’t it! There is so much to see and do. No matter how often I tell the Dedes they shouldn’t go there, they just can’t stay away.

This morning they kept their voices down so they wouldn’t alert me to their whereabouts, but of course I could make out the pitter patter of their feet in the old living room. When I opened the door a fraction to check out what they were doing now, I heard the ca-lonk, ca-lonk of the cat flap opening and closing and saw them all escaping onto the deck. Only fat little Pig, the last one, got caught in it.

Pig’s mate Professor was very distressed about the accident and tried to pull from the other side. It must have hurt a bit, as Pig was  squeaking and squealing. I’m pretty sure the entire neighbourhood thought we were preparing it for our  Sunday roast. My biggest worry was that the noise would attract Nosy Neighbour’s attention and he would come over.  I couldn’t have coped with him on a Sunday morning, so I quickly helped Pig out. But I was certainly not impressed that they had ignored my warnings yet again.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships

Daredevil’s trick

February 2, 2013 //
4

daredevil on framing

The Dedes are under strict instructions not to go on the building site (which is just across the corridor) particularly when the builders are there. It is just too dangerous for them and I don’t want them to distract the workers. But today is Saturday and no builders are around and of course the cheeky little things know how much I like to have a sleep in.

When I got up, I heard something going on behind the closed door in what used to be the living room. Sure enough, when I opened the door I saw Daredevil sitting high up in the framing waving to a group of Dedes on the floor. He didn’t look too comfortable. The Dedes on the floor were chanting “jump, jump, jump….”

Daredevil is not a bright spark and a real loud mouth. You know, he is one of those puppets who, when you tell him you have ran a marathon, he would have ran two in a day and won both to boot. He always has to top your story, any story! Of course the other Dedes have great fun daring him to do silly things and watch him shit himself. He is usually unperturbed and goes ahead with any request, but he does it very, very slowly to give someone a chance to step in and rescue him, before he loses face by trying to back out.

Most of the time he counts on me. He knows exactly when the Dedes make too much of a racket  I will come along and have a look at what’s going on. I will tell them off, they look stupid and Daredevil is saved. His plan worked once again. I lifted him off the frame and shooed the others out of the room.

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

Still not done

January 29, 2013 //
3

rob working

Oh, I hate these jobs where you think you are nearly done and then there is more …and more …and more. It is like you are carrying stuff out one door and somebody else brings it back through the other. So the Dedes are still not finished with their job of moving everything into the room. Luckily the builder is a real builder and has postponed his arrival by a day. But sorry, we won’t have much to tell today… We have a job to do and we can’t linger.

Ah, one noteworthy thing, though. I was quite impressed by Minor’s boyfriend Rob. Gee, he can work… His handkerchief has proven invaluable with all the dust around. Unlike the others, he didn’t have to sneeze once.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Wonderful news

January 27, 2013 //
2

devil news

For most of the Dedes it was very hard getting up this morning. Admittedly, this is the case most days. But today it was particularly difficult as they were working hard to tidy up the house yesterday. They are not even half way there. Worse, the house is in a bigger mess than ever. Luckily it is a long weekend and they have an extra day to finish their chores. Understandably, breakfast – which they had on some already packed boxes – was a very quiet affair today. That is, until Devil came running in, barely able to hide his excitement.

“We’ve got a message, we’ve got a message…” He sang and danced around. You might remember he is responsible for the Facebook page and it is all new to him. Of course everybody looked at him and waited. Then he told us this morning he found a lovely message from Cape Town on Facebook.

“Where is that?” Lou, the puppy asked. “Shush,” said Smuggy

“It’s in South Africa, Lou! And I think it is our first official friend there. So it is quite something”

“The blog can be read everywhere in the world, so what’s the big deal?” Smuggy pointed out. “Cut the crap and get on with the story.”

Devil took his time. He enjoyed having everybody’s attention. “But… wait there is more, the young women didn’t ‘find’ our blog… she got the Hermit’s Web book for Christmas from her aunt and she loved it! She was ‘looking’ for our Facebook page!”

“This is indeed interesting,” Mouse gave Devil a hi-five.

“Thinking of it” Detail piped up, “we never heard back from Arindam, who won the book in the Super Dede 2012 competition! He mustn’t have liked it and is keeping mum!”

“Oh, no, no” Mouse defended our friend from India. “He loved it too. He has send an email to Dietlind privately. I don’t want to disclose what is written in emails, but I can assure you, he liked it a lot. You have to take my word for it!”

“We don’t have all day to pat ourselves on the back,” L’Artiste interrupted the celebrations rudely. “Let’s get on with our chores. Otherwise we will never get them done. I want to knock off at 8 tonight. Miss Viwi continues her interview in ||:::VEGGIETORIA::|| and this time it’s with me!”

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships, Self-publishing
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