Archives for posts with tag: friends
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Devil makes a stand

January 25, 2013 //
5

devil makes a stand

Devil visited me last night to borrow a box of matches. No idea what he needs them for, Dedes shouldn’t play with fire. They are not water tight and I am pretty sure they burn quite well to boot. Hesitantly I gave him a box, but while I was looking for them, I asked him what his opinion is about the feud that is brewing between Minor and Detail.

“Ah, girls….” he said. “Look at their history… Detail and Chance are half-sisters, Detail is a solo mum and now Minor is giving her mother grief. You get the picture? You better stay out of it!” he advised and it looked as if he wanted to leave. But then he stopped and turned around. “You know what annoys me the most about the entire story?”

“No, but you will certainly enlighten me” I answered expectantly.

“What about Rob? Has anybody actually ever spoken to him? How do you know he is not fair-minded! Everybody just assumes he is a bad boy…  How come?… Is it his hideous handkerchief?” He got his own hankie out and tied it around his face. “Imagine… One day someone decides all Dedes with horns are bad, what would happen to me?”

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Categories Art, Fun, Life, Relationships, Social Network

Detail at her wits end

January 22, 2013 //
2

minor and detail

Detail is at sixes and sevens at the moment, and this is a state she can’t cope with. She needs to be in control. Outwardly nothing much has changed between the two of them. When they are out shopping together, Minor follows her mother with a sour-face and when they bump into acquaintances, she waits patiently until Detail has exchanged the latest news. This is a feat on its own as Detail is as sweet as ever and interested in other people. She always wants to know more and her conversations are never short.

But when they are at home, we hear plenty of screaming matches with high pitched voices, followed by prolonged silences. It must be clear – even for the most dull-witted of the Dedes – that something is going on.

I asked Detail what Philosopher said to her on Saturday, very dispirited she replied: “Pretty much the same thing as ArtistatExit0 said in his comment to the post. In a nutshell, they think making mistakes is a necessary, yet painful, part of the learning process. There is absolutely nothing I can do about it, except to be there when Minor needs me. But why can’t she learn from my experience?”

And then she went on to tell me how much she sacrificed for the girl, she always wanted the best for her and what a lovely girl she was when she was little, then she always listened. Now as a mother, she could throttle this Rob, Minor calls her b o y f r i e n d, he must have seduced her daughter, even drugged her, why else wouldn’t she  listen anymore. Wouldn’t you think, she would know by now that her mother always knows best…

It was a barrage of words, unedited and difficult to make sense of.

“I just can’t take this anymore” she said to me in tears. “I don’t want her to make the same silly mistakes I did. I wish I had listened to my mother!”

“If you had listened to your mother” I said, “you wouldn’t have this beautiful daughter of yours! Would you?”

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

Devil on Facebook

January 18, 2013 //
4

devil on facebook

Mouse hasn’t quite recovered yet. She decided to make herself scarce for the time being. Devil had a long conversation with her yesterday, and he reported back to us – while she has stopped crying, she is not ready yet to face the crowd again.

“So what is happening with our Facebook page then?” Socialite asked, more interested in publicity than in Mouse‘s wellbeing. “It is still half finished, isn’t it?”

“Don’t worry” Devil said, “I have offered to take care of that and I kept the ball rolling.” And then he showed us what he had done with instructions from Mouse. He is feeding the blog straight into Facebook. The others were reasonably impressed, except for Foreign Correspondent who had to point out that Mouse accused him of rehashing this blog on his German site. “So, what are you doing on Facebook then? Isn’t that just another form of recycling?”

“I am going to put some background images up. Like us in context. You know, us hanging around the house and things like that. And I will show some images from the studio – Dietlind permitting of course! We could have our beauty competition, once I figure out how to do it. Don’t worry, Foreign Correspondent, it will be different. But give me time! You know I am a bit of a Luddite.”

They were all very excited about the prospect of communicating with friends once they have some. Then they looked at me and Devil asked: “Why don’t you have a Facebook page? You could share us with your friends.” I shook my head. “As if I didn’t share you with my friends already!” I said, reminding them that there is not only this blog here, but also a book and postcards and a calendar. And I can’t stop talking about the Dedes anyway. “I am starting to drive my real friends bonkers” I said with a smile. “No, I won’t have a private Facebook page!”

What the Dedes are doing is their thing. I won’t interfere, but I am starting to worry about the time they spend on the computer. I hardly have a chance to use my own laptop. First there is Mouse, who does all her administration on the computer, then Foreign Correspondent who translates the blog into German and now Devil started this Facebook thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if L’Artiste wanted to have a LinkedIn presence next.

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

Breakdown

January 17, 2013 //
5

skeleton

Mouse finally had her break down everybody was waiting for. Yesterday, one could hardly talk to her without her bursting into tears. She is obviously overworked. But asking her what the matter was made it even worse. I have learned my lesson in the meantime and leave her alone on days like this, it will pass! I will approach her again when she has calmed down.  Even though I know this is not the best thing to do, on days like this you basically can’t win. Talk to her, she cries. Don’t talk to her she says, nobody loves her. Thankfully she doesn’t have these days very often.

Last night she went to visit her bosom buddy Skeleton Edeltraut, who lives with her partner Monster under my bed. Wednesday night  is Monster’s night out. He meets up with some monster mates at the local for quiz night and a beer. Skeleton Edeltraut doesn’t like to go to the pub and hang out with Monster‘s mates, but doesn’t want to be at home on her own either because she has a stalker. Puppy Lou is in love with her, ever since he first laid eyes on her. I can understand the attraction for a young dog. She on the other hand is just plain scared of his attention, which of course I can understand as well. Have you ever seen how a dog treats a bone?

Personally, I am okay with my skeletons (the rest of her family lives in my closet), as long as they don’t bother me. But I wouldn’t seek them out and that goes for Monster as well. But Mouse is a regular visitor at their place. Last night they must have had a good heart to heart. They kept their voices down, but between sobbing I could hear fragments like “… just too much…” “…everybody relies…” “… take it anymore….” I didn’t try too hard to listen in on their conversation. I know it will blow over and she will be back to her normal self. I hope it will be today!

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

Topsy-Turvy

January 16, 2013 //
4

fc and mouse

It’s all happening at the moment. First of all, the problem we had with the blog images seems to have dissolved into thin air. Yesterday morning, Mouse was close to a nervous break-down after she had spent almost the whole night on the computer trying to solve the problem together with Foreign Correspondent. You know how it is. When there is a technical issue, you really want to nail it, don’t you! When the posted image still didn’t show up in the Reader yesterday, she was hyperventilating. I was worried she might have a heart attack. Finally, she threw her hands in air and admitted defeat.

However, by lunch time she checked the blogs she is following in the Reader and she couldn’t believe her eyes. There they were, the Dede blog images. All of them. The two from yesterday, the day before, even last weeks. So, remind me again, what was the problem? It seems to have been a WordPress glitch and Mouse and Foreign Correspondent now believe it might have something to do with the size of the original images. The images I give them to put up are sized to fit into the width of our blog column, not  a single pixel larger, and WordPress obviously makes them even smaller to display in the Reader.

They told everybody what they had figured out, but the Dedes weren’t interested in the detail. They were just pleased that it finally seems to work.

This gave Foreign Correspondent the confidence to put up his introductory post on the German Blog dedepuppetsde.wordpress.com. So it is all go now. “And we even have a follower already!” He was really chuffed when he reported back to us. “We also had a comment from Monika-Maria, congratulating me on my new job and what a great idea it is to have the German translation.” He could barely hide his pride.

Mouse was a bit touchy. “So what?” she said. “You are only rehashing what we do on our English blog. And if I hadn’t done all the hard work here for nearly a year, nobody would have looked at yours today.”  She tried to down-play his success. I was genuinely surprised by her reaction. I thought these two were getting on well, after their unexpected bonding exercise of trouble-shooting. Then it occurred to me there might be professional envy at play.

Mouse thrives on the admiration for her work and so far there has been absolutely no one who could hold a candle up to her. Then out of the blue Foreign Correspondent shows up and in next to nothing he gets something off the ground, no fussing at all. Uh, that must have hurt.

“And by the way,” Mouse continued with the snappy tone, “I have started on the Dede puppets fan page on facebook… We have been discussing it for so long. This is just ridiculous. I can’t wait until we all agree… I could wait until the cows come home!”

“So how is it going with this one?” Socialite pricked up her ears. She was always keen on a facebook page. “Not so well,” Mouse admitted quietly. “I shouldn’t have said anything yet. I have to get my head around this first. After all, I was very tired last night from all the trouble shooting the night before. So, please don’t look at it yet!”

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

Decision making

January 14, 2013 //
6

fc presenting

Last night the second post of the Dede story was launched at ||:VEGGIETORIA:||. For the Dedes it is an absolute must to watch, just like a riveting mini series on TV. As I had them all in one place, I told them what Foreign Correspondent and I had nutted out recently. Surprisingly we received very mixed reactions. I was so convinced they would be excited and I realised  I don’t know them  as well as I thought I did.

The main reservation was that the Dedes believe most Germans speak better English than they let on. They wouldn’t need the extra summary. Foreign Correspondent just stood there and smiled, but he didn’t try to convince them of his plan. In the end Devil’s Advocate said: “Can we discuss this later? I want to know what Miss Viwi has to say today!” And he invited Foreign Correspondent to take the floor.

Foreign Correspondent stood there calmly, looking very credible, and started his speech: “Thank you Dedes for giving me the opportunity to talk to you tonight. I believe you would like to be known to a wider audience. Is that right?” He paused for effect, and all the Dedes obediently nodded their heads. Then he continued. “I can help you to achieve this and I would be delighted if you would accept my proposal. ” He took charge of the computer and switched to Miss Viwi’s page.

“First of all, I want to thank Miss Viwi again for her kindness in publishing a series about the background of the Dedes. Let’s see what she has to say:”

{dede puppets | second act}

[The book:]

hermits-web-cover

‘Hermit’s web or the few friends I need, I hand-craft myself’. The story of this book introduces the first fifteen Dede characters.
dietlind: „The idea for the story was conceived when someone I didn’t know invited me to become friends on face book. Not only was this person a stranger to me, I don’t have a face book page. So I go on and tell the world that I have enough to do with my real friends, my Dedes. The book is written in easy-to-understand English, similar to the blog.  

[the blog]

dietlind: „I started the blog shortly before the book was launched. An artist friend of mine had advised me to document the entire process. A year on, I am really happy I have heeded this advice. The thought of selling [the puppets ] has disappeared into thin air and the blog has definitely strengthened the relationship between the Dedes and myself.

group pic top left to right.: Detail, Snippedy, Devil, Mouse and Socialite || below left to right: Monkey, Pig, Professor, L’Artiste Dede, Foxy Lady and Fairy Godmother

miss viwi: So you can’t imagine selling puppets?

dietlind: „Not at the moment. In particular not those that appear on the blog and there is no way I could part with the first ones, the ones from the book. But at one stage there will be so many, and I should be able to let some go. I can envisage, though, creating some puppets specifically for an exhibition and to sell them before I get used to them, before I come up with their character traits.“

[Exhibition]

Exhibitions are a relatively new subject for the artist, she never considered it with her previous work, but  „The Dede puppets are a category of their own, they really want to be seen.“

Apart from a few low key photographic exhibitions, the puppets were on show at the book launch.

book launchBook launch April 2012, Auckland, Visitor examines L’Artiste Dede (Foto: © Sonya Roussina)

An installation by the artist Dietlind Wagner had been selected as a finalist in New Zealand’s prestigeous  „Wallace Art Awards“. The installation of five dede puppets was exhibited in a gallery in Auckland.
Further solo exhibitions are planned for 2013.

dietlind: „I also had two workshops for Senior Citizens and would love to explore this area further. Hand puppets are often used in therapy with kids, but I am convinced they could be equally useful with the elderly.“

—

The  interview will continue next Sunday 20/1/13, at 8 am CET at |:::VEGGIETORIA:::|.

P.S.: If you have any queries, wishes or comments feel free to write in

“Good, good” Devil said. “Now, Foreign Correspondent, this was a very literal translation. But you have to prove to us that you can summarise, if we are to give you the responsibility of looking after the Dede’s German blog. So how would you summarise what Miss Viwi has said?” Mouse turned to Devil and gave him a hi-five.

Foreign Correspondent was unfazed and said: “In brief, Dietlind loves us all. And all of us, who are currently in the room are safe. She won’t sell any of us. She believes the blog strengthened our relationship, but she also knows we are attention seekers and she would like to comply by presenting us to the non-digital world in exhibitions and workshops. If you have any queries, leave a comment or send an email!”

“I hope your German summaries are a bit more comprehensive, but I would say give it a go!” Devil concluded.

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

Foreign Correspondent

January 13, 2013 //
7

foreign correspondant

Today is Sunday again and the Dedes are all curious about what the second installment from Miss Viwi on ||:::VEGGIETORIA:::|| will be like. I am pretty sure they will be hanging around the living room tonight again so they don’t miss the new post.

Miss Viwi’s series got the Dedes thinking. We got a few comments lately from German speaking readers and friends who said they use the Dedes to brush up on their English, but sometimes they are not sure about the meaning as the blog is quite colloquial. During the week this fellow introduced himself to me. He claimed to be a foreign correspondent. I didn’t believe him at first, he looks more like a tourist to me, but then he put forward his ideas and I changed my mind. He seems to know what he is talking about.

Here is what he suggested: He is going to scan all the posts on the dedepuppet blog and will write a summary twice a week in German. These summaries will be posted on dedepuppetsde.wordpress.com, not on this blog here. There will be no new stories on the German blog at all, as all the Dedes are in New Zealand, so new stories can only happen here and they will continue to happen in English. Of course Foreign Correspondent will report back to us if any interesting comments are made.

I haven’t put it to the Dede committee yet to find out what they think, but Foreign Correspondent was proactive and translated the site anyway. He says he wants to be ready to roll as soon as he gets the go ahead. I said he should hold his horses as we will put him to the test when Miss Viwi’s post needs to be translated again. So tonight he will be presenting his proposal and translation to the Dedes.

What do you think?

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

Hello neighbours

January 12, 2013 //
6

the neigbours

The weather here is just fantastic at the moment. During the day it is hot, but still bearable, and when night falls, it becomes balmy. This is the time when it is lovely to sit outside for a little, before the mosquitoes start their battle for dominance  outdoors. Last night a few of us where sitting on the deck, having a quiet wind-down from a busy week, when Nosy Neighbour and his wife Two-faced walked by. They only got married last year and we don’t see much of them. We see him more than her, though. We really only know her as a shadow behind the curtain in their living room. He, on the other hand, is out and about. He does some gardening or fetches the newspaper and I even think he does the shopping for the two of them. He particularly likes to be out after the Dedes have had a loud party. Sometimes I suspect he is only hanging around in the open in order to catch me and have a good old rant about my lot.

“Hello neighbours,” I called out when I saw them passing “Want to join us?”

They looked at each other and Two-faced shook her head. “Would love to catch up” Nosy Neighbour replied, “but we have to keep going. We have to do something about the kilos we gained over Christmas.” Nevertheless, he approached the deck a little, but Two-faced was anchored firmly to the footpath and didn’t move an inch.

“Lovely evening for it” Devil said to keep the small-talk going.

“I’ve just started to read your blog” Nosy Neighbour told us, when he finally stopped a few paces from where we were sitting.

“What do you think?” Mouse wanted to know of course.

“Interesting read” he said and looked at me. “I don’t even know why you bother. They are such a nuisance.” He pointed with his head towards my little friends, and continued talking as if they weren’t there. “Why don’t you kick them all out and that is it. No more problems! Myself? I wouldn’t put up with their crap!”

All the Dedes that were with me started laughing. They thought it was a big big joke. Only I knew he was serious. I had too many similar conversations with him before.

“They are not that bad” I appeased him. He rolled his eyes, turned around and mumbled: “You really have to mow your lawn too” while he walked back to his wife, who was still waiting on the foot path. She waived at us with a smile, before they walked on.

“He has such dead pan humour, I just love it!” Devil said.

“We should invite them to our next barbeque,” Mouse added. “It’s a pity we know so little about them, they are Dedes just like us, aren’t they?”

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

But what about us monkeys?

January 11, 2013 //
2

monkey lamp

Yes, I was happy with Philosopher’s statement about what the Dede’s mission is. They are celebrating diversity! I was really happy for a day, until Monkey showed up.

Monkey swung through the curtains to the floor lamp and stopped a safe distance from me. I observed him closely. He is a bit stand-offish and usually only comes to see me in a group with others. Even today he looked as if he had to muster all his bravery. He sat there and casually scratched some flees out of his fur. Finally he addressed me: “Diversity you said… ”

“Yes”, I answered proudly “That’s what the Dedes are about”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You could also say ‘Live and let live!’ Embracing all the differences” I said.

“Funny you should say that” said Monkey, still sitting at a safe distance.  “So what about the monkeys then?”

“What about them?” I asked as I had no clue what he was on about.

“Aren’t you writing a book!” Monkey said.

“No, not at the moment, though I have written plenty of books in the past. Now I am too busy with the Dedes”

“So it’s not true that you have a nearly completed book in the drawer… The others told me so.”

And then all of a sudden it occurred to me,  yes, right. Last summer before the Dedes burst onto the scene I was indeed working on a book that contained all my wisdom of over sixteen years of teaching digital imaging. I had made good progress until the rain set in and the Dedes pushed into my life.

“Ah, you mean ‘Let’s kill that monkey‘?” I blurted out. Oops, only now I noticed what an unfortunate title it had.

Monkey jumped a bit further away from me and said: “Yes that one”.

I laughed out loud. “No worries… I don’t really kill monkeys. Did you really think I would?”

He wanted to know why I gave my book such a mean title. It is a clear call to violence after all. I explained it was frustration talking. I had the strong feeling some of my students didn’t really want to be bothered with understanding the programs, but chose just to fluff around and see what comes out. I wouldn’t call my student monkeys, no way, but any work created without intention I call ‘monkey work’.

“This doesn’t sound like celebrating differences. In fact it is very derogatory. You have to come up with a different term!” said Monkey while swinging away.

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

Philosopher’s thought

January 10, 2013 //
10

philosopher walk

On Wednesday mornings Philosopher comes round and picks me up for a walk. I treasure this hour with him. There is no need to talk, if there is nothing to talk about. Sometimes silence in company can feel awkward, you certainly know that feeling, but with Philosopher quietness feels comforting. He has a very good head on his shoulders. And if you talk, you can be sure he would never pooh pooh any ideas – even if they are miles off the beaten track – nor would he speak badly about anyone.

So we walked in silence for a while and then I had to ask him: “So, Philosopher, what do you think about Witch’s comment on the blog yesterday?”

“Sorry, I don’t read your blog,” he answered honestly. “What happened?”

“You don’t read my blog?” I asked in disbelief.

“A lot of your friends don’t. Everybody knows you will tell them what’s happening anyway next time you see them.”

“Do they really?”  I tried to remember the barbeques I had been to lately and started to wonder if everybody is getting sick of me. Am I  quietly turning into a bore? I have to admit, Philosopher is right, the Dedes are my favourite subject.

“Oh, yes,” Philosopher smiled benevolently. “But don’t worry, they all like your passion – and not just that, they love us Dedes.” Before I could think more about my real friends, Philosopher got me back on my original train of thought: “So what did Witch say?”

I told him that Witch was taken aback by my remark the Dedes are for fun. It was just an aside and I wished Witch wouldn’t read my blog and wouldn’t pick up on little throw-away phrases like that.

“Do you think we are for fun?” Philosopher inquired.

“Not always… but what do you think, Philosopher, what is the agenda of the Dedes? Help me out here, please.” I know for a fact Witch would love to have more space on the blog to promote a frugal and healthy lifestyle. Cash Cow might support her, but it would displease most of the other Dedes, as this is really just Witch’s hobby-horse.

Philosopher didn’t think long: “In my opinion, the Dedes are celebrating diversity and they are having fun while doing it. This, my valued friend, is a good enough reason for their existence!”

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