Of course Foxy Lady knows she is in trouble now. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that her attempt to assassinate Top Dog will have repercussions. It would be best if she could disappear. But how? How can she escape this little Dedeworld?
It happened that we received snail mail from @denise_m_oehl recently. Denise had sent us a pack of beautiful postcards of her work. Oh, postcards, greetings from the big wide world! Foxy Lady’s heart nearly stopped when she discovered this image of a gorgeous fox with golden fur. “I am going to find this man” she thought instantly “and I am going to marry him!” Problem solved!?
Of course Top Dog had to say something about the deal. He doesn’t particularly like the owl, as his charm doesn’t work on her. “Can we call you Indian Gift from now on?” he asked and added with a big smirk “I knew the artist can’t be trusted!”
“Oh, shut up you disingenuous old thing. It was all done amicably” replied Pinkpok obviously angry that he tried to spoil her joy.
“Oh, how I wish they had let you go!” said Top Dog and wandered off.
Devil was so surprised about Top Dog’s offer, he couldn’t get over it. “I can tell you what the problem is, my dear” said Pinkpok. “Everyone is the centre of their own world and therefore, how they act is normal by their standards. Of course, as everyone is normal, all the others are expected to act in exactly the same way as oneself.”
This threw the cat among the pigeons. No-one could really make sense of what the owl meant. One reader even said “I conclude I’m a descendent of the Dedes – brain totally mushed and have resorted to the gin bottle 🙃”
Oh dear, we see the headlines: puppets drive readers to bottle.
A so wild discussion ensued.
“I don’t get what Pinkpok is trying to tell us,” said Calamity to Pavlova, the lab rat.
“It’s simple,” explained Pavlova, who always has to try new things in her job. “We believe what we do and think is normal. If we come across someone who has a different world view, we tend to believe we are right and they are wrong. It is easier than engaging with the otherness.”
“Do I have to understand that?” asked Calamity. Ah well, some Dedes never get it!
There is no inspiration without Groucho…. Today Liar showed us his favourite quote, which was sent to the Dedes by @renfieldwantsmore “Who is that Groucho Marx guy” called Top Dog from behind the curtains “he copied that one straight out of my book! I will sue him.”
Then Top Dog came out of his hiding place and walked straight up to Liar. “You and I are definitely cut from the same cloth,” he said, “do you want to be my campaign manager?”
This didn’t go down well with a few instagram readers. Sorry guys, it is out of my hands. The two seem to be the dream team.
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I am not sure if I get round to updating you tomorrow as I have a full-day gig making puppets from trash at the Auckland Storylines Family day. The puppet making is themed healthy eating. Munch and Kin will be the baddies that need to be fought off.
I was busy all week sifting through surplus and left-over material and whittled it down to two boxes full of rubbish to take. This is a job that takes ages, as I easily get sidetracked with making things myself. I also had to remove oodles of rusty pins, so the kids don’t injure themselves when they comb through the treasures. I love these workshops. I find it amazing to see the kids being totally engrossed for an hour or so and come up with their gorgeous creations. I hope I will get some good pics, but I might be too busy running around with my glue gun, helping to stick everything together.
Here is one puppet I prepared earlier, to give the kids an idea what to do. Not that they need it, but had fun making it.
Today is Truth Tuesday again. As we didn’t get new questions, I am showing you a snapshot of my puppet play area. I work with natural light in the morning. That is why on some days the pictures are duller than on others. The sun simply doesn’t work on command, at least not mine. On stage there are two Dedes currently in progress. One is an owl that is earmarked for @moss.creek (the winner of the last contest) and a unicorn. Do you have any suggestions for other characters the Dedes need?
Yesterday Mouse asked for inspirational quotes to keep her going in the face of adversity. We got a few and the Dedes are presenting some of them over the next week. Here Punch Drunk makes a start and shows what @nevermindsmallthings commented. Well, it’s not the right thing to say to Mouse right now, and mhm, to be honest it is a little depressing rather than inspirational, but it is very Dede! Punch Drunk just loved it so much and since we hardly ever see him, he was allowed to go first. We don’t want him to wander off to Top Dog’s camp too.
Feel free to send us your quote.
The Dedes are at the end of their tether and have no idea what to do next. It finally dawn on them that they can’t change Top Dog but the freedom they are accustomed to, is seriously jeopardised. Now all eyes and hopes are on the magical worker Esta Blished. In her younger days the fairy godmother was very active in politics. She relentlessly fought for liberal values and equality. With age, unfortunately, Alzheimer’s was creeping up on her. At first no-one seemed to notice. Her friends simply thought she was a little tired after all these years of hard work. And now it is too late – Esta is away with the fairies most of the time. No-one knows how to use her magic wand to continue her excellent work.
The Dedes decided to have someone with Esta Blished at all times. In the hope, she will have a lucid moment before everything goes to the to the dogs.
Sure enough, with all faith suddenly pinned on her, Esta Blished felt obliged to say something. Alien was with her at the time. He recorded everything verbatim, but thought it was more of an oracle than a lesson in magic. Here is what she said: “Listen to the ones who follow Top Dog. Not to gain power over them, but with true empathy. Should the dog meet the bear we will have the biggest schoolyard fight ever!”
Actually she did say the biggest school yard massacre, but Alien thought that was to harsh and edited it out.
Devil wants to take part in the “Embrace Diversity” project as well. But he believes his counterpart should be an angel and he couldn’t find any amongst the Dedes. So he went to the artist (that would be me) to air his frustration. While he was with me, we heard a loud clunk on the table and he went to investigate. Watch the little film to find out what it is all about.
He discovered we just hit the little milestone of 500 followers on Instagram. You might know that Instagram followers are very fickle, they come and go very quickly. We can understand that, as there is so much to see. I myself have reached the maximal number I can follow and still engage with. Every so often I have to let someone go, so that I can engage with someone else. (Little hint, if you want to keep me as follower, make sure you don’t post too much on one day. The ones that chuck up 20 posts a day are the first ones I say good-bye to.)
Anyway the Dedes are interested in longterm relationships and we came up with a cunning little plan. If you recommend the Dedes on Instagram to your friends you go into the draw of a Dede-You. That is a personalised Dede. The competition runs until the 6th of August 2016 and the winner is drawn on the 7th. If you have an Instagram account do have a look (and spread the word :)).
This morning I quickly put together the contest ad and rules and posted in on Instagram. Sadly, something went terribly wrong and I am in trouble with the puppets again. The little film with Devil earlier today had fifty views and ten comments within the hour. The post about the competition had four. Oooppps. That is poor performance indeed, there is no denying! I tried to defend myself by telling the Dedes, that a third of our readership is actually living in America and they had just gone to bed. The Dedes didn’t accept that, they believe that the advertising was crap. Honestly, who wants to be a puppet. While many love to watch the antics of the Dedes, looking like a Dede is something else, isn’t it?
The Dedes very clearly view this exercise as an attempt to get a higher profile, while I view it as an artistic collaboration. Personally, I don’t have a problem expressing myself as a puppet, it is a well-know fact by now that Cash Cow has my eyes. But I agree, we should have talked about it in more detail, before I jumped the gun.
We now settled that we will wait until tomorrow morning. If there is still poor participation, the Dedes will change the rules, as they so often do.
The “Embrace Diversity” couple that faces the public today is Lapdog and Cool Cat. Everyone knows cats and dogs don’t like each other! Really? Yes really, but they can be civil to each other. Here Cool Cat give Lapdog a little kiss on the forehead, that is as far as she will go.
They usually don’t see eye to eye as they have totally different attitudes. Cool Cat has even called Lapdog a “slut” which curries favour with everyone. Lapdog doesn’t think much better of Cool Cat. She finds her up her self and arrogant. So, the cat is a loner who looks after her appearance and does yoga to keep fit. She does not allow anyone to touch her, particularly her tummy. Lapdog on the other hand likes rough and tumble play and you virtually have to force her to have a bath afterwards. She totally dislikes to be on her own, so she is friendly with everyone, like a little ray of sunshine and she loves to be patted on every part of her body.
With so many differences, to name but a few, it is not surprising that these two will never be bosom buddies. But they do respect each other deeply and therefore can co-exist peacefully. Their secret is that neither of them tries to force their way of life on the other.
The Dede’s maxim has always been “Embrace Diversity,” but not in a lovey-dovey, goody two-shoes kind of way. Like anybody else they clearly have likes and dislikes. They might hate a situation, but never the individuals in it. At the moment Top Dog annoys them. They now call him a Me-Me, rather than Dede, as he obviously flouts their values. Before he brings the Dedes into disrepute, and as a counter- balance to his behaviour, Foxy Lady proposed the Dedes take pictures with an “unnatural” friend. She made a start and asked Harvey, the gambling rabbit, to pose with her.
You need to know that Harvey is a womanizer and Foxy Lady is a very independent modern vixen. When Harvey first met her he was instantly smitten. He followed her around and showered her with attention. And this is something she really can’t stand. One day she got so upset she snapped and said she’d rather have him on her dinner plate. Gosh, he sure interpreted this the wrong way. I won’t tell you what happened, it is simply too embarassing for Harvey. (No need to go searching for it on Facebook. The story isn’t on there either.)
Never mind. They keep out of each other’s way these days. And anyway, Harvey is now married to Pavlova the lab rat and everything is forgiven and forgotten.
Another one of our instagram followers, from_delphine sent in a question last night. She asked: “Dear Dedes… do you like to go outside and feel the wind on your skin?” Lapdog wanted to cry when she heard that question. She would just love to go outside and romp around the garden. But all she could do is jump off the stage and look out the window. Okay, it is raining heavily today, but that is not the main reason that holds her back. “To feel the wind would be amazing” she said dolefully, “but we Dedes are very sensitive to the sun and we have to stay out of it as much as possible.” Then she admitted quietly, “sadly the only wind I feel is the one that rumbles in my tummy.”
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