Archives for posts with tag: life
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Rough and tumble

February 1, 2013 //
2

rob riding boar

I thought it might be difficult for the Dedes to find something to do in their new confined space. Quite the opposite has happened. They are livelier than ever. It is like they have been let loose in a lolly shop. They are not doing much together at the moment. Instead, they are all exploring their new surroundings by themselves. Last night there was a big roar and when I looked behind the sofa I found Rob’s blue eyes staring at at me, as if he had done something terribly naughty. It seemed like Rob had found himself a new mate on the first day. That is surprising, as he doesn’t make friends easily. I’m not quite sure if this is a two-way friendship though. The old boar looked very exhausted from the rough and tumble play with Rob.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships

Relatives found

January 31, 2013 //
0

deutsch fraulein book

Deutsch Fraulein (German Girl) is a relatively quiet one who doesn’t cope well on her own. She always needs to be in a relationship and when she is in one, she is very clingy. Regrettably, this drives people away from her. For a while she was together with Monster, but this ended with a really bad break-up. Then she hooked up with Bad Conscience and this seems to be an on-and-off sort of relationship.  I don’t know whether it is currently on or off.

When we moved, Deutsch Fraulein found an old family album that was handed down to me. She has looked through it every night since. I realise now how important family is to her and I assume she would like to start one of her own. She wants to know who all these people in the photographs are. Sadly, I have to admit I don’t have a clue. It is a pity and there is nobody left I could ask. All I know is that they are somehow related to me. I should have asked when I still had a chance.

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Categories Art, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships

New Year’s resolutions missing

January 30, 2013 //
5

Detail throwing hands

Now we are in a pickle. Remember, at the beginning of the year I had collected all the New Year’s resolutions from the Dedes and promised to publish them at the end of January. With the move, all the household items were hickeldy pickeldy put into big cartons and stored away. Guess what’s missing now? The little black lacquer box in which I had put all the New Year’s resolution for safe keeping. It was sitting on the mantle piece all this time, but now nobody knows who packed it and where it has gone. Detail asked all the Dedes one by one whether they had seen it, but nobody seems to know anything. It is just like it had never existed. In the end she threw her hands in the air and said she will never understand how we all can be so careless. If she had been in charge of the move, it would be all neat and tidy.

“But we never would have finished in time” Mouse remarked.

“Good luck with searching for things over the next few weeks, then” Detail  said and left her standing there.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Here comes Chance

January 24, 2013 //
2

minor and rob-2

Chance kept her promise and met up with her niece Minor. After a long warm hug, they sat down and Minor immediately started spluttering on about her mother Detail. She plainly doesn’t understand her anymore. She has become increasingly short-tempered and the most infuriating is that she seems to be able to listen to everybody else and give good advice, but not her own daughter. All her friends come flocking to her and pour their hearts out, but when it concerns her own daughter, she is incapable of listening, let alone  understanding. She constantly pesters Minor to let go of Rob, the scoundrel.

“Mum, just doesn’t know Rob as I do” Minor said. “He has a heart of gold and he really loves me.”  She showed this photograph and Chance agreed they look like a lovely couple. Then Minor went on to tell her aunt that Rob hadn’t had a good start in life. He is not entirely sure where he comes from, so there they have something in common: Minor doesn’t know her father. But unlike her, Rob just fell in with the wrong crowd. Yes, he has done some naughty things in the past, but he wants to change and she, Minor, is the one who can save him.

“Can’t you talk to Mum?” she beseeched her aunt in the end.

“Mhm, I would love to, but you know as well as I do, if I say something, the shit would really hit the fan. Wouldn’t it? This would infuriate Detail even more.”

“I don’t know what I should do. I am at my wits end” Minor said resignedly. “She just doesn’t want to see my point of view. Maybe I really should elope with Rob. That’s what he wants! Start a new life somewhere else, where nobody knows us.”

“No, you can’t run from your problems, Minor. It would break your mothers heart and it will take years to mend.”

“I don’t care!” Minor responded huffy. “She doesn’t love me anymore.”

“Now, that is not right. On the contrary, she loves you too much.”

“So, tell me, what shall I do then?”

“Whatever you do, don’t burn your bridges! And don’t deliberately hurt in anger. Maybe write a letter to your mother. Explain to her how you feel. She can read a letter in her own time and take in what you have to say.”

“A letter? You mean on paper?” Minor exclaimed… “Can’t I just send her a txt?”

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

Call for help

January 23, 2013 //
2

detail and Chance

Minor asked her aunty Chance to meet with her. Chance is the half-sister of Detail.  It is sad to see, but there is not much love lost between them. The two sisters couldn’t be more different. It’s a classic case of personality clash. Detail, the older one, is certainly the more serious of the two. She takes everything and everybody at face-value and has to ponder about even the most minute aspect of an issue before she can make up her mind. She sees hurdles and stumbling blocks everywhere she goes. She wants to be loved by everybody and is a brilliant listener. When any of her friends have a problem, they love to talk to her, as she really takes the time to get into it and always wants to know every tiny little facet.

Chance is not dissimilar in the way that she takes everybody at face-value, but she doesn’t suffer fools gladly. She is a happy-go-lucky kind of gal. Her approach to life  is “if you don’t like me, it is your problem not mine” and leaves people to it. She never ever tries to convince others that she is right and she readily walks away from situations. Nothing is a big deal for her. If something doesn’t work out, she takes a crack at something else. This doesn’t mean she has no stamina, quite the contrary, but she simply knows when she has tried long enough –  she is so sure of herself.

A big bone of contention between the two is Minor. When Detail found out she was pregnant, she had to virtually grow up over night and take responsibility. Chance doesn’t have kids of her own and never settled down. And despite her being very difficult to grab hold of, and only swoons in and out of Minor’s life, the girl adores her like an absent father. Whenever she has big problems with Mum, she calls on her aunty. This fact hurts Detail a lot, but she would never admit to it openly.

With the going-ons lately Minor had to call her aunt for help and Chance promised to come round as soon as she has a spare moment, probably tomorrow.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships

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

A mother’s concern

January 20, 2013 //
4

minor and rob

After lunch I had a bit of time and sat outside reading my newspaper, when Detail came back. “Good, I wanted to catch you on your own” she said and sat down next to me.

“How is Philosopher?” I asked.

“Don’t get me started…” she said angrily. “I love him to bits, honestly, but he can be useless from time to time as well!” Obviously he hadn’t said what Detail wanted to hear.

“So, what is your big problem?” I asked curiously now. It really seemed to be a big deal to her.

“Ah,” she said and shook her head in disgust. “This useless daughter of mine has got a boyfriend.”

“Isn’t that nice!” I exclaimed, to cheer her up. Minor is a very introverted little thing and sits most of the time in her room. It is indeed big news that she finally found someone.

“But wait” Detail said, “you haven’t heard the whole story! Of all Dedes, who did she choose? Rob!”

Oh dear, I thought to myself. Rob D. Light is indeed a rather shady character. All the Dedes stay clear of him, for a reason unbeknown to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had done time before, but I don’t know for sure. He just looks the part. I can’t say that I know him well, I haven’t had a decent conversation with him yet. He is very difficult to understand because he always has a handkerchief tied over his mouth. I believe he is wearing it because he is missing a few teeth, at least that’s what it sounds like when he talks.

“I don’t know what the attraction is. Why do the nicest girls always choose the bad boys?” Her shoulders sank as if she was giving in. “I am at my wits end with this girl.” I didn’t know what to tell this concerned mother, but I think at this stage she was just happy to have someone who listened to her.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships

Detail wants to talk

January 19, 2013 //
2

detail

Oh, it is Saturday and I don’t need to get up at an ungodly hour. When I finally got up, Detail had laid the breakfast table and it smelled wonderfully of fresh coffee…. that is what I call bliss!

The Dedes are not early risers and not many were around. It was still nice and quiet. Devil was of course there –  he doesn’t seem to sleep at all – and also Detail who arranged this wonderful surprise. Last, but not least, there was Foreign Correspondent, who seems to be everywhere lately.

We had just sat down when Devil launched into telling us about the Facebook page but I rudely interrupted him: “Please, not on Saturday, and particularly not when I am having my breakfast!”

“But it is important to me!” he exclaimed. “Join the club” Foreign Correspondent said, “I have to talk about my German translation as well. You know I don’t think the summaries are working… I have to do a daily translation, otherwise it is too confusing.”

“It’s your gig” I said, “you can do what you want, as long as you do a good job” and bit into my croissant. “Aren’t you interested in what we are doing?” Devil asked. “Of course I am, but there is a time and place for everything. And Saturday breakfast is not for facebook or German translations!”

“You really should ask our readers to join us on Facebook. Only when we have 25 Likes can we claim…”

“Devil, please!” I got quite annoyed and slammed my croissant on the plate.

“That is such a male thing” Detail started now. “I lay the table and put on a nice breakfast because I want to discuss something and you guys just jump in, invite yourself, and hog the conversation straight away.” Devil and Foreign Correspondent looked at her in surprise. It is unusual for her to be so straight forward.

“So what’s your problem then?” Devil asked annoyed.

“I can’t talk about it now!” she yelled and jumped up. “I’ll go and see Philosopher. He is the only Dede one can talk to!”

And so, what started out as a lovely breakfast was spoilt for every one. The three of us continued in silence, but we had rather lost our appetite.

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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
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