Archives for posts with tag: personalities
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Puppy in the Poo

November 9, 2012 //
2

Mouse really should have been the first one to hear about Lou‘s confession. Unfortunately, I had sent her to a friend’s house on Wednesday to help with the new Dede dresses we have ordered for the workshop tomorrow. I rang my friend yesterday, but Mouse couldn’t come to the phone. My friend said she was sitting on the deck in the wicker basket sunbathing. So much for her help!

Now, since Bobby and Clay Head had announced they were going to interview us yesterday, I had to tell them that Lou came clean. I am not a gossip. I haven’t told anyone else yet (apart from you of course, but I trust you explicitly. I am sure you can keep a secret, can’t you?)

I cancelled the appointment with Bobby and Clay Head as their services were no longer needed and expected them to basically forget the whole incident and let Mouse come up with an appropriate punishment. Oh, am I naive or what? Bobby looked at me with his stern face and said: “That is not how it works, Missy! You called the police and you can’t just cancel on us willy nilly. We are not like a plumber and or an  electrician. We are the police! We have to write a report!” And out they got their big pens and started writing.

“But there are no lives endangered! It was just a juvenile joke”

“You should have thought about this before you engaged us…” lectured Clay Head, but was interrupted by a short sharp “Ha!” from Bobby. We both looked at him “Juvenile joke!…” he exclaimed “I have seen Lou‘s record… he is not a first time offender. He already has a strike against his name. Back in June he attacked Skeleton Edeltraut.”

Oh no, not this old story, I thought and said: “We never really solved this one. It was just a matter of two different opinions.” I remembered clearly, it went  on for ever with he-said/she-said and all the Dedes took sides. I was so happy when it finally got quieter around the story and I was so sure time would heal the wounds of all involved. I was surprised to hear now that it was on Lou‘s official record.

“Hang on,” I continued, “you can’t just put a strike against a name and not notify the person, or me in this case, as I am his guardian. He is still a puppy!”

“You have to make a submission… then we might re-open the case. You have to go through the official channels!” Bobby said coldly and continued writing on his report. It was obvious  I wouldn’t achieve anything here today….

Pleeeeeeaaaaase, give me a bottle of wine and send for Philosopher!

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Poor Puppy Day

November 7, 2012 //
4

I should declare the 6th of November “Poor Puppy Day”. We all know fireworks scare the wits out of animals, but Lou has taken Guy Fawkes particularly badly this year. While Cat and Mouse are back to their usual business, Lou is still lying on the sofa under the blanket and feeling sorry for himself. He has done so all day yesterday. Okay, he is young and he suffers from mood-swings: One week he is totally over the moon and it is all happy, happy, joy, joy.  The next week he is lethargic and doesn’t move an inch from his chosen patch.  I have to be honest with you here, seeing the young puppy like this makes me feel extremely uncomfortable, as I don’t know what to do when he is down. Shall I just leave him to it or shall I talk to him? I haven’t figured it out yet.

Tomorrow Bobby and Clay Head will come around and interview us about the email. Maybe I should ask Bobby if there is a chance to train Lou as a sniffer dog. A bit more routine might help.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Photography

New Entrants

November 5, 2012 //
2

Clay Head told me I should give Bobby a break and let him do his job. Fine by me. I have other things to deal with this week. Next Saturday is the puppeteer workshop I am running with the “Older Women’s Network”. It has been on my mind for weeks. The duration is 1.5 hours and I have arranged and re-arranged my approach on how to spend that time at least a hundred and fifty times. I haven’t developed a formal outline yet. Instead I have made new puppets. I thought puppet making will clear my mind, unfortunately I came up with more silly stories.

The picture today shows the latest entrants, bar Bobby. He is doing his rounds with Clay Head trying to find out who cancelled the party. So he was too busy to attend the photo shoot. Cash Cow is a bit slow, she hasn’t got her colours yet. In fact she is Cash Cow V2. The first one didn’t work out, so I remodeled her into a monkey. Cheeky little thing pushed himself to the front to get his skin first.

The new entrants are (in the back row from left): Rob Daylight, the daylight robber and Daredevil the wannabe hero. In the front row: Cash Cow with the empty udder, Monkey (no explanation needed) and Harvey, the rabbit with a gambling problem.

These puppets I have made especially for the workshop – they are members of the Touch Troupe. The idea was to have this troupe as a set of public performers who might not pop up on the blog much. But then Cash Cow has already moved into my garage, she needed a cheap crash pad. She is so broke she can’t afford to pay rent anywhere else.

Here goes this idea!

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Photography

Put to Vote

October 30, 2012 //
4

The main discussion point between Philosopher and myself on Sunday was how we could solve the mystery of the cancellation email. Neither of us want our friend Mouse upset. It really unsettles the Dede world. We also agreed I couldn’t be in charge of the investigation. I am too close to the case and a few of the puppets distrust me in this regard. Personally, I think I could be neutral –  I want to shed light on the whole affair as much as Mouse does, but many of the puppets now believe I am biased for one reason or another. This would make the job so much more difficult for me than for anyone else who comes in from the outside. I will quite happily step aside and let somebody else deal with it. Mouse wants action. I want results…

So I put an email out yesterday to all the Dede puppets asking for submissions as to who should head the investigation and here are our three candidates. I am now putting the vote to the public – Who shall we engage?

1. Bobby

The Policeman would be the obvious choice, but he is still at the Academy. He will have his exams next weekend, so we would only have to postpone the investigation by one week. I also have to point out it would, of course, be his first big job in the real world.

2. Ducky

He put himself forward. He is a politician without office and I am not so sure how well liked he is by the Dedes, (but that shouldn’t affect his ability). Nobody  has seconded his nomination, and I have left him on the list only because of a lack of any other candidates. Good on him for holding his hand up!

3. Clay Head

Clay Head  is a Dede at heart (he was born a Dede but later converted to clay. As he is the only clay head, he must be pretty lonely). He was put forward by Philosopher and seconded by Devil. I have to elaborate a bit on this external consultant. Not being a real Dede he of course has no vested interest in the outcome whatsoever. I have to reveal though, that he fell off a table at a young age and lost one of his ears. So his hearing is impaired and I am not sure if he sustained any other injuries that could affect his judgement. I also have to put a caveat on him: I know that Clay Head, Devil and Philosopher were in the furnace together (that is much like kindergarten in the Dede world). There could be an aspect of the old boy’s network in his nomination.

Any thoughts? Can you help the Dedes make a decision?

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Categories Art, Life, Photography

Take your pick

October 27, 2012 //
0

When green asparagus appears in the shops, and shortly after when the deliciously red and sweet strawberries follow, then Winter is well and truly over! To celebrate the fresh arrivals, and as a small token of appreciation for all her work, I invited Mouse to the first strawberry breakfast of the season today.

She arrived with her little clipboard under her arm. I was a bit taken aback. It is Saturday and the clipboard reeked suspiciously of work. “There are only two items I want to quickly go over with you” she said apologetically, while I dished her up the biggest fruit I could find.

I had a quick glance and in her scrawly handwriting it said:

  1. Reminder: Lou and Philosopher due back tomorrow
  2. Cancellation email

Pretty small list. I wondered what she needed the clipboard for. She should have been able to memorize these two items. I guess she wanted to feel important.

1. Lou and Philosopher

With all the goings-on in the last week I have totally forgotten to tell you that Mouse managed to send Lou and Philosopher on the long-planned fishing trip. We first hatched this plan way back at Philosopher‘s birthday  in June. Lou was so in love with Skeleton Edeltraut then and I hoped Philosopher would be able to talk some sense into the puppy. But the weather was inclement throughout winter. Philosopher’s boat wouldn’t have been able to handle it and so it just didn’t happen. I was surprised, indeed, more than surprised, when they hastily departed last Sunday morning. Turns out Mouse had chartered a boat without telling anyone and then just said: “Well that is it: you two go now. Otherwise it will never happen” And they toddled off. Lou, the still love-sick puppy, went very reluctantly. Philosopher was out the door in a flash (not really a flash, but faster than his usually laid back speed – He loves the sea.) Problem is, Mouse hasn’t thought about who is going to pay for the charter boat.

I have to think about this one. I wish they wouldn’t do this to me. I am not a cash-cow. Oh, I feel a new puppet coming on. Yes, Cash-Cow would be a great flatmate for me.

2. Cancellation email

Mouse asked me who I thought wrote the email telling everybody the party last Sunday was cancelled.  She is very, veeeery upset that one of our friends would do such a thing. I looked at her and said: “This is a no-brainer, isn’t it? Of course it must have been Devil?”

“No, it actually wasn’t!” she rebuked

“What makes you think that?”

“He told me so! He was a victim here. He missed out on the party because of the email”

Everybody knows Mouse is a sucker for tall stories, and we often have her on. She believes everything and everybody. “C’mon, he is a devil after all. Do you believe him?”

“There we have it – you are clearly prejudiced towards devils. Just because he is a devil doesn’t make him a liar, does it? And yes, I believe him. He is my friend!”

“Oh no, not you too” I exclaimed resignedly “So who was it then?”

“I don’t know. But Devil told me he got the email and thought: Yes, rain is a good enough reason for her to cancel a party. After all, you cancelled the outing to the boat ramp because of rain!”

“Yes, but the party was in the house! Devil can’t be that thick!”

“That is besides the point. Someone has written an email to sabotage my hard work. I have worked my little heart out to pull off something really nice and on extremely short notice to boot. To be honest, I am terribly pissed off! So what are you going to do about it?”

Mouse jumped up. I have never seen her so agitated.

“I have to think about it. I don’t know who dunnit! I am at the end of my wits too if it wasn’t Devil!”

“I will leave it with you. And I want to see action, otherwise it was the last party I organised for you!” she said, and left without thanking me for the big juicy strawberry.

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Categories Art, Hand Puppets, Life, Photography, Relationships

Here comes Sunny

October 26, 2012 //
0

Sunny has the most amazing smile. He is footloose and fancy free, but there is one thing I can bet on: A few days after a party Sunny will show up. When all the tidying up is done, all the left-overs are in the freezer and the place looks spick and span. It’s time to relax on the deck with a G&T. And then here comes Sunny, on the prowl for a frozen doggy bag to take home as a cheap meal. Usually his mum cooks for him, but if he can score a good frozen meal somewhere he is quite happy to give her a day off and treat himself to something different.

“Not many puppets around last Sunday, were there?”  was his opening line. “Didn’t you get the email?” I asked and watched his reaction. “I don’t read emails!”  He shrugged his shoulders. “Do you write any?” I inquired further, as all of a sudden I thought he might have uninvited the others to score a bigger doggy bag. “It wasn’t me, if that’s what you mean”. This is so typical of Sunny. He doesn’t even know what I am talking about, but he is sure it wasn’t him. And yes, most of the time it is true, as he doesn’t do much at all.

Then he told me he had hoped I would finally introduce him to my dearest friend Chance. If he had asked me before, I could have told him Chance wouldn’t be there, as she is currently out of town on a marketing assignment together with Foxy Lady and Clown.

“The crowd was pretty boring, don’t you think?  Isn’t  it always the same?… These puppets are so predictable… Professor and Pig get plastered… and this pompous git Ducky! Give me a break”. He was thinking out loud.

“Stop right there” I intervened. “You are talking about my friends!” And you are not the most exciting puppet either, I thought to myself, but stopped short of saying it.

He sat down next to me: “Any chance of getting a G&T around here?”

“

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Photography

Police are on the way

October 23, 2012 //
0

Yesterday was a Public Holiday. It is an unwritten law in New Zealand that Labour Day has to be spent in the garden to get your patch ready for summer – if it doesn’t rain. It rained again. I ignored the drizzle and did my little bit and tidied up around the driveway. So did Nosy Neighbour and of course he spotted me. He came across the street to have a chat. His chats consist mainly of telling me who had done something naughty in the street. So what did he complain about this time? My guests on Sunday night! Believe it or not, he didn’t like their singing in the wee hours. I on the other hand love their finish to a party. Push Push gets her ukulele out and everybody joins in.  Admittedly  it might sound better after a glass or two of wine, but it is not really necessary to call for the noise control officer.

“I would have called the police, if we had an officer!” Nosy Neighbour lamented.  I am not entering into an argument here. I thought, next time he can call the police. They will just laugh at him. They really have bigger issues to attend to than a little singalong in an otherwise quiet street… But a law enforcement officer would come in handy from time to time.

I went straight back into the house and started recruiting. And here he is, the newest member of the Dede Society: Bobby. He is still in finishing school, but as soon as he is out he has a job. The Dede beat is his.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Prejudiced

October 21, 2012 //
0

I have to recap what was on my mind all last week. One of my puppets (I don’t want to name him) has accused me of being prejudiced towards devils and he made noises about suing me for an obscene amount of money, which of course I don’t have. But that is besides the point. I have been thinking about it a lot this week: Am I really prejudiced? Who knows, but certainly not against devils. Honestly, I have spent hours and hours listening to him when he was depressed, because  nobody seems to like him. He is not the easiest puppet to deal with. And yes, I had promised him an outing to the boat ramp and had to cancel, but for a very good reason: It was raining cats and dogs and he wouldn’t have lasted 5 minutes in this weather.

It annoys me tremendously that he now turns around and just gives me the blanket label of being “prejudiced”, only because he couldn’t get his way. How can one debunk this label? It is such a trap… And I stepped right into it. It is one of those labels that is thrown into the ring when puppets run out of arguments. Nobody wants to be prejudiced, but how can you prove you aren’t?

My accuser has made himself scarce, but I know he is around. I can smell sulphide. The curtains in the living room smell particularly bad, they will have to go in the wash soon. Anyway, I wonder if he is man enough to show his face at the party tonight and I am curious how it goes.

For now I am pleased to have it off my chest…  What do you think?

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Categories Art, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships

Trust me!

October 20, 2012 //
2

Mouse must be out of her mind! I couldn’t believe my eyes this morning. I have to tell you the story.

When I woke up I heard a clinking and clonking from the kitchen and my first thought was: “Great, Mouse has everything under control. I will turn around and have a nice sleep-in.”  But then there was this shattering noise and of course I couldn’t resist any longer and had to check out what’s going on. Would you believe it? Of all the puppets… Mouse gave the job of cleaning my glassware to Push-Push! The elephant cleaning my precious glasses, my heart nearly stopped. And I felt like screaming.

“Get out of here” Mouse commanded when she spotted me in the door way. She was crouching over the dust-pan brushing up glass pieces from the floor. “You can’t be serious!” I exclaimed but I stopped short of telling her what I thought of Push-Push‘s dexterity. After all Push-Push was right there and it would have been terribly rude.

“Trust me and don’t worry. Push-Push is so keen and she can do it….”   Mouse said confidently and added “You don’t get that many volunteers these days.”  Then I discovered that she had given Push-Push all the cheap 1-Dollar-Warehouse glasses I had hidden in the back of the cupboard, while the heirloom pieces were still locked away.

Phew!.. Everything under control! Thanks Mouse.

 

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Photography

Getting organised

October 19, 2012 //
2

I am going with Witch‘s recommendation and will invite all the Dede puppets for a social get together on Sunday. It comes in handy that it is a long weekend, so I should have no problems recovering before I have to go back to work on Tuesday.

But it is short notice indeed and I am not one to get organised in a hurry. I need my time, so I enlisted Mouse to help me. Honestly, if you ever have an event to publicise, Mouse is your puppet! She knows everybody and always finds something to talk about. She still believes strongly in face-to-face contact to keep friendships going. I think she should turn her skills into a business, but she lacks the necessary self-esteem to go out there and market herself.

I am very happy and grateful that she took over the job of inviting everybody. When I got up this morning, she was already sitting in the kitchen, pounding away on the computer. This is her only weakness: Writing emails takes a long time as she is a one-thumb-typist, but you should see her speed when she is texting….

Of course it would be even faster if the Dede puppets were on Facebook. They are resisting. They are very happy in their own little secret society.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Photography
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