Archives for posts with tag: relationships
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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

My word!

January 9, 2013 //
3

cash cow witch tea

Cash Cow and Witch popped in for a cup of tea. They seem to have become good friends over the last couple of months and hang out together a lot. As soon as they had their mugs in front of them Witch started to raise her concerns about my post yesterday, where I wrote about Pirate‘s business preposition.

“You know, I am not happy with what you’ve said” she started. And Cash Cow nodded eagerly in support.

I was very surprised about this comment, as I know Witch is not into money.  At least she never tires of telling the rest of us that… Though be careful when you ask her to look into her crystal ball for you; she charges an arm and a leg for that service. It is her only source of income and of course being self-employed she never knows when the next payment will come in. (I have no idea how many people use her services.) So over time she adopted an extremely frugal life style, living off the land. I admire her for being able to make a meal out of virtually nothing. She is also very generous and happy to share her concoctions with others – unfortunately most of the other Dedes are not too keen to take up the offer.  So she is a bit of a loner and just does her own thing. It can’t be good for anybody, and I was pleased when Cash Cow took a liking to her. It seems to work both ways and I assume Witch has taken Cash Cow under her wing, sort of as an apprentice. We all know Cash Cow is strapped for money, and she certainly can learn a thing or two from Witch about how to make a bob stretch further. I hope she doesn’t teach her how to read the crystal ball though. I can not imagine a cow doing a good job in this profession.

“So you would have taken up Pirate’s offer then?” I replied flabbergasted.

“Of course not,” Witch looked at me sternly. “What is it with you people, why is it always about money?!”

“Aren’t you just talking about my missed business opportunity?”

“No, no, I agree with you on this one. I wouldn’t trust Pirate as far as I could throw him.” Witch shook her head fiercely.

“What else did I say then?” I tried to recall the conversation with Pirate, but all I could remember was him trying to sell me his latest scheme. In fact I couldn’t remember saying much at all.

“You said we are here to have fun!” Cash Cow blurted out.

“Do you really think we are that shallow? We only want to have fun?” Witch asked. It certainly didn’t feel like fun right then, it felt more like the inquisition.

“Forgive me,” I begged “it was just a thoughtless comment. It didn’t mean anything.”

“You have to be a bit more careful with your comments, my dear, you certainly devalued us Dedes with that one!”

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

Pirate’s proposition

January 8, 2013 //
9

pirates deal

Last night we had a storm. Nothing unusual really in our neck of the woods. However, this time the storm blew Pirate back home. I haven’t seen him for ages. I think last time was when he wanted to sell me his dad’s old vinyl records, because he thought I still had a record player to listen to them.

Pirate is rather an odd one. He calls himself an entrepreneur. I am not sure, but I think in the old days you would have called someone like him a wheeler and dealer. Nobody really knows what he does for a living. Sometimes he has pockets full of money, other times he has to conveniently leave for an important meeting before the bill can be settled.

He has tried his hand at everything… pyramid schemes, that truly weren’t pyramid schemes (his words, not mine), fixing computer viruses via phone and selling grandmothers…. But if you know all this, and can withstand the pressure to buy, he is actually a really lovely Dede.

So last night he came round to my house and asked if he could stay for dinner. ‘Oh!’, I thought to myself,  ‘watch out, he is poor at the moment’. I am not too keen on his company when he is poor. Not because of the fact that he has no money. No, no, I don’t like him for the hair-raising schemes he devises when he is desperate. But then, he is always happy to take us out to posh restaurants when he is rich, so how could I not share our simple meal with him?

“So, I hear the Dedes are doing well” he said, while he was watching me cooking dinner. “They even had something written about them in Austria!”

“Yes,” I confirmed, but didn’t want to say more.

“Are you making money yet?” he came straight to the point.

“What kind of question is that?” I asked. “We are not in it for the money – We are having fun!”

“Bullshit” he said. “Don’t give me that airy fairy crap…”

“And you watch your language” I interrupted.

“I am a pirate for god’s sake,” he reminded me of the obvious. How could I forget looking at his hideous mustache.

He came back to his proposition: “You know, you are sitting on a gold mine. Just let me be your manager. I will organise everything for you.” He pushed a piece of paper over the breakfast bar in my direction. I glanced at the heading: ‘Manager’s Contract’. “We could do T-shirts and printed coffee mugs and, oh, the mind boggles…” His eyes glazed over.

“Dream on….” I said to him, while I fished spaghetti out of the pot. “We have to sell the Hermit’s Web books first!” I didn’t have the heart to tell him outright that he would be the last Dede I would entrust with my affairs.

“But…” he started again. I stopped what I was doing and stared deep into his one good eye.

“Just asking…” he said a bit huffy, but I knew he’d got the message.

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

In the dog box again

January 6, 2013 //
8

devil telling me off

As ArtistatExit0 commented yesterday, Pig and Witch might not tell me their story because they still have mutual respect for each other. So I decided to let the sleeping dogs lie – for now at least. I know myself, sometime in the future, when I tidy up, I will come across this picture again and my curiosity will get the better of me once more. One day I will find out….

Anyway, I was just sitting here writing my blog, when Mouse came running through the door.  At 8:15 in the morning! I was more than surprised… I know very well that Mouse (our little gossip) has a very busy schedule on Sundays. It is a set routine for her. Every Sunday the same… She starts her day with an early morning breakfast with Devil, then goes on to have a mid-morning snack with Pirate, lunch with whoever has a story to tell. Then she moves on to have coffee and cake with Deutsch Fraulein (German girl) and dinner at Witch‘s place in the company of Cat. She finishes her day with a night cap at Professor and Pig‘s place if there is no party to go to. You will certainly agree that is a lot to get through in one day.

Today she must have had a very short breakfast with Devil. I was just about to ask her what happened when I realised she was fuming. “So when were you going to tell us?” she squeaked at me.

“What?” I said, totally unaware about what I had done now.

“You traitor, you went to ||:::VEGGIETORIA:::|| all by yourself and none of us knew.” I noticed Devil appeared in the door now as well. Mouse had run so fast that she left him in the dust.

“This is not quite correct!” I replied: “L’Artiste was with me.”

“L’artiste doesn’t know anything about public relations, you should have consulted with the rest of us.” Mouse made such a roar that more and more Dedes woke up and made their way to the kitchen, where I was sitting writing my blog.

“What’s going on?” asked Ducky, the politician. “Tell them,” Mouse said, hands on hips.

So I told them the story.

Before Christmas, Miss Viwi, an Austrian blogger invited L’Artiste  and myself to visit her site ||:::VEGGIETORIA:::|| for an interview. Miss Viwi is concerned about contemporary nutrition and animal welfare and is also very interested in art.  She has fallen in love with the Dedes and wanted to profile them on her blog for German speakers. The series about the Dede puppets will start today with the first installment.

“It didn’t occur to you to talk to us about what to say in the interview?” Devil asked.

“Honestly, they were mostly art questions. After the incident with Buchalov, I thought you guys were not particularly interested in art. And anyway, I think L’Artiste and I did a reasonably good job” I defended myself.

“Give us an example” Mouse demanded.

“Ah, there were so many questions… Let me think, one was how I had….”

“Admit it, it wasn’t really about us, it was about you!” Devil said. “Didn’t you say in your New Year’s resolution that this year it will be all about the Dedes and not about you…. Here we go, we are not even one week into the New Year and you failed…”

“Give it a break, Devil!” I got a bit angry now “Just wait until the first post is published and read it yourself!” I told them the first post will be published in Austria in the morning, which would be night time for us.

I had to get out of here and left them sitting in the kitchen while I went for a run. This is the reason why my post was a little bit late today.

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

No… he won’t tell!

January 5, 2013 //
2

hermits web.indd

Since Professor  revealed one of Pig’s secrets yesterday, I thought I’d grab my chance and dig out this old photo I found in the shed and ask him about it too. I had already published this photo  in ‘Hermit’s Web’, but still don’t know what the story behind it is. It is such a mystery to me, as Witch and Pig barely talk to each other.  Looking at the photo they must have been good friends at one stage. Neither Pig nor Witch will tell me what happened and it irks me tremendously that I don’t know what the story is.

It wasn’t one of my better ideas. Professor looked at me as if he wanted to kill me and said: “Please!…” and left me standing there. Devil who was with us at the time shook his head and said: “You really have a way of putting your foot in it, don’t you!” and wandered off as well.

It seems everybody knows but me. Don’t tell me you all know as well! Do you have any ideas? Please, please tell me!

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

More resolutions…

January 2, 2013 //
9

brunch discussion

The first day of the year was all quiet. Most of the Dedes went back into their box and had a good rest. The more sensible ones – the ones that didn’t overdo it the night before – had an extended brunch on the deck in the sun. It was an amazing hot day, one of those where you think the world is standing still under a vivid blue sky. All you can hear are the cicadas in the bushes.

None of the puppets felt like talking much, but finally Witch asked me: “So what are your resolutions for the New Year?” …And I had thought I got off lightly by only having to make sure they kept theirs.

“In what respect? For myself or for you guys?”

“Is there a world outside the Dede world?” Witch asked. I had to laugh out loud. “Of course there is!” Immediately I thought up my first personal resolution for this year: ‘Make sure real-life  friends don’t think I am going totally gaga over the Dedes’. I don’t want them to call the men in white coats and have me committed!

“We are not really interested in your other life” Devil added, “so what are your  resolutions in respect to us and the blog?”

“Ah well” I said to buy some time. I hadn’t really thought about it. I am not big on making plans. “I promise I won’t put any of my other stuff up this year. I  know you guys didn’t like it last year when I put some of my photographs up. The blog will be entirely Dede.”

“Now that is a big ask! It would be nice if you’d finally learned it is not all about you!” Devil said. “I will remind you in due time… ”

“We could make a competition out of this” Foxy Lady suggested. “The one that can keep to their resolution the longest will be ‘Resolution Champion’.”

“But New Year’s resolutions are private affairs, aren’t they? Nobody is supposed to know!” I interjected.

“Don’t be daft” Devil said “No, you have commit publicly, otherwise it is pointless. Isn’t it?”

“But I know what everybody said. I am the keeper. I will let you know when someone falls off the waggon!”

“No, no… All the resolutions should be public!” Everybody who was at the brunch agreed. Now, this was a total misunderstanding on my side obviously. I had read the resolutions and stored them away safely in a nice box.

What do you think? Would you tell other people what your resolutions are? Shall I make all the Dedes’ resolutions public?

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

Devils at loggerheads

December 31, 2012 //
4

devils at loggerheads

The birthday was supposed to be a lovely day. Mouse had baked a cake, put a candle on it and invited everybody to have a piece. Now Mouse isn’t a big eater and the cake was very little. I would call it a muffin, more so than a cake, but for her it was a big thing.

So they all sat down and everybody commented nicely on the big effort Mouse had gone to, to make it yet another wonderful day, when Smug Little Devil arrived. He always seems to be the last one on the scene.

He took one look at the cake and said: “I thought we were having a Black Forest Gateau! What is that shrivelly little thing?” Mouse fought back her tears, but Devil, her old mate, came to her rescue: “What is it with you? Can’t you say something nice for a change?”

“Why?” Smug Little Devil replied “Am I not right? It is supposed to be a birthday cake. Does this look like a birthday cake to you?”

“It’s a cake, birthday or not” Devil replied.

“And I am a devil! I say what I want. Like it or not!” Smug Little Devil didn’t back down.

“But I am THE Devil!”

“No, you are a wuss! You should be called Wuss”

Devil jumped towards Smug Little Devil horns down and really angry. He was ready to fight.

“Whoo hoo!” Witch butted in and commanded: “you both sit down now!” Strangely enough, they listened to her and sat down meekly at opposite ends of the table. “What is it with you two? Tell me! It’s not really about the cake, is it?”

Smug Little Devil immediately started telling  everybody that he thinks Devil is not a genuine devil, he is far too soft. While he was saying his piece we could see steam coming out of Devil’s ears. He didn’t seem too mellow right now. When it was his turn he told us that it pissed him off that Smug Little Devil had such a similar name. People might think they were one and the same, but no, they are only very veeery distant cousins. Smug Little Devil is still such a novice. He doesn’t know the ‘Code of Devils’ at all… really he is a disgrace to all devils as he uses his destructive remarks willy-nilly. He doesn’t achieve anything, but gets up peoples noses. In the  ‘Code of Devils’, first page, first paragraph, it clearly states to use unsettling remarks carefully for the greatest effect, basically when nobody expects it. Then people have to think about what was said. During Devil’s speech Smug Little Devil had his usual smirk on his face. It was so obvious he didn’t take any of Devil’s words in.

“So what can we do about it?” Witch asked. “Rename him” Smug Little Devil answered immediately and pointed at Devil “He is not worth the name!”

“I am Devil, I was the first one. I know the ‘Code of Devils’! No, you have to be renamed!” All the other Dedes cheered. “Yes, we love our Devil, he is the one!”

Philosopher said: “There’s no need to rename anyone. The horns of the little one will grow with his wisdom. Just give him a nickname for now, how about calling him Smutan from now on… short for ‘Smug Satan’… Anybody for cake?” and he leaned forward to take a piece of the plate.

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

Happy Birthday Dedes

December 30, 2012 //
13

waiting for birthday-2

Yes it is true, the first Dedes are turning 1.  It is difficult to pin point their real birth date. Isn’t that sad? All I remember is that it was between Christmas and New Year 2011 and it was raining! I vaguely remember their father, Procrastinator. I was supposed to tidy up my studio, but the pile of old newspapers wanted to be turned into something and this is how the story started. The first one that popped out was definitely Devil, quickly followed by Mouse, Witch, Deutsch Fraulein, Pig, Professor, Philosopher…. I can’t remember the exact order, just who was in the initial lot. Naturally I don’t want to rob them of their big day of celebration. Pity about all the other holidays around this time of year. Who cares, we decided to declare the 30th of December to be the Dede birthday.

Last night they were all hanging around a bottle of champagne we received as a Christmas present and waited for the clock to strike 12. You should have seen their long faces when I told them I am not opening the bottle as I am seriously concerned about their drinking. Remember the Christmas party at the park? Can you imagine anything more scary than a carload full of drunk Dedes? I can now! It is forty sober Dedes wanting a drink and coming for you, because you are the only one who can open the bottle.

“Just kidding” I relented and popped the cork. “Happy Birthday to all my Dedes!”

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

What a welcome?!

December 28, 2012 //
2

her fault

I arrived back home late last night.  I didn’t take any of the Dedes with me on my holidays, as they accused me of favouritism as soon as I picked one of them up to pack into a box. So I left them all behind. This wasn’t a good move as it was raining non-stop where we were and a bit of hands-on puppetry would have gone down a treat. Never mind!

When I came home, all the lights were blazing. I tip-toed into the house to surprise the Dedes. It was a really bad idea as I overheard their discussion. They were sitting around on the living room floor lamenting about the poor participation in the poll.

Smug Little Devil said: “It is really her fault isn’t it? She should not have gone away in the hot phase of voting.”

“Why, what could she have done?” Socialite asked.

“Don’t you know the old saying ‘out of sight out of mind’!” Smug Little Devil replied. “She should have reminded our readers throughout week that they should vote!”

“But she was somewhere with no internet connection and anyway… maybe we only have nine readers?” Foxy Lady pointed out. “No way” Mouse butted in, “we have way more than that…”

“You know how to use the computer” Socialite turned to Mouse now. “You could have reminded the readers!”

“I am not doing anything without being given a mandate. She didn’t instruct me to send out reminders.”

“So we are back to what I said… It is all her fault, isn’t it?” Smug Little Devil pointed out with his unpleasant smirk on his face.

“Give her a break” Philosopher entered the conversation “She is allowed to have a break from us from time to time… She has put so much work into us all year… Where would we be without her?” Tears welled up in my eyes when I heard this nice remark and I was about to enter the room and hug Philosopher, when Smug Little Devil countered Philosopher’s words: “That point of view is futile really… you might as well say where would we be if we had a more driven Master? I believe we could be out there known by heaps more people. We could go travelling and could have a new exhibition somewhere every month. You can’t convince me that she is best for us!”

This made me turn on my heals and leave the house again, so I could come back making a  big racket this time, announcing my arrival to even the deafest of puppets. They all came running out of the living room towards the back door and shouted “We are so happy to have you back.” Leading the pack was none other then Smug Little Devil. I won’t tell you what I thought…

We are very close to the big finale: the winner of the ‘Super Dede 2012’ competition will be announced tomorrow! If you haven’t voted yet, here is the poll again. When I checked last, Mouse was leading. To read a summary of their performances, have a look at the previous post.

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