Archives for posts with tag: thoughts

This image here I took six years ago. I like the juxtaposition of the lines with the round crater. For obvious reasons I originally called it “Square peg in a round hole.” It is just a close-up of some rocks we were climbing over at the time.

When I accidentally came across this image today, a totally different interpretation jumped out at me.

There is a little story to go with it: A friend of mine, a school teacher, was once asked by one of her pupils: “Tell me Miss, what was the world like when it was still black and white?” I just love this story. The pupil was of course referring to black & white photography and TV.  When I first heard the story, I thought it was so cute I laughed. Today, my answer would be: “The world was more colourful then…” as there must have been so much more room for imagination.

Today, when I glanced at the photograph, I instantly saw a smiling face with a rock hurled at it from a giant fist. When I showed my discovery to a friend,  he couldn’t quite follow. So I coloured it in for him in Photoshop. Now the image is called: “Honestly, I didn’t see this coming!”

However this is a very disturbing interpretation, and I went looking for another image. It took me a while, but this time it is called: “Life is beautiful!” It shows two playful figures in the sun.

Thank God you always remember what you saw last. I have difficulties seeing the giant fist now when I look at the black and white original.

Everything around me is in flux at the moment. I am not a rock, I am a pebble.

Rocks brave the tide. They are strong and stand their position. But over time they will be ground down.

Pebbles on the other hand are small fries. They might get uplifted and swirled around, yet it is very reassuring they will settle again. A few inches to one side maybe, but there is always a chance it will be in an even sunnier spot.

For now I am happy it’s Friday again.

This is a bit of false advertising! I am currently trying to tie up so many loose ends. For the first time I sat down this morning and didn’t know what to write about. I have to meet somebody relatively early this morning and am therefore under some time constraint. I looked through the images I have taken recently and found this lost looking oyster catcher. The only thing to pick on this bare ramp is a plastic bottle cap.

I’ve just finished this little book called “Modern Puppetry” by a guy called A.R. Philpott. He was obviously a very famous puppeteer in his time, known as Pantopuk the Puppet Man. The book is mainly on puppet making, but touches on performing and the current state of puppetry in general. Current in this case means 1966, as this was when the book was written. I am surprised how much puppetry still seemed to have been part of society then.  But I suspect in the meantime I am just living at the wrong end of the world for puppetry.

One sentence in the book really touched me. He talks about finding material for your puppet show, he says: “Once you need them – that is as soon as you start being a puppeteer – ideas will come, a part of your mind being always alert for new possibilities – and not only for puppet characters but also for situations in which these can find themselves on stage. Plots and plays are inseparable from characters.” [p40].

Phew, so I am normal!

I didn’t really want to write about what happens in the dede world today, but there was another incident.

Monster waited up for me. He sat quietly in the corner and waited until I came past. “Psst” he said, and at first I could hardly hear it. “Psst” he said again and I looked around and there he was all scared, squashed into the corner. He is an ugly little thing and one doesn’t know where his front and back is, but his dark black button eyes stood out.

“Can we talk?” he continued. “I don’t have much time, so make it short” I said looking at my watch. I was happy to lend him my ear. He comes across as a fairly rowdy one, I assume much of it is facade. Once you know him, he can be a really nice guy. But one thing is for sure, he is certainly not one who wins you over at first sight. You have to look twice and engage with him for a little while.

“You know, mhm, you know” he hummed and hawed.  There was nothing demanding about him today, not like the other day when he came to see me together with Skeleton. I felt sorry for him as I could see how painful it was for him to get started. Then finally he just exploded and blurted it all out… all his fears.

He virtually begged me to put Lou in his place (if he had knees he would have fallen on them). Deep down he is very worried that Skeleton actually enjoys the attention she gets from this handsome young puppy. He has been observing her. She is looking in the mirror more often than she usually does. If she had hair she would comb it all day. There are countless little signs. He told me around ninety-nine of them …

Monster is worried out of his mind that he will loose her. He is so sure she is his soul mate. He seems to think he would not survive, should she ever leave him.

I had to sit down and just let him talk. He sobbed and cried. It was obvious he seems to think she is his ultimate love. He talked and talked. Finally after an hour or so, he started to slow down, clearly exhausted. I watched him silently. A lot of thoughts flashed through my mind, but I was certain, none of them would have fallen on fertile ground in this situation.

I believe, if they really have such a strong relationship, no puppy, now matter how young and handsome, could destroy it. Yes, the attention might revitalise Skeleton Edeltraut for a little, but only temporarily…. She certainly knows there is more to a relationship than zing!

In the end I put my arm around him and said: “Look, just trust Edeltraut. Don’t be clingy and suffocate her with your love. The more you watch her, the more you shackle her, the more you will drive her away.”

“But, but…”

“No but… Trust!”

“You just don’t understand” he muttered, disappointed.

“Poor sod” I thought.

I’ve finished two more puppets. This here is Foxy Lady. She is a beauty, I could fall in love with her myself. Initially I started her as a play mate for Lou, but now I think is she is too mature for Lou. No… I certainly wouldn’t be happy if Lou tried to chase her instead of  Skeleton. His puppy love for Skeleton is a pain, but at least I know he is going nowhere.

I have updated the Character page and finally included the three puppets that were on show as well as the two new ones.

Who doesn’t love an extended breakfast on Saturday? I love it and I enjoy it even more in the company of  friends, so I invited Devil’s Advocate and Fairy Godmother for breakfast. Okay, okay, I had an ulterior motive. I’ve noticed these two are always standing together lately, whispering to each other. I am so curious about what’s going on.  As if I hadn’t enough on my mind with Lou and Skeleton Edeltraut, but after all I am only human.

So they came along and they are a lovely couple indeed. You can tell they have a lot of respect for each other and they really care.

Unfortunately it wasn’t long before the subject changed to Lou and Skeleton Edeltraut (Mouse did a brilliant job spreading the gossip). My visitors were interested in my point of view.

“I don’t want to favour either of them” I started. “But you can’t remain sitting on the fence” Devil’s Advocate interrupted me  immediately. “Amongst friends you have to have an opinion! There is no way around it. Otherwise you will be nobody’s friend!”

Then they explained to me that both Edeltraut and Lou want me on their respective sides. “If you are not on their side” Fairy Godmother warned me, “they automatically think you are against them. For them you are a traitor.”

It seems the Dedes are now divided into three camps: Some side with Edeltraut, others with Lou and the third party is putting pressure on me to solve the problem and giving me advice on how I should do it. And this is by far the biggest group.

“Can’t you do anything about it?” I asked Fairy Godmother. “Oh no, that’s not my department!” she waved her hand, “you better ask Witch.”  Then she clarified the difference between her and Witch. Fairy Godmother can only work on wishes for yourself (for example, if I wanted to be rich I could hire her to give it a go, but I would have to work with her), while Witch works on wishes you have for other people (for example if I’d wish the plague on Nosy Neighbour I would have to go to her and pay her to cast a spell or mix a potion). But of course neither of them guarantees success.

“So,” I asked her out of interest, “did Lou come and see you?”

“I couldn’t discuss my client base with you” she said in a quite unfriendly manner.

Pirate came by. He wanted to sell me some tapes he’d found in his ol’ man’s cellar. He just assumed I would belong to an age group that still had tapes and I would have a recorder to go with it. (And no, I am not talking video tapes here…) Sorry to disappoint you, Pirate, I never owned a tape recorder. These gadgets were even before my time. I am a bit offended though, next time he will be offering me a record for a gramophone…

Anyway, he had tea with me and was very surprised not to see Lou hanging around. Usually these two go all gaga when they are together and do hilleareous things. I told him Lou is having a bit of a sulk out in the kennel.

So Pirate went over there and didn’t come back for ages. I don’t really trust Pirate to offer the best advice to a young puppy, so I sneaked up on them and eavesdropped for a while. I am not proud of myself and I made sure nobody could see me. It’s not a thing I usually do and I don’t want anybody to know.

Pirate spoke in a very soothing and quite voice. I was surprised, as he is usually very boisterous. I have never seen this side of him. I heard him saying Lou shouldn’t worry, there are plenty more skeletons out there. Every human has at least four or five, they are there for the taking. “Yeah right,” I thought, “that is so Pirate… He would sell Lou one of his own skeletons if he could”. Thankfully Lou was in no state to accept anything or make any deals (apart from this, he has only a small allowance of pocket money and Pirate normally asks exorbitant prices). Lou kept mumbling something about Edeltraut’s lovely bones.

I knew I could leave them to it, there would be no resolution. So I went back into the house and had another cup of tea.

I got really worried about Lou. He hides sometimes, but never for long. This morning I had a look in the kennel outside, a place he really hates as he thinks it is beneath him to live in a wooden shack. But there he was… curled up and staring into space. When I called out to him he choose to ignore me. I had to call three times and ask what the matter is. He said: “Nobody loves me”. “Of course we love you,” I replied knowing very well, how little my words meant to him at this moment.

I crouched down in front of the kennel and invited him to tell me his side of the incident with Skeleton Edeltraut.

According to him he meant well. He says, he heard Skeleton coming home. She obviously had difficulties opening the door carrying all the shopping bags and being on the mobile at the same time. He wanted to help and ran over to the door to open it, but she had already managed it herself and was inside. When she saw him she dropped all her bags and ran up the stairs. He grabbed what he could of the shopping and ran after her, but she just dived under the bed. He waited outside, still short of breath, he wanted to tell her there was no need to run, but she never showed.

“I do love her, you know”, he added more to himself than for me to hear.

It was Philosopher‘s birthday yesterday. He loves chocolate-hazelnut cakes. I used my grandmother’s never-fail recipe and made one to take round to his place in the afternoon. He lives in this derelict boat at the bottom of my garden. Mostly he keeps to himself pondering about the world and the great beyond, except for when he goes for walks with me on Wednesdays. Only Detail visits him on a regular basis.

I wanted to take Deutsch Fraulein with me as I know he has a crush on her. He certainly would have loved that, but Deutsch Fraulein was nowhere to be found. So I went by myself and as it turns out it was a good move, as I could talk to him about Lou. Philosopher should be able to help. After all, he is in the same boat as Lou, but handles his desires more maturely it seems.

He offered to take Lou fishing one weekend and speak to him – man to man. Good on him. I only hope they are not going in the boat he is living in, it’s certainly not sea-worthy! But I kept that to myself.

I’ve just noticed, I haven’t seen Lou all weekend.

The conversation I was supposed to have with Lou was on my mind all day yesterday. I could hardly concentrate on my work. On my way back I stopped at the wine shop and bought a bottle of red. I thought I’d have it while cooking dinner, so it will be easier for me to talk later.

I had forgotten that whenever I open a bottle of red, The Professor pops up out of nowhere and of course with Pig in tow (they are an item – totally inseparable. If you ask me, it is a case of co-dependency. But who asks me!).

These guys certainly saved Lou from his talk. They usually don’t stop at a single bottle and I had to dip into the good stuff I keep in the kitchen rack for special occasions. I left them to it and went to bed around 11pm. I don’t know what they were doing all night, but they were still hanging around when I got up this morning. The Professor gets very melancholic when he drinks and he loves to solve the problems of the world in this state. He can really talk, particularly round and round in ever decreasing circles. Pig doesn’t say much at the best of times, just holds on to his wine glass. It was all a bit too much for me last night.

This morning they both were very quiet and they moved on relatively swiftly after I made them a good strong coffee (and left me with the mess!). I haven’t seen Lou yet.