No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on May 19, 2020

Day 65 of the Homebound Saga

I have been working on a recreation of one of my favorite Muppets for me. It is an experiment that lets me play around with things and try some new shapes and figure out how the original puppet was built. I never sell these because I am a firm believer in Intellectual Property.

I put together the body and was working on the face when I asked Peter about the nose. He asked to see a picture of the puppet and I pulled it up. He took one look and said, “The head is wrong.” He showed me what he was talking about and sure enough it is wrong. I am going to go back and remake the head now that I can see what I need to do.

Failure is part of the creative process. 

Sometimes you can turn those failures into successes. Other times you scrap it and move on.

Not everything you create is going to be a success. Sometimes it is a success in your eyes but no one else seems to get it. Other times you think it is a failure, but to others it is the most amazing thing they have ever seen. 

It is through screwing up that we learn and get better at what we do. 

Caroline and I were talking about success and failure on our walk the other day. She talked about how some people give up after they can’t succeed the first time they try something. The idea that if you are not an instant success then you are a failure not realizing that instant success can be 20 years in the making. Instant success is a rare beast indeed. Many of those successes are built on years of hard work and failure.  

People saying No or finding reasons not to allow you to present your work to a larger audience.

You keep going and honing your skills until someone says Yes, I like that.

I have failed spectacularly. I have also succeeded beyond my wildest imagination.

A big part of it is just trying. 

Or as a friend of mine put it. There is no true failure rather lessons learn and applied to the next time.

I am grateful for my successes.

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Posted By Kathleen David on May 18, 2020

May 18, 2020 Day 64 of the Homebound Saga (Now I have ‘When I am Sixty-Four’ in my head)

COMFORT 

noun

1. A state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint.

“room for four people to travel in comfort”

2. The easing or alleviation of a person’s feelings of grief or distress.

“a few words of comfort”

Today Caroline has her second AP exam. 

She asked me to make her an Egg Bagel because it is a comfort food for her.

Which got me to thinking about comfort in all its forms.

Comfort is something I know we all need right now. We pretty much need it in our lives all the time but right now we need it more.

We have our favorite comfort foods, clothing, shows, movies, and objects.

I take comfort from petting my cats who seem to take comfort in my petting.

Mac and cheese is a comfort food for me. My mother would make it from scratch, so I learned how to make it the way she did, and I am very glad I did. In terms of desserts, my mother’s cake with buttercream icing which is amazing and give me lots of pleasant memories.

Peter has a blanket that he uses to cover himself when he naps. He was given that blanket when we flew back to New York from Jacksonville after his stroke. We call it the Stephen King blanket since it was Stephen who got us home that snowy day. It gives him comfort.

Caroline has the remnants of her pink blankie in a pouch she made. That blanket was given to her by Harlan and Susan Ellison. It was that one blanket that she could not go to sleep at night without. Pink blanket had a lot of adventures before it became pink raggy. She still takes comfort in it. 

I have my stuffed rabbit that I have had most of my life. His name is Ruzzy and he is beat up and old with stitches that my mother sewed carefully to keep his stuffing in and slightly sloppier stitches where I repaired him. He has always been there for me and knows all my secrets and wishes. Funny thing is that a number of them came true. He still gives me comfort and warm feelings when I hug him.

There are TV shows and Movies I turn to when I am feeling down. Baron Munchausen means a lot to me for so many reasons and I got to tell Terry Gilliam that. Buckaroo Banzai is another one I use to escape. Then there are the Muppets in all their forms, but especially the Muppet Show. 

I have some t-shirts that are worn to a weft. These pieces of clothing give me comfort because of the material or where I got them. I still have my original Center for Puppetry Arts t-shirt which has my favorite logo for the Center. 

Then there is a verb version of the word.

COMFORT

Verb Ease the grief or distress of; console.

“she broke down in tears and her friend tried to comfort her”

There is a lot of grief and distress in our lives right now. Some have it more than others, but none are invalid. 

We are grieving for what we have lost and distressed with what is coming.

Again, these are valid feelings.

We try to comfort each other. 

People are doing all sort of things to comfort and amuse others during this trying time. People are letting others know they are there if they need to talk or vent or cry. 

Most of the therapists I know are booked solid, but many states are making sure that the mental health lines are opened and working. 

Comfort is important to the human condition. We need to be in the here and now for others. We needed to indulge what we find comfort in.

I am grateful for things that comfort me.

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Posted By Kathleen David on May 17, 2020

May 17, 2020 Sunday

We are in the third month of quarantine now.

Getting ourselves back up to speed again is going to take a while and a lot of patience or we are going to end up with more patients. 

Up here we have been informed that the government is working to opening the beaches on Memorial Day. Other businesses that can prove they have all the systems in place to make sure people are safe to work there.

There is a little light at the end of the tunnel, however it has to be approached carefully.

The weather is beautiful today. Blue sky with puffy and wispy clouds, a light breeze, and a good temperature.

Yesterday I watched all kinds of entertainment that Jim Henson produced. Both versions of the Storyteller are on Amazon Prime. I have no idea why it took me so long to realize that Michael Gambon is the Greek Storyteller.

The Muppet Guys Talking was a lot of fun and informative as they told us about Jim and their experiences with Jim. There was a hiccup that I expected would happen. The viewers overloaded the system, so they had set up a way for more people to watch very quickly and it was worth the wait. I felt so much better after seeing it and also being part of a group of people who love Jim Henson to this day. 

Caroline finished her first AP test and managed to not have the problems apparently about 5% of the test takers were having and got her test in to the system without problems. The next one is tomorrow and the third is Wednesday. She is taking a break right now to reset her brain. She watched the final season of She-Ra and the Henson stuff I was watching.

Heard around the house this morning, “That was not a Boss Battle. It was barely a Minion Mash-up.” Yes, we talk like this.

I know I am very lucky that I have a husband who speaks my language. He understands there are times I just need to vent without solutions given and other times I am actively looking for how to do something. Also, we never run out of things to talk about as we have so much in common and so much in our experience, we can teach our spouse. 

I am proud of myself for fixing two toilets and a sink clog yesterday. I had to replace the flap and a couple of other rusted pieces in one toilet. I, finally, unclogged the toilet we use the most in this household after a week-long battle with it. We had the cesspool drained that was almost to the danger point of flooding back into the house. I thought it was a little soon to do it but my instinct was that it was full. I was right. I figured out that being home for two months put additional strain on the system as we were using it more than we would have been if things were normal. I don’t normally shower at home but at the gym. The number of times we flush the toilet is up. Dishwasher is being used more as we use more pots and pans and dishes over all. 

Today I will tackle a few other things that need to be repaired within the house and then go outside to enjoy the day.

I am grateful for plumbing that works properly. Those indoor water closets are amazing.

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Posted By Kathleen David on May 16, 2020

May 16, 2020 Saturday Day 62 of the Homebound Saga

Thirty years ago, the day was a Wednesday. I was at the Yale School of Drama finishing up my third year. My last work study assignment at the Yale Rep was on the rail for Pygmalion and we had a Wednesday matinee of a shortened version of the play for an audience of school aged people. The rail was going to be a bit trickier and I went in a bit early and made sure everything was in order and ran my changed cues with my fellow crew members to make sure it was safe for the actors.

I came back down to the green room and sat down to eat my lunch when the one crew member I did not get along with came in for his call. He saw me there and said, “I didn’t expect to see you since Jim Henson just died.”

I chose not to believe him since he had tried to get a rise out of me before. That quickly crumbled when my stage management mentor came in and asked if I was okay. 

I went up to my rail position, sat on the floor, and started crying as quietly as I could. Richard, who was playing Higgins and I had become friends with, came up to check on me. He gave me a hug and told me he was sorry for my loss. A number of the cast and crew checked in with me that day. I made it through my cues, went home, and just lost it.

For many puppeteers, Jim Henson is their spiritual godfather. His body of work has influenced so many. I know many people who owe their careers to Jim. 

The puppetry world is not that big. It is probably three degrees of separation rather than six. If I don’t know someone, I know someone who knows them. 

The number of people who met Jim is getting smaller along with the group that worked with him. There are practically two generations that did not have Jim Henson in their lives the way I did.

He will never be forgotten. He and his work has become a part of our lives and our culture.

Today at 4:00 pm EDST there will be a tribute to Jim on muppetguystalking.com. I plan on watching it. 

The rest of the day I am putting on various Jim Henson projects to watch as I work on puppets today.

Even after thirty years, it still hurts that he is gone. But I take comfort in the Rainbow Connection that he forged between us.

I am grateful for Jim Henson.

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Posted By Kathleen David on May 15, 2020

May 15, 2020 Day 61 of the Homebound Saga

It was one of those mornings that it took a bit to figure out what day it was.

Everyone think good thoughts for Caroline as she is taking the first of her three AP tests today, AP US History. She has studied hard and I think she will do well. The test starts at 2:45 EDST.

I managed to sleep on my right arm with it under me and I awoke to a dead arm then the pins and needles as it woke up. That finished waking me up.

I am on my second cup of coffee so this is random thoughts on caffeine. 

And my brain is all over the place right now. I am going from thinking about a short story to making a list of things to do to sorting out a puppet in my head to trying to figure out when we are going for a walk since it is raining off and on. And now my brain just gave me a new idea for a short story.

I had a really weird dream last night. Peter was playing the character of a Doctor in some gothic romance play with Tom Hiddleston in the lead. We were in Canada to clean the play up. Most of it took place backstage and in the Green Room. There was a fundamentalist religious couple who was trying to convince Peter to become part of their faith and that went as well as expected. I also kept finding Caroline’s socks all over the place. I have no idea what any of this means but it was a trip.

I over worked my back, so I am where I was a couple of days ago. I know I was stupid, and I should know better by now.  Today I am going to be good and baby the back. I was getting back to normal and then I did what I knew I should not do.

It is frustrating.

The cats were not going to let me out of the kitchen this morning until they got fed. They tried to trip me as I was leaving the kitchen as I feed Humans before Cats. Now they are settling into their morning nap places. 

I thinking that writing is my best plan for the day.

I am grateful for toilets that flush properly.

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