puppetmaker40

[puppetmaker40]

Kath's blog with Stitch

Kath’s blog with Stitch

Photos at the end of this entry.

(OooooOOOoooo)

This is my laptop Stitch. On it I can write anything I want.

(Shiiiiiiiney)

I guess it could be called shiny. I really need to clean it up.

(OooooOOOoooo)

Hey! Give that back

(Heeheehee Mwhahahaaahaaa)

Dsjfheruifguhvnvbivui fjkdlkfjljn dhjfncnpa947uurh jf4ijdhjfn Stitch

[grabs laptop back from Stitch]

I don’t that is how you spell dhjfncnpa947uurh

(Growl)

Okay, okay what do I know?

Anyway, the weather is damp. Rain is over but it is humid. Chilly. Will probably wear a jacket when I walk down to the docks today.

(Rain water Yucky)

I guess if you can’t handle the rain, you should handle an umbrella. HEY!

(Bad pun noooooooo laptop)

Come on. I just want to write about the stuff in my head.

(Stuff in head?)

Ouch! Stop hitting my head with the laptop. I meant figuratively not literarily.

(Oh? What that mean?)

Figuratively means in a way that involves or invokes a metaphor or figure of speech.

(long rumbling growl)

Okay metaphor means a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in Stitch is the color of the sky because Stitch is blue.

(aAAAAAhhhhhhh)

Thank you for my laptop. And thank you for not breaking it.

(You are welcome)

Can you stay out of trouble for fifteen minutes or so while I finish this?

(Okay then ice cream)

I didn’t promise you….

(GrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRR)

And after I am done, we go out for lovely ice cream.

(Yeah)

Now it has started raining again. This is supposed to be the last of it then I can put a ton of cardboard out for recycling.

(No fort?)

Yes, fort but not with that grungy cardboard. I have better boxes in the car.

(Good)

After that I go back to the super-duper house cleaning project or how much can one collect in one house in almost 40 years. I am going through with keep, sell, give away, or toss.

(Toss Stitch?)

Of course not. You are part of the family.

(Ohana)

Yes

I am grateful for the strange conversations in my head.

[puppetmaker40]

Two Weeks later and life goes on

Hard to believe it has been two weeks since Peter took his shuffle off this mortal coil.

It feels like it was just yesterday and a long time ago.

In that time, I have started the movement of all the paperwork to settle the estate. Not a ton there. Peter did the best he could. We had to cash out insurance policies and IRAs to get his income down to something that Medicaid would except. That is one relief for me that we can drop the Medicaid battle. 

However now there is the will and the estate to settle. More paperwork to be done. Monday I find a lawyer since I now have the death certificates in hand. This means social security is now on the list of things to be done. I want to get this done in the most efficient method possible.

Then there are physical things that were Peter’s. Clothing, books, collectables, and other things must be gone through. I will be selling various pieces of the collection to have money to pay for the expenses. How I am going to do it is a little up in the air.

There will be a memorial with all invited in September. It will be around the 23rd of September which is his 69 birthday.

I picked up his ashes yesterday and, per his request, I put them before his computer keyboard. It’s a good place for them. 

We had fun on Facebook yesterday speculating how many books he had already done in the great beyond. I said two were already published. He typed 174 words a minute. Yes, that is an insane number of words, but he learned typing first on a manual typewriter then on an electric typewriter. I should have recorded the sound of his typing. 

I found the last anniversary card he gave me. It speaks of us as a couple and how we help each other. We always had each other’s backs. 

Peter enjoyed his time with my friends. They knew who he was but to them he was Kath(y)[leen] husband. He got to be himself around them. He didn’t feel the need to be the PETER DAVID, he could be Peter or Pete. Not that he didn’t tell tales about our lives. My friends could match him which he liked. I have a very eclectic set of friends who have done lots of interesting things. It was nice to see him relax and just be himself.

I know he amused the nurses and aids at his rehab facility. They would come to me for verification of those tales. And they would ask me about it. I would confirm he was telling a true life experience. They were impressed. They also told me in a sympathy card how much they liked him as a patient and a person. He tended to make himself beloved.

I miss my soulmate. I see a bad pun or a good joke and think Peter would like it then I remember he’s not here. I say it out loud so if his ghost is kicking the house. There were the discussions in the morning about the day. The lunches. Taking care of the kids. Dinners. Discussions after the day is done. I miss the time we spent together. 

I also remember enjoying our time apart. We were not connected at the hip. There were conventions he went to by himself and the same for me.  I went to lunch at some places around the village. I brought him something back. There were times we went to a film alone because only one of us wanted to see it. We knew we wanted to be together but understood have separate parts of our lives gave us a stronger relationship.

I miss my husband.

I am grateful for the time I had with Peter

[puppetmaker40]

Peter David My Husband

Eulogy-noun

Plural eulogies.

a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially a set oration in honor of a deceased person.

high praise or commendation.

Peter didn’t like tomatoes at all, but he liked ketchup a lot.

Peter and I met at one of the last Atlanta Fantasy Faires. He bought a puppet which came with a thirty-minute lesson on how to operate it. The con committee told me that Peter had bought a puppet and wanted the lesson that came with it. I was on a time crunch because I had a show to stage manage that evening. Late afternoon found me behind his table teaching him and his daughter Shana how to operate a hand and rod puppet. I was focused on the lesson not all the things he was signing. He had a line for most of the time he was there but managed to find some time so I could show him what to do. I made sure Shana, who has a knack for it, knew what to do. I ran off to do my show. After the show and going out for a drink with the gang, I came home very sleepy. As I was getting ready for bed, I looked at my bookshelves and there at the top of the stack was Q-in-Law by Peter David. I slapped my head and said, “Oh THAT Peter David.”

After that we were convention buddies. We would catch up on each other’s lives and families and then move onto another topic that interested us. Then we started talking on AOL messenger and found we had feelings for one and other.

Peter and I official got together in 1998. I moved up to his neck of the woods as Atlanta had nothing that paid well for me to do. 

Since we had spent so much time talking on AOL, we knew each other better than we would have. When we got together it just felt right and as the years pasted even more right that we were together. 

I miss some of the insane conversations we had that went from point A to point M eventually getting back to point B. We could talk about everything under the sun. Yes, he was as funny as he was at conventions.

Conventions were where PETER DAVID attended. He seemed larger than life. He always loved talking to the fans. He said more than once, “Writing is a solitary profession. You write and hope other people will like what you right.” At conventions were the fans wanting to talk to him and tell him what he wrote that meant a lot to them. 

I remember one young man, who found out much later in life he was dyslexic, saying the Starfleet Academy books taught him to read and made him want to read. Other people have used the vows in Imzadi for their weddings. Everyone had a favorite story or series, and Peter would talk to them about it and answer questions the fans had. Sometimes it was something he came up with on the spot. 

His ability to make gay characters just another human being was magical. He was a strong supporter of the LBGTQ+ community as am I. My daughter is a lesbian with a wonderful partner. They support each other through all kinds of situations. Peter was very proud of what she has accomplished. He was very proud of all his daughters achievement of which there are many.

Peter is complimented how he wrote women who sounded like real women. He has gone on record that he feels there is no difference between the genders. He wrote them as human beings with their own faults and foibles along with their strength of character and the ability to rise to the occasion.

I have the good luck of being his first reader. I would give him my honest opinion as to what worked and didn’t work for me. Some suggestions he would take, some he would clarify, and others he left alone. He appreciated the input.

He would find ideas for writing in the strangest of places. We would be driving along and he would say, “What do you think of this idea for a story?” We would discuss it and either the idea was abandoned, or he would get home and hop onto the computer.

He liked cats. It wasn’t that he disliked dogs, he just preferred cats. And they liked him. He is survived by Fig, Inky, Mew, and Phoebe.

Peter encouraged me to build puppets. He would push me to work on puppets because he believed in me and my skill. He also trusted my ability to make costumes. Sometimes he didn’t give me much time to create what he came up with. That was Okay because I love a challenge. There were many a costume that was finished at the convention. He believed in my ability to write and encourage me to do so. We wrote a Ghostbusters comic entitled “What the Samhain is going on here”. I wrote it and Peter cleaned it up for me. Since then, I have been writing short stories for various anthologies. Sometimes under an alias. 

Peter is my soulmate. I am not saying we didn’t have disagreements, we did but we worked through them. We learned about each other to the point we could say half a sentence and the other would be filling in the next. We were very comfortable with each other. No need to put up masks.

I have drug resistant depression along with situational depression (I think you can guess the situation). Peter helped me get help so I could be me again not the sad rage monster I had become. I hope after I get everything done, I will no longer have situational depression. But there is a lot to do.

Peter will be remembered by many people for many things. I will remember my steadfast husband who was always in my corner and helped me become a better person.

What do you remember about Peter?

[puppetmaker40]

Heard around the house, “There is no WiFi in hell only roaming data.”

[puppetmaker40]

Sorry for the lack of content. Things here are a total sh*t show

Peter is fighting MRSA and his body is so tired.

There have been bills showing up left or right

I am in hell.

[puppetmaker40]

The toast is to the master puppeteer.

 35 years ago, I arrived at my call for matinee only to find out that Jim Henson had passed away. I was devastated. I still miss the man and all that he could do.  I wonder what he would do with technology today to advance puppeteering. Jim, you are missed by a lot of us still

[puppetmaker40]

The toast is to an actors actor. Happy Birthday James Mason.

My favorite roll in his large list of credits is Captain Nemo.

What is yours?

[puppetmaker40]

I swear I still feel like I am fooling everyone while pretending to be an adult. And I am in my sixties.

[puppetmaker40]

Happy Mother’s Day to ALL the moms out there. You don’t have to give birth to be a mom

This is me and a five year old Caroline taken oh so many years ago.

Now she is finishing her junior year at the Fashion institute of Technology.

How time flies.

[puppetmaker40]

Happy 70th anniversary to The Ultimate Master of Ceremonies

The toast is to the MC. Seventy years ago Kermit first appeared on Sam and Friends.

He looked more like Kermit the lizard but over the early years he morphed into the Froggie we know and love.

My best Kermit story happened on September 23, 1978, which was the opening of the Center for Puppetry Arts. I had managed to get through the crowd and took some photos of Jim and Kermit. The crowd got tighter and tighter and Jim backed right up into me. I was helped up and found myself taking to Kermit who was really concerned that I was okay. I will always remember that.

Kermit’s character was one of the calm in the midst of chaos. Not that he was always calm. A Kermit blowup included a lot of flipper flapping and that “aaaaaaaaaaaa”. The other muppets could tell they stepped on a bomb unless they were oblivious (Gonzo). He was the rock that kept the group together. They trusted their leader even in the mist of the theater falling apart.

Kermit became the face of the Muppets. I think almost everyone knows who Kermit the frog is.

I think one of my favorite scenes with Kermit is the opening of the Muppets Movie when he sanging Rainbow Connection. I am also fond of Being Green. Both make me both happy and sad at the same time.

Kermit is in my top ten Muppet list. I don’t think the Muppets could exist without Kermit.

On another note, I think all of us wonder what Jim would have done with today’s technology. 

As Jim liked to say, “It really started with a frog.”

I am grateful for Kermit the Frog.

[puppetmaker40]

The toast is to the Master of Ceremonies. Happy70th anniversary to Kermit the frog. This day, 70 years ago, Kermit first appeared on Sam and friends.

[puppetmaker40]

I tip my hat to the author

[puppetmaker40]

The Doctors daughter snogging the Doctor. I built this puppet for Georgia Tennant. She uses to amuse the kids.

[puppetmaker40]

I have finished my rewatch/hadn’t see Dark Shadows marathon. 1245 episodes. I am glad I did it. I had forgotten how much I loved that show.

One thing I want to comment on and it is the acting chops of Johnathan Frid. It was expecially evident when he went from Barnabus to Bramwell. Barnabus stood upright, Bramwell slumped. They put Barnabus in fitted suits and Bramwell wears an oversized jacket. And he used that to his advantage in his portrayal of Bramwell. His two emotions seems to be passion and anger with a lot of apologies in between it was such a different character. Almost with they had done it more.

The other actots threw themselves into their roles with gusto. It was a great ensemble cast. Many were stage actors and a number of them were gay including Jonathan Frid.

[puppetmaker40]

Right now

I am trying to grasp exactly how big the goals were for me knowing that I made them for myself. I have to get back in to a build rhythm rather than the thinking about building. My imposter syndrome is screaming at me today. How dare I think I can do this. I am middle of the road builder at best. Everyone else pulls off tricks so easily.

[puppetmaker40]

Happy toss them into the Riechenbach Falls day.

[puppetmaker40]

This is a note I found while cleaning up. It is addressed to my husband.

Harlan and Caroline had a misunderstanding and he wrote her a very nice apology