Dentinia the Evil Tooth Fairy

Hey there.

I wrote this fractured fairytale for my work's Christmas party. There were all sorts of great costumes for this theme, such as "S&M" Queens, cross dressing Snow Whites, punk smurfs, and "Malices in Wonderland". Great fun. Here's a piccie of me and hubby all dressed up for the party. He's a Fairy Godfather, of course....



And here's the story I wrote for the fairytale competition. Enjoy!

Dentinia the Evil Tooth Fairy

"Dentinia was once a sweet, innocent tooth fairy, flying around, collecting baby teeth from little darlings and leaving behind gold coins, gift certificates, and pre-paid mobile phone credit vouchers. Then one day, the service was privatised and expanded into a wholesaler of teeth who sold them for authentic looking dentures, ground calcium for vitamin pills, and the small rattling sound in cheap plastic toys.

So with 90% overseas ownership, budget cuts (including the coffee. WAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!), a company board full of stuffy ex-private school knobs, and shareholders moonlighting as grey nomads, pressure to meet daily targets pushed Dentinia over the edge!! Dentinia snapped like a loose tooth in a toffee apple. For a while drinking and gambling took the pain away. Yeahhhhh!! Clocking off at 4am she'd head to the 24 hour pokies venue, have a midori, soda and green tea (a fairy cocktail known as "Fairy's Wee") and assume the 'pokie zombie' pose.

And if management's tightarse approach to "fairy resources" wasn't enough to drive the poor fairies to stealing single socks out of washing machines and driers, the kids these days were getting cheeky. One little girl woke up, saw Dentinia and demanded more money than that "shitty dollar you think will actually buy something these days". The brat went on to say her Dad's a dentist and he earns lots of money. She knows what teeth are worth, blah blah, whine whine. So, after torturing the girl by threatening to dismember Justin Bieber until she promised to take the dollar coin and go the **** to sleep, Dentinia was hit with the perfect plan. Why stop at baby teeth. Why not diversify and set up a little side affair for herself. GOLD TEETH.

Unlike the other pooncy fairies, who often got knocked and bruised by pedestal fans, flying Wii remotes, and random farts from overstuffed humans, Dentinia was tough. She had an extensive tool collection and she knew how to use it: Dental equipment (for HORSES!), angle grinders and mega-drills, spring loaded g-clamps for 'difficult clients', pliers of all shapes and sizes, and an industrial supply of Novocaine Forte. And not only that, she realised she had an acute sense of smell that could detect the odour of gold reacting with halitosis from a mile away, turning her into a salivating, twitching wreck: she had become an aurophile. Addicted to gold, Gold, GOLD!!!!!!

At first she would target people who slept with their mouths open especially, because their snoring provided the perfect cover for Dentinia's angle grinder to loosen that precious gold tooth. But since she'd developed a three ounce a day gold habit (snorted, smoked, rolled, injected, suppositories, cooked in brownies - you name it...), she needed MORE!!

No one is safe from the voracious gold fever that has possessed this once adorable petal of a fairy. She's gone mad with lust for a precious metal and will stop at nothing, NOTHING to satisfy her hunger. So, watch out. Dentinia's gonna getcha!!! MWUHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!! (Tell that one to yer kids, I dare ya!!)"

Festive cheers to you all!!
Lotsa love,
Dayle

Hello dear readers. Recently I received an email asking me to send a letter to future inhabitants of this beautiful planet of ours. The following is what I wrote, very much from my heart.

Dear future generations.

I really hope you have learned to value those things around you that you do not directly benefit from or 'own'. I also hope you have learned that a duty of care to the environment and its inhabitants of all kinds is more important than your accumulation of wealth and material items. That basic needs, such as good health, clean drinking water, clean air, sufficient shelter, subsistent & dependable food sources, and a sense of basic comfort, security and warmth are the only things you truly need in this world. Everything else is a gift from the earth that you are not entitled to: but if the earth allows you to have it, then you should treasure it greatly, rather than dispose of it indiscriminately, or extract it from the planet whenever or however you feel like. Think beyond your own self to those things that cannot speak for themselves and consider them as more significant and worth preserving than your own life. And the earth will thank you by simply being its wonderful, generous and intriguing self.

And I will thank you too.
For eternity.
Dayle Morrison

It is tough to strike a balance in today's society between our wants and our needs when there is so much out there to take in, sort through, and decide upon. We are bombarded, and we all make choices that harm the planet, myself included. Despite the directness of my letter, I know that many people are doing so much to help the planet from deteriorating at the hands of humans. But there is more we can do. Challenge our addiction to convenience: wanting things now, not wanting to go without, and disposable items. Challenge those businesses and community or national leaders who do not show respect for the environment. Speak up to affect change. Challenge the reasons why such inequity in this world persists.

Inequity and poverty are perceived to be one of the greatest hurdles to achieving environmental sustainability, yet there is such obscene wealth in this world. That those two can co-exist shows an unfortunate side of human nature. The haves, and the have nots - and never the twain shall meet.

A simple line from a song in the musical 'Les Miserables' keeps playing in my head, particularly with so much uprising from the people of this planet against self serving controllers of power and information: "Can you hear the people sing, singing the songs of angry men..." We are singing, more and more loudly, more strongly and passionately, and with more concrete facts to support both claims of environmental destruction, and proof that renewable and sustainable alternatives do work.

So please, consider resilience, resourcefulness, persistence, and community spirit your closest allies. Keep up the hope and determination. And never lose sight of the simple things this planet provides for us.

With love,
Dayle

Goodbye Womb!!

Dear souls of cyberspace :-)

Recently a dear friend of mine had a hysterectomy. Just the womb. So, another friend and I decided to have a womb party for her. Give it a good send off. There was cake and lollies, coffee and LOTS of giggles. I decided to go a step further and get creative. Here's a picture of the card I created for her:

My friend decided to have her womb removed because it causes her too much pain and distress. A big decision to make, and not made lightly I assure you, so it was really the last resort for my friend who suffers enough from other conditions without this compounding things. To add to my little bit of art I also wrote a poem . I wanted my friend to celebrate the lighter side of her situation, to laugh and affirm that what she was doing, albeit a hard decision, was the right one for her. Here it is:

My dear friend loved them both! I'm quite chuffed. She's such a gorgeous person and deserves as much happiness as she can get, after being on quite a rough road through her life.

And, of course, a party's not a womb party unless you have a WOMB CAKE!!!

Couldn't help myself here. Bit of fun. So, my dear friend cut the cake and we all feasted and laughed really hard. Such great fun. She's still in hospital but recovering quite well despite being very sore. Luckily they could do the operation in the 'simplest' way and didn't have to cut her open. I'm really proud of my friend in that she made a really hard decision that is going to change her life for the better. Good on her!

Lots of love
Dayle

No bells no whistles...

Something that has fascinated me for quite some time is how strange we can look to ourselves in photos. We are often our harshest critics when it comes to looking good or not in photos. Our insecurities come flooding in like our sense of self depends, more than it should, on how we look to others. I guess it can depend on our 'social status' too. Whether we're doing our best to be as attractive as possible to others whilst we search for a partner, or whether it's our wedding day and the photo will be virtually immortalized amongst friends and family!

So, to buck this trend, and to be a little 'cathartic' by confronting myself with, well, myself, I've decided to post some not so great photos of me here. Yep, warts and all. I'm going to shed my self consciousness here and now. Okay here goes:

Me on the couch, crocheting. Phew, that wasn't so hard. This is a good start and I feel okay about this. You know what is good about this exercise? I have a terrible habit of depending on the opinions of others to determine my sense of self worth, so freeing myself up like this ,and exposing the cracks, bumps and bruises in my 'social armour', is proving good for me. Okay next photo....

You know what. I just stopped myself from uploading a photo because I thought it was just too ugly! So, now I'm going to make myself do it. Grrrrr. Attack!! heheheh.....


Okay, it's done. From Dad's birthday last year. I'm feeling a little bolder. I might just post a drawing of me now that I have hated for a long time. An old boyfriend drew it when I was about 18 - Mum's kept it all this time, but I think it's horrid. The only reason I have a photo of the picture is because I used it in Keri Smith's 'Wreck this Journal' on the page where you add an ugly picture. So, here it is, in all its hideousness:


Okay, I'm going okay here. This is a good process to go through. Facing my insecurities head on!

This last picture is beautiful. And it's beautiful because I'm in it. It's also beautiful because so is my darling Nanna who I adore and we're standing together, arms around each other, posing happily. THIS is what pictures are about. Not about what we look like, but about the capture of a moment that won't be round again, the capture of people who won't be around forever, and the creation of a treasure that will always remind me of how close and loving my family is....


This post has been really cathartic for me, much moreso than I thought it would have been. I'm now choking back tears and feeling really blessed that I am able to take photos of myself with my family, to keep us close in affection and sentiment when we're located so far from each other these days. Nanna I love you. This picture brings me such joy and pride, which is so far beyond anything I was feeling at the start of writing this post.

With love from beneath my 'armour',

Dayle

Today I thought I might share a little story with you, which might help you see a lighter side to things that happen in your life that go beyond a simple upset. The disturbing things in life that can leave us feeling unsafe or vulnerable...

When I was in my teens, my parents discovered unexplained footprints outside their bedroom window. They raked it over & avoided it and the footprints reappeared. So, my adorable Step-Dad set up camp one night just round the corner from that window and waited.... Sure enough in through the garden creeps our neighbour, Ted. My Step-Dad waited for a bit then charged around the corner, large torch blaring, yelling "WADDA YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!!!???" Well, Ted freaked out and tried to run up our driveway which was gravel. He spun a few times, made it out onto the street where my Step-Dad threw the torch and got the perv right in the back. He was reported to the police and it never happened again. Anyway, the punchline to the story is this limerick which my Step-Dad wrote afterwards:

There was a young fella named Ted,

Who listened to people in bed,

One day at the blind,

He was caught from behind,

By a torch that was aimed at his head!

So, sometimes humour can be a great way to diffuse the intensity of how a situation made you feel. It can help to heal and bring you back from the fear to a place where you regain your personal strength, and it can reduce the perpetrator from any position of power over you to one of lowly pity and sharp dismissal of their impact on you.

So, I hope you find some solace (and a bit of a laugh) from my post.

Cheers

Dayle

Arty Therapy ....

Heya peeps of cyber realm...

I've been really busy of late. Too busy, and not just physically. By that I mean my mind has been dogged by angst over all the things I need to do, may have to do, have forgotten to do for others, or those that I haven't remembered to do yet but that I know sit in the ether, waiting for me to walk through their vapour and re-remember them.

So, amongst this frenzy of emotions, besides being really tired and embarrassingly emotional most of the time, I sat down for 2 days recently to make these...


They're around 10cm tall, with crocheted bodies and hand made outfits. I put a lot of work into both of these ladies, and now I have to send them off to their respective new owners. I had a deadline of today to send them away to their new owners, so this was adding to my pressures and worry. But that's okay, as I'm part of an craft swap group and I will receive two in return. My two art dolls were a labour of love and I'm sad to let them go but then it's also lovely to send them to others who enjoy similar crafts.

Anything arty or crafty is a real life saver for me when I'm harbouring more negativity than usual. If anxiety's not at the fore of my thoughts, it's sitting in the background waiting to pounce on any happiness I may be having. Of late I have deteriorated in mental health, which is very disconcerting for me so to bury myself in crafty pursuits lifts me up and helps me keep afloat, not get consumed by my thoughts.

I hope you too can find something that keeps you afloat, or even lifts you up so high that you can easily soar with spirits. Remember to keep it simple, do it with kindness and care, and remember to enjoy what you have made.

Kind, gentle hugs to you all.
Dayle

Keeping it Local...

Dear readers, yesterday I was on a mission!

I acquired a used and rather dejected electric spinning wheel that needed parts repaired or replaced. So, living in a smallish regional town, I decided to keep to local shops as much as I could. Essentially I was trying to stay away from the larger one-stop-shop warehouse style stores.

The result? I got everything I needed, which was fantastic. Granted I had to go to eight different stores (including the big impersonal hardware monster store, I'm afraid, but only as last resort!), but it was actually kinda fun. Every person in a local store that I dealt with was extremely helpful. Where they couldn't provide me with a product they knew which other stores in the local area may be able to. The communal spirit was really great to see. But when I went to the big monster store the help I got was from a nice 'rep' from a hardware company that was checking stock in his section. The usual staff member was 'in the middle of something' - no, not helping another customer but doing electronic stock take. I hate to stereotype, but today I really could. The service was crap!!

Despite my successful hunt for parts I managed to misplace a segment of what's called a 'nitty noddy' somewhere on my journey. Luckily I found it outside one of the shops! Completely salvageable! Here's a picture of an electric spinning wheel that looks kind of like mine...

I haven't taken photos of mine as yet. But last night I gave spinning wool on it a go and it wasn't easy to adjust to! No foot brake to start with and the tension vs speed juggling was rather difficult. Will take some getting used to before I consider spinning anything precious on it.

At the end of the day, my goal was to support local business. I'm glad I could, as being in a regional area there are a lot fewer choices for sourcing products or services. So, where you can, support local businesses. It's good for the communal soul.

Hugs

Dayle

A Bit of a Larf...

Hey there dear people of cyber space.
I've decided to show you some silly things I've come across recently.

So, first off is a coffee I got when out for a cuppa with a gorgeous buddy of mine. I like to think they were attempting a heart, but it looks more like a bum. Bum coffee...

See? It's a bum!! I just love being mooned by my own cappucino.

Next on the list of silly things I've come across recently is this interesting sign in another cafe. I had no idea umbrellas could be wayward, remiss or mysterious!!!

This note was stuck low down on the wall of the cafe. So, was it a message to really short people not to forget their umbrellas? And where do umbrellas go? Is there an umbrella underground for them, kind of like Fight Club where umbrellas get those injuries we see in them, like the stitching holding it taut coming undone, a bent prong, or simply broken & upended in a rubbish bin. So that's how they get there!! Hmmm. Devious things, umbrellas.

Okay, next on the list of silly things is a BARGAIN of a price label I got from a recently opened store. This store sells crafty stuff....

Wow, great savings at their opening sale! SOMEBODY HOLD ME BACK!!

Okay, I'm being sarcastic. But hey, I'm way too observant for my own good.

Now, this next sign is from a kitchen drawer of some friends of mine. At the time this was taken they were a couple living in the house. Just two people, not a boat load, so I'm not sure why such an elaborate note. What I don't understand about this picture is why the can opener is such a darn rebel!!! Heheheh.

The guy who wrote this is a Mac computer geek. Perhaps he was channelling a helpdesk to write this beauty.

The final silly picture has a strange logic to it, albeit a bit barbaric. But I love it anyway. It's on the side of an old bank...

Yes, it says underneath: Save Animals Eat Vegans. Again, the logic here is rather twisted, but at the very least it challenges our thinking - get outside the square to solve a problem. Obviously there's ethics & legalities in lopping vegans off at the ankles, but still, lateral thinking is not so common these days, so I love it when I see it.

Peace out from this "social anthropologist".
Dayle