Stefan by J.M.Okano

     Stefan was the name given to Maude and Karl's baby.  Stefan was named after his Uncle Stefan who was an organist in the temple.
     His mother took Spanish dancing on Tuesday nights but she took two months off after Stefan was born.  Karl played Spanish guitar.  Maude was practicing a zambra when Stefan was born.  (Not while he was born, but about the time he was born.)
     They kept a goat in the backyard which Mummy (Maude) and Daddy (Karl) milked.  The goat would regularly kick over the milking pail if you didn't hold her kicking leg.  She would make ungratifying sounds so Mummy would sing to her but Daddy just ignored her (the goat).
     One day the goat escaped from her pen and got into the house and Daddy's guitar reappeared in the yard.  Daddy was very disappointed but he didn't lose his temper.  He was glad he rescued it from the goat before anything unfixable went wrong.  He dusted off the soil from the guitar and put the goat back in her
pen which was no easy matter.  She was obstinate as goats usually are and wanted to go in the opposite direction and eat Mummy's gigantic sunflowers.
     Stefan watched all this from the baby carrier on his father's back.  Stefan jumped up and down waving his arms with delight and gurgling at the goat's antics.  The goat was the funniest thing Stefan had ever seen.
     Daddy changed the strings on his guitar and the family had supper.  What a tale Daddy had to tell Mummy.

THE END

What I Ate When I Was Pregnant

     With my fourth baby, I ate the food from the recipes in Gail Szorza Brewer's book (now Gail Szforza-Krebs) What Every Pregnant Woman Should Know:  The Truth About Diet And Drugs During Pregnancy.  The foreword is by her husband Dr. Tom Brewer.
     I also drank alfalfa and stinging nettle and red raspberry leaf teas.  I completely avoided sugar and honey during the whole pregnancy, apart from having a little Haagen Daz ice cream (I didn't eat the desserts in the book or sweeten the herb tea) and had a baby boy with no complications in the hallway because he came out so fast!  I felt like running around the track afterwards.  The recipes in the book are delicious and I found I had less morning sickness when I ate them, perhaps because I enjoyed them so much.  Nutrition is very important during pregnancy.
     When I did have morning sickness, I also used the Third Wind/peppermint herb tea/Haagen Daz ice cream/my favourite food remedy on one occasion and that helped.  I didn't make up this remedy.  I found it in a midwifery magazine and I can't remember the name of the author.

The Granny - Part Three by Joanne Morris Okano

     Well, Granny and Arlington settled into life at their hotel in Torquay and things went along so smoothly that they started praying for challenges to come their way.  Yes, strange people - most of us pray for help with the challenges we have rather than asking for more but they didn't think they were growing enough.
     So one windy day they went out for a walk through some fields near the town where they lived and came across a stile.  Now for those of you not from an area where they have stiles, I will describe one.  It is a sort of stepping bench for stepping over a fence into a field so that people can get in and the animals can't get out.  Stiles are very picturesque.  You see, in England the public are allowed to walk in fields belonging to farmers as long as they stick to the footpaths.
     Anyway, this field looked safe so in Granny and Arlington went.  No sooner had they reached halfway along the footpath when four hot-tempered young bulls approached them, snorting, mad at them that the two had invaded their field.  Oh, no, what to do.  Arlington gallantly waved his walking stick at them and fended them off while the couple gingerly backed towards the other side of the field and made it safely there.  So be careful what you pray for.
     When they reached home, they were rewarded with the good news that Granny's daughter Maude had just had a healthy baby boy, so they had another grandchild!  So Granny knitted like the dickens to make an Aran cable outfit for the baby to wear.

THE END

The Granny - Part Two by Joanne Morris Okano

     After the wedding reception, Granny and Arlington (her husband) drove to their honeymoon destination - Scunthorpe.  Why they went to Scunthorpe is another story which I will tell sometime, but when they arrived there all went well, until a horde of mosquitoes attacked them when they were in bed.  They phoned down to the front desk and asked for a mosquito net to put over the bed.  The hotel supplied the mosquito net.
     The next day the couple ordered breakfast and their toast was cold, but apart from that there couldn't have been a happier day.
     They drove home on icy roads in a snowstorm and reached Granny's own hotel at nine o'clock at night just in time to watch the news.  An election was announced.
     "I'll run for the Libertarian Party," said Arlington.  "I've always wanted to do that."
     "Oh, darling," said Granny. "What a wonderful man you are...What is the Libertarian Party?"   
     "Freedom.  They stand for freedom," he replied.
     He received one vote.  "Oh, well, such are the times," he said.

TO BE CONTINUED

The Granny - Part One by Joanne Morris Okano

    .There was a kind, little old woman who ran a small hotel in Torquay.  She had lived far away in the big city all her life and decided she wanted to spend her last days in the sea air.  She just loved it in Torquay.  It was the nicest place she had ever been.  The people were so friendly and kind.
     Her cat lived with her.  The cat sat and watched her on a stool in the kitchen as she baked the bread to put on the guests' breakfast table each morning.
     In the off-season she attended the temple to do work for her ancestors.  There she met a handsome friend.  He took her out for lunch and they became engaged after some time.  (I'm whispering this part, children, because she was a very shy person.)
     After a while they were ready to be married.  Her daughter and her nephews drove her to the temple nearly but before they reached it her daughter's car broke down and they had to push it to the temple.  Her fiance helped them and they all made it safely to the temple in time for the wedding.

TO BE CONTINUED

The Princess And The Conjuror by Joanne Morris Okano

     Here is my latest video.  The princess and her child are in danger...

                                                                            
      Hope you like the video!  Bye for now.              

What A Wonderful Life I've Had

      Children, if you met me you might think I'm an old lady, but I'm not so old!  I have had a wonderful life.  Here are a few of my happiest memories...

     1.  The birth of my first child, especially when  we named her my favourite girl's name.  I feel that a name is like a gift that you give someone.

     2.  The birth of my second child,  I felt so much love for him when the hospital staff took him away to put under the baby warmer and check him.  I thought, "Bring him back, please!"

     3.  The birth of my third child when I held him in my arms for the first time.  He had a short umbilical cord, so the midwife cut the cord just as soon as he was born and handed him to me.

     4.  The birth of my fourth child when I held him in my arms and admired his hair and eyes after giving birth to him in the hallway.  I had so much energy I felt like running around the track.

     5.  Dancing with my ex-husband before we were married, when he showed me how well he could dance Spanish Flamenco.

     6.  Going through the desert on the train in Spain and seeing the city of Segovia in the distance on a mountain with the Alcazar (a castle).

     7.  Flamenco dancing lessons with Rosario Ancer.  My son was a toddler and was running around the studio!

     8.  Flamenco dancing lessons with Tani Morena in the basement of a hall in London.

     9.  The audience in a school auditorium were clapping in time with the music when I was Flamenco dancing across the floor rehearsing for the Festival. 

    10. Listening to two of my favourite songs by French singer Charles Trenet on an album my Dad bought in France.  One is "La Mer" (The Sea)  and the other is "Route Nationale 7" about a famous road, with beautiful scenery, the people from Paris take to go to their vacation destinations by the Mediterranean Sea.  We used to go on vacation in France when I lived in England and I have happy memories of cycling along the beach and going for "pommes frites" (French fries)!

     Have a wonderful day!

The Story Of My Conversion And Testimony

     Today is the day when I write in Spanish about the above subject.

     La Historia De Mi Conversion Y Mi Testimonio

     Habia leido una historia sobre la Iglesia de Jesu Cristo de los Santos de los Ultimas Dias, quando tenia ocho anos, en un libro de historias para ninos, en que el autor escribio un testimonio de la iglesia de unos de los caracteres, una mujer.
     Tambien quando vivia en Londres, Inglaterra, me gustaba escuchar a la musica de los Osmonds.  De los Osmonds, he aprendido sobre la Palabra de la Sabiduria, la ley de la salud de la iglesia y la vivia durante algo tiempo y obtuve un testimonio de esta ley, que es la verdad.
     Algunos anos mas tarde, ore durante dos semanas para saber el plan del Padre Celestial para mi vida.
     Un dia, segui un diferente via a la casa, y pase un Centro para Visitantes de la Iglesia de los Mormones.  El espiritu santo me dijo entrar en ello.  Decidi volver el dia siguiente ver se iba a pasar la misma cosa otra vez.
     Regrese el dia siguiente a la misma lugar y otra vez el espiritu santo me dijo entrar en el Centro de Visitantes de la iglesia.  Entre y una misionaria me pregunto si estaba yo una miembra de la iglesia.
     "No," yo la respondi.  "Quiero una gira, por favor."
     Fui en una gira sobre las creencias de los Mormones y sabia que es la verdad y tenia fe con el resto.  Dos semanas despues fui bautizado.
      Despues esto dia, mi testimonio de la iglesia ha crecido y se que la Iglesia de Jesu Cristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias es verdad.

A Wild Ride

     On a wild ride through the mountain roads, I was frequently tossed from side to side as the bus driver navigated the twists and turns of the road.  I felt like I was in the Swiss Alps and almost expected to see Swiss mirrors (the mirrors the side of the road so you can see the approaching traffic and not crash into it because the roads are one lane).

     Met a nice woman who served me in a dress shop as we discussed my singing career or lack of one.

     Went to Blenz Coffeehouse to use the phone where I almost worked at one time you might say when I was doing creative writing there (and not drinking coffee - I don't drink coffee because it's against my religion).

     Bye!

The Cat, The Dog And The Milking Stool by Joanne Morris Okano

A cat was chased by a dog tra la
They raced up a path up a mountain tra la
And met with a goat saying "Maa" maa maa
Tra la tra la
Being milked by a woman on a stool da da
Suddenly classical music wafted down zoom zoom
The mountain to where she sat boom boom
Tromboon tromboon
The woman looked up from her milking aha
To see (gasp!)  an orchestra playing just for her ping ping
What's this?  she cried
Music To Milk By said the conductor (her husband)
Bowing zing zing
Zing zing zing

Stranded On A Lentil by Joanne Morris Okano

Wise proverb :  If you're stranded on a lentil, the answer is inside yourself.  Eat it, and then you'll really be stranded!

I was stranded on a lentil
In the middle of the sea
You came along
And swam out to me
You threw me a line
And pulled me to your boat
The Good Ship Lollipop
Was there afloat.

     Bye!

Dutch Stories

     I asked my Dutch-born father for three Dutch sayings from his childhood and he said, "Don't!", "Take your hands off that!" and "Bedtime!"  were three that were much used when he was little.

     My Dutch grandmother, Oma, as we called her, first learned to speak English by using the King James Version of the Bible, so for a while she spoke King James English, according to my mother.

     When Oma came to visit me in England when we were there and I was a little girl, my parents nearly died of embarrassment when they discovered that I made her walk with me through the forest to the next village with her new hip replacement.  She was most uncomplaining.  She didn't give up.

     Dag!  (That's "good-day" in Dutch!)

The Man From Abroad by Joanne Morris Okano

     This is a work of fiction and is intended for teens.

     Once upon a time there was a battered woman.  She lived on a remote hillside in East Dartmouth.
     She waited for the day when her life would be safe again, when she would be kindly treated.  All through the night she waited for the strike to come.  Every night.  For years.  This meant that she didn't get a lot of sleep.
     But her husband didn't go away.  She knew she had to get out.  As kindly as possible.
     When she was young she had been beautiful but she had lost her figure from childbearing.  She wore a frilly skirt and a halter neck top.  She was a neighbour.
     One day she met a young man, a missionary.  He was kind enough to her that she realised that kind men did exist, that they weren't all like her husband.  She and the missionary never touched hands except to shake hands.  She missed him after he was transferred.
     She wrote him a letter and asked him to marry her.  He never wrote back.
     She loved him for years.
     Finally she realised he probably just saw her as a fat, old woman.
     She didn't marry a handsome, young elder, she married someone older and they lived happily ever after.

THE END

    

Mothering The Cookie Dough Children

     My children are Cookie Dough Children.  I  let them get their hands in the cookie dough and they believe  they can do many things.
     When they were babies I carried them on my back for hours a day sometimes, so that they would be fascinated instead of bored and crying.  I named objects only once for them so that they would not be bored, such as when we went to the grocery store and I would name fruits and vegetables, and on walks, the names of some of the flowers.  A lady asked my little one, "Is that a flower?"
      "No," she replied.
      "Well, what is it then?" the lady wondered aloud.
      "A dandelion," came the answer from the little one.
     I read to my daughter for 45 minutes a day from the day after she was born and she could talk in full sentences using abstract concepts before her second birthday.  When she was age one and three quarters we heard some people speaking Chinese and I said, "I think those people are speaking Chinese."
     To which she replied, "Chinese is a kind of food, too, Mummy!"
     Have a lovely weekend and I'll be back on Monday.

Spring Is Here

     I just mailed in an entry to an art exhibition: the Fraser Valley Biennale.  I felt so excited that the tulips seemed tulipier, the blossoms seemed blossomier, the greenery seemed greener.  I must do this more often!

     I listen to CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio 2 to a show called Tempo.  One thing I like about listening to that show is that they never criticize me!  It's a Classical music show and you can listen to it on the Web.

     A child of mine has a game he plays.  He just made it up this morning.  He took four little muffins I made and cut the tops off and spread honey and jam on each one.  He put the tops back onto the muffins and played Treasure Hunt to find which filling each muffin contained.
     That's all for now.

Three Children's Books

     When I was a little girl, one of the places we lived was in England next to riding stables.  I remember my first volunteer job was at age seven, mucking out the stables and grooming the horses.  A horse book I will always love is The Golden Pony by Delphine Ratcliff.

     The neighbour children from another house nearby played with my sister and me in an untamed part of the garden where we pretended to live.  I think that is why I also enjoyed the book Adventure Acre by Joan Harland about four children and their untamed playground.

     In The Railway Children by E. Nesbit, three children and their mother go to live in the English countryside by the railway in its early days while mother writes for a living.  Something Has Happened To Father but Mother won't tell them what it is and makes them promise to be good and not ask.  There is a happy ending and it's well worth the read.  Bye!

I Can't Find My Car

     Park your car at the side of the road, not in the middle of the road, because then traffic can't get by.  I learned this while in Rome, where people are short of parking space.

     Herbie Planet (real name Herb Graham) was my art professor at college.  He did postcard art.  I like postcard art because it's cheap, almost everyone can afford it and you can mail it to your friends.  Herbie Planet used to walk around campus wearing an anti-radiation suit and handing out pamphlets for peace.

     J. S. Bach used to compose music with his twenty children playing around him.  I must admit I am having difficulty singing with even two of my children playing around me.  He must have had nerves of steel.  The nice thing about doing music with one's children around one is that they become musical too.

Signora Svizzera's Fashion Statements by J.M. Okano

Or

Canine Friendly Part Three

     Signora Svizzera was Signor Svizzera's wife.  He met her at the theatre.  She was an actress.  

     She used to be a very shy little girl.  To help her come alive as it were, her mother put her in acting classes.

     People joked about her ability with money and it was true, she did make mistakes.  For instance, she was very poor so she spent part of the rent money on food.  When it came time to pay the rent, she didn't have enough, so she spent part of the telephone money on rent.  When it came time to pay the telephone bill...you get the picture.  It was a recession and you know what that's like, children!

       However, Signora Svizzera got a part in a play so she decided it was time to spend her newly earned money on a Fashion Statement.  So she dyed her hair blond and bought some new, rather odd-looking shoes.  Ooh, they hurt.  She stumbled along, one foot half off the shoe's sole, her back aching from the strain,  a chiropracter's nightmare.  She was broke and uncomfortable.  This isn't worth it, she thought, and saved up some money and bought some sensible shoes.  They felt much better.  She threw the painful, odd-looking Fashion Statement shoes in the garbage can.

     She went home and told the story to her husband.  When he was her blond hair (he could see colours, he just couldn't see details) he gasped:

     "But your natural colour is such a lovely colour.  You didn't need to dye it!"

     She learned her lesson and didn't try so hard in the future to be the centre of the universe so far as fashion went!

THE END

Canine Friendly And Signor Svizzera And The New Hat By J. M. Okano

     Otherwise Known As

       Canine Friendly Part Two

     Dedicated To Liz Morris, my cousin

     Once upon a time there was a dog named Canine Friendly, whom you may have met in these stories once before.  He lived in Venice, and at the time of this story was a guide dog for the blind.  His master was a kind young man named Signor Svizzera who was a journalist and recorded reviews of plays he'd attended for the newspaper.  

     Signor Svizzera was helped a great deal by Canine Friendly who kept him from falling into canals or walking into walls, since Signor Svizzera was a blind man.  Signor Svizzera was in turn very kind to Canine Friendly and took good care of him.

     Signor Svizzera had a birthday and Canine Friendly wanted to give him a present.  Signor Svizzera danced when he got out of bed that morning because if there was one thing he liked, it was birthdays.  He gave Canine Friendly his breakfast, which the dog happily ate.  They went for a stroll in the sunshine on the Piazza.

     "Here's a hat shop!" thought Canine Friendly, looking at the hats in the window.  "Let's go in!"

     He led Signor Svizzera into the shop and he and his master sat down while the owner showed them all kinds of hats.  Because Signor Svizzera couldn't see them, he held the hats in his hands and felt them while the owner of the store described the colour of them to him.  He tried some of them on, and finally decided on  a Tyrolean one, made of green felt with a feather sticking out of the band.

     "I'll take that one, please," he said to the owner cheerily.

     Canine Friendly obviously couldn't pay for it, being a dog (and dogs don't have money, you know) so Signor Svizzera took out his wallet and paid for his own present, said thank you to the owner of the shop and to the dog and took the hat home.  Well, he did look quite stunning.  

     But that's not the end of the story!  The two of them were going out that day to buy a sandwich, made of mozzarella cheese, mortadella ham and a kaiser bun (I know that, because I've eaten it there) at the market when just after lunch, a gust of wind blew Signor Svizzera's hat clean off.  Alas, it fell into a canal and got quite wet until Canine Friendly left his master standing at the side of the canal, jumped in and saved the dripping hat.  Unfortunately, the hat no longer held its shape, but they took it back to the hat shop.  There the owner reshaped it for them.  Finally, Signor Svizzera took his reshaped hat and put it on again.  And after that, whenever a gust of wind came whistling down the street, he held it firmly in place.  He didn't want it to fall in the canal again.                                                                                   

THE END.