Thursday, June 30, 2011

Saskia's Song

     I love the little sparrows
     That fly like arrows
     Above the rooftops.
     I wish that I could
     Fly like that to you.
     So true.

     Ronsky, Nonsky and Pottle.

     "Where are you
     When I need you?"
      I said to Tatlow,
     When all I needed
     Was right here,
     For now,
     Somehow.

     I love the little sparrows
     That fly like arrows
     Above the rooftops.
     I wish that I could
     Fly like that to you.
     So true.



     Bye for now :)
    

Tatlow The Sailor Part Forty-Four by J.M.Okano

     She did write to her mother every week and went to see her several times each year.  They went for picnics in the park and boating and ice cream with her little brothers!                                                                       TO BE CONTINUED




Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Forty-Three by J.M.Okano

     But sometimes you have to work instead of playing all the time, and the horses all ran away out of her pocket. 
     She spent several years planting potatoes until she could afford a new piano.
TO BE CONTINUED

Monday, June 27, 2011

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Forty-Two by J.M.Okano

     She touched them all with her finger and they glowed with light.  She put them in her pocket and went on.
TO BE CONTINUED

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Forty-One by J.M.Okano

    She blew on the horses, and they grew smaller and smaller and smaller, and danced all up her arm.
TO BE CONTINUED

Friday, June 24, 2011

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Forty by J.M.Okano

     She rode them and did tricks with them (which she learned from Elder Cornelius in Florida, you remember).
TO BE CONTINUED

Friday, June 17, 2011

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Thirty-Three by J.M.Okano

     Here's the rhyme Saskia sang:
     Hey Ho
     Diddley Oh
     Hutherton's a place
     I love to go.
TO BE CONTINUED 

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Thirty-Two by J.M.Okano

     When I was little, our school had a hamster kept in a classroom.  The school used to send the hamster home with girls from the school on weekends.  One weekend my sister and I made a maze for the hamster to run through, out of wooden blocks.
     In case you are wanting to make Hutherton out of wooden blocks, I will tell you some more about it.
     Professor Lockridge lived near the centre of town, near the fountain, in a penthouse suite, overlooking the park.
TO BE CONTINUED

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Professor Lockridge, an imaginary Professor of Spanish by Okano


Tatlow The Sailor - Part Thirty-One by J.M.Okano

     Next day, Saskia had her birthday.  Her birthday wish was to go to the imaginary city of Hutherton.  Have you ever had a birthday wish?  She had seen Hutherton on a map, but had never been there.  There was one road leading into the city and another road leading out and one road going in a circle through the city.  There were lines of pointed houses and a park, as well as a fountain in the centre of town.  Saskia found it quite delightful.  Only when the stars came out at night, was it at its best, though. 
      She had a postum-party with the Professor of Spanish, a Professor Lockridge, and then the day was over.  They had had a nice time.
TO BE CONTINUED

Monday, June 13, 2011

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Thirty by J.M.Okano

     Saskia was afraid.  Coming towards her in the sea was a large red creature with claws, antennae, and a sectioned tail.  What was that? she wondered.  Of course it was a lobster.  But Saskia had been so busy playing piano and suchlike, that she hadn't learned such things, a phenomenon which sometimes occurs to even very talented people like the rest of us.  It grabbed her toes.
     "Stop!"  she said.  The lobster let go and Saskia breathed in.  Perhaps they could be friends after all.
     She saw a flying fish and wanted to fly too.  When the fish came to rest, she sat on its back and said, "Go!"
     Up the fish flew into the air above the waves and down again into the sea!
     Saskia swam to the shore and rested on the sand.  Suddenly she started to feel tickling sensations.
     "Stop it now please!"  she said to the sand fleas.
TO BE CONTINUED

The Imaginary City Of Hutherton by J.M.Okano

     The idea for this picture originally came to me in Seville, Spain in 1985.


Saturday, June 11, 2011

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Twenty-Nine by J.M.Okano

     The Scrounger swam back to the ship and climbed on board, once it had set sail again.  Tatlow had just hung out his washing and gone to eat his lunch when the Scrounger took a look at Tatlow's socks and threw them overboard (into the sea).  He did the same thing with Tatlow's shoes (yes, those were hanging on the washing line, too).  Wasn't he a silly man?  The owner of the shoes and socks noticed this had happened.
     At the next port the authorities escorted the Scrounger off the ship again, because they were very patient and kind in this story.  He didn't get to ride on the cruise ship and have fun like everybody else.
TO BE CONTINUED

What I Would Be Like As A Real Estate Agent

     I look at all these bus stop seats advertising real estate agents and I think, "Should I become a real estate agent?" (That's someone who sells houses.)
     No, because if I were a real estate agent, I would tell the customers a story about each house, made up that minute.  And then I would be a writer of sorts, not a real estate agent.
     Toodle-oo!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Tatlow And The Scrounger

Tatlow was not happy that his accordion was 
thrown overboard by his arch-enemy, the 
Scrounger

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Twenty-Eight by J.M.Okano

     Tatlow was, meanwhile, face-to-face with his arch-enemy, The Big Scrounger.  The Big Scrounger came up to Tatlow on deck, while the latter was playing accordion and singing away.
     "Give me your accordion," said the Scrounger.
     Tatlow, being an obliging fellow, handed the accordion over to him, thinking he might want to try it out.
     The Scrounger rushed to the side of the boat and threw it overboard.
      "Now you don't have an accordion," he said.
     Tatlow laughed.  And then he cried.
     Tatlow bought a new accordion the next day at the concession stand and it was the same story again.
     The Scrounger was escorted off board ship at the next port.
TO BE CONTINUED

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Twenty-Seven by J.M.Okano

     She fell into a deep sleep and dreamed she was in Heaven.
     "Can I come home now?" she asked in the dream.
     "No, your time is not up yet," said a kindly angel.
     "Oh, when will I find a boyfriend?"  she asked fractiously.
     "Stay on earth and one will be given you, but he's not up here.  In the meantime, you will find many friends."
      They had a big party for her, and the angel taught her three magic words:  "Stop," "Go," and "Stop it now please," for her to use on her journey on earth.
      "I'm so happy I've overcome my speech impediment!"  she said joyfully.
     "That's more like it.  Look on the bright side," said the angel wisely.
     She awoke from the dream falling in love with the one she wanted to marry - Tatlow.
TO BE CONTINUED

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Twenty-Six by J.M.Okano

     The mermen watched Saskia as she poured and stirred the ingredients for rice pudding.
     "Yum!"  they all said when it was ready and they had a taste.
     They put her in a room and shut the door.
     Harp music wafted through the room and she lay down on a beautiful seashell-shaped bed.
                                                                       TO BE CONTINUED

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Twenty-Five by J.M.Okano

     Saskia was chased by eight sharks that wanted to eat her.
     "Oh, where are you, Tatlow, when I need you?"  she wailed.
     Sometimes it takes a long time before men come along when you need them, and Tatlow didn't come.  The sharks chased her for a long time and it was very frightening.
     Right then, five mermen appeared, singing,
     "We are your friends
     We will help you
     Come to our palace
     We need your help, too!"
     They frightened away the sharks with their tridents, and showed the way to the palace.
     "How do mortals make rice pudding?"  they asked once they had reached the palace gates.  "Can you show us?"
     "Yes," she said.  "I certainly can!"
                                                                                   TO BE CONTINUED
   

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Twenty-Four by J.M.Okano

     Big waves came and crashed over Saskia.  She lost her dresser drawer and wooden spoon and swam down to the Land Of The Mermen, wearing her goggles.
    "I knew the goggles would come in handy," she thought.
     A dolphin carried her piano on its back, and lost it at the bottom of the sea.  Oh, dear!  Now she would have to be ingenious and think of a way to earn a living.
TO BE CONTINUED 

Tatlow the Sailor - Part Twenty-Three by J.M.Okano

     Saskia went to an antique market and bought a dresser drawer.  Inside the dresser drawer was a wooden spoon.  Being a turn-up-stuffer, Saskia went to sea in her dresser drawer and used the wooden spoon as an oar.  A captain she met gave her some goggles to wear.
     "You might need these," he said kindly.
     While at sea, she ate shellfish soup with bread brought to her by penguins.
TO BE CONTINUED

Palomino Pony Paper Airplane

     Buckle your hands, children, we're in for a story.  (That means interlace your fingers, because all a buckle really is is interlacing.)
     One day I was going along on the road when I saw a speckled pony, an Appaloosa.  It was so beautiful.
      Later I made a paper airplane with a Palomino Pony and an Appaloosa grazing in the grass, their tails and manes blowing around in the wind.  Here it is:

   

  
     Have a nice day!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Twenty-Two by J.M.Okano

     Tamsin wasn't caught at that particular moment, but you know she won't go far in life because she thought the way to win in life is by hurting others, but it is not.  Saskia, on the other hand, knew that the true secret to winning at life is to be clean-living and kind, isn't that right, children?
     Saskia said goodbye to Sponsible and sold her to a farmer.  Sponsible was a milk-cow so she didn't get eaten.
TO BE CONTINUED   

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Twenty-One by J.M.Okano

     In case you were wondering where Saskia was at this time, I don't really know.  In fact I don't think Saskia even knew.  (It wasn't near Chicago.)  All I know is a kind passerby radioed for help and soon, with orchestral music in the background,  Sponsible and the piano were gently lowered by parachute and landed safe and sound with Saskia!




TO BE CONTINUED

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Twenty by J.M.Okano

     Meanwhile, one night somebody named Tamsin bamboozled Saskia out of Sponsible the cow and the piano!
TO BE CONTINUED

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Tatlow The Sailor - Part Nineteen by J.M.Okano

     Blog postings will be short for a while, children, because I am moving this month.
     Tatlow played his accordion for the passengers.  He sang along for fun but his voice was rowly and it wasn't that good.  He didn't care.  The passengers cringed.
TO BE CONTINUED