Thursday, April 19, 2012

"The Hunger Games" Book Review

     The Hunger Games is about AIDS as far as I can see, and how people nowadays who are in love or not are a danger to each other if they are not clean.  The plot of the book is harrowing, so it seems to be written for older readers, for teens.
     There is a heroine, Katniss, who loves her younger sister, Prim, and risks her life to save her sister's.  I think this is symbolic of saving a younger sibling's life by being a good example.
     The hero, Peeta the baker boy, shows his kindness early on in the book by saving Katniss and her family from starvation by giving her two loaves of burnt bread. 
     A lesser theme of the book is, fashions change and they're not always the good ones, shown by the stylists in the book.
     The writer is very good at creating suspense.
     The AIDS symbolism in the book would explain why Peeta who is in love with Katniss, at first seems a threat to her safety.  The meaning of this book is, please be kind, children, and don't give each other AIDS.
    

Friends

     After I left my husband, I found a few friends, like Pocahontas, the missionaries and a little man with a briefcase, among others.

My Pocahontas Adventure
     When I was at church one day, Pocahontas lay down with her head on the seat beside me and looked awfully sad.
    Later, on another day, I wore my homemade moccasins and she and I went out on a run together, running around the lanes of British Columbia together.
    The nice thing about the moccasins is that apart from the fact they were inexpensive and easy to make, when you ran through a puddle, they dried in about twenty minutes. 

Friends With The Missionaries
      One sunny morning, I was walking by the sea when I spotted two missionaries driving nearby.  One of them saw me, so I waved.  They didn't know me but the one who saw me waved back.
       Later, missionaries came to visit me in hospital.

The Little Man With The Briefcase
     He appeared and walked beside me up a sunlit hill.  When we reached the top of the hill, we saw giants coming towards us, so we turned around and ran down again.  It was so much fun.

Other Friends
     Of course, I had many other friends.  I know God will listen to you if you ask him.  I asked him for friends, and a family of course, and he has given me both.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Funny Things That Happened After I Left My Husband

     After I left my husband for the fourth time, I was so happy until I found out I was going to a mental asylum and then I wasn't so happy.
     Someone thought I had lost my memory.  It took them six months to find out that I hadn't lost my memory after all and then they let me out.
     Immediately before I went into the mental asylum I was in a psychiatric ward at a hospital.  On some of my passes when I was allowed to go out on a walk, I walked up the hill to a music store and bought piano sheet music to play.
     I ambled back to the hospital when they wanted me to go back and sat down at the piano in the hospital ward and played a few notes, stood up, gave everyone a big smile and walked off again!

The Pianist Who Made Chicken Soup by Joanne Okano

There once was a pianist
Who made chicken soup.
She was sick with a cold
And she needed a scoop.
She wanted to run
And she wanted to jump
You think, but no,
She wanted to lie down
But she wasn't a grump
She just lay down
And listened to a CD
Of the pieces she wanted to play
Tra la lee.
She smittered
She smattered
About the piano,
Playing right hand
And sightreading
Till she chit-chattered
Herself to a stop
And helped herself
To some soup,
Drip drip drop
Into her bowl,
And felt so much better
That she didn't need
To wear her sweater.
Tiddley-pom.
THE END

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Further Adventures Of Randy The Dog by Joanne Okano

     Randy barked at passers-by and horses going down the road.  He followed the gardener around as he did his work.  He watched my mother gardening.  He played with a fox.  He was surprised by a frog.  He very occasionally went for walks.  We had a one-acre garden and he trotted around our garden.  He was mystified by his first snowfall.
     One day my sister and I were picked up to go to school.  Randy escaped from the garden, via a tunnel under the fence.  He ran up to our friends' car and jumped into the back seat, wriggling along the seat behind our backs and making us all laugh.
     Another time, he ran all the way up to the Fox Inn in the village and jumped into the car we were in when it stopped and one of us opened the door.
     Later, my mother, my sister and I were out in the garden with Randy when he came bounding up to me, jumped up onto me and licked my face and as a result I had part of my front teeth missing.  I'm sure he didn't mean it.  He was a very friendly, kind dog to me.  He was very kind to everyone.  If only I knew he was living a lonely life I would have gone out and played with him more.  He sometimes used to whine outside the backdoor because he needed us to spend more time with him I now realize.  I didn't know he was so lonely because I was only a child.  I was a very lonely child and I would have liked a friend too.
THE END

The Dog Who Thought His Mother Was A Doll by Joanne Okano

     When I was a little girl and was living in England, we had a dog named Randy, after Randy Mantooth who starred in the show called "The Virginian".  Randy the dog was a mongrel.  His mother was a Golden Labrador who was a t.v. star on the show "Blue Peter" and his father was an Alsatian or German Shepherd.
     We brought Randy home when he was a puppy.  He lived in the kitchen at first, until it was found that he was not suited to living indoors and so he lived outside in the garden, having his own kennel which Dad built him.
     We felt Randy needed a friend, so we donated him a giant stuffie toy dog.  At first Randy seemed to find this comforting and slept beside the giant stuffie (it was bigger than he was) and seemed to think it was his mother, he treated her with such devotion.
     But one day this came to an end.  We awoke to find toy dog all over the garden.  Randy had become angry.  The moral of this story is, I suppose, don't give your dog a toy dog or the same thing may happen.
THE END

Monday, April 9, 2012

Caroline And Pascal by Joanne Morris Okano

Dedicated to Pam.

     Caroline was in love with a French composer, named Pascal.  They met in la Republica Serrenissima di Venezia where she was living with her father and mother in a pensione.  Gondoliers sang in the sunshine as they went past her window in their gondolas.

     France went to war and Pascal felt it his duty to enlist as a soldier.
     "After the war is over, I will come back for you and we will marry, dear Caroline," he said.
     But the war ended and he never came back.  He had died in the war.
 
     He left her his piano.

     After he was gone, Caroline mourned for him. 

     She lived a full life, working as an artist and had many friends.  One day, another composer came on the new railroad into Venice to visit her.  He played the piano and she painted his portrait.  His name was Ludwig van Beethoven.  They became friends.
 
     When it became time for Caroline to go to the afterlife, she painted.  Someone did Pascal and Caroline's temple work for them because he knew they wanted to be married and loved each other very much, but had been unable to do so.
     A young man came to see Caroline.  It was Pascal.
     "I'm so pleased to see you!" he said, and threw his arms around her.  She was thrilled to see him too.  They could hardly bear to be apart.
     Pascal played her a sonata he had written.
     They had children.
     Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. 
                                                              Psalms 30 verse 5

THE END

Thursday, April 5, 2012

The Story Of Somersetty by Joanne Morris Okano (Somersetty's mother)

     This is a make-believe story I wrote about Somerset, my fourth child.  Somersetty was fifteen, by the way, in this story.

     It all started one day when Somerset was playing with his brontosaurus in the yard.
      "Somersetty!"  called Somersetty's mother from inside the house.
     "Yes, mother?"  answered Somersetty.
     "Could you buy me some butter, please?  I've run out and I'm baking cookies today.  Please go to the store for me,"  said his mother.  She gave him some money.
      "Yes, mother," said Somersetty and went to the store with his brontosaurus for company.
     It was a hot day and Somersetty was tempted to buy an icecream for himself and the brontosaurus instead of the butter, but he was a good boy and went ahead  and bought the butter.
      Then he went home, you think, but no, he didn't.  He thought he'd have a bit of fun and he unpeeled the butter wrapper off from the butter, went up to the top of the hill and sat upon it.  The heat of the day melted the butter and pretty soon he was sliding down the hill.
     He took the remainder of the butter with the butter wrapper back to his mother with the brontosaurus and gave the butter to his mother, what was left of it.
     When he told his mother what had happened, she said,
     "I can't believe you did that, and I don't think I can bake cookies with this.  I'm probably going to need some more butter.  Do you think you can bring me the butter straight home this time, Somersetty?"
     "Yes, mother," said Somersetty.
     The brontosaurus sighed a happy sigh that said, "Finally, I'm going to get some cookies," and off they went. 
     They reached the store and this time they bought the butter and went straight home and mother baked some cookies for them.
     (They tasted wonderful by the way.)
THE END

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Bookbinding and Papermaking

     Once upon a time I learned bookbinding and papermaking.  They're great fun.  You should try them!
     For the papermaking, we used an old secondhand electric blender to blend up the pulp which was made from recycled paper and water, and a wedge and deckle we made ourselves to set the paper on.  Before the pulp is dry, you can place things like flowers and horsehair on the wet paper and dry it on, so that it becomes part of the paper, to make it more interesting.  It took many hours for the pulp to dry out so that the paper could be used and then it was rough paper with an interesting texture.
      For the bookbinding, we used paper we marbled ourselves for the book cover, and covered cardboard covers with it in class and sewed paper to the cardboard covers.  After the class was over, I made a little booklet of a haiku poem I wrote from a book I bound myself and covered with gift wrap.  What fun! 


The Boy Who Fell Through The Floorboards by J.M.Okano

     There was once a family of unkind people.  But the sun rises on the good and on the evil and they were blessed with a son.  The son was born innocent as all babies and grew up wise.  He decided to be kind to everyone, and not to be unkind.  One day he had to make a choice, so the Lord gave him a dream to help him make a wise choice.  The boy had to choose between good and evil, between being a wise man and being a dancer and between becoming tough and very mean and getting what his parents thought was a job he should have to please them.  They wanted him to help them with their work.
     In the dream, he saw his foot fall through a hole in the floorboards of his palace.
     "What does this mean?"  he pleaded in prayer, that morning.
     The answer came.  If he would choose the good course, his life would not go well for several years, even though he was doing what was right, and that evil forces would combine against him to get him down and try to make him give up, but that he must not give up.  However, things would turn out well when he had been tested.
      He took note of the dream, and carried on reaching for the stars and studied dance with wonderful teachers who gave him a good life.  He was very happy and enjoyed every day.  He worked hard and made progress.  He also had many happy memories of this period.  These were idyllic days on earth for him.
     But big tests came and people were unkind to him.  His dance career came to an end because he was too old.  Things didn't work out for him.  Through it all, he was always kind and made many friends with others who were placed in his path.
     He was not kind to himself though, and that was his downfall.  He forgot about that part.  That's important too.  So children, what do we learn from this?  Please let me tell the story.  His name meant "Withered One" but soon his name changed to "Patient One" because he bore his trials well, don't you think?  He got up one morning and decided to stand up for himself.  He decided to have his breakfast cereal with milk so he went and milked the cow, you think, but no, there was no cow, so he got the milk out of the refridgerator, you think, but yes that is where he got it from, don't you think?  Yes, but there was very little left.
     "I'll just go to the store and get some more."
     But then he remembered he had left his wallet at a friend's house and went to get it.
     On his way there a man approached him and asked him for money.
     Patient One gave the man his hat and told him he could sell that and get money from it, since Patient One didn't have any money on him.
     "If only I could give you some money, "  said Patient One.
     "Well, I'll take the hat," said the man and thanked him.  The man sold the hat and received some money and all went well for him that day.
     Now, back to Patient One, he found his wallet and full of money it wasn't.  You see he was a poor man, and couldn't stand on his own two feet anymore as he was trained to dance and didn't know what else to do.
     "I will teach dance," he said.
     He bought milk and ate his breakfast modestly.
     Now the man who bought the hat wanted to know where the hat came from, because it was much to his liking, with orange pompoms and green brocade.  Very fashionable.
      Along came Patient One in his orange pompom outfit with big green brocade shoes, minus the hat, of course.
     "Ahah, just the man I need to speak to,"  said the man with the hat.  "Is this your hat?"  he asked.
     Patient One replied, "It was."
     "What do you do for work?" asked the new owner of the brightly coloured hat.
    "I want to teach dance, but I need some students,"  replied Patient One.
     "Well, teach me, please," said the man and he did.
     Soon Patient One had a whole troupe of dancers and put on a show.
     And they all got married happily to the ones they loved.  And that is the end of the story, children, because you know what happened after that because they all lived happily ever after.  
THE END