About Me

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Perth, Western Australia, Australia
I am based in Perth, Western Australia. You might enjoy my books - The Dagger of Dresnia, the first book of the Talismans Trilogy, is available at all good online book shops as is Book two, The Cloak of Challiver. Book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation. I trained in piano and singing at the NSW Conservatorium of Music. I also trained in dance (Scully-Borovansky, WAAPA) and drama (NIDA). Since 1987 I have been writing reviews of performances in all genres for a variety of publications, including Music Maker, ArtsWest, Dance Australia, The Australian and others. Now semi-retired, I still write occasionally for the ArtsHub website.

My books

The first two books of my trilogy, The Talismans, (The Dagger of Dresnia, and book two, The Cloak of Challiver) are available in e-book format from Smashwords, Amazon and other online sellers. Book three of the trilogy, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation.I also have a short story, 'La Belle Dame', in print - see Mythic Resonance below - as well as well as a few poems in various places. The best way to contact me is via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/satimaflavell

Buy The Talismans

The first two books of The Talismans trilogy were published by Satalyte Publications, which, sadly, has gone out of business. However, The Dagger of Dresnia and The Cloak of Challiver are available as ebooks on the usual book-selling websites, and book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation. The easiest way to contact me is via Facebook.

The Dagger of Dresnia

The Dagger of Dresnia

The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans

The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans
Available as an e-book on Amazon and other online booksellers.

Mythic Resonance

Mythic Resonance

Mythic Resonance is an excellent anthology that includes my short story 'La Belle Dame', together with great stories from Alan Baxter, Donna Maree Hanson, Sue Burstynski, Nike Sulway and nine more fantastic authors! Just $US3.99 from Amazon. Got a Kindle? Check out Mythic Resonance.

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Places I've lived: Manchester, UK

Places I've lived: Manchester, UK

Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia

Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia

Places I've lived: Geelong, Australia

Places I've lived: Geelong,  Australia

Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW

Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW

Places I've Lived - Sydney

Places I've Lived - Sydney
Sydney Conservatorium - my old school

Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ

Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ

Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier

Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier
Blue Lake

Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA

Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA

Places I've Lived: Perth by Day

Places I've Lived: Perth by Day
From Kings Park

Places I've lived: High View, WV

Places I've lived: High View, WV

Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK

Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK

Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland

Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland

Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA

Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA

Places I've Lived: Perth by Night

Places I've Lived: Perth by Night
From Kings Park

Inner Peace Blog

Inner Peace Blog
Awarded by Joanna Fay. Click on the image to visit her lovely website!

Versatile Blogger Award

Versatile Blogger Award
Awarded by Kim Falconer. Click on the pic to check out her Quantum Astrology blog!

Fabulous Blog Award

Fabulous Blog Award
Awarded by Kathryn Warner. Click on the pic to check out her Edward II blog!

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Sunday 8 November 2009

Once I thought...

Over on my writing and editing blog, I’ve just put up a post about how one becomes an editor. I called it “Once I thought I’d like to be an editor”. This sounded vaguely familiar and I soon realised why. When I was a little girl of five years old or so, my father taught me a silly little song that went like this:

Once I thought I'd like to be a cricketer
So down to the park I took a little stroll
To see a cricket match, the first one in my natch
To see how I could bowl.
One young man, he knew the way to bat a bit
He sent the ball so wonderfully high
Right up in the air, you could see it there
It looked just like a stick into the sky!
I stood and watched it, right above my head
‘Come away from under it,’ everybody said
But I knew how to catch a ball, about it I had read
In a little penny book I’d bought.
My eyes were shut and my mouth was open wide
I felt a sort of earthquake; I thought I should have died!
They never got the ball back from out of my inside…
Well caught! Howzat!

Like the old Yorkshire song On Ilkley Moor b'at’at, which I can also still sing right through, this song was part of my childhood. Neither song is much heard today, and more’s the pity, because they are good fun and easy to sing. What favourite old songs can you remember from your early years?

11 comments:

Jo said...

Daisy, Daisy give me your answer do.

You know the rest.

Also Frère Jaques. My aunt had a French boyfriend during the war and I would sit on his knee and he and I would sing it together.

Satima Flavell said...

My sisters taught me Frère Jaques, too. I liked the Sonnez les matines part best:-)

My eldest sister had a boyfriend who was half-French, half-German (And this during WWII - poor guy!) who read me stories. He even copied out one that was in German into French and Enlish versions for me, so I could read the tale in all three languages. He even illustrated them for me. The story was about a bear, very like Rupert, who is still a comic-strip character in Germany, I think. The funny thing is that when I went to German classes as an adult, I found I knew how to conjugate German verbs. The things you learn earliest stay with you, I guess:-)

Helen V. said...

I loved songs that circled around like On Ilkley Moor b'at'at and There's a Hole in the Bucket and rounds and silly songs like If Mares Eat Oats when I was a child. I used to sing them to my kids, neither of whom wanted to take part but loved listening to them.

Satima Flavell said...

I heard a sad thing a few months back - that children who are preschoolers now don't know any nursery rhymes! And, it seems, their knowledge of Christamas songs is largely limited to the secular ones such as Rudolf and White Christmas. What a shame to have all those beaut old songs fall away. I think they still learn There's a Hole in the Bucket at school because I've heard kids singing it, so perhaps all is not lost...:-)

Jo said...

Well you can't teach carols in school any more, its religion so you mustn't do it!!!

Re There's a hole in my bucket, Matt and I went to see Harry Belafonte some years ago. The show was held in the local arena with a stage set up in the middle. He and a guest were singing this song and laughing so much they couldn't remember where they'd got to, I called out the next line (we were close to the stage) and he asked me how I knew, I said I had seen him sing it before - he picked up on my English accent and came back with a very good sound saying "aren't you a little tired of it by now". It was pretty funny.

Mare's Eat Oats was one of my favourites as a kid, too.

Satima Flavell said...

I've heard others say how entertaining Belafonte is in person, although when he was younger he used to get people's backs up with his contant clinging off at the British and at colonialism. I can understand West Indian people feeling angry but I don't think that kind of talk has any place in entertainment.

Yeah, it's a pity Christmas Carols are being sacrficed to political correctness:-(

Anonymous said...
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Unknown said...

My Dad used to sing this to us all too. He was born in 1911 (New Zealand) - all five of us kids still remember it!

Satima Flavell said...

That's interesting, Tracey. I've never heard it sung here in Oz. I wonder if it's still known in EnZed?

Hilary Forbes said...

My Mum just quoted that cricketer song to me today, and told me she'd learned it from her Mum who used to say it to her as a child. Mum is 87 now! It's a slightly different version, but I guess there were probably quite a few different versions maybe. I just wondered if it was a well known song and google searched it and found your blog :)

Satima Flavell said...

Yes, it's an old song - possibly goes back to the 1920s or so, and I would imagine there could be several different versions about. My older sisters used to sing it and I am almost into my 8th decade!

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