Oh là là ! Pandemic madness

Has it really been twenty years since my last post? With great enthusiasm, I started this blog for kids of all ages—then promptly forgot all about it. My mother always said I have the appetite of a monkey—maymun iştah! 

Just as monkeys do, I pick up a banana, take one bite and promptly drop it -unfulfilled- then pick another, and another. 

Proud to report: I feel like an adolescent, albeit in a body entering its sixth decade. Check our Snark blog as well.

Babetteandfriendsblog@YankaErimtan2026

Wednesday Morning Nonsense!

Edward Lear's A Book of Nonsense continues to be a favorite of Babette and friends!

Les Trois Mousquetaires

What is bliss?

Asked the child "what is bliss?"

Answered mom: It is

Foolish ness

Bumpy ness

Wacky ness

Zany ness

All neatly packaged in Sappy ness

Then you are in Bliss!

What is bliss©Babetteandfriends/YankaErimtan

Proceedings have benefited FirstBook.

If you do like what you see here please enquire by e mail: babetteandfriends@mail.com

I am available to collaborate with children’s book authors and illustrators.

 

Thursday no scent nonsense

NONSENSE NOSE

There was a girl with a Nose

As long as a hose

Filled with nosegay

poppy bouquet

Bees made it home

And dozed.

Noseillustrationandnonsensenose©2026YankaErimtan

Cats

Scratch scratch says the cat!

Little above the shoulder

Little to the right

I'll soon jump and disappear

Meow me before my flight!

When I am weary of me

Forgive me if I bite ye

This is what we felines do

And can!

Besides eating cans of fish

We drink it with a bit of milk

We purr purr alone and like it

Come to you only when we like it!

Cats©2026YankaErimtan/babetteandfriends

Monday tickles

Illustration-Collage©YankaErimtan

It is never too late to learn a witty insult.

A Rediscovered Morning Nonsense from 2011

There was a woman with a bun

As big as a cannon

When she sneezed

'houp houp shoun'

It was heard all over Ocean

She loved the man in the Moon

She rode her horse Taifun

Read him stories every afternoon

And they ate ice cream with a spoon.

illustration-poemJanuary5morningnonsense@2026Yanka Erimtan/babetteandfriends

Warm Summer Days

Mrs Hibou The Owl

Madame Hibou is an owl

She has big jowls

At night she howls

Hou Hou

Then asks

Whoo Whoo Whoo?

Madame Hibou of course!

Who else?

She sits in a white oak

All groomed and all cloaked

She never speaks!

The more she sees

The less she speaks

The less she speaks

The more she hears

O, Why can't We

Be like Mrs Hibou

Whoo Whooo Whoo?

Mrs Hibouuu

Who else?

Madame Hibou is

A wise old bird

She hoots once "Come sit with me”

Hoots twice

"Come let's be three!"

Then an other whooo

Now

Three wise owls sit in a tree

 "Whooo, whooo, whooo!"

All day and all night hoot 

“who, whoo, whooo"

And before you know it

Away they all went to Peru.

MrsHibou,story/fairytale character©2026YankaErimtan

Happy Spring!

March is spent by windows

Counting flurries

in a frenzy

While shovels

Ready by the door 

clink clink clink

Impatiently 

Pretend

My dog likes silly jokes

Then, I hide behind the door

Pretend I am a boar

She howls and barks in a roar

She giggles and wants some more!

Then, I hide behind the sofa

Pretend I am a cheetah

She howls and barks in a roar

She giggles and wants some more!

Then I hide behind the table

Pretend I am a sable

She howls and barks in a roar

She giggles and wants some more!

Then I hide behind the bassinet

Pretend I am a hornet

I Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

and buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Run out and buzzzzzzzz,

"O What?"

"O Why"

"O Where has she gone now?

All I see is a running tail

She barks and howls

But giggles not! Pretends no more!

Read more: Tales

Pretend©2026YankaErimtan/babetteandfriends

Getting ready

Spring 2011

Almost there..

.

City Dog Style versus Mountain Dog style

Good Night Moon

from Babette and Friends on the occasion of 21st December 2010 Moon Eclipse

The Day of Christmas

A new decade

counting counting....

 In the meantime trying to find something to really cheer about!