Our Ratty-Mouse Mascot was inspired by the character of a special little being called Picassa.

It embodies the character of our precious little kitten Picassa who stole our hearts with her mousy squeaks and larger than life personality, munching on sunflower seeds when we ate our breakfast, cuddling when it was cold, playing hide-and-seek in our tiny wooden cabin, eating potato crisps in bed with us, rekindling our connection to the inner child who resides within each of us. Picassa, a female version of Picasso with her beautiful abstract coat of multi colours.

Sadly, she left us before she was even two years old, but her spirit of fun and adventure lives on in the journey of our little Ratty-Mouse mascot. She was as timid as a mouse when others came to visit, hiding in the shadows, but peeping out to observe who had taken our attention from her to them, cautiously emerging from the woods, perhaps from under a bush or off the roof, to creep back into our hearts and arms for a quick cuddle before scuttling off on another exciting adventure to climb a tree in the hopes of flying in the sky with the birds overhead.

Picassa ignited our own youthful exuberance to live life to the fullest. She left us suddenly and unexpectedly, which broke our hearts into a million questions of unanswered ‘whys.’

She brought so much joy and fun into our lives. We hope the spirit of Picassa, more often called Meep-Meep with her insistent squeaks, will live on in the hearts of children all over the world in the form of our cute, quirky Ratty-Mouse who forms the core of Erratic Tales, sharing love wherever he or she goes, for she takes on whatever form she inspires her artist dad to draw!

Erratic Tales are dedicated to our memory of Picassa.

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What does it mean if you are playing on words or including word play into your stories? A play on words is a humorous way of using a word or phrase so that more than one meaning is suggested. Puns are one of the most familiar forms of wordplay because they are found in spoken language just as often as in written language. Puns are little jokes that rely on two words that sound similar but have different meanings (homophones). Witty puns will hopefully evoke a giggle or a guffaw, while corny puns may invoke an eye roll or a belly groan! We aim to stimulate laughter, but we never know what might appeal to one reader but bore another. And some of our tales are called Tjeezie Tea-Tyme Taylz for that exact reason that they might be considered cheesy or corny, but hopefully, they will still elicit a smile or a laugh because they are also witty or clever. “A wig you say, or rather a toupee? To pay, to pay… no I don’t want to pay for figs, nor wear some wigs!” (An excerpt from In the Tea-Tyme Jungle).

Jen Grobowski
March 2023

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Homophones, Homographs and Homonyms: Homophones have the same sound but different spelling, such as way, weigh and whey. Would you put slivers of wood in your precious tea?**

Homographs have the same spelling but different sound, such as the wind is blowing and wind up the rope.

Homonyms have the same sound and the same spelling, such as fair (equal value) and (fun) fair.

(*excerpt from Through the Lickerty Lollipop Woods; ** excerpt from In the Tea-Tyme Jungle)).

Homophones tend to be more common. Can you think of some more?

Perhaps four more (four, for, fore)!

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