Animals

French Bulldog Holiday Cards

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JBalsam-strangersnowAdorable French Bulldogs are waiting to pick up some envelopes and rush out to your house, just in time to send to family and friends.

These little cuties are on my web site … take a look at the French Bulldog Christmas cards you want to send!

You may also want to consider unique blank notecards featuring French Bulldogs as fabulous gifts for your Frenchie loving friends and family, (or actually just anyone who loves sending an adorable card!)

Note: All illustrations, drawings and photographs are © Jeanne Balsam and may not be reproduced in any format without written permission. Thank you!

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

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No, that’s not a bundt cake, though she sure is sweet.
That’s Livy, a rescued Belgian draft horse.

Each year Mylestone Equine Rescue holds its annual Open House. As Mylestone is a private farm, this event is their big annual fundraiser and the chance for visitors to come and meet all the rescue horses, learn more about the rescue, participate in a silent auction and … buy goodies from their bake sale tent. As one of 20+ volunteers, I spend the day educating visitors, discussing the need for horse rescue, introducing the horses and their histories to people, and functioning as photographer for the day. I also bake.

Unfortunately, last Sunday, the official date, had to be postponed due to rain and cold weather, and is being held today, October 14th. And unfortunately, I had previous plans and am not able to be there. However, as always, I baked something for their bake sale.

I’ve made this chocolate chip bundt cake once before and chose it again because it is so unbelievably moist and delicious.  It’s all butter with plenty of dark brown sugar and buttermilk. What makes it extra tasty is a blend of chopped pecans, butter and sugar which are mixed together and spread in the bundt pan before the batter is spooned in. It adds a just-right, sweet crunch that complements the dark chocolate mini-morsels.

Of course, I had to taste a very small sliver before packaging individual slices just to make sure it was safe for human consumption!

All packaged up,  ready to go and be enjoyed by Open House visitors. In a world where baking from mixes seems to have become fairly common, that little sign saying the cake is all-butter and made from scratch always turns out to be a great selling point!

You can find this chocolate chip bundt cake recipe at myrecipes.com.

Here’s Looking at You, Kid!

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Finally! Work subsided sufficiently that my blogging brain returned and I knew what I was going to write for a post as soon as I got the chance. But in the meantime, something else happened.

 

In the afternoon, the western sun bathes my office and upstairs bedrooms in warmth and light. Great in cooler weather, not so much in the summer. Anyway, about noon or so each day I go upstairs and open all the windows facing that way so as to soak up as much heat as possible to stave off the chill of the cooler autumn evenings and nights. In the back bedroom, Claude was soaking up that sun on top of a piece of furniture, too, but seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was being closely watched!

Then he realized … it moved! As I moved with my camera, the praying mantis got into prayer/attack position and rotated his head to keep an eye on me. Claude was interested only when he moved, which I suspect has something to do with an animal’s depth perception or ability to comprehend something on the other side of both screen and glass.

These creatures are so bizarre looking, but so fascinating. If they are symbols of good luck, which has been said to me, then I ought to be in for one big bucket-o-luck anytime soon!

Claude, below, not quite knowing what to make of this slow-moving creature. (I’ll get to that other post real soon. This was too good to pass up!)

 

Bathing Beauties

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While an endless stream of work flows across my desk – for which I am grateful, albeit bone tired – I noticed not everyone was quite as frazzled as I. In fact, some occupants of this household were completely oblivious of anyone’s efforts to keep their food bowls filled, beds washed, litter cleaned, etc.

It was all I could do not to lie down and nap in that sunshine.

“If I had to sum up Friendship in one word, it would be Comfort.” ~Terri Guillemets

Touched By an Angel

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She’s just a bit of a thing – her name is Pipsqueak and she’s a female betta fish. I first met her when my neighbors prepared to go on vacation, a time when I mind their cats and their pond fish. This year, one of the girls brought over a vase with her new pet, Pipsqueak. My experience of Pipsqueak was so enjoyable; I never imagined such a tiny creature to have such a personality – not only curious about everything, but also very responsive to me as we got to know each other over the 3+ weeks of her stay.

Pipsqueak and one of her favorite friends. (Pipsqueak is not actually that big, BTW, nor are the marbles – it’s a distortion of the glass.)

Pipsqueak often stayed on my computer desk while I worked, though not too close to the computer, and sometimes on my other work desk. I often placed various items next to her, as she seemed to really enjoy checking out new objects. But one struck her fancy, as you can see in the photo … a Willow angel given to me as a gift. She is an Angel of Wishes.

Pips was fascinated. She checked out the angel’s face, (which, if you know Willow angels, you know their faces have no features), but then every aspect of her from top to bottom. She really seemed to enjoy spending time with her. Sometimes I rotated the angel a bit, and she became interested all over again. Of all the things she had the opportunity to see, the angel and my bringing my face up to the glass and waving at her – which brought out actual body wiggling and fast and furious front fin action – were Pipsqueak’s favorites.

I think I was touched by a little angel, too.