The Package Arrived — It’s Books!

/ still a dreamer

Surprise! It’s books! Hardcover, too!

With the annual Hunterdon County Library Book Sale just around the corner, (details here, if you want to go – you won’t be sorry), and with a decent size stash still waiting to be read, I almost … that’s almost, but not totally … don’t feel entitled to purchase brand new books. But alas, it is one of two indulgences I’ve allowed myself in this life, (the other being music), and so the books arrived. If you are reading this post currently, you will see them to the right. If you visit this blog regularly, you will note there are always two books there – one a novel, be it adult, YA or MG, and the other a book of an enlightening, metaphysical/spiritual nature. And so goes my reading. Picture books go too fast to even warrant a spot, but I may write about them here.

How to Save A Life kept popping up at me from different places and sounded terrific, so I got it. More on that when I read it. And then, while flipping channels last week, I came to a halt on Wayne Dyer and a PBS special, Wishes Fulfilled, also the title of the book. He is so on the money, and who doesn’t want their highest good manifested? So I’m starting on that, too.

But first, a word on Click. While waiting for said package to arrive, I felt drawn to read this again. It is a continuing story told chapter by chapter by different authors from the USA and the UK, each highly accomplished. It’s a great concept with each new chapter a revelation that could only result in the story being told this way. It starts off with Linda Sue Park, and then continues Chapter 2* with David Almond, one of my favorite authors. His chapter was so amazing and magical, I could have stopped right there. But I’m more than halfway through and want to enjoy the rest before I start my new choice.

In addition to these wonderful authors bringing the tale of Grandpa Gee, photographer and worldwide traveler, his family and those he encounters in his journeys to life, they have also contributed their book sale proceeds from Click to Amnesty International to save a few lives themselves.

*Here is a quote from Chapter 2 of Click by David Almond:

“I’m Annie Lumsden, and I live with my mum in a house above the jetsam line on Stupor Beach. I’m thirteen years old and growing fast. I have hair that drifts like seaweed when I swim. I have eyes that shine like rock pools. My ears are like scallop shells. The ripples on my skin are like the ripples on the sand when the tide has turned back again. At night I gleam and glow like sea beneath the stars and moon. Thoughts dart and dance inside like little minnows in the shallows. They race and flash like mackerel farther out. My wonderings roll in the deep like sails. Dreams dive each night into the dark like dolphins do and break out happy and free into the morning light. These are the things I know about myself and that I see when I look in the rock pools at myself.”    — David Almond

A Disdain for Flash

/ still a dreamer / 5 Comments

This morning I watched a female cardinal on my front porch railing. With the warmer weather having arrived early, she is already quite sleek. As she hopped along the rail I couldn’t help but admire the beauty in the subtlety of her coloration … the muted olives and golds edged with red and the bright persimmon of her beak.

I went along my morning and was still thinking … now of the beautiful coloration of the peahen. She may pale alongside the brilliant shades of turquoise and green of her male counterpart, the peacock, much as the female cardinal does when compared to the bright red male, but her beauty isn’t in the flashiness of her color. It’s in the quiet richness, with just a necklace of iridescent aquamarine.

There’s a certain pleasure in subtle beauty. In our media-driven culture, the biggest, brightest and flashiest is always being foisted upon us and honestly? I sometimes find it draining. Don’t you? Admittedly, I can be distracted by shiny objects … nothing wrong with that from time to time, but as a steady diet, the loud, the bold and the dazzling wears thin.

I will always take delight in the bright plumage of a male Cardinal or Peacock. But I also appreciate the ladies.  They have a disdain for flash. And yet are undeniably beautiful. Maybe they’re a bit more like most of us.

 

Photos: Cardinal courtesy of Wikipedia Commons, Penelope Peahen courtesy of Popcorn Park

 

New French Bulldog Notecards

/ still a dreamer / 4 Comments

If you enjoyed the image of the little French Bulldog with a flower hat that I posted a short while ago, you’ll be happy to know that you can now send her adorable little self out to friends, family or anyone with whom you’d like to share a smile.

Yup, this is the image that first appeared in Just Frenchies magazine and earned me a spot as a finalist for excellence in Illustration/Painting in the 2011 DWAA (Dog Writers’ Association of America) awards. (Read more.) This was big news! So I thought you might enjoy a visit from this little pup. She’s ready to travel!

10 adorable notecards with matching white envelopes for only $15.00 plus shipping, and you can buy them right here!

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

Catching the Light – Part II (the Cats)

/ still a dreamer / 3 Comments

Although spaced much further from the earlier Catching the Light post than I’d intended, here we have, not what … but who … was catching the light.

What is so wonderful about making art is that chance or happy accident that occurs during the creative process. Now we’re not talking about that flash of inspiration which takes us in a new direction in what we’re writing or painting, but the unintended change in direction from what we’d planned. I suppose that could be the same thing in some cases, but right now I’m referring specifically to capturing an unexpected moment in time, and the excitement of it happening in photography. (Hmmmm …. I am suddenly remembering an e-mail filled with moments such as those, but that’s not where I’m going today.)

Back to that warm morning sunlight streaming through the front window. Claude, pictured above, often takes this position in the morning after breakfast and basks somewhere along the back of the sofa, though this particular spot is preferred. I took a bunch of shots of him, always marveling at how elegant and sophisticated he appears in his photographs when in fact, he is one of the goofiest animals I have ever known. I had a nice selection of Claude, the sun worshipper, to choose from.

The unexpected shot came when Gypsy Rose wanted to see what was going on. Happily, I was able to quickly switch gears and capture that moment of cat curiosity. Not much time to adjust camera settings, to account for the darkness of her coat, etc. but then this was about the moment.

Even if we have no intention of taking photographs, our eye can easily be trained to find and appreciate those amazing moments where, in just one second, the view changes. Camera not needed; call it a memory.

It’s National Potato Chip Day!

/ still a dreamer / 6 Comments

Today, March 14, is National Potato Chip Day. How could I not celebrate? The thought that there might be thousands – no, millions – of chips out there, waiting hopefully for someone to take them home and celebrate … well, to not do so seemed downright rude. It would be like living around the corner from a good friend and not taking them out for their birthday. Did you know that Americans consume 1.85 billion pounds of potato chips each year? It’s the nation’s favorite snack food.

I took a stroll at lunchtime to purchase a bag of eager celebrants, and off we went. Knowing it’s their special day just seemed to make them that much more delicious, but piling a big handful on a plate with a yummy veggie cheeseburger really made their day. Think about it — literally millions of eager chips of every flavor are waiting for a chance to party with you. Don’t let them down!

As for the history of the potato chip? According to Wise Snacks, a chef named George Crum invented potato chips in Saratoga Springs, New York in 1853. One day, a picky diner kept sending his fried potatoes back to the kitchen, complaining that they were too thick and soggy. Crum responded by finally slicing the potatoes so thin that they couldn’t be eaten with a fork. The customer was so pleased with Crum’s crispy creation that they became a regular item on the restaurant’s menu! Crum went on to establish his own restaurant in 1860, and served a basket of his now-named Saratoga Chips on every table.

Should you be disappointed because you’ve read this post after National Potato Chip Day, take heart; you can still celebrate. It’s America and you can celebrate March 14 any day you please. No chip left behind!

* Post updated 8/7/2026

Photo courtesy: pexels/Srattha Nualsate