Let Them Eat Cake!

/ still a dreamer

I was so happy with how this came out, I just had to photograph it! I love to bake, but have too little time to do much of it, especially since I only bake from scratch. I made this for my friend’s Easter gathering; it’s a sour cream, chocolate chip cake, (made with butter, of course, and the mini chips.)

It’s got a crunchy topping of walnuts, brown sugar and more mini-chocolate chips, drizzled with a sour cream glaze. Yum! And it tasted even better the second day.

I don’t care what anyone says – there’s nothing like homemade, and if you’re of this ilk, you’d just as soon not buy store-made if you can’t have the real thing. Now this does not include the occasional fabulous, local bakery you might find here and there. And yes, when I’m REALLY jonesing for sugar, I, too, will occasionally fall prey to an Entenmann’s something. Though I generally am sorry later.

Plus there’s something about the process of baking itself. I love getting in the baking zone, maybe with a CD playing in the kitchen … the measuring, the flavors, textures and aromas. Baking is an art form of its own, and the visuals when it’s done are so important. As dumb as it sounds, it took a bit of patience to get that drizzle looking like that, because the sour cream glaze tended to be thick, Therefore, it was a slow process. But the final product is worth it.

Have I made this cake before? No. (Though I would again.) So many recipes, so little time! Whether for here or to bring along as a guest, I usually keep on trying something new. It’s my contention that if you know how to bake, you generally can identify a good recipe with a good result. So now I’m just wondering when I’ll bake next … and what.

Watch Live Web Cam of Eagles’ Nest

/ still a dreamer / 1 Comment

This is the second year I’ve been watching the live streaming web cam of a Bald Eagle pair at Duke Farms. Although eagles are very sensitive to humans in their habitat, the camera installed on a nearby part of the tree has been accepted by this nesting pair, and allows for viewing and monitoring by researchers. They have shared this with the public as a way of our observing an aspect of nature we would otherwise never see. Take a look at the nest in Duke Farms.

On the endangered species list, the Bald Eagle is slowly making a comeback in New Jersey. In 1973, there was only one nesting pair. Today there are approximately 80 nesting pairs, many in South Jersey in Cumberland and Salem Counties, but now eagles can be found nearly statewide. They are highly sensitive to environmental toxins, habitat loss and disturbance by humans, and in part, their comeback is attributed to increased protection of the land areas and waterways they call home.

In this particular nest, two eggs were confirmed and thought to have been laid around February 20. As of March 15, two eggs could be seen. (See photo above.) But now the young have hatched! When watching the eagle cam, you may find not much is always happening … sometimes mom is just sitting on the babies — or, as I just saw now, mom is feeding the two little snowy eaglets. Too cute! Other times the 2 adults are moving about, one flying in and out of the nest. Whatever is happening, it’s a unique opportunity to check in with this magnificent bird and see how the family is coming along.

Photo courtesy of Duke Farms


Spring – New Lease on Life

/ still a dreamer

Ripping apart an existing workspace, cleaning, and putting it back together – with a new rug – is a very satisfying thing. And I thank Spring for this. With the longer daylight hours and warmer temps so I can open the doors, I was finally in the mood. Ahhhhh – a new work space!

Having a clear workspace to write, edit, sketch is, I think, critical to an artist – at least, this one! I have a studio space upstairs, and a nice area for my computer/graphics work, but on my main workdesk, all my children’s book stuff was in stacks, hanging on to corners, etc. I knew it needed re-organization, but those short days and always-too-quickly-arriving winter evenings were not conducive to tackling the job. I’d bought a nice new area rug to fit in the U-shaped workspace last September, but there it stood, rolled up and leaning against a bookcase. Then Spring hit!

As the rug was too wide for the space, (I had eye-balled it, not measured), I had to take my desk apart. I built my desktop years ago out of a birch veneer flush door to which I attached 1″ square molding all around, to fit snugly on top of 2 file cabinets. Heavy file cabinets. So there was no choice but to take it all apart and start all over so I could make room for the rug. EVERYTHING got sorted, cleaned, re-organized. Now, all my children’s book stuff is at my fingertips. Stuff that I no longer work on got trashed or relocated so I can sit and be inspired the second I sit down, surrounded by everything I want to be working on.

I’m amazed at how exciting this is, but now I have direct access to my dreams, all the time. My friend said I Feng Shui’d my office. I know a little about Feng Shui, and if I did? It was a fortuitous accident. But there it is.  Woo hoo! Thanks, Spring!

And .. if you hadn’t noticed … the new set-up immediately got the Claude Seal of Approval.

Quote from Gilda Radner

/ still a dreamer

While searching for a suitable quote for a job I was working on, I came across the following. As an aspiring author and illustrator of children’s books and a fan, it struck a chord with me.

I always found Gilda Radner to be a fabulous and funny comedienne. She died too young at 42 from ovarian cancer.

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next.”
~Gilda Radner

French Bulldog Sketches – III

/ still a dreamer / 4 Comments

Because French Bulldogs are a main feature on in my shop, and my artwork is featured quarterly in Just Frenchies magazine, many people ask me if I have a Frenchie of my own … they assume I must. The answer is no, not yet. I love the bully breeds, and I love drawing and photographing them, and I’ve become completely enamored with Frenchies over the last 5 years that I have been drawing them. So much so, that a Frenchie is the heroine in more than one of the children’s books I am working on.

But having a dog is a whole lot different than drawing and writing about one. In the 18″ of snow we’ve been hit with here recently … and repeatedly, I vividly recall what it was like not so long ago when I had two dogs, one of whom did not wish to sully her paws in that fluffy white stuff. And that was at 6:30 in the morning.

But that’s only a part of it. Dogs require time … especially a new dog. I will want to do what I always do – walk, socialize, obedience train, play and so on. Although it could change any moment, right now I would find it difficult to commit to the time I know I will give a dog.

And then, there’s kitty politics. Already an uneasy balance exists here – Miss Bossy Boots (Gypsy) spends way too much time scheming of ways to make Mewsette’s life miserable, and it’s not clear what tossing a dog in the mix might do. Although Claude would probably have a new best friend in 3 days. I firmly believe that when I am supposed to have a dog, the one that absolutely must be mine will appear.

So for now I draw. And write.

Featured here are a few more sketches, either in plain old pen, (my absolute favorite, by the way, for writing and general sketching, is Pentel R.S.V.P. Medium. It is one of THE best balanced writing pens on the market – you can feel it when you hold the pen with the cap on the end – just perfect!), and to the right, loose colored pencil. Enjoy.

Order French Bulldog cards and art here!

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