Two of my favorite things in Turkey…
…and…
The more the better!
Eye candy!
Sky candy!
Click here for more interpretations of The Weekly Travel Theme: Luminous.
Click here for more interpretations of Nancy Merrill’s A Photo A Week: Smooth.
Click here for more interpretations of the Weekly Photo Challenge: Illumination.
All words and images NaomiBaltuck
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Published by Naomi Baltuck
When not actually writing, I am researching the world with my long-suffering husband and our two kids, or outside editing my garden.
My novel, The Keeper of the Crystal Spring (Viking Penguin), can be read in English, German, Spanish, and Italian. My storytelling anthology, Apples From Heaven, garnered four national awards, including the Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice. I am currently working on a contemporary women’s novel.
View all posts by Naomi Baltuck
Writing Between the Lines 
I love what you see! Thank you for these great photos. Balloons and bulbs.
Thank you, Susan! So nice of you to stop by.
Amazing and so colorful! Did you go up?
Oh, yes! It was spectacular, Paula. I was terrified, afraid of heights, but as soon as we were up, time stopped, and all I could do was take in the moment. Here are some photos from that adventure.
https://naomibaltuck.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/sky-candy/
I wonder if that is universal. It is just how I felt when I went up in a balloon over Park City, Utah 20 some years ago! It was awesome and memorable!
Hi Lee,
I didn’t know you went up in a hot air balloon! What a spectacular place to do it. I hope you took lots of pictures! I still remember watching you and the kids go up in that balloon over Niagara Falls.
Thanks for the visit, Sis!
Love,
Naomi
Beautiful!!! And now that I visit this post, my memory is jogged. I cannot imagine how your heart must have been beating!!! Good for you, Naomi!!!♥
Just love those Turkish plates. Wonderful designs, and wonderful photos.
Thank you! Aren’t the colors amazing? Every time I saw them, it was like seeing them for the first time all over again. I appreciate your visit.
Such an interesting array of pictures about illumination. Great choice for the theme. How is the storytelling going? I am fascinated that you are a story teller. What kinds and to whom? 🙂
Hi Marsha,
This is a busy month for storytelling, but it’s going well, thanks. I tell at schools and festivals. My favorite shows are tandem performances with the Baltuck/Garrard Family Storytellers. This week I went solo at the University Child Development Center and told folk tales of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. Over the weekend will be telling for the Timberline Library in Olympia with my son Eli. On Monday I will do stories from Northwest history at the National American Library Association Conference. I do folk tales, true stories, stories from history, stories for adult audiences, for children, and for family audiences. My website is in transition as I move hosts, but it will soon be back up. You can read about my storytelling at http://www.naomibaltuck.com. Thanks so much for your interest, Marsha.
Awesome!! I bet you are fantastic!!!!! I’ll check it out!!!
You can’t believe but I haven’t visited the Cappadocia area yet. Really these balloons are amazing and you captured so beautifully. And do you know most of them are coming from Cloud Nine (USA)… There was a poet friend, I learned from him. And and yes the second one…. I am crazy with them. I love to be in Grand Bazaar… Thank you dear Naomi, maybe one day we can meet in one of them 🙂 why not. Love, nia
Dear Nia,
Cappadocia is one of the most unique and remarkable places I have ever been. I hope that you are able to go there one day. I didn’t know the balloons came from the US. Our captain, Mustafa, said he had to go to the US for flight training though.
We loved the Grand Bazaar, and the Spice Bazaar too. Such a feast for all the senses! I look forward to meeting you there one day!
Love,
Naomi
Reblogged this on photographyofnia.
Dear Nia,
Thank you for reblogging this post!
Love,
Naomi
Wonderful … and uplifting photos – love air balloons. Love all the colors you have collected in one gallery and compare with the lamps. Well done.
Thank you! I was so struck by the similarity too. I managed to get home without a suitcase full of the lamps, but that just means I have to go back now!
So colorful and cheery on this cold dark morning. A wonderful way to start the day.
Hi Ruth,
Thank you for the visit, and for taking the time to comment. Maybe because I live in a place that is often wet and gray, I am attracted to warm lights and bright colors. (Our twinkle lights stay up year round.)
hiring a balloon seems to be a great passion in Turkey?
Hi Frizz,
Especially in Cappadocia, it seems to be very popular. The landscape there is unique and perfect for viewing from a balloon. Ballooning is popular in the American Southwest, perhaps for the same reason. Thanks so much for stopping by.
once a friend bought a balloon flight for me as a birthday gift, 300 $, but I didn’t have the courage to take it …
What a generous gift! But I understand. I wouldn’t have gone, except that Eli really wanted to go. I am so glad that I went. As I get older, instead of becoming more cautious, I think I am getting less so. It helps to have kids to nudge me in directions I might not otherwise go.
How utterly beautiful!! Thank you so much, Nia 🙂
Thank you for stopping by, and taking the time to comment!
Love the picture of the sky candy.
Hi Colline,
Thanks for visiting, and for sharing your thoughts.
Those LAMPS! I need 5 lol
Yes! Me too! I am still kicking myself for not bringing some home in my suitcase. I always travel carry-on, but I know I could have managed somehow.
Ship to self I have to remember that espically when I hit the vineyard!
🙂
What fun. What color.
Thank you, Jamie. I have been loving your poetry, and forwarding it to my daughter, Bea, who is enjoying it as well.
Love it Naomi!
Thank you!
All the balloons are just so pretty in the sky 🙂
Hi Maggie,
Thank you! It was such a surreal experience, and the landscape was so otherworldly that, looking back, it almost seems like a dream.
I can imagine…
Sky candy! What a wonderful image. It has long been my dream to preside over a shop that sells children’s picture books and night lights. I’d settle for a ticket to your light show or your sky show.
Hi Megan,
What a lovely pairing to send a child off to dreamland–bedtime stories and comforting night lights. Thanks so much for the visit.
Those pictures are absolutely fabulous. I just love them 🙂 Just the sky candy I’d like to imagine visiting and brightning the grey, forlorn, wintery sky outside my window today. Thanks for cheering me up.
Dear Sarah,
Thank you so much! It is a dark and gray day here too, but I have twinkle lights on to cheer me up. Thanks for the visit. I will be by for a visit soon–doing some catchup!
Love the colours and shapes and airiness of these ‘circles’ suspended in the air. Outstanding.
Thank you, Tess! I hope the New Year is treating you right!
Fabulous and so colourful, Naomi. I have yet to experience a balloon flight. 🙂
Oh, AD, you should definitely put that on your bucket list. I’ve seen some photos of you doing some pretty daring stuff. I think you would love this.
I almost did in Johannesburg last year, but unfortunately the weather was too windy, and they couldn’t go up. 😦
amazing!
Thank you! Really nice of you to pop in, and take the time to leave a comment.
Sometimes a large group of hot air balloons will gather just over the hill by us. It’s really cool to see. Now that I have my camera I can’t wait till the next time they stop in.
That would be fun. When I was a kid, and on a rare occasion got a helium balloon, I made a dixie cup into a basket and gave my little tiny Noah’s ark figures a balloon ride. Have you ever thought of doing that for Thor?
LOL. Not until you brought it up. That could make for a hilarious vlog!
I recall creating a few of those balloon rides for my toys as a child. Such fun. Thanks for the idea.
🙂
WOW! I’ve always wanted to go up in a balloon – but I’ve been too scared! Maybe I should put this on my bucket list!
Great photos for the Illumination challenge 😉
Hi Dianne,
I have always been afraid to do that, but once you surrender yourself to it, it is remarkable. I found that I wasn’t afraid once we got going–I was too busy being amazed. Then the landing went so smoothly, that I wondered why I was ever afraid. It might help if you have your glass of champagne BEFORE the flight!
Oh yes – great idea! 😀
Miss the Balloons out west but we have a gathering here in NH each year 🙂
Loved the post!
That sounds lovely! Thanks so much for the visit.
I got some beautiful shots but sadly with the Pentax K1000 Film camera aha the good old days 🙂
Those are amazing!
Thank you, Patti. I was thrilled with the lamps as I was with the balloon ride. I would have filled every dark corner with spirals of light and color, if I’d had room in my suitcase!
These are lovely. Thank you! Micheline
Hi Micheline,
Thank you so much, for your visit, and for taking the time to leave a comment!
Incredibly beautiful! Gorgeous colors!
Thank you, Amy. Guess what! At dinner tonight we all talked about your canoe trip down the Dordogne! I was so impressed with the photos, and now we are thinking about doing something a little different on the next trip, and that just intrigued me. I love to canoe–taught it at the kids’ camp when I worked in King’s Canyon National Park, but I don’t do enough of it any more.
I want some of the sky candy. I always wished the I can walk into my own living room field with lights like that. Beautiful and exotic! As for the huge balloons, they are just awesome! Great post!
Beautiful photos of color and light!
HI Mary,
Thanks so much for stopping by. How are you doing these days, Mary? We were listening to your CD in the car the other day, and sent good wishes in your direction.
I’ve always wanted to do that
These are outstanding Naomi!
Thank you so much!
Delightful pictures! And I agree, the more the better… 🙂
Thank you, Meg. I appreciate your visit. I don’t think you can have too many beautiful lamps (or twinkle lights).
Naomi,
These photos are beautiful! I too have always wanted to go up in a hot air balloon. It looks so peaceful! What a great adventure for you! I’m glad you didn’t let your fear of heights win! 🙂
Hi Becky,
That is the perfect word for it. It was amazingly peaceful. We left all the noise and worries of the world behind. I am so glad I went too!
🙂
So cool! I love the photos – thanks! 🙂
Thanks for the visit, Kathy.
This is a great response to the challenge!
Thank you! I appreciate your stopping by.
Perfect 🙂 Are the lamps from the Grand Bazaar?
Hi Madhu,
One of those shots was taken at the Grand Bazaar, but the profusion of lamps was shot at a store on a street near the Blue Mosque. I hope I can find my way back there one day, and if I do, I’m going home with a suitcase full of hanging lamps!
“It helps to have kids to nudge me in directions I might not otherwise go…” – yes, otherwise I wouldn’t have seen Madrid or Rome, Venice or New York …
That is wonderful! You have trained your children well, Frizz! We still love traveling as a family, and I think we are good at nudging each other just a little out of our comfort zones.
Love the eye candy and the sky candy! Both are so beautiful. I love lanterns. 🙂
Hi Kourtney!
Thank you for the visit. I love lanterns too. One day I will light my whole house and yard with beautiful lights and lanterns, and every tree, too.
Oh my goodness those lanterns are gorgeous!!
Yes, aren’t they? I want! My mom used to say that you need to leave something to do or see so you have a good excuse to go back. I know what I will go back for!
How big is your suitcase? Will I fit?
Hah! I travel carry-on wherever I go and no matter how long I am gone. But once I went to England–doing research for my novel, The Keeper of the Crystal Spring. I bought so many resources–mostly books on local history, folklore, and customs, that I had to bite the bullet and buy a suitcase to put them in. My sister and I called it The Body Bag, because it was big enough to fit a person into. But it would still have been a rough ride!
Drat! Yeah, I guess you’re right.
Glorious colors and patterns – wow!
Thank you, Cathryn! I wish you could have come to that lamp shop with Eli and me!
It’s cool how the shape and colors of the lanterns make them look like balloons up in the air. 🙂
A balloon ride must be so thrilling. There’s going to be a balloon festival nearby next month and my husband asked me this morning if I want to go up in one. I said I’d rather do it first in Cappadocia. He rolled his eyes at me, haha.
GO, TITA! Get up there while you can. You’ll have so much fun, you’ll end up ballooning in Cappodocia the next time.
You’ve made my imagination soar! I had a sudden vision of the lovely Turkish globes breaking free of their wire housing, drifting and shimmering into the night.
oh beautiful lanterns
Thank you! I appreciate your visit!
welcomed 😉
Wow, just amazing!
Thank you! I appreciate the visit, and your taking the time to comment.
Turkey is fantastic, thanks for the reminders!
It was my first time over there, and I loved every minute of it.
Beautiful images. Thanks for joining the challenge, Naomi!
My pleasure, Nancy!