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Somebody Move the Cat!
From her two-fold career as teacher and musician, Sheila Balls draws humorous and touching anecdotes that will tickle readers' funny bones and strike chords of recognition.
142 pages, soft cover
First published January 1, 2003
About the author
Sheila Balls
5 books32 followersSheila (Smith) spent her first twenty years in North Bay Ontario and went on to a teaching career which took her to the Sudbury area, Whitby, and finally Owen Sound. Here she met and married Carl Balls in 1971 and they raised two children, Michael born in 1974 and Catherine in 1976.
Sheila wrote through all those years but began publishing material only when she retired from teaching.
Her first book of personal essays, Somebody Move the Cat, was accepted by The Brucedale Press, the first publisher she sent it to, and came out in 2003. In 2005 she self-published Our Side of the Fence while living on beautiful Bass Lake south of Wiarton.
Carl and Sheila moved late in 2007 to Grey Highlands and then, with Carl needing care for his declining health, to Meaford.
Her third book, 'All Right So Far' is available now.
Sheila wrote through all those years but began publishing material only when she retired from teaching.
Her first book of personal essays, Somebody Move the Cat, was accepted by The Brucedale Press, the first publisher she sent it to, and came out in 2003. In 2005 she self-published Our Side of the Fence while living on beautiful Bass Lake south of Wiarton.
Carl and Sheila moved late in 2007 to Grey Highlands and then, with Carl needing care for his declining health, to Meaford.
Her third book, 'All Right So Far' is available now.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 28, 2012
The author, Sheila Balls, grew up in North Bay, Ontario, in the comfortable embrace of large extended families. A sense of warmth pervades the book through even the most trying experiences described in this collection of anecdotes. It reads like a life recalled while leafing through a family photo album; childhood, holiday traditions, community theater productions, quilting parties and home remodeling projects are chronicled with gentle humor. This is a book about remembering the happy times.
My favorite anecdote was “Wedding Cake Hill.” Anyone who has made a cake from scratch will relate to this tale. Such cakes are delicious, but delicate. The frosting, made with fresh butter, is rich, yet, unreliable. Sheila and Carl are traveling with such a cake – supplemented with rum-soaked fruit -- to their wedding. The cake was made by Carl’s aunt. My homemade creation was appallingly different from the perfect creations displayed on the covers of Good Housekeeping. Rather, it resembled an edible version of Salvador Dali’s “The Persistence of Memory” rendered with Van Gogh’s palette knife. It sold as the lowest bid at an infamous cub scouts’ cake auction – what a humiliation! Sheila’s was being transported by car to the nuptials on a hot August day when it ended up plastered to her dress, a lava-like flow descending into her lap as the car ascended the local hill. A pity she didn’t append the cake recipe!
The author grew up in the 1950’s. There was a cultural homogeneity about that era that comes through in this book. Women who grew up during that time will share common memories: Baseball games heard on the radio, Brylcreem ads, pretending that sticks floated in a puddle were boats. The differences between growing up in a small town in Canada and a big city in the U.S. fade as we read SOMEBODY MOVE THE CAT!
This is a likeable but modest book that will appeal to anyone whose life has been dedicated in part to domestic travails.
NOTE: The publisher is a small independent in Canada, and provided excellent personal service when I was placing the order.
My favorite anecdote was “Wedding Cake Hill.” Anyone who has made a cake from scratch will relate to this tale. Such cakes are delicious, but delicate. The frosting, made with fresh butter, is rich, yet, unreliable. Sheila and Carl are traveling with such a cake – supplemented with rum-soaked fruit -- to their wedding. The cake was made by Carl’s aunt. My homemade creation was appallingly different from the perfect creations displayed on the covers of Good Housekeeping. Rather, it resembled an edible version of Salvador Dali’s “The Persistence of Memory” rendered with Van Gogh’s palette knife. It sold as the lowest bid at an infamous cub scouts’ cake auction – what a humiliation! Sheila’s was being transported by car to the nuptials on a hot August day when it ended up plastered to her dress, a lava-like flow descending into her lap as the car ascended the local hill. A pity she didn’t append the cake recipe!
The author grew up in the 1950’s. There was a cultural homogeneity about that era that comes through in this book. Women who grew up during that time will share common memories: Baseball games heard on the radio, Brylcreem ads, pretending that sticks floated in a puddle were boats. The differences between growing up in a small town in Canada and a big city in the U.S. fade as we read SOMEBODY MOVE THE CAT!
This is a likeable but modest book that will appeal to anyone whose life has been dedicated in part to domestic travails.
NOTE: The publisher is a small independent in Canada, and provided excellent personal service when I was placing the order.
March 18, 2008
Actually, I am the author of this book with about 700 copies sold. You will find it a mix of nostalgia, humor, philosophizing. If I could have imagined the sometimes crazy experiences we have had I might have been able to write fiction. My hero Garrison Keillor is a better writer than me. But then, he *did* write fiction. One thing I guarantee: all my stories are true.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews