She paints love on the walls in the City By The Sea.

Juliet paints in black on white for our troubled blue planet.

I wrote a bit about Juliet in 2019 when she painted a whale, as reflected in my post, “Passion.” https://tinyurl.com/2yupks25

Juliet Schreckinger loves to paint; she loves our planet and the creatures she shares it with. Trained in the NY School of Visual Arts, her work is shown in galleries. Lately, she paints murals for the Long Beach Arts Council helping to beautify Long Beach and also for her passion to help wildlife. https://lbny-arts.org

Wildlife often needs our help:

I came upon Juliet with her dad, John as she painted for Earth Day, 2021. Her dad told me she uses very little paint for each mural with her air pump system, about 4 to 8 oz per mural.

So little paint for such a powerful message.

Yes, our planet needs our Juliets and the love they show for its creatures. Now love, of course, is just plain good; it nourishes not just the receiver but the giver as well.

Many of us express our love in spectacular ways. One of which is with balloons, balloons, balloons: for birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, and on and on.

Balloons are decorative and enhance a celebration, for sure. They shout: “We love you!” with color on a bubble with a giant smiley face.

But too often, through ignorance or just thoughtlessness, their love doesn’t extend to Earth’s creatures. It’s not that givers of love hate wildlife; it’s just that the moment’s immediacy takes precedence—instant gratification rules.

It has become routine to celebrate with, “Release the balloons!” And off they go, with applause and cheers, into the wild…

…and often end up—around—and into— the creatures of the wild.

Balloons and their ribbons kill wildlife.

They kill on the ground.

They kill in the sea.

They kill in the air.

Let me use scant words, like Juliet’s sparse paint: “Aren’t we better than this?”

A suggestion:

Adopt balloons

I toted my birthday balloons home last summer…

…where they first floated to the ceiling, of course,

But when they lost buoyancy and gained equilibrium, they floated in the currents of our home. Cheryl noted that each had its own personality.

One favored the distant horizon:

Another, a photo:

A couple danced cheek to cheek.

… and later met at the table…

…where they smooched.

One watched TV with us..:

…sometimes obstructing my view:

They joined Cheryl as she made lunch…

…causing Scout to duck to police her kitchen:

One offered help with this blog where I swear I heard a mutter, “It’s all hot air anyway.”

One waited for a breeze from the window and the door to open…

…for an escape to the hall. There’s always a clown in a group.

Finally, when I was about to take a shower, I found one stuck fast to the vent…

…while another was ready for the show:

It seemed no privacy was sacred:

But least it averted its eyes.

Well, better here than the skies.

Be well,

Leebythesea