#A. Balsamo

[kpgresham]

A New Story Coming Soon and Updates

By N.M. Cedeño I have a couple stories pending publication right now. One of the publishers revealed an author list and book cover this month. My story “The Ghostly Lady’s Curse” is scheduled to be published in an anthology entitled Detectives, Sleuths, and Nosy Neighbors from Inkd Publishing. The publisher announced the author line-up for the anthology this month. You can see the announcement…

[aqua-regia009]

Francesco Balsamo (Italian, b.1969)

[enchantedbook]

'Procession' by Francesco Balsamo

[aconissa]

What do you see behind closed eyes? 

WILL GRAHAM + ART

Dan Hillier, Fount (2021) Untitled Printed in Max Hesdörffer, Die Gartenwelt (1897) Morgan Miller, Eyes of the Dark (2021) Liza Sivakova, Anxiety (2022) Franz von Stuck, The Vision of Saint Hubert (1890) Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison, Bitter Snow Duane Michals, The Illuminated Man (1968) Francesco Balsamo, L'ospite (2008)

[marcelskittels]

ELISA BALSAMO Tour de France Femmes 2024 - Stage 4 📸 by Sean Hardy (hardyccphotos)

[oldsardens]

Vincenzo Balsamo - Senza titolo. 1986

[womensworldtour]

Tour de France Femmes begins Monday!

After the long pause from the 2024 Paris Olympics (which has been pretty great, tbh) we finally begin the Tour de France Femmes on Monday, August 12!

We're looking at eight stages, with the riders rolling out from Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where they will spend most of three days on 2.5 stages around Rotterdam. We say 2.5 stages, because Tuesday features two different stages, a short sprint stage and then an evening time trial. We don't know how we feel about these types of stages, but at least it will showcase different riders' talents.

Stage 4 on Wednesday will see the riders cross into Belgium and travel parts of the routes for Amstel Gold Race and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, including the famous hills like the Cauberg and the Cote de la Roche-aux-Faucons. And then finally, on Thursday, the Tour de France actually reaches France, and we will see increasingly mountainous stages that should determine the general classification, including finales on Le Grand-Bornand and the infamous Alp d'Huez.

As for GC, the odds-on favorite has to be defending TdFF champ Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime), who as we have said this year, is the best climber and stage-racer in the world right now. Cycling News has a great run-down for the other challengers, however, which we recommend.

It will be interesting to see how other strong teams like Canyon-SRAM and Lidl-Trek can put SD Worx under pressure. We've seen that in the Tour de Suisse and it can be done, but frankly, Vollering is so dominant right now that she might still win even if she's isolated on half the stages. She is just that good. Keep an eye on riders like Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM) or Evita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) as possible spoilers, and definitely contenders for the podium.

We honestly don't know how the fight for the points jersey will go, and we're excited to see how that plays out across the stages. Defending green jersey wearer Marianne Vos (Visma Lease-a-Bike) will want to repeat, but she'll have some serious competition from Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), who is still the fastest pure sprinter in the world and has shown she can get over the hills remarkably well. We'd love to see Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) back to winning ways after being off the bike due to injury.

We are less optimistic about the competition for the polka-dot jersey, and think it will likely be swept up by the GC winner. But that isn't always the case, like in the Giro this year, and we'd love to see some breakaway action and a non-GC rider try to hold onto that jersey.

We also expect several teams to hunt stages and keep several of the stages entertaining. EF-Oatly-Cannondale has been on a rampage this year, scooping up stages in the Vuelta Feminina and the Giro d'Italia Women, and they have the firepower to do it again with Alison Jackson, Kim Cadzow, Clara Emond, or Kristen Faulkner. Another team to watch is AG Insurance-Soudal, which has options in Tour Down Under champ Sarah Gigante, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, and Giro mountains classification winner Justine Ghekiere.

And finally, we expect to be surprised! We'd love to see a new talent announce herself on the biggest stage of the season, that's part of what we love about bike racing. This year's course is less likely to be an SD Worx show like last year (5 out of 8 stages), particularly with Lotte Kopecky not on the start list, so we are looking forward to some surprise moves and performances that will keep the racing interesting all the way to the top of Alp d'Huez!

[tadejpogacar]

Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift 2024 📸 by Luc Claessen/Getty Images

[iamjapanese]

Francesco Balsamo（Italian, b.1969）

Per una poesia non scritta  2006  ink and pancil on paper   via

[amyupdates]

amylee on instagram stories.

[tankgotstuckinthecircusgate]

forever n ever in love w falcone family they're so fucked up

[gothbutterfly]

Francesco Balsamo

[aqua-regia009]

Francesco Balsamo (Italian, b.1969)

[maurosempre]

Kintsugi la filosofia giapponese come...

"Il Kintsugi non è solo una tecnica di restauro, ma ha un forte valore simbolico. Rappresenta la metafora delle fratture, delle crisi e dei cambiamenti che l’individuo può trovarsi ad affrontare durante la vita.

L’idea alla base è che dall’imperfezione e da una ferita possa nascere una forma ancora maggiore di perfezione estetica e interiore. La particolarità di questa pratica risiede nel fatto che il vaso non viene riparato nascondendo le crepe, ma anzi queste vengono sottolineate attraverso l’oro."

Le ferite del corpo e dell'anima sono curabili e sono guaribili se le viviamo con l'avere fiducia in questo oro, che è balsamo e consapevolezza della forza interiore che ognuno di noi ha.

[bbjsm]

my favorite musical role

[marcelskittels]

Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift 2024 🥇 Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx - Protime) 🥈 Elisa Balsamo (Lidl - Trek) 🥉 Pfeiffer Georgi (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL)

Paris-Roubaix 2024 🥇 Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin - Deceuninck) 🥈 Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin - Deceuninck) 🥉 Mads Pedersen (Lidl - Trek)

Photos by Luc Claessen & Dario Belingheri/Getty Images