May 24, 2013
“Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit.” ~ Frank Borman
My travelogue of Newport, Rhode Island continues today. I had the opportunity to tour the Marble House, one of the mansions. High up on the Cliff Walk, overlooking Rhode Island sound and the Atlantic Ocean, it was home to the Vanderbilts who made their fortune as venture capitalists in the NY Central Railroad and steamships. Their investments and other wealthy families foresight in our country’s future, brought more prosperity through expanding commerce.
The opulent stone palace, now a National Historic Landmark, was designed by Richard Morris Hunt and was constructed during the years 1888-1892. Once complete, it was a 39th birthday present to William K Vanderbilt’s wife, Alva. How do you wrap a present like that? In gold, of course, inside, rather than out. She loved to entertain and saw the Marble House as “her temple to the Arts in America.”
Husband and wife, had separate private reading rooms filled with books, on opposite sides of the mid-level landing of the enormous, two story marble stair case. It is where they went to get away, relax from all their social entertaining. They also built a Chinese teahouse on the property with a magnificent view where guests could go for peace and solitude away from the hustle and bustle of the Marble House activities.
Alva and William K Vanderbilt had three children. Their son, William K, Jr. was a pioneer in auto racing. Their son, Harold pursued his passion of yachting and sailed in the America’s Cup three times. Their daughter Consuelo became the 9th Duchess of Marlborough.
Photos are not allowed to be taken inside the mansion. To read more about the Marble House and to see a photo of the gold room in the Marble House, please visit this link. http://www.newportmansions.org/explore/marble-house.
It was a fulfilling weekend in New England, exploring art, history and architecture.
Return on Monday to www.AllThingsFulfilling.com where independent thoughts, words and views are all part of the business. This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.
Another “summer cottage” along Belleview Road
Above: Marble House, the Vanderbilt’s Summer Cottage by the Sea.
Chinese Teahouse on the property of Marble House
The Backside of Marble House – facing the sea
Above: Me with the Babcocks, my niece Kara & Her husband Joe – two architects!
Above: Gates of Salve Regina Univ in Newport, RI – it was graduation day!
Above & Below Images: Stopped by the International Tennis Hall of Fame – it was neat!
Newport Harbor
Goodbye, Newport! Can’t believe we saw all these sites in Newport in one day. Well worth the stop!
Signed, Grateful, that I returned to this area once again. Loved every minute!
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Posted by sueleonardCFS
May 22, 2013
All that I know of tomorrow is that Providence will rise before the sun ~ Jean Baptiste Lacordaire
It’s a city rising, moved by philanthropists, architects, artists, bankers, shopkeepers and others who have engaged in The Providence Portrait Project http://providenceportraitproject.com/ to revitalize Providence, R.I. a city full of history, art, architecture. I enjoyed a day in this city last week when I went to visit my niece who is an architect at Union Studio Architects, and is currently involved in the design of a new library in Tiverton, Rhode Island. http://www.unionstudioarch.com/ .
I encountered so many wonderful sites in Providence that had to do with architecture, history, libraries, books, art, design and education that I will share what I saw through images, rather than words. Enjoy the pictures!
My next stop will be in a city of mansions where wealthy bankers, investors, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs lived in the early days of our country. Many of them invested in the railroad which allowed for westward expansion of commerce and thus, more prosperity for citizens of our country. Many of the castle-like mansions have become museums, open to the public for touring.
Do return to All Things Fulfilling tomorrow.
Above two images – my niece Kara explaining about the Providence Portrait Project http://bit.ly/14tLl1w.
The roof top garden above Union Studio Architects
Image above: Symposium Books, Providence, RI www.symposiumbooks.com
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)
Image above & below: Athenaeum Library http://www.providenceathenaeum.org/
Twin Sisters (yeah, I know, it’s hard to believe) together at the List Art Center
Walter Feldman Book Arts Studio http://brown.edu/academics/visual-art/facilities
At the Gates of Brown University, Providence, RI http://www.brown.edu/
Image above: John Hay Library http://library.brown.edu/about/hay/
Three Images Below: Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology
http://bit.ly/YXjcPb
Above: Catherine Bryan Dill Center for the Performing Arts http://bit.ly/16MpQN5
Above Image: The Edna Lawrence Nature Lab in Providence, RI http://naturelab.risd.edu/
Photo above & below: Strolling the streets of Providence looking at church architecture and steeples.
A beauty, isn’t it?
Image below: Grace Episcopal Church, Providence, RI
I found providence, grace and many more fulfilling things in Rhode Island! Thank you Kara, for being a tour guide and showing the sites.
Please return to www.AllThingsFulfilling.com tomorrow.
This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com, a company specializing in e-commerce and e-marketing for independent publishers.
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Posted by sueleonardCFS
May 21, 2013
In I walked, last week, to the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, Vermont and I was greeted by “Miss America of the Independent Publishing Industry.” That’s my tag line for her, but, she’s better known as the Expresso Book Machine. At one time there were only five “clones” of her in the world, but no longer. Her appearance on the scene has led to the growth of a new generation of publishing, and print-on-demand has a bright future. She was in action, performing her art of downloading, binding and printing a book right there in front of people, on stage, at the entrance to one of the top independent bookstores in the country, according to Publisher Weekly Magazine.
I’d gone to the bookstore to meet with an author, who was somewhat jetlagged after being in Bali with Jack Canfield, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul series. She had arrived home from her travels late, the previous evening. Keep your eye on All Things Fulfilling in the coming weeks because her book, which we will be featuring, is all about success in life and business. Many of the strategies she offers are valuable to independent publishers.
Earlier in the week, I also met with a leader who is beginning to write her story. She hopes to publish independently. Her “dream” has led her to helping people around the globe to know that they matter. I look forward to seeing her publishing project evolve and come to fruition.
I also visited with numerous old friends in Vermont, and oddly each is one seizing new opportunities and starting down new paths, for very different reasons. We talked about baby boomers retiring, life, change and where it leads us. Our conversations reminded me of what C.S. Lewis once said “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”
Etched in stone, outside the Northshire Bookstore, http://www.northshire.com/ Manchester, Vermont
Here are pictures of other familiar places I stopped by in my travels:
Weston Playhouse, Weston, VT http://www.westonplayhouse.org/ where I volunteered for more than 25 years.Saw many outstanding theatre productions.
Can’t go to Vermont without a stop by the Vermont Country Store. http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/store/. I ran into my office assistant who worked with me when I was an insurance agent and branch manager for Finn & Stone, Inc. many years ago.
Return tomorrow to www.AllThingsFulfilling.com as I highlight a city, in Rhode Island, that is being revitalized by a group of shakers and movers who are capitalizing on the city’s art, history, architecture and universities. This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com, specializing in e-commerce and e-marketing for independent publishers.
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Posted by sueleonardCFS
May 14, 2013
Photographic Design and Photo Credit © Sue Batton Leonard
Whew - Yesterday’s blog was kind of wild and crazy, today will be more of a quiet, subdued celebration!
When I began this blog All Things Fulfilling three years ago, I thought, “I’ll just float a few of my independent thoughts, words and views over the internet from the Boat. You never know what will become of it. I’ll give it a shot.”
Today I celebrate a blogging landmark of 1,111 blogs written. It occurs to me that I have penned as many pages as some of the most well-known classic novels. Like Gone With the Wind, Atlas Shrugged, War and Peace, just to name a few, they all have more than 1,000 pages in them. And as I look at the significance of the number 1,111, it has relevence in many ways to what I write about. http://bit.ly/13Mhip5.
In each post, I’ve tried to provide our readers with something of value about independent publishing and other fulfilling viewpoints, writing little about myself. I’ve saved that for my first book, which is in the final stages of revision.
Let’s be realistic. There are blogs out there with larger audiences. But, the purpose of All Things Fulfilling is to inspire our readers to explore and discover all kinds of things that are satisfying in life. Today, I thank each of our readers who have ever stopped by this website. You are the motivating force that encourages me to keep on communicating.
Return tomorrow to All Things Fulfilling, where sharing independent thoughts, words and views is all part of the business. This blog is brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.
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Posted by sueleonardCFS
May 13, 2013
I hope you will return on Tuesday. It will be celebration worth writing about. Readers, I hope you will help me spread the word, through social media about tomorrow’s monumental day.
Some people say they don’t have time to fool with social media and “all that nonsense.” But, someone once said ” everyone has same number of days that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, etc…” And look what they made of their days – a name for themselves!
You, readers, have found the time to visit All Things Fulfilling for your own reasons. Whatever has struck your fancy, whether it is information on the independent publishing industry or the other subjects we regularly blog about, it is has kept you coming back. I greatly appreciate that. You have given me incentive to keep on writing. “A true artist is not someone who is inspired, but someone who inspires others.”
Click on the link below and join me at the space below for a little pre-celebration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN2_ydMMeG8
See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling, the space where independent thoughts, words and views are all part of the business from www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.
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Posted by sueleonardCFS
May 10, 2013
“Conservation is a state of harmony between man and land.” ~ Aldo Leopold
Early yesterday morning, as I sat looking out over the Chesapeake Bay typing a blog about Walk Two Moons, something very beautiful occurred. A pod of dolphins swam by in front of me. Close to the shoreline, they surfaced and dove, surfaced and dove, very graceful in their movements. It was as if they were signaling a good morning greeting. The water was serene and still, compared to many other mornings when I’ve visited and storms are raging.
“What a different world, I am in right now” I thought, “still a natural environment but unlike the wild, wild West.” One surrounding is not more beautiful than the other, just unique in the kind of climate challenges the residents face.
I recently read a book called Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas, a Colorado author. I learned a lot about what life was like during the days of homesteading and mining in the 1930’s and what friendship means to the human spirit.
Although we humans live in many kinds of different environments, the challenges in life can be the same. How we as individuals face stormy seas, is all about attitudes and our survival skills in handling it.
That is why I love to read. Books and films allow a way to escape to other places and “walk on other moons.” Through reading, we have the opportunity to see things that we might not ever be able to experience otherwise, and learn how others deal with adversity and being tested.
Return tomorrow to All Things Fulfilling, where sharing independent thoughts, words and views are all part of the business. Off I go now, to visit a silk factory in China, and forge relationships with women who work in it.
This blog is brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.
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Posted by sueleonardCFS
May 9, 2013
“I want to write a book like Walk Two Moons,” my twin sister declared the other day. “Did you ever read it?”
“No, I haven’t,” I said, “Go ahead, what’s stopping you?” Frankly, she took me by surprise. It was the first I’d ever heard of her having any ambitions to write. For many years decorative painting was her “thing.” I would have expected a return to that craft, after abandoning it when her life got too busy with raising children and a career in project accounting for a prominent architectural firm that designs healthcare facilities. http://www.wilmot.com/.
“It’s the best book,” she said. “We read and discussed it in our mother-daughter book club many years ago when the girls were little.”
“So, what’s stopping you from writing?” I asked again.
“I don’t know where to start.” My sister replied.
“No one ever does. Just begin, and see what happens, and where the story goes.”
“I never thought of that.” She said. “I thought I needed to have a beginning and an end, in the first place.”
“Nope, how can you determine it, if you haven’t met the characters yet?” I said.
“What is it that was so good about the story?” I asked, turning the conversation back to her comment about Walk Two Moons.
“It taught the best lessons!” She replied.
“Then keep that in mind, as you write.” I said.
“Well, I didn’t say I was going to write! You’re assuming that I will.”
“Why not? I asked again. “Just start and see how it turns out. You might find the experience of creating a story, in and of itself, fulfilling.” I said, thinking of the joy I have gotten over the past year or so in writing my soon-to-be published narrative.
“I might,” she said. “I just might.”
After our talk about writing, I came across this adage. Is it not true that values determine how all stories, our own and others, end up?
See you next time on All Things Fulfilling, where sharing independent thoughts, words and views are all part of the business. This blog is brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.
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Posted by sueleonardCFS
May 8, 2013
There are a great many human souls whom we should accept more kindly, and even appreciate more clearly, if we simply thought of them as people in a story.” ~G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw in America
Yesterday, I went to a book club on the East Coast, and had a fulfilling experience with a group full of strangers. It made me reflect on how, in recent years, building relationships with others, through books and writing, has become part of my life story.
Books. They connect us to other people. Worldwide, it’s gotten easier for people to meet-up through web-based book clubs and writers groups to build relationships of common interests. I’ve have the opportunity to open doors and step inside the lives of all kinds of people that I ordinarily would never have had the chance to meet, if it hadn’t been for books.
The dialogue that an author creates in penning a book helps the reader to know the personalities of the people we meet between the covers. Whether a person is physically attractive or not, walks through life with an attitude or is kind to others is determined through the words a talented author uses to craft the story. How and where a person lives and what kinds of relationships they maintain, is revealed through a good narrative. Characters in a story can even help the reader learn more about themselves.
When you come right down to it, the way our personal tales go is a reflection of the people who pass through our lives. Whether we allow them stay, can be a determining factor in whether a relationship is fulfilling or not. Like the characters in each book we read, even when we let go of certain people, we are never quite the same for having let them in.
Meeting new people in life and in books is all about coming away from the experience learning something we never knew before.
See you next time on All Things Fulfilling, where sharing independent thoughts, words and views are all part of the business. This blog is brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.
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Posted by sueleonardCFS
May 7, 2013
Is this all it takes to write books? Smokin’ hot jamoke?
The hours I have spent pondering a good storyline, laboring over the computer, staying up late, getting up early, it’s all been for naught? Muggy thoughts have come because I prefer a cuppa tea over coffee?
Henry Fielding once said “love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.” I’ve taken his word as sacred and read heaps of romance novels, all in hopes of providing readers with a delightfully saccharine love story of my own. Creative non-fiction, in the form of a memoir, does that substitution work?
Had I known the key to prolific writing requires being a java jiving connoisseur, I could have saved myself a lot of heartache and hard work. A tall carafe of coffee and I could have been turning out “happily ever afters” faster than breeding rabbits? Really? No joke? Today, I’ll take a large order of smokin’ hot jamoke.
See you next time on All Things Fulfilling, where sharing independent thoughts, words and views are all part of the business. This blog is brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.
2 Comments | Uncategorized, Inspiration, Books, Writing, Business, Travel, Medical, Independent Publishing, Businesses supporting independent filmmaking, Self Help, Education, Learning, Careers, cornerstonefulfillmentservice, fiction writing, journal writing, Independent Business, faith, fulfillment in the Arts, research and development for independent publishers, writing and publishing, Poetry, poetry writing and contests, screenwriting, technical writing, women and spirituality, relationships, Art, music composition, publishing resources, small presses and micro-presses, literacy, The Arts, books, writing, Creativity, Psychology and Art, Women, women in business, Women in Business, blogging, patrons in the Arts, art curriculum, help and healing through art, medical, literary arts -writing and publishing, Artists, creation, Personal fulfillment, Living simply and happy, Healthy living and healthy relationships, Psychology, healing artists, Healing Arts, Poets, Rebuild spirit through Art, e-book publishing, media and communication, book publishing, digital publishing, supporting communities, art benefiting community, Art, culinary arts, Publishing and sustainability, Publishing, e-book publishing, mind body and spirit connection, family memoirs, Economical and sustainable publishing, Power of Positive thinking, Matters of heart and soul, Affirmative thinking and living, living positive lives, Universal Law of Attraction, desktop publishing, Books and religion, writers, illustrators and publishers, Artistic journeys, Authors and independent publishers, writing and publishing, Culinary Arts, Culinary arts, Next Generation of Careers in the Arts, Publishing, Businesses supporting independent publishers, Creativity in business, social and emotional learning, social and emotional, Psychology and human behavior, Business, humor and health benefits, storytelling, short stories | Tagged: All Things Fulfilling, Books, coffee and writing, creative non-fiction, good storylines, Henry Fielding, independent thoughts words and views from Cornerstone Fulfillment Service, love and scandal books, love stories, memoir, own story, prolific writing, romance novels, sacred words, Writing | Permalink
Posted by sueleonardCFS
May 6, 2013
Over the next few weeks, I will be taking a business trip, going to new places and visiting old haunts, too. Ultimately, in my travels, my goal will be to find fulfilling things in my journeys. They may be unexpected, and I’ll share the content digitally. Perhaps it will mean more photos than writing. We will see what develops!
Whenever you frequent this blog space, I encourage you to stay and explore all the other 1,100+ blog postings on All Things Fulfilling. There’s a lot of information about independent films, music and books as well as educational information about the independent publishing process. Other subjects such as writings on the arts, career motivation, self-improvement, relationships and business, and they can be looked up by category, on the right hand side of the page.
I’m not exactly where I am going to find myself in my business travels. Whatever I encounter, I’ll assimilate the experience, enjoy it and share it like an open book.
Return tomorrow to All Things Fulfilling, where sharing independent thoughts, words and views are all part of the business. This blog is brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.
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Posted by sueleonardCFS
