Category Archives: Creativity

Creative Districts Rock

Leave a comment

“Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right or better.” ~John Updike

Yesterday I blogged about the Yampa Valley Choral Society. It is just one of many art organizations that abound in this town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

boettcher_report_thumbnailDid you know Steamboat Springs, Colorado was recently ranked in the Southern Methodist University’s National Center for Arts Research as #14 on the Arts Vibrancy Index?

The town also has the distinction of holding 4th place in the Small Towns to Visit in 2014 in the Smithsonian Magazine. For the small community of 10,000+ people, art and culture is important to part of everyday living yet it does not always get the attention it deserves. There are changes underway which will change all that.

Steamboat Springs has become an incubator as a Colorado Certified “Creative District.” There is an interesting full article in the Steamboat Pilot Newspaper about what it takes to become a creative district and to obtain funding and support for it.

I, like many others, have found the creatively stimulating environment refreshing. Living  life outloud is a term I associate with the people of Steamboat.

How does one “live life out loud?” Here is an interesting article about what that truly means.

earth without art

That is all for now. See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling!

This blog is brought to you by the author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul.

A Joyous Easter Sunday

Leave a comment

“Find a place inside where there is joy.” ~ Joseph Campbell

I was introduced to the writings of Joseph Campbell some years back by someone who I consider to be a mentor.  Many of Campbell’s thoughts, in my opinion, perfectly reflect what all things fulfilling is really all about.

On Easter Sunday, I enjoyed the creative tasks of making a memorable Easter Sunday brunch just for the two of us empty nesters – my husband and me. We had a lovely day including an “Easter Sunday journey,” recalling memories of Easters past.

We laughed about the days when our son indulged us (his mother & father) far longer than he really needed to by continuing to look like he enjoyed searching for the Easter eggs the Easter bunny had hidden, even though he had learned of every possible secret hiding place many years prior.

For me the most meaningful part of Easter Sunday this year was all about finding that inner place where there is contentment and beauty in memories and the delicious food on the table.

Terrys photo1easter table

This blog is brought to you by the author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul.

Easter Eggs of the Past

3 Comments

You must know that there is nothing higher and stronger and more wholesome and good for life in the future than some good memory, especially a memory of childhood, of home. ~ Fyoda Dostoyevsky

Oh, Easter Joy! Look at these little pretties that are pictured. I’ve been up since before the crack of dawn making them.

In my memory box from my childhood are recollections of the year my mother and my aunt Claire made my twin sister, two brothers and me, and our two cousins Jay and Karen (aka Meg) hand-crafted Easter eggs made out of mashed potatoes.  Yes, you read it right – mashed potatoes.

Although both my mother and my aunt (now in their mid-eighties)  have lucid memories of making these eggs, neither of them still have the recipe but I was able to track it down from A Taste of Home.

The candy is every bit as good and sweet as commercially made coconut-crème Easter eggs (sweet enough to send your preschooler on a jet propulsion sugar high until she/he graduates from college). Perhaps they do have a smidge more nutritional value since they are made with potatoes!

easter handmade chocolatesWhat a fulfilling morning I have had recreating a childhood memory by making my own hand-crafted coconut-creme eggs. Only thing missing was my mom and aunt by my side!  Mom & Claire – you are in my heart today and every day because of the memories you made for our family during our childhood.

Easter 4Readers, I share the recipe with you today while there is still time to make these candies for Easter for your family. They are really quite easy!

Recipe: Mashed Potato Hand-Crafted Easter Eggs from A Taste of Home

1/2 cup butter softened (I used no-salt butter)

1/2 cup cold mashed potatoes (cold is important) -plain – prepared without added milk & butter)

2 lbs confectioners sugar

1 1/2 cups flaked coconut

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 lb of dark chocolate candy coating (such as Wilton Candy Melts) – Walmart has these

In bowl, cream butter and beat in mashed potatoes. Add coconut and vanilla and then add in confectioners sugar. You may need less or more sugar until you have a somewhat stiff dough.

Line cookie sheet with waxed paper and dot with tablespoon size clumps of the mixture. Refrigerate 4 -6 hours. Once refrigerated the candy mixture will stiffen up and be easier to work with to shape into egg shaped forms.

In microwave oven melt candy coating according to directions and dip oval shaped (egg shaped) candy into the chocolate. Let excess chocolate drip off. Decorate with sprinkles or other candy decorations or leave plain. Place on waxed paper and chill once again until set. Store these in refrigerator until ready to serve. Makes approx 96 candies. The recipe can be halved easily.

Easter book promo

Return tomorrow there will be an Easter gift from me to you! You will be able listen to an audio narration of an Easter story from a chapter of my award-winning audio book Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. The audio book is narrated by it’s author, Sue Batton Leonard.

Nature’s Spring Ritual

1 Comment

“Daffodils,” an image by artist Nancy Guzik is a promise of spring that I look to so often throughout the winter. As we transition into warmer days and brighter colors nature heralds in her ritual of budding and blossoming flowers displaying “an adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday life.” Akin to how people describe the Japanese ceremony of tea making.

I’m fortunate. I don’t have to look beyond the walls of my home to see Guzik’s beautiful image, and although I don’t own the original painting, the fine art lithograph has given me as much pleasure over the years.

daffodils 2

Guzik says of art “Somewhere within all of us we long for a certain truth, each searching in our own way, possibly to know and feel who we are and why we are here on earth. At times there is a yearning to express that. Perhaps that is why I paint.”

As we move another day into the season of rebirth, I know as my truth that one of the best reasons to be on this earth is to witness the season of miraculous renewal in nature. Happy Spring and “bloom where you are planted!”

This blog is brought to you by the award-winning author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul.

 

7 Things You Didn’t Know About Me

6 Comments

As a nominee for the Versatile Blogger Award – there are 7 things I must share with my readers that you may not have known about me:

#1  When I was about 10 or 11 I did something very silly. I put a chicken leg bone in my hair to make me look like Pebbles Flintstone. Yeah, I know – hairbrained idea! But, you know, anything to make my twin sister laugh was double the fun. I hope there were many other things I did to reveal that I was just another “goofy kid” in the family.

Pebbles_Flintstone

 

#2  –  I answer to the call of

“Mommorson!”

That’s what I’ve been called by my son since he was a tween. What a kids’ definition of a mommorson is, I have no idea. But, nevertheless, I am very proud to be his “Mommorson!!”

 #3   I am the world’s worst Clarinet player – other than my twin sister. My father nearly went bankrupt having to buy so many reeds for my musical instrument. And I couldn’t keep it from squeeking.

04

 

#4  Although I have lived high up in the mountains for 44 years. My heart belongs here:

hearts-on-the-sand-beach-730x400

#5  In college (the early 1970s) I drove my car up the Long Trail (extension of the Appalachian Trail) rather than hiking it. Yeah, well, what can I say. Students get weird ideas that make parents cringe!

BATMOBILE

#6     I can walk well on stilts! I had a pair just like these that my Dad made for me.

girl on stilts

 

#7  Back in 1974 (or was it 73?) I caught me a leprechuan.

I have been with him ever since !

leprechaun trap

Now it’s time for me to pass the Versatile Blogger award on to a few more bloggers and they are Sally Edelstein, Renee Rivers and Sarah Ward.

 I follow Sally Edelstein’s blog because I like nostalgia. She writes about things baby boomers appreciate. I enjoy visiting Renee Rivers’ blog because she goes places I have never been before.  I can travel through her via my armchair. I tried following Renee on my stilts but my hands got too calloused.

And lastly Sarah Ward’s blog, Stars and Rainbows, I nominate because I like her ponderings on life and the honesty and openness with which she writes.

This blog is brought to you by award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard and a many would say a “Versatile Blogger!”

 

 

 

 

 

Motivated Independent Publishers

1 Comment

Thinking of writing your story?

find-your-truth-copy

“Like anything in life when the right time comes along, and when you are fully and completely committed to the project you will find the personal resources like commitment, determination, enthusiasm, confidence and energy within to carry it out. The will to make it happen becomes much greater than your desires to let your dreams go by the wayside.” ~Independent publisher, Sue Batton Leonard

~Sue Batton Leonard, award-winning author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul.

Thirsty Thursday: Versatile Blogger

Leave a comment

Put your blog out into the world and hope that your talent will speak for itself. – Diablo Cody

Regular readers of All Things Fulfilling know that Thirsty Thursday’s focus is on good news. Usually we share stories of others who inspire us but every once in a while, the good news is our own.

versatile-bloggerToday, the good news is that I have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger award. The nomination came from a fellow writer who also has the award behind her and she has passed the torch to myself and few other fellow bloggers by nominating us. That’s pretty cool.

To receive the nomination from Linda Collison is very complimentary because I have been following her writing and blogging for a number of years. I am always inspired by her work and by the creative marketing of her publications. She is a multi-award winning author and a person who lives life admirably and literally with few restraints.

Getting recognition from fellow writers and independent publishers is an honor because it means it you are on track with what you are doing!

Thank you Linda for the nomination. Do return next week to All Things Fulfilling. I will share 7 things with our readers that may not know about me.

The good news is my  common interests with Collison go beyond writing. We are both coincidentally, Baltimore natives who had never met until our lives converged at the Steamboat Springs Writers Group!

This blog is brought to you by award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard.

 

Don’t Live With Regrets

2 Comments

In my opinion, living with regrets is a waste of energy since there are no “redo’s in life.” Shoulda, coulda, wouldas serve no purpose.

But, we can learn to move forward with good intentions when inspired. Listening and acting rather than ignoring intuition  brings satisfying results. A crucial part of that is learning to trust ourselves.

If you asked a group of retirees what they haven’t done but wish they had, many would say I’ve had a story to tell and regret not having written it down and tried to get it published.”

With the vast changes in publishing, anyone can now get their story published, even if it is only for the benefit of leaving a legacy for future generations.

This fall, when I had a book signing at Ukazoo Books  in Towson, Maryland there were two women who attended my presentation. They attend a writers group together at an assisted living facility. Both are writing their life stories for their families and mentioned how much they were enjoying the purpose behind their projects.

“Isn’t personal fulfillment reason enough to write and publish a story?” I asked them. “Yes, both responded immediately, without having to qualify or justify any further.

Anne Lamott quote about regrets

Author and memoirist Anne Lamott surely gets her point across about acting on our dreams rather than sitting back.

This blog is brought to you by the award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard.

 

O’Keefe in Everyday Life

3 Comments

“To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage.”  ― Georgia O’Keeffe

I’d always been interested in the art of Georgia O’Keefe. Any artist who paints flowers so magnificently, is alright by me!

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Georgia O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, NM. The art was beautiful, as expected but, what I enjoyed seeing, through black and white photos, was the life of this woman outside of her studio. According to a short film I watched and from reading other literature, O’Keefe found much pleasure in simple tasks of daily living. Images of O’Keefe walking her dogs, hanging out the wash, sitting on the roof of her adobe house and cooking outside over an open fire all acquainted me with her on another level.

She painted much more than flowers. She lived, painted and exhibited in New York City. What a surprise! I’d always thought her entire life was spent in New Mexico. After she married Alfred Stieglitz, America’s first advocate of modern art in America, New York is where she and other modern artists began to proliferate. Her summers were spent in Lake George, NY.

From her great success as an artist,  I would never have considered that she was anything but a person who had all she needed right inside of herself from the start. But according to this quote, not so! “I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do.” ― Georgia O’Keeffe

I love that! And I look forward to reading more about this woman of extreme talent who had traits of self-doubt that each artist struggles with, from time to time, going about the days of fulfilling oneself in the world of art.IMG_20150221_153831_642

Above: Photo of Georgia O’Keefe taking a car ride.

IMG_20150221_154346_188Above: Replication of O’Keefe’s studio inside the Museum. The photo is the view from her studio window in NM. These are her art supplies, with a work in progress on her easel. Her studio and home in Albiquiu is also open for touring.  That has been put on my “For Another Day List.”

Okeefe church

Above: Non-floral O’Keefe painting.

IMG_20150221_155447_610Above:   Black Hollyhawk & Blue Larkspur (middle painting – my favorite in the Museum).

Below: The Georgia O’Keefe Museum Gift Shop has a wonderful selection of books, DVDs, notecards and other products with the “signature” Georgia O’Keefe art licensing trademark.

Georgia Okeefe books

Georgia Okeefe DVDS

See you tomorrow! We will be talking about an art form that I saw in my travels that I had never witnessed live before until my visit to Santa Fe, NM last week. It was thrilling and fun!

This blog is brought to you by the award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard.

Film Friday: Room to Breathe

Leave a comment

Did you know they are teaching mindfulness in schools? Today on Film Friday, I’d like to feature a multi award-winning documentary film about this subject.

Room to Breathe is currently being screened in select places across the country and both students and teachers are participating.

The purpose of the movie: is to educate others about the value of mindfulness, which means “paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.” ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

The potential value: better educational experiences for students and a changed, less stressful atmosphere for teachers.

Sounds like a movement towards a better world to me!

Room-to-Breathe-Screenshot-copy

I am going to take a “breather” on All Things Fulfilling until Monday. Over the weekend I will “find rest …because creativity needs a place to breathe.”

March will be arriving over the weekend. Early next week I’ll be sharing some of my last weeks fresh air travels to NM .

This blog is brought to you by award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard.