Category Archives: ancient civilizations

A Special Evening

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A woman …Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.” ~ Diane Mariechild

“How was it?” my husband asked as I walked in the door from being out for the evening.

“Lovely, simply, lovely. From the candlelit church, to the great food, to the stories read and carols we sang. It was well attended. About 50 other community ladies came to the event,” I replied. “I enjoyed all of it.”

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The “Women of Christmas” was hosted last week by the United Methodist Women of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. It was a very special evening. At the center of the event were readings from a book with the same name, staring characters Elizabeth, Anna and Mary. As stories were read I reflected upon the characteristics these three admirable women carried. I’ve seen many of these like qualities in my friends and acquaintances that I have encountered throughout in my life journey.

women of christmas Elizabeth, Mary and Anna, all ladies of yore, were written about in the Bible. The author, Liz Curtis Higgs beautifully crafted stories that are relevant for women of today. Although I have heard the Christmas tale so many times over, I will now look at the story and the characters with an enlightened perspective.

As part of the evening I was so pleased to see a woman, Katherine, who is 90 years of age be recognized for her work within our church. She was given the gift of a pin with a little star sapphire, not nearly equal to her value to our community but still a beautiful gesture.

I’d like to thank the United Methodist Women for a wonderful evening. A lot of work went into the event.I am grateful I attended.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Window into Breck

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“Art is the window into one’s soul.” ~ Lady Bird Johnson

After yesterday’s blog, you baby boomers are probably thinking Breck refers to the old school shampoo we used when we were our teens in the 1960s. Remember using that? I thought if I used it, I’d look just like the “Breck Girl.”

No, for the next few days I will be blogging about a one day road trip I took to Breckenridge, Colorado, often referred to as “Breck.”  I found all kinds of fulfilling things to write about including a creative arts organization called BreckCreate. There is so much to tell, it can not be covered in just one blog posting.

The Breckenridge Arts District is a series of historic buildings located on an acre of land right up the hill from Main Street. It has become  an epicenter of creativity offering art classes, workshops, performance arts, exhibits and special artist-in-residence visits. I’d like to share some pictures with you of the district:

 

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Below: The Barney Ford Museum is also in the arts district. Barney Ford was a local entrepreneur who escaped slavery and became a man of extreme prosperity. For more information.

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A clan of visiting Aztec’s danced a spirit dance historically significant to their culture and the celebration of life the day I visited the town. Read more about the performance.

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indians 4 Art, culture, history and architecture holds a prominent place in the community of Breckenridge, Colorado. The scenic backdrop to the town, as it is in many Colorado communities, is stunning!

Do return tomorrow to All Things Fulfilling. I have more to share with you about BreckCreate.

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

Good Friday Travels

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Easter is God’s blessing to the world. It is his way of telling us that, love and hope, still exists in the world. ~ Unknown

Today, on Good Friday a processional walk, a spiritual reenactment, will begin at the Colosseum in Rome and end in St. Peters Square for an open-air Mass on Easter Sunday. Throngs of people make their own solemn pilgrimage following the path Jesus took as he walked and prayed The 14 Stations of the Cross.

Catholics are not the only people who seek to have a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to the holy city of Rome. Every year, thousands of tourists ask travel companies to help them plan a trip to Italy during the sacred Easter week. Many special events are held in Rome this week including classical music concerts.

If you have the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to the Papal City, remember to book your trip many months in advance, especially if you plan to visit during holy week.

Today I’d like to share a few pictures of the city of Rome during Easter week. I hope you will return to All Things Fulfilling on Monday.

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No matter where you plan to go this Easter weekend travel safely. Make it a special weekend with your family as you remember the death and resurrection of Jesus.

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

 

 

Advent Day #22 Open Hearts in Community

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“Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.” ~ Dale Evans

I’m more proud than ever to attend a church whose motto is “Open Hearts, Open Minds and Open Doors.” The Steamboat United Methodist Church reached out, extended their welcome and showed that they practice what they preach to the Jewish congregation here in Steamboat. The menorah issue was put to rest and it was lit on Tuesday December 16th on the front lawn of the United Methodist Church. The Menorah is symbolic of  “light, wisdom, and Divine inspiration” but it was also designed as creative art for our community.

This story was broadcast on CBS and in newspapers in other cities. To watch the video about what ended up being a story about love in action, please follow this link.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2014/12/11/menorah-blocked-from-courthouse-lawn-in-steamboat-springs/

One of the best things you can teach children when they are old enough to grasp the concepts is about multi-cultural understanding. Author Sue Batton Leonard recounts her personal experience with multi-cultural love in her memoir, an anthology of stories in her book Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. It has won several awards, one in the young adult category. The book is perfect for giving to “tweens’ and teens and an entire family.

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The memoir, an award-winning anthology of short stories is available in audio book (narrated by the author), paperback and e-book. Here is how to order:

Audio Book http://amzn.to/1trrTl9
Paperback http://amzn.to/1qmcEHI
e-Book http://amzn.to/1lx7oRh

Spiritual Opinions

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ouija board 2A combination of eeriness and curiosity is what I felt when I put my hands on the Ouija board with my friends. As a young teenager, I had just enough belief in forces greater than myself  that experimentation with the spirit board was enticing.

Sometimes when the planchette (the heart shaped piece of wood or indicator) began to move under my fingertips, I wasn’t so certain I wanted to know where it was going to land. I so hoped which ever friend who also had her hands on the indicator would push it in a favorable direction.

When I asked the Ouija Board how many children I would have, for instance, I hoped it wouldn’t stop on the number 9. “One,” I thought, “would be just fine!” After all, I realized pretty early on my odds of having a child were less than my twin sister.

Wonders of the universe have become even more fascinating to me as an adult.  I and many others question what is the real truth behind Stephen R Covey’s quotation? What is your interpretation of life – post your opinions on this site. We would like to hear our readers opinions.

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Many baby boomers will remember having a Ouija board but the origins of this controversial spirit board go much further back in history.Want to learn more about the history of this game that was so popular in the 1960s? Follow this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouija.

This blog brought to you by author Sue Batton Leonard. For information about “Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected,” please visit this site.Sue’s memoir

 

Timeless Message and Gifts Within

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“The horse is an archetypal symbol which will always find ways to stir up deep and moving ancestral memories in every human being.” ~ Paul Mellon

In a time when it seems like many in our culture want to do away with nativity scenes and other signs of the Christmas season, author JL Hardesty has found an extraordinary way to tell the story of the holiday that means so much to so many people. Her book, The Lost Legend of the First Christmas, appropriate for middle school to adult readers, uses a beautiful creature that God created, the horse, along with memorable characters, as messengers of lessons to human beings to tell the tale. The cadence and rhythm of the writing is effective in telling a story in a voice that will long be remembered.

If it is important to you that your loved ones know the true meaning of the holiday, The Lost Legend of the First Christmas is an ideal gift that shares insights of Christianity – having faith and hope in our hearts, and God’s promise to people everywhere.

Come to know the important relationship of the horse to people by reading JL Hardesty’s book.  Horse enthusiasts will love all of JL Hardesty’s publications.The author has spent her entire life in the company of horses, loving them and ceaselessly learning about them. Through her writing, Hardesty shares her knowledge of and adoration for these noble creatures with passion and clarity.

This timeless story is available through Amazon.  http://amzn.to/1cYyYO8. What a great read The Lost Legend of the First Christmas will make as a gift to children who love horses. Put one under the Christmas tree this year for the entire family to enjoy together.

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Photo: Maggie, a member of the University of Vermont (UVM) equestrian team and student of equine medicine says “Every young equestrian should read The Lost Legend of the First Christmas. She wants to recommend it to her friends.”

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling.

Journey toward Enlightenment

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Words that enlighten the soul are more precious than jewels. ~ Hazrat Inayat Khan

“Okay…it’s 4:30 in the morning and any minute we’re off to the airport…Burlington VT to Newark, NJ then 14 hrs to Bejing, from there to Mongolia and the Gobi–the first leg of the journey has begun!” ~writes Clemma Dawsen from Sandgate, Vermont.

I doubt my friend Clemma has taken her feline. She’d be more likely to transport her horse. She’s an equestrian, and finds the same kind of fulfillment in owning an equine as the Dali Lama does in having a cat. If you missed the story about His Holiness and his feline, scroll down to yesterday’s blog.

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Clemma is part of a group that is traveling from Vermont to Tibet to learn more about personal fulfillment. This group is made up of artists of all types. She will be journaling as she travels, she is the poet/writer of the group.

I am so proud of Clemma. She is deserving of this assignment. I met her when I worked as education coordinator at the VermontStateCraftCenter “Frog Hollow.” She is one of those kinds of people you feel as if you have known forever – warm, loving and friendly. We “clicked” immediately. Although we only worked together for a relatively short time, she has never left my heart. When we met, we had a lot in common – both of us had sons, who were only children. They attended the same high school and both boys have artistic spirits. We’d share notes on teen rearing a lot.

I encourage you to follow Clemma and her fellow adventurers on the blog Triptych Journey: The Alchemy of Stories, Art and Travel. http://triptychjourney.org/  .

The group is also comprised of a project advisor (a Buddist who has more than two dozen books on spirituality to his credit), a documentary cinematographer, a photographer, and a choreographer. Their mission “is to tell compelling world stories that speak to all of us. Using multimedia arts and expression, Triptych Journey connects audiences to vulnerable people, cultures and ecology, instilling values of conservation and preservation in a rapidly changing world.”

Happy Travels to All! I can’t wait to be enlightened about what is learned from this experience that will take  these artists to far off reaches of the world.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. Come on back to All Things Fulfilling tomorrow.

Writing Conflict and Lessons

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Life is a circle. The end of one journey is the beginning of the next.”
― Joseph M. Marshall III, The Journey of Crazy Horse: A Lakota History

I read a marvelous article recently in Poets and Writers Magazine about character development in stories and it got me thinking about real life people. Is it not true that some of the most interesting individuals you have ever met have incredibly complex life journeys?

If every thing in life was smooth, easy and breezy, our personal stories would be boring and there would be little reason for memoir writing. Out of strife and struggle comes personal growth, and by reading tales written by others we meet some very interesting characters who inspire us to become better people.

art of perseveranceThere is a book I encountered on Goodreads called Keep Going: The Art of Perseverance.  This book may be a good resource for writers who are frustrated and disappointed in their progress or at a loss for direction. Sage advice on not giving up is incorporated into this book. Rather than the typical new age jargon, wisdom of the ages from the Lakota Indian is shared through the writings. Click for info & ordering

Author Joseph M Marshall III, a Native American writer, inspires others in his workshops on character and leadership and through his other publications. Please visit his website to learn more about Marshall as a writer and motivational speaker. http://www.josephmarshall.com .

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.Click for info and ordering See you tomorrow on http://www.AllThingsFulfilling.com. The space where independent thoughts, words and views are all part of the business.

Stone Preservation

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“We can throw stones, complain about them, stumble on them or build with them.” ~ William Arthur Ward

Beautiful stone creations with historical value – things to preserve rather than destroy. Building with stone goes back centuries. Along with our culture’s growing passion for geneology, there has been an increasing interest in the art of preserving stone monuments and markers in America. Even the finest historical markers and structures made of rock, like cathedrals, churches, castles, bridges and roads need attention because their integrity becomes compromised due to land development, weather, neglect, acid rain and vandalism.

Jonathan Appel, is a stone conservator who has been working in graveyards to preserve monuments and markers in Civil War areas, such as in Frederick, Maryland. http://bit.ly/18ApKGI. Finding fulfillment in preserving our country’s history on holy grounds, he trains others to become monument conservators through workshops.

Last weeks blog about the building of rock sculptures for a unique, personal reason left me feeling uplifted, because one man’s efforts became an community building event. stone_sculptor_at_workOut of all the statues, obelisks, monoliths, pillars and plaques that have been created to memorialize the spirit of beings, all over the world,  I hope an overwhelming number of them have been placed to remember positive spirits who have existed on earth.

If you did not read the blog or watch the video about community efforts to support a grieving man and his art, visit this link. It’s an interesting story. Let me know what you think. http://bit.ly/145b3xc

Please return to All Things Fulfilling tomorrow for more independent thoughts, words and views from www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com . Our blog tomorrow is about a special angel and how that angel has inspired a blog that I believe deserves special mention for it’s beauty.

Wandering Walters Art Museum

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The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. ~Aristotle

As a teen, the WaltersArtGallery (now known as the WaltersArt Museum) in BaltimoreCity was one of my favorite spots to visit on rainy afternoons. It was interesting to return, decades later, to the museum as an adult. As a young person, I was not fully aware of the breadth and depth of the collections, ranging from pre-dynastic Egyptian to medieval to baroque and Italian. Flemish and Dutch, and art from far Eastern parts of the world (Asian art) is also among the more than 35,000 artifacts, paintings, ceramics, sculpture on display at “the Walters.”

Many of the naturally illuminated galleries, exquisitely showcase the artwork from around the world in the best light. The architecture is as interesting, and inspiring as the art itself. To read more about the treasures within the WaltersArt Museum, please visit this link. http://thewalters.org/about/history/. Follow me as I explore the interior spaces through this photographic tour. I did seek permission before taking these photos inside the museum.

It was a memorable Memorial Day weekend, spent in Baltimore. Time spent with my twin sister is always fulfilling!

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The exterior of the building is far different than the interior. Don’t let it fool you!

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Dramatic and exquisite entry into the “Walters”

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Above & Below: Baroque & Flemish paintings inside this gallery space

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Above & Below Images: Architectural Embellishments

The Leo in me couldn’t resist the Lion on the doors to one of the galleries

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Images Above & Below: Italian Art

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Above Image: Exhibit about book binding

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This blog is brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. See you tomorrow on http://www.AllThingsFulfilling.com , where independent thoughts, words and views are all part of the business.