Food Inspired Books

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Ice cream is happiness condensed.” ~ Jessi Lane

There are books that nurture our mind, body and spirit. Many books are inspired by our relationships to food because for many people eating is considered a spiritual thing.

 Certain types of foods calm us down, add spice to our lives, and uplift our moods. To read more about serotonin and the effect it has on our brains, please visit this website. http://on-msn.com/15XKQhf.

Photo: BlessDesign.com blessdesign.com

Quirk Books “Seekers of All Things Awesome” has come up with some book titles inspired by ice cream flavors.

  • Berry Potter and the Container of Secrets
  • Whirled War
  • War & Peach
  • Oliver Twist : Please Sir, I Want Some More
  • Clockwork Orange Creamsicle
  • One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish: The perfect snack to share with Zax

Which flavor would fulfill your palette? For me, Clockwork Orange Creamsicle would do it – refreshing citrus combined with smooth, buttery-like texture.

janet maccaro bookChange Your Food, Change Your Mood, a book by Janet Maccaro, provides diet solutions which help elevate the mood, stabilize mood swings, stress and increase focus. Good health means happy body, mind and spirit. By eating the right foods we can achieve an improved lifestyle.Click for info & ordering

Remember to eat foods that feed your soul. Life is meant to be enjoyed, so give into your cravings sometimes. Eat what turns you inside out with happiness.

ice cream happinessz

See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling. com.

An Age Old Question

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If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in. ~Rachel Carson

Before I start today’s blog, I have a special birthday to acknowledge – my husband’s.  My partner in life helped create the artist featured in yesterdays blog. As a role model and teacher to our son, he could not have been a more involved father. But then, he was experienced because he has mentored many stellar students. Happy Birthday, Coach!

Across the ages, and across the lands, children have wondered the same things “Who created the universe – the sky, the planets, the stars, human beings?”

playdough poemThe Playdough Poem, by author Sandra Edwards, published by Wine Press Kids, helps to fulfill children’s need to know the answer to these questions. Using a literary work of art along with modeling clay, children can use their tactile skills to make their unique creations that to lead to the children’s understanding of the Universe. This independently published book is used as an art resource and educational activity in Sunday schools, Vacation Bible Schools and with homeschooled Christian families.

This book is written in three languages (English, French and Spanish) all in one publication, to reach multi-cultural communities. As an adult resource, The Playdough Poem is presented at leadership conferences helping teens and older individuals understand one of life’s revelations about creation. Once we arrive at adulthood, it is up to us to create our own lives into something divinely beautiful.

The Playdough Poem is available through iTunes, in paperback, as an e-book and there is even a YouTube video http://bit.ly/16YueHz  which helps interested parties determine whether this book is suitable for sharing in certain environments. The book can be ordered from all over the world. For more information, please visit this website. http://bit.ly/1aiem5W.

molding lives

Please return tomorrow to All Things Fulfilling, where independent thoughts, words and views are all part of the business. This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Bicycles and Freedom

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“The less routine, the more life.” ~ Amos Bronson Alcott

This summer I began switching up my exercise routine alternating from walking everyday to sometimes biking. I haven’t had a bicycle in many years but thanks to my mother, I inherited hers, when she got a new one. At eighty plus years of age, she is still biking three or four days a week. That’s the way to keep on movin’! Most women in the generation before hers took to their rocking chairs at age 60, and now women are staying active well into their 70s, 80s and even at 90.

Its been a while since I have been on a bicycle, and I had forgotten the exhilaration that comes with using that mode of transportation. It is a very fulfilling feeling to be able to cover more ground, than on foot, in a short amount of time.

There are benefits to getting out of a rut, and doing something different. Choosing a unique vacation spot, driving roads less traveled, dressing in something new and stylistically different, eating foods that have never been tried before are just a few things we can do to add spice to our lives.

wheels of changeThere is a book by Sue Macy, a sports historian, called Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires along the Way) which explores how the bike had social impact on women allowing them to become more independent. Women’s infatuation with biking began as far back as the 1890s, and it started a slow evolution in fashion – moving away from Victorian couture. Bloomers, split skirts, and less voluminous dresses began making their entrance onto the fashion scene, which made biking easier for women and more convenient. Click for more info & ordering

Women’s activist Susan B Anthony once said of biking “I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.” Anthony’s independent thoughts remind me that I have freedom of choice. The same old story in my life needs to be replaced every once in a while with new narratives.

“I love biking in scenic Steamboat Springs, Colorado.”

Gift of A Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected is an story that has been waiting to be told for many years. It is now available! Click for info & orderingAll Things Fulfilling is  brought to you by www.cornerstonefulfillmentservice.com. Where independent thoughts, words and views are all part of the business.

Wholesome Balance

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It ain’t the clothes that make the cowgirl, it’s the attitude and the heart. ~Unknown

Yesterday’s blog writing was about a cowgirl artist. If you didn’t read the article, scroll down and check it out.  Donna Howell-Sickles’ brand of art is fun, and it captures an active way of life, along with a unique fashion style which is popular around many Western states. For gals who have roots in the Wild West, most would probably say they love Western living and find contentment in it.

I came across a blog the other day with interesting reading. Mind ~Body~ Spirit of a Cowgirl: Where Western Meets Wellness is a good resource for women who take living “authentically” seriously; where mind, body and spirit are balanced. Mind you, women living in concert with their souls can be found anywhere, not just west of the Mississippi. We carry our hearts with us wherever we go, and it is up to us to nurture our whole beings with all things fulfilling.

There is something for everyone to explore on freelance writer, Genevieve’s website,http://bit.ly/15KK5YO  including fashion and beauty products and tips for finding inner peace. I particularly like the traditional recipes which focus on healthier ways of fixing them with more wholesome ingredients, which support active lifestyles.

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Image above: Artist Unknown

Do return tomorrow to All Things Fulfilling, the space where independent thoughts, words and views are all part of the business. This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com .

Meeting Needs, Circuitously

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“I’m conscious of a series of circles working its way through my life.” ~ Ben Okri

Circle-Of-Life-(Small)

Image above: Artist Nathalie Parenteau

There has been a certain synchronicity lately on All Things Fulfilling around the theme of building things – building stone walls and memorials, building a beautiful home and family, building business through our passions, building meaningful relationships between people and community.

If you read yesterday’s blog called “Riding the Circuit,” there was a bit of self-deprecating humor over searching for answers to what the term “circuit rider” means. Here is a continuation of my story.

As a first time visitor, I opened the red doors to the tiny UnitedMethodistChurch on TaylorsIsland with quiet trepidation, and with much curiosity about what this “circuit rider” my mother spoke of might look like. I imagined someone in the pews would be wearing a cowboy hat, since that is what I had grown accustomed to seeing on Sunday mornings as I entered the UMC in Steamboat, Colorado. From my relatively new Western point of reference, in my mind a circuit rider is a cowboy who rides the rodeo circuit.  

In I entered. I sat in a pew behind a small group of people who turned, smiled warmly and said “Good morning, welcome!” 

“No cowboy hats in this crowd, East coast dress code” I thought. I sat quietly and reverently listening to small town conversation around me. Finally, someone remarked that “the Reverend must be running late.”

“No big deal,” I thought. I was used to people running late, in places where people recreate (in vacation places like shore towns and ski resorts) people have more laid back attitudes, and seem to run on their own time clocks. 

Finally, in the Reverend walked. What I came to find out after the powerful, inspirational sermon he delivered was that the “Rev ” is the “circuit rider” my mother talked about. He goes around fulfilling  the spiritual needs of people at four services, at four different churches on Sunday mornings. That’s why he is called a circuit rider! To read more about this preacher’s life, please visit this article. http://delmarvane.ws/1bqWxTq. This minister has been serving people for almost sixty-six years helping to build one-on-one relationships between people and God, in different communities.

Tomorrow, a shorter blog. I promise! This blog is brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

 

 

Rock Art a Healing Medium

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Making art is like giving a gift: evidence of your spirit and that you are here.” ~Patty Mitchell

Ok, so it’s not a National news story, but, it is significant to me. The short and long of the narrative goes like this….one man, stricken with grief over the death of his dog decided to make rock art to relieve his pain and sorrow. His creations brought community together, and they joined in the action so many were touched by his story. The artist’s work was then destroyed by someone who didn’t like it.

Bondville VermontDoesn’t quite seem fair, does it? The rock art sculptures, all one hundred or so of them, took delicate balance, patience and vision to build in the middle of a tributary of the WestRiver, in the small town of Bondville at the base of StrattonMountain, where I resided for almost thirty years.  The “stone forest” was not bothering nary a soul, just healing someone who needed it, yet the art was raked over like coals.

Once again, the community is gathering to support the rock artist and to do something about helping him rebuild his life through his art.

Want to learn more about this story of personal fulfillment, spirituality, community and what some see as a grave injustice? Watch this video and tell me whether you think the rock sculptures were offensive. I welcome your comments.

To view the video: http://bit.ly/1axocOu.

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Skipping Around with Images

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Each one sees what one carries in the heart” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The assimilation process of language is interesting. It reminds me how important it is that parents watch their words to their children. One never knows what will come back to us from our offspring.  Words of beauty, compassion and understanding, are better echoed by our children than words of hatred and intolerance. To learn more about language assimilation of children, please read this article http://bit.ly/133mukU.

I come by my interest in flowers and gardening, naturally, through my parents. I never realized how much knowledge  I had assimilated about flowers in my formative years until I married a man whose father was a landscaper. Garden talk automatically became common lingo in our household when our lives converged. I am both surprised and delighted when our son whips out names of familiar flowers that have grown in our gardens. He has naturally ingested the names of many species.

I know what you are thinking. “Sue sure has gone out on a tangent this morning – Odd! Where is this subject matter coming from?”I am using stream of consciousness writing, today. http://bit.ly/117U99S.  A beautiful flower that I photographed at my parents house  started me down this path of thought.

This flower, digitalis (better known as foxglove) has always been present in my garden. But the blossom pictured, is the most beautiful of its kind I have ever seen. It could serve as a specimen plant because it is particularly noteworthy and deserves “center stage.” The stem is as wide as three stems fused together, and unusually flat shaped – a real treasure. Without the abnormally shaped stem, the heavy and enormous flower would topple over! When I saw it, it made my heart skip a beat.

Those are my fulfilling independent thoughts, words and views from www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com today. Come back tomorrow, perhaps my writing will be more cohesive.

digitalis 3 digitalis 1

digitalis 2

Photo 1: Check out the triple width stem of the unusually formed digitalis.

Photo in Middle:  Three ordinary foxglove (digitalis) and one hefty, atypical plant

Photo 3: Close up of atypical specimen of digitalis.

To read more about this species of flower, digitalis, please go to .http://bit.ly/11aZikG.

Routt County 2013 EVVY Book Award Winners

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It’s back to books, business and publishing today on All Things Fulfilling.

presss release 2

May 22, 2013

Steamboat Springs, Colorado

On Saturday, May 18, 2013 in Lone Tree, Colorado, the 2013 EVVY book awards were presented by the Colorado Independent Publishers Association. Three authors, all members of We Write Steamboat, a meet-up group for independent publishers in RouttCounty, came away winners.

9780974461793.Front Cover.vxA first place prize in the health and fitness category was won by Dawn V. Obrecht, M.D. for her publication, From the Edge of the Cliff: Understanding the Two Phases of Recovery and Becoming the Person You’re Meant to Be, published by Richer Press of Phoenix, Arizona. “Doc Dawn” is also the author of Mission Possible: A Missionary Doctors Journey of Healing. It is also an award-winning book. Her practice, specializing in addiction medicine, is based in Steamboat. Click for info & ordering Dawn V Obrechts books

Alzheimers moss bookSecond place prize in the autobiography/memoir category was given to author, Donald Moss, PhD for his book Alzheimer’s: My Journey to a Next Generation Treatment. Dr. Moss resides in RouttCounty on a part-time basis, and recently retired as professor at University of Texas, El Paso. Dr. Moss’s book is available as a paperback and as an e-book. Click for info & ordering Dr. Moss’s book

newtons-ark-coverA merit award was also given to author D.A. Hill of Steamboat for his first novel Newton’s Ark. This book is the first in a trilogy series. It is available as a paperback, in digital format (e-book) and also as an audio book. Click for info & ordering D.A. Hill’s books

More EVVY award winning books will be featured on All Things Fulfilling in coming weeks.

Do return to this blog tomorrow. I will be featuring a book that I mentioned several weeks ago in the blog called Star of the Publishing World http://bit.ly/10RIonQ. The principles within this book will be  helpful to writers who struggle with completing their publishing projects.

Do stay tuned to this blog by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

 

Books Bring a Change in Environment

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Conservation is a state of harmony between man and land.” ~ Aldo Leopold

sunrise on the chesapeakeEarly 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.

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Stimulating Writing Ideas

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writer-caffeineIs 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.

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