Category Archives: Gifts

Double Trouble & Sidekick

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Double your pleasure…double your fun… vintage doublemint gum

“A gift with a kind countenance is a double present.” ~ Thomas Fuller

I am so excited, I am about to burst! Tomorrow my twin sister arrives in Steamboat Springs, Colorado from the East Coast. She is coming here for the first time and we will be celebrating our birthday! It has been decades (if I am calculating correctly – about 32 or 33 years) since my twin and I have been together to recognize this day of personal importance.

To top off the cake, another sister of the heart, our childhood friend Mary Grace, whom I featured in a chapter of my memoir is arriving also. Jan and Mary have not seen each other since the mid-nineteen seventies! To read more about this special friend, visit this link. https://allthingsfulfilling.com/2014/06/04/sisters-of-the-heart/.

Mary will be here with us for only one night of celebration because she must rush back to her work. She is a veterinarian who is caring for a nearly extinct species – black-footed ferrets. It is the breeding season and she has nearly 200 newborn ferrets  under her watchful eye for the U.S. Forest and Wildlife Service. For more information on Mary’s work as a veterinarian, please visit this link.http://bit.ly/1qanHiZ and http://bit.ly/1l7vXEx.

I wrote about Mary’s love of animals and her fulfilling work previously in the blog called Horse Sense. If you missed it, here is the link https://allthingsfulfilling.com/2014/06/03/horse-sense/.

The next few days will be a gift of a lifetime, filled with all kinds of fulfilling things for my twin and me and our sidekick! Bring on the fun, hon……

For more information on Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, available in audio, paperback and e-book, please visit this link.http://amzn.to/1tbsLc3

Sing-A-Long Songs

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Monday’s blog fired-up my noggin’!  Today on All Things Fulfilling, I’ll share tunes that baby boomers will have fun recollecting.

Vintage record playerI’ll bet this image piqued your memory. If you are a baby boomer, you’ll remember LP albums and 45 rpm vinyl records. I’m willing to bet that you listened to tunes on a portable record player, like the one pictured.(That is if you could hear the words with all the scratches.)  See if you remember the full verses to these songs –

  • How much is that doggie in the window…
  • ….And if that mockingbird don’t sing, daddy’s gonna buy me a diamond ring…..
  • All around the cobbler’s bench, the monkey chased the weasel. The monkey said…..
  • Zippedity doo dab, zippedity aye – my, oh, my what a wonderful…..
  • I love you a bushel and a peck and a ……
  • Bibbidi…bobbidy…boo. Put it together and what do you got?
  • Jeepers, creepers! Where’d you get those ….
  • A dream is a wish your heart makes when you are ……
  • Mama’s little baby likes shortnin’, shortnin’, Mama’s little baby loves……

I hope your memory has served you well, and you haven’t lost your faculties. Chances are you are aging better than your ancestors! Are you singing yet?

If you can’t remember the verses of these songs, you can listen in to a few bars of music from each of them, and other popular hits of the same era through this link, http://bit.ly/1oSzXIz.

See how much fun it is to arouse the brain with past times in our personal histories?

We survived

 Do return tomorrow to All Things Fulfilling.

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. Now available for your listening pleasure in audio book (the voice holds the real treasure), paperback and e-book for all types of e-readers.  Click the link to see how to get it. http://amzn.to/WQbl8O

 

 

 

 

Hot Flashes

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newsflashToday, instead of the Flashback blog that I had promised, we will post an independent publishing NEWS FLASH ! Short, sweet and to the point!

Flashes, are good  – it means something is hot, scintillating, light filled or illuminating! Here is the announcement ~

Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected has been nominated as a FINALIST in the

Colorado Independent Publishers Association EVVY Book Awards – anthology category!

 

quote about life

Tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling  there will be another sweet treat for our readers –flashbacks to songs for baby boomers! You are invited to celebrate with me.

shortbread pansie cookies

 

This blog is brought to you by author Sue Batton Leonard. For more information and ordering Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, please visit this link. http://amzn.to/VcIcTO. Now available in audio book (the voice holds the real treat), paperback and e-book.

 

Domestic Duties

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“The best time to plan a book is while doing the dishes.” ~ Agatha Christy

On All Things Fulfilling sometimes we jump from subject to subject. This is “Flashbacks Week.” So today is the first in a series of words and images that will stir your memories of an era gone by.

For many Americans, the 1950’s evokes images of domestic duties that have now gone by the wayside. Before the 1970s,  “household domestics, ” were often hired to assist families with household tasks. This was more prevalent in homes south of the Mason-Dixon line.  Baby boomers who remember “those days” will relate to my memoir and will have interest in this article. http://www.safemotherhood.org/domestic-work.html

When was the last time you saw a women spending part of her day doing the following:

  • Polishing sterling silver
  • Manually sprinkling clothes and rolling them before ironing
  • Making school lunches and wrapping the food in waxed paper
  • Setting out crystal salt and pepper dishes at in front of each place when setting the table
  • Teaching the next generation how to properly set a table, with several size spoons & forks, special butter knifes, crystal goblets and bone china.
  • Hosting a weekly “bridge party” with tea sandwiches, homemade baked goods, and a little afternoon glass of sherry.
  • Starching the tablecloths and sheets and ironing them.
  • Darning toes and heels of socks
  • Icing a cake wearing an apron and pearls

Memoirs are made out pictures of our past. Some people use recollections to create written legacies, like myself.

Do return to All Things Fulfilling tomorrow. This blog brought to you by the author of “Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected” by Sue Batton Leonard. For information and ordering, follow this link.http://amzn.to/1mCmyQd

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We’ve Got Ya Covered

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“Travel is more than the seeing of sights, it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of the living.”   –Miriam Beard

I’ve always had a penchant for covered bridges. I suppose it began during my childhood years when our family spent time on Lake Champlain in Vermont for many summers. Every time we passed by the Shelburne Museum, I saw their covered bridge and loved it.

When I was in college and moved off campus, I had to cross a covered bridge every morning and evening on my way to campus. Sometimes it was by way of foot and sometimes in my old hand-me-down station wagon. The girth of the car took up the entire bridge it was so wide. Only one car at a time could travel through it.

If you are a fan of covered bridges, you’d love Vermont, and you ought to visit the State. Leaf peeping (aka fall foliage) time is the best. Colors of golden yellow,  vibrant orange and firey red from the maple trees are a sight to behold along with the contrast of verdant green in the fields and meadows. From the northern border which touches Canada to the southern part of the State, bordering Massachusetts, vibrant color is everywhere.

Crossing over that covered bridge in Johnson, Vermont every morning and evening gave me warm, fulfilling feelings. As it turned out, this girl who originated from the south of the Mason-Dixon Line had found a place in the North Country that she would call home for three decades.

Covered bridge near Chaffee House

Above: Covered Bridge at Rt 100C, Johnson, Vermont

This image and more wonderful Vermont images can be purchased through www,hansonstudio.com

Johnson State College  http://www.jsc.edu

Below Photos: Shelburne Museum   www.shelburnemuseum.org

shelburne museum1Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont.Shelburne_lighthouse1shelburne museum3Shelburne Museum 5

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. For information on the memoir, please visit this website

http://amzn.to/1oj1hjW

No Excuses, Play On

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Don’t handicap your children by making their lives easy. ~ Robert A. Heinlein

I remember thinking how lucky one of my girlfriends was because every year Mary Ellen and her sister and parents went to amusement parks  in their motor home for Christmas.

Instead, our family rented chalets and went skiing in the mountains of Vermont. How I wished our family was “normal.” In the 1950s and 1960s few Maryland families traveled great distances. I remember trying to voice my opinion of how much fun it would be to go to amusement parks more often instead of having to work so hard at learning how to ski. Skiing wasn’t easy and I nearly froze my fanny off in the process. Not to even mention toting the all gear – that was very difficult for a young child whose start was so tenuous.

Vintage ski picWhen I whined, my Dad used to tell me carrying the equipment builds muscles and the rope tow WAS an amusement park ride. “Who cares about muscles. ” I thought. For others who watched me fall off  the rope tow, it probably was amusing. Doing face plants every foot up the mountain because I didn’t have the strength to hold onto the rope, and then again as I skied back down the mountain wasn’t exactly my idea of fun!

When I went off to college in the North Country, I was never so grateful for the years my parents spent planting seeds of appreciation in me for the love of the great outdoors and teaching us kids to ski. Those skills came in handy and my enjoyment of the sport grew in gigantic proportions.

There have been other lifelong benefits that came out of my early struggles, too. As an adult I can admit “Dad and Mom knew best.” Here is an article about the health benefits of skiing.http://bit.ly/1unzjDi

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. Now available in audio book, paperback and e-book. Psst…..the voice holds the real treasure!http://amzn.to/1orPIRI

TV Shows of the 1950s and 1960s

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“Never, ever underestimate the importance of having fun.” ~ Randy Pausch

Let’s keep All Things Fulfilling fun and frivolous for the rest of  the week. Baby boomers do you remember the Lorenzo Stomp and Yakety Saks? I can still recall the catchy tune they’d play on channel WJZ TV in Maryland,  “The Land of Pleasant Living!” My sister and brothers and I loved doing the Lorenzo Stomp – it made us laugh and we all looked as if we’d all gone haywire as we whistled and danced around the room.

Click here and you can read what others remember about the Lorenzo the Tramp Show that originated in Baltimore and later was broadcast in Pennsylvania. http://www.topix.com/forum/city/allentown-pa/T0HNE8P1SAKD5J0J1 As years go by, memories fade. Surely, if you don’t remember Lorenzo the Tramp, you will remember Bozo the Clown. How can you forget this  face? Bozo the Clown After all these years, Bozo has not completely disappeared off the planet. You can still purchase a Bozo the Clown punching bag from http://www.vermontcountrystore.com . What a great gift to give a baby boomer who is celebrating his or her 60th or 65th birthday. Most people who remember Bozo are in that age group.  With aging, life sometimes deals us some punches we aren’t fully prepared to deal with. A gift of a Bozo the Clown punching bag will provide a safe place to vent and bring fulfilling memories of TV yesteryear back. How can this fella not make you smile? bozo clown - available at VT Country Just another fulfilling memory from Sue Batton Leonard, author of  the memoir Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.  Ready for a little nonsense? Watch the video I’ve posted and practice up the Lorenzo Stomp! See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling.

Circle of Life

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“There are patterns which emerge in one’s life, circling and returning anew, an endless variation of a theme”  ― Jacqueline Carey

Hoola HoopOn Saturday evening, my husband and I went to a free concert at Howelson Hill in Steamboat. It was just one of several offered throughout the summer.

As I sat and listened to the band and watched the crowd, I was reminded of a 1950s fad. There were a handful of girls and grown women  hula hooping to the music! Those ladies were good! They kept the hoop spinning as it revolved around their necks and waists and then when they dropped down to their knees, in a kneeling position, they kept it going. As they stood again, they keep the hoop revolving around their ankles. Never once touching the plastic circle.

Wow- quite different than the hula hoops skills I had. And talk about a workout and being creative with a simple circle- some of the moves, I can’t even find the words to explain it!

Isn’t it funny how fads, like fashions, come and go and come back around again through the ages? Hula hoops provided many hours of fulfilling fun for me, my sister and our girlfriends.

This is just another bit of nostalgia from the gift we humans are given – a lifetime full of memories!

This blog brought to you by author Sue Batton Leonard. Her publication is now also available in audio book for your reading pleasure. Click on this link for more information on the audio book, the paperback and the e-book.http://amzn.to/1nDmKTu

Developing Talent

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“Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.”  ~ Arthur Schoenhauer boy playing pianoSunday was such a joyful day for the family of a ten year old boy from Newport News, Virginia. He’s been visiting his grandparents in Steamboat, and found an opportunity that he didn’t expect when he arrived here – two chances to play the piano in front of an audience of a fully-packed church.

The boy is years beyond his peers in his musical abilities. To say he is “gifted” doesn’t quite cover it. Our first chance as a community to hear this youngster play the piano was Sunday, a week ago. He skillfully played “Let it Go,” from the soundtrack of Disney’s movie “Frozen.” It’s one of my current favorites.

Two days ago he returned to surprise his parents by playing Pachelbel’s – Canon on the pipe organ. While the student has been visiting,  the United Methodist Church in Steamboat has been letting this talented young artist practice on their piano in the sanctuary. His parents were not aware that he also has been allowed to try his hands, for the first time, on a pipe organ.

I got a little teary-eyed as I listened to the boy play the pipe organ so magnificently and skillfully for his young age. I couldn’t  help but think about all the young children who have undiscovered talents or not the right opportunities to develop them. In general, communities of caring people need to do better at helping children nurture their innate abilities. Whether a child’s talents lie in the Arts, Science, Communications or any other field that really holds their passions and interests,  having strong mentors is important.

The most beautiful part of this story – This child already understands the gifts that he has been given and where they have come from. Best to you always, Mason! You really impressed us.

This blog brought to you the author of Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, Sue Batton Leonard. Now Available in Audio: Click here for info. and also available in paperback and e-book!

Perfecting a Craft

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character

Becoming a published author does not mean a writer is finished learning their craft – hardly! Just like any artist, spending time honing skills is all part of being an writer.

A week from today I will be participating in A Day for Writers in Steamboat Springs. This will be the thirty-third annual event hosted by the Steamboat Writers Group. Here’s what Friday evening and Saturday activities look like:

  • Friday evening Meet & Greet and buffet dinner. Afterward is 10 Minutes of Fame. We will get to read from our published or unpublished work. Fanny (the stellar character in Gift of A Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected) will be making a guest appearance! One never knows what words of wisdom might come out of her mouth.
  • Mystery Writer Rex Burns will lead us in learning more about setting and description. Later in the day we will practice our craft by writing descriptive passages.
  • Teresa Funke will be on hand to talk about book promotion. This will be my second opportunity to listen to this highly skilled professional speaker.I look forward to it. Secondly she will give us some insight into the perspective of what book buyers are looking for. For more information on Teresa’s publications, public speaking and creativity coaching, please visit her website http://www.teresafunke.com/.

I am looking forward to a Day for Writers in Steamboat. The opportunity to attend writers conferences and workshops are a gift of a lifetime for me because I plan to continue writing.  I can’t learn enough about what readers are looking for when they sit down to read a good book. There is more to it than you can ever imagine.

After next weekend is all over, I will provide you with a recap. So look for the upcoming story on All Things Fulfilling.

This blog brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard. As  narrator and author, she says of  her audio book ” Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, “the voice contains the real treasure” .For info & ordering click on this link