Category Archives: Learning

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

Meet You at the Sandbox

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“Play is the work of children. It’s very serious stuff.” ―Bob Keeshan

Welcome back! Hope you had fun weekend.

A few years ago when I moved to Colorado, I went to a business conference for entrepreneurs. I sat next to a very nice young woman, not many years out of college. We visited throughout the day and enjoyed each other’s company. At end of the conference, she turned to me and said, “You know, you really ought to join the young professionals networking group.”  I began laughing!

“What?” she asked, in all seriousness. “What are you laughing at?”

“Young professionals?” I asked. Not because I thought joining networking groups for professionals was a bad idea but because I was questioning her judgment of how old I was. If fact, there are great advantages to joining organizations to meet-up with other entrepreneurs and business people. http://bit.ly/1uICWXy.

“Yes,” she said, “they are a great group and you ought to be part of it.”

Captain KangarooI kept laughing and said, “I don’t think you understand how old I am. I’m not sure I can keep up with all the techies and you. I grew up with Captain Kangaroo!”

“What?” she asked. “Who is that?”

“A TV icon from the 1950s and 60s. You know,” I said, even though I knew she didn’t, “his friends were Mr. Green Jeans, and Bunny Rabbit.”

“Sorry, I don’t know who or what you are taking about,” she looked at me like I was crazy and dropped the subject.

As I left the conference and considered what she said to me, I began to feel good that even though I am a baby boomer this young professional had wanted me to play in the same sandbox!

If you even know what a sandbox is you belong in the same group as I do – the playpen for people who remember when life and child’s play was much simpler.

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This blog brought to you by author Sue Batton Leonard. For more information on her book, the memoir “Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected,” please follow this link.http://amzn.to/1pRK5Ao

“Rock ‘N Roll Babe”

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Do you believe in rock and roll? Can music save your mortal soul? ~ Don McLean (American Pie)

A bad trip, ban the bra, beatniks, bean bag chairs, bellbottoms, Berkley, black lights, bongs, “blow your mind” and body paint are just a few words that describe this era. If are a baby boomer, and you are reading this story, that means you survived the age of Aquarius and the hippie generation. You were lucky, some didn’t! Aren’t you just the grooviest and out of sight!

Here are some images that further tell the psychedelic story. Only a few other words are needed. Peace, Love and Right On!  All Things Fulfilling often serves as a crash pad for remembering the “good ole days.”  It’s where I do my own thing!

Come back tomorrow – don’t be a cop out.  I plan to be here if I don’t have to go looking for my granny glasses and my earth shoes. Now, where did I put them…….probably with my Rock ‘N Roll, Hoochie Koo album by Johnny Winter.

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Peace dude.

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Old hippies don’t die, they just lie low until the laughter stops and their time comes around again! ~ Joseph Gallivan

If you like recalling times in our country’s cultural history,  you’ll enjoy Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.  Click here for more information! The book is now a FINALIST in the Colorado Independent Publishers Association EVVY Book awards. http://amzn.to/1pMxnjH

Those Were The Days

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You know you are a baby boomer, born in the 1950s and 1960s if you remember when:

  • The milk man cometh

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  • the World Book Encyclopedia salesman showed up at your family’s  front door

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  • going to the drive-in movies with your parents was exciting (I remember seeing Goldfinger at Timonium Drive-In….shhh…don’t tell my parents. I was supposed to be asleep in the back seat!)

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  • mail arrived accurately without a zip code

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  • phone numbers were only two letters and five digits

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  • pretzels and potato chips were delivered by truck in large tin cans 

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  • the Girl  Scout “flying up ceremony” was prestigious

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  • you had to walk to the TV to change the channel

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  • seat belts were not even in the vocabulary

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  • Miss Nancy ruled Romper Room

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  • Thumbelina was the most wanted gift on your Xmas List

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  •   fun meant “hanging with the crowd,” at S.S. Kresgres or Reads Drugstore drinking ice cold soda,  jiving to the juke box, and swirling around on swivel stools.

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Those were the days, weren’t they?

As Robert Frost once said “In three words I can sum up what I have learned about life. It goes on.”

This blog is brought to you by author Sue Batton Leonard. For information on the publication Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, which has been selected as a FINALIST in the Colorado Independent Publishers Association EVVY BOOK AWARDS,  please visit this link:  http://amzn.to/1kzGw2t

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!

 

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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.

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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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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

New Newswire: Outdoor Enthusiasts

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 “Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time.” ~ Leo Buscaglia

Vacation adventures from days of my youth have changed a lot with the availability of air travel. People like more active involvement in their experiences.  Both young and old, seek sites in far off places across the globe. Popular forms of enchanting travel for many means visiting mountains, forests, oceans, deserts, fjords and glaciers. Indeed, experiential travel is big these days and so are the numbers of people who enjoy active lifestyles in the great big outdoors!

Crux CollectiveThere is a new website which will soon be officially launching in September called http://thecruxcollective.com/. Anyone who loves nature adventures will enjoy frequenting this site.

The Crux Collective’s mission is to “educate, inspire and encourage traditional and non-traditional exploration of the outdoors.” Watch this site as it develops. It will serve as an interesting news wire with photographs, videos and other interesting content for the outdoors enthusiast.

 

My interpretation of Crux Collective’s mission is “give yourself the gift of living a life of  fulfilling treks and expeditions!” Not everyone has the means to go to exotic places in far off corners of the globe but you can learn more about our world, near and far,  through Crux Collective. Check it out.

See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling. This blog is brought to you by author Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.

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!