Category Archives: Medical

Life Through Iris’ Eyes

Leave a comment

Today’s story on Thirsty Thursday is about a woman who has not spent one extra minute of her life worrying what others might think. Enter Iris Apfel – the woman who says “happiness is more important than what you look like.”

Despite her words, she’s garnered plenty of interest in the fashion world over the years – enough for documentary filmmakers to want tell her story.

Enjoy the film trailer I’ve posted. The two minute clip has important messages about life which if we are open to the thoughts,  can be gifts for us all. The film critics call the movie an “exuberant portrait.”

Moral of the story:

Life shrinks or expands

That’s all for today on this Thirsty Thursday! I look forward to your return to All Things Fulfilling tomorrow.  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.

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!”

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

Thirsty Thursday: Lifted Spirits

Leave a comment

“What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our attitude toward it. Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity.” ― J. Sidlow Baxter

I love stories of finding ways to turn a difficult situation into a positive experience. This group of men decided to take matters into their own hands when their plane experienced a delayed lift-off!

This short video exemplifies the benefits that come “when we are no longer able to change a stituation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” ~ Victor Frankl

Thats all from All Things Fulfilling on this Thursday. I hope your spirits have been lifted in some way because somedays we all thirst for that.

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.

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.

Thirsty Thursday: Footloose

Leave a comment

If you want to be happy, be! ~ Leo Tolstoy

I love that quotation! It reminds me that we can be anything we decide we want to be.

It’s good for the spirit to let loose and have fun. Sometimes enjoyment comes while living vicariously and sometimes it means being the active participant! Watch this video and you’ll be ready to join in on the joy!

And see you back here tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling!

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

 

 

Son Shine Today

2 Comments

“Today you are you! It is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-are than you! ~ Dr. Seuss

I’m continuing on yesterday’s topics of children, memories and mindfulness. Today is a day of celebration and I am blogging from New Mexico. Rather than spend time writing, I’ve taken the easy way out by posting some old photographs from of my memory box.

Twenty-seven (27!!!! ) years ago today, my husband and I received the most precious gift of all – our beloved son was born. Nineteen eighty-eight is a fun year to remember. But it was not a year just to BE! There were three sets of very busy parents in our family. Our son is pictured below at age three, with a two of his cousins who were all  born in 1988, within 10 months of each other.

What I want to know is how can that BE? How could 27 yrs have gone by me so quickly?

cousins and bday party

Happy Birthday, Marc!

“You are my sonshine.”  ~Author Unknown

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.

 

State of Being

Leave a comment

Have you ever noticed how people tend to rationalize everything? I‘ve been known to do that.

My son, who has always been, from a very young age, very astute about human nature said to me one day when he was about nine or ten “Mom, why do you do that?”

“Do what?” I said.

“Try to figure out the reason for everything?”

“What did just I do?” I asked, not knowing what I had said or done to bring up these questions.

“You just said you are cold.”

“So, what’s wrong with that?” I asked my son, shivering and rubbing my hands together to warm up.

“Then you went on to say all the reasons why you might be cold. Did  you ever think that you might just BE?”

“No,” I replied, “I’ll have to think about that!”

There is no doubt about it I do tend to try to figure out the reason for everything. And what’s more, I go to great lengths to explain things in writing on All Things Fulfilling! Ah well, what can I say? I’ll have to remind myself:

Not everything in life makes sense

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

 

 

 

Lettuce Thank Them

3 Comments

“We are all one Energy Stream, but what makes the separations or distinguishes the differences is perspective. You are a unique and individual perspective.” ~ Abraham-Hicks

We all know people who even as young children have “marched to the sound of a different drummer” or “keep a different pace than their peers” or perhaps it could be said “they go their own sweet way.”

Some people have a greater tolerance and understanding for deviations in personalities  than others. Thankfully “creative spirit” is not frowned upon in children as much as when I was growing up. People have grown to appreciate and celebrate creative thinking more, and the gifts unique perspectives bring to the world.

color inside the lines

When I saw this image below, I couldn’t help but ponder what extraordinary thinking and perspective!  It’s really cool couture! Yep, it’s a composition made with lettuce and etching.

very creative couture

Today  we are celebrating creative thinking and creative spirits on All Things Fulfilling.

If the energy is positively channeled, sometimes magnificent things become of children who go along looking at life a little differently. It is what makes life interesting!

See you tomorrow we will have more to say on ways to BE!

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fulfilling Things in a Memory Box

Leave a comment

“Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.” — Napoleon Hill.


I am so grateful that we have a historian among my college girlfriends. She’s saved everything from those years, right down to swizzle sticks and paper cocktail napkins from our favorite haunts.

It gives me great pleasure to go visit her because that’s when all the memorabilia from those years come out. We have a heyday recalling the stories that go with each of the tokens she’s stashed away in her memory box.  Having souvenirs of the past are a great way to trigger those memories we had forgotten about.

Admittedly, I’m not that much of a saver of things. I have a rule on clothing. If I don’t wear it after two or three years, it gets passed along. Why? Because I don’t like to move things that I don’t actively use. I try to keep my accumulations to a minimum, as hard as that is.

Although I do have a few boxes of things of sentimental value that I cling to, and will never give away,  memoir writing allows me hold dear to memories that are special without having to amass boxes of “things.”

As we age, baby boomers, it is important to write things down before those memories disappear forever.

Do you have a memory box or have you ever thought about making a memory box? Here are just a few photos that I keep in mine.

collage of family pics from when marc was young 25% enlarged

This blog is brought to you by the  author Sue Batton Leonard, who has won three awards for her award-winning memoir, an anthology of short stories.