Category Archives: storytelling

Discussing Eggs and Life

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“Mom,” my 27 year old son said to me during my visit in February, “What kind of eggs do you buy at the grocery store?”

“I don’t know,” I said, “whatever is the least expensive. Usually store brand.”

“You know, I’ve gotten to be an egg snob.”

“You have?”I asked with an element of surprise in my voice. “So, why have you become an egg snob?”

“Eggs aren’t all the same, you know.”

Yes, being a fraternal twin I am aware of that, I thought. But instead I responded, “I’ve bought brown eggs when they are running a special, and I can honestly say, I have noticed a difference. But,” I continued, “I try not to sweat the small stuff in life. That’s why I don’t read every label. Sometimes you have to trust life and ask yourself  is the brand of food I buy really going to significantly change the outcome of my life? I mean, you could drive yourself crazy making decisions like that at the grocery store. I have not been kept on this earth all these years, as healthy as I have been, because God wanted me to spend my time agonizing over every food choice at the grocery store. I’d like to think HIS plans for me were different than that.”

Our egg and life discussion continued a little longer about the pro’s and con’s of evaluating every single item that we put in our stomachs, and whether that is a healthy way to live or not.  When my son and I have thought provoking talks it brings me great happiness because it feels like it draws us closer to understanding one another.

Ok, so, now  two months later I know what the lengthy egg discussion was REALLY all about. My son was using his acumen to get my opinion on something because he was trying decide whether he liked an idea or not.

Guess what? We are back to chicken talk. My son and his gal, a nutritionist, have decided to engage in their own “urban living” chicken project so they can have fresh eggs on their side of the neighborhood.

meghan and chicks April 2015 CROPPED

Do you know what this means? I have become the grandmother of two chickens – what an interesting thought.

Charley Brown on worrying

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

A Joyous Easter Sunday

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“Find a place inside where there is joy.” ~ Joseph Campbell

I was introduced to the writings of Joseph Campbell some years back by someone who I consider to be a mentor.  Many of Campbell’s thoughts, in my opinion, perfectly reflect what all things fulfilling is really all about.

On Easter Sunday, I enjoyed the creative tasks of making a memorable Easter Sunday brunch just for the two of us empty nesters – my husband and me. We had a lovely day including an “Easter Sunday journey,” recalling memories of Easters past.

We laughed about the days when our son indulged us (his mother & father) far longer than he really needed to by continuing to look like he enjoyed searching for the Easter eggs the Easter bunny had hidden, even though he had learned of every possible secret hiding place many years prior.

For me the most meaningful part of Easter Sunday this year was all about finding that inner place where there is contentment and beauty in memories and the delicious food on the table.

Terrys photo1easter table

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.

Easter Eggs of the Past

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You must know that there is nothing higher and stronger and more wholesome and good for life in the future than some good memory, especially a memory of childhood, of home. ~ Fyoda Dostoyevsky

Oh, Easter Joy! Look at these little pretties that are pictured. I’ve been up since before the crack of dawn making them.

In my memory box from my childhood are recollections of the year my mother and my aunt Claire made my twin sister, two brothers and me, and our two cousins Jay and Karen (aka Meg) hand-crafted Easter eggs made out of mashed potatoes.  Yes, you read it right – mashed potatoes.

Although both my mother and my aunt (now in their mid-eighties)  have lucid memories of making these eggs, neither of them still have the recipe but I was able to track it down from A Taste of Home.

The candy is every bit as good and sweet as commercially made coconut-crème Easter eggs (sweet enough to send your preschooler on a jet propulsion sugar high until she/he graduates from college). Perhaps they do have a smidge more nutritional value since they are made with potatoes!

easter handmade chocolatesWhat a fulfilling morning I have had recreating a childhood memory by making my own hand-crafted coconut-creme eggs. Only thing missing was my mom and aunt by my side!  Mom & Claire – you are in my heart today and every day because of the memories you made for our family during our childhood.

Easter 4Readers, I share the recipe with you today while there is still time to make these candies for Easter for your family. They are really quite easy!

Recipe: Mashed Potato Hand-Crafted Easter Eggs from A Taste of Home

1/2 cup butter softened (I used no-salt butter)

1/2 cup cold mashed potatoes (cold is important) -plain – prepared without added milk & butter)

2 lbs confectioners sugar

1 1/2 cups flaked coconut

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 lb of dark chocolate candy coating (such as Wilton Candy Melts) – Walmart has these

In bowl, cream butter and beat in mashed potatoes. Add coconut and vanilla and then add in confectioners sugar. You may need less or more sugar until you have a somewhat stiff dough.

Line cookie sheet with waxed paper and dot with tablespoon size clumps of the mixture. Refrigerate 4 -6 hours. Once refrigerated the candy mixture will stiffen up and be easier to work with to shape into egg shaped forms.

In microwave oven melt candy coating according to directions and dip oval shaped (egg shaped) candy into the chocolate. Let excess chocolate drip off. Decorate with sprinkles or other candy decorations or leave plain. Place on waxed paper and chill once again until set. Store these in refrigerator until ready to serve. Makes approx 96 candies. The recipe can be halved easily.

Easter book promo

Return tomorrow there will be an Easter gift from me to you! You will be able listen to an audio narration of an Easter story from a chapter of my award-winning audio book Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. The audio book is narrated by it’s author, Sue Batton Leonard.

Re-Enactment of a Sacred Time

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All of spiritual practice is a matter of relationship: to ourselves, to others, to life’s situations. – Jack Kornfield

As you will come to understand when you read my memoir, Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, our parents sometimes allowed my brothers, sister and me to do things unconventionally.

Mom recently found this memorabilia in her hope chest. She had forgotten she had tucked away these writings nearly fifty years ago when my sister and brothers and I were little children.

I will leave it up to the readers imaginations as to what my sister Jan, my brother Rick and a dear neighbor named Margy and I were planning. If you wish to fully understand what we were up to, there is a poignant chapter in my memoir that goes with this program. Even though I did not have these writings before I published my memoir they were not needed for my storytelling because I so vividly remember this day and others just like it. It would have been nice however, to have been able to include these writings in my publication.

My youngest brother Scott was not mentioned in this program. But as the years went on, we planned other similar events and Scott became an active participant.

church service we wrote for around the pool page1 - right position

 

church service we wrote for around pool page2 -right position

During this week of holy celebration of Easter, I thought it would be an appropriate time to  share this treasure from my mother’s hope chest. When I read this, it warms me to the depth of my inner being. It’s a reflection of many fulfilling times that I had as a child with my siblings.

So as not to give anything away to those who haven’t read my award-winning anthology of stories yet, try to imagine in your mind where this event may have taken place. Read the book and see if you were right.

This blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, the author of the award-winning book (an anthology) Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.

 

 

 

7 Things You Didn’t Know About Me

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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.

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#4  Although I have lived high up in the mountains for 44 years. My heart belongs here:

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#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!”

 

 

 

 

 

Time Marches Forward

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“In all things of nature, there is something marvelous.” ~ Aristotle

During the final days of February I marched myself down to New Mexico, while my husband went off to Alaska to coach the Colorado Mountain College ski team. I’d gone to spend a little time with the birthday boy, our son!

Over the next few days I will share a few of my travels.

If you are ever in the area of Tent Rocks National Monument located between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico, do stop! Ecologically speaking, it is quite unique. Not even to mention the scenery. If you go, be on the lookout for “Apache tears” – rounded, clear pieces of obsidian. Hot lava created the “tent rocks” some 6 to 7 million years ago, and the “apache tears” were caused by obsidian rock abruptly cooling.

Images will much better tell the story of tent rocks! Follow me through the slot canyons deep into the park.

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IMG_20150221_123313_835Oh, the climb was so worth what we saw at the top! Thanks for entertaining me Meghan and Marc. It was great being with you and happy 27th birthday, Marc!

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.

Honoring Black History Month

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Frederick Douglass taught that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom, but reading is still the path.  ― Carl Sagan

February is Black History Month. I recently read a book about the Underground Railroad which helped me to understand more deeply about period of history when the movement to free slaves began. The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier is a departure from the historical art fiction that I’d come to know this author by. Her hugely successful book The Girl with the Pearl Earring was my first foray into Chevalier.

As with all of Chevalier’s other books, the writing is beautifully rendered and The Last Runaway did not disappoint. My journey into this period of history through Chevalier’s publication has made me want to read even more about the Underground Railroad.  As suggested by the docent at the Harriet Tubman Educational Center and Museum, A Song Unsung will be my next push into learning more about the Underground Railroad.

My interest in black history began in earnest last fall when I visited the Harriet Tubman Educational Center last in Cambridge, Maryland. Tubman was one of the most notable figures in history who was a catalyst for change in her people and in our country’s story about slavery.

underground railroad map

Celebrate Black History Month by doing some reading on the subject.

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

Of All Things! A Mustard Seed?

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From a small seed a mighty trunk might grow ~ Aeschylus

The other day, a memory came to me as I stood in the line at the grocery store. I saw an elderly woman who had a beautiful silver watch on her wrist. It was unlike the kind of watch that you see in this day and age, and it reminded me of my Grandmother. Back in her day, watches were made like fine art – the work that went into crafting them was apparent.

mustard seedMy grandmother always wore a lovely watch with a little bauble that hung from it, just like in this image. What really intrigued me was the seed inside the bauble. I thought it was kind of intriguing but, I couldn’t imagine why would anyone carry around a seed hanging from their watch.

My grandmother told me it was a mustard seed but never told me of the seed’s significance. Perhaps it was just one of those things she wanted me to discover for myself as I grew up.

Did you know there is a full story behind  the meaning of the mustard seed? Skip down to the third paragraph of the article, that really gets to the heart of the matter.

Mustard Seed Faith

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

 

 

 

Colored Me Beautifully

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Do you remember back when civilty and common courtesy ruled? Please understand I share this story as an example of those times, not for self-serving purposes. I mean that.

My mother recently went through her hope chest, and sent some wonderful things that she had been saving for me. I couldn’t believe what she held on to for so many years.

In 1974, when I was 19 years old, I had a car accident. It was nothing more than a small fender bender and I think my Dad paid for the damages out of his pocket they were so minimal. At the time I thought it was the biggest tragedy that had ever befallen me. Never did it occur to me that I had been through much worse than that and survived the experience.

My twin sister was in the passenger seat and there were no injuries other than to the spirit. I was beside myself. (You know how teenage girls tend to over react, right?) I felt awful I had damaged someone else’s car and my parent’s vehicle.

I couldn’t believe the kindness the man that I rammed into showed me. He offered to come home with me to help me tell my parents because I was such a wreck. My sister can testify that the man upheld his offer.

Furthermore, after it was all done and over, the wife of the man I rammed into sent this note to my parents to let him know their car had been repaired and all was well. No hard feelings.

note about my car accident when 19 correct position

(Truthfully, I don’t have any clue what I said or did to warrant the comments on this note.)

Today’s message on All Things Fulfilling is for all parents. I want to share what John Locke once said, “We are like cameleons, we take our color and our hue of our moral character, from those who are around us.” ~ John Locke

Paint a picture of people

Thank you, Mom & Dad. I am so glad I grew up in an era of old-fashioned civilty and you raised me to have a strong moral compass. According to Locke, your colors must have rubbed off on me.  I hope I always stay true to my values.

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, Sue Batton Leonard.

 

 

 

 

Thirsty Thursday: A Barber’s Message

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Children, after all, are not just adults-in-the-making. They are people whose current needs and rights and experiences must be taken seriously. – Alfie Kohn

Books, inspiration and a motivational message from a man who cuts hair for a living is what today’s message is all about. This barber is reaching “rock star status” among youth with his passion for sharing his views on the importance of education and finishing school.

Take just two minutes to watch this video. This story is not hot off the press but, maybe you haven’t yet seen it. You’ll be impressed!

Come on back on Friday to All Things Fulfilling. We will see what else we can share that will be of interest in helping you to provide important messages to the youth in your life.

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.