Category Archives: Healthy living and healthy relationships

Holding On to Memories

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 “Memory believes before knowing remembers.” ~ William Faulkner, Light in August

“I just knew you two would always be in my life,” stated Mary Grace as my sister and I walked down Lincoln Avenue in Steamboat after having stuffed ourselves with nachos and drinks at The Cantina last Saturday evening. Mary was in the middle and linked arms with both of us. We strolled toward Wild Horse Gallery.

“Why is that?” I asked.

“I don’t know, I just had a feeling,” said Mary.

“Thank God we are both still alive and kicking!”  I thought to myself. (For the back story on that thought, follow this link https://allthingsfulfilling.com/2014/06/04/sisters-of-the-heart/ )

I admitted to Mary that I sort of felt the same way. When I moved to Colorado, I was determined to find her. Last time I had heard she was in Fort Collins and I knew her married name. But, we had only been in touch at Christmas time (by snail mail) maybe twice or three times  since  our college years in 1973 or 1974.

“Mary, you are just the same,” Jan, my twin, stated. “Don’t you just love it when you have friends you can pick up with just like that even if it’s been decades since you’ve seen them?”

That is exactly what happened when we three got together. What a fulfilling weekend I had! Between spending it with my sister and my husband celebrating our three birthdays, reconnecting with Mary – a childhood friend who was included in my memoir and I have written about her on this site, too. Then there was the icing on the cake. I learned that Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected had won two EVVY book awards. It doesn’t get much better than that!

I can’t help but bask in my memories of last weekend for just one more day. Tomorrow,  it’s time to get on with things. I have work to do to plan my East Coast book tour which begins mid-September.

For more information on the EVVY award-winning book Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, please visit this link. http://amzn.to/1rArrRG.

Pictures from my fulfilling & rewarding Birthday Weekend

Sue & Jan Mt Werner

Twins Sue & Jan atop Mt Werner, Steamboat Springs, CO   Sunset picnic and hike

sue terry jan fishcreek fallsLeft to right – Terry, Jan & Sue  Fish Creek Falls, Steamboat

sue and mary wildhorse gallery

Sue & Mary  – Read the back story using this link  –

https://allthingsfulfilling.com/?s=horse+sense

Seems fitting  the veterinarian and I are sitting outside Wildhorse Gallery

sue jan mary 3Outside Wildhorse Gallery – Sue with Mark Twain & “Huck,” Mary  & Jan

sue & jan wildhorse gallerySue & Jan – First Birthday together for more than 30 years.

sue Jan & mary2

A reunion of 3 childhood friends – Jan, Sue & Mary Grace – a  real life character in my memoir

 Above- We found Eureka: Mediterranean Street Food, to be indeed golden!

We had great salads & meatballs for our next course, and a great place to catch up.

sue & terry at Fish creek falls 2

Bye, Jan. Bye, Mary – come back soon!

Beautiful setting and beautiful birthday weekend in Steamboat

This blog brought to you by the award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard. For information on Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fufilling Things in the Unexpected, an EVVY Book Award book, please visit this link. http://amzn.to/1tKKiXF

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.

sandbox

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.

age of aquarius

Age of aquarius4

 

Peace dude.

age of aquarius 5Age of Aquarius2Age of aquarius3age of aquarius 6

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

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.

 

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

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!

Holy Humor

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“The solution often turns out more beautiful than the puzzle.” ~ Richard Dawkins

Last week, after I posted a blog called “Towson, Now and Then,” http://bit.ly/1rRHEiX  I received a comment from a blog reader who I do not know. Her comment set off a whole host of memories of an era gone by.

immaculate conception towsonConnie, the blog reader said “she and her sister attended Immaculate Conception School in Towson.” I certainly have a life time memory of the church that school was attached to.

Chris, my childhood friend, used to rope me into going to church with her after school on holy days. The first time she suggested it, oh, how I wanted out of it. I had no interest – but, I’d do anything for her. We loved spending time together.

For Chris, being a good Catholic, not going to church on a holy day was out of the question. Besides, her place of worship, the Immaculate Conception Church, was with within walking distance of our junior high school so there were no good excuses.

During that era (the 1960s) girls and women couldn’t enter a Catholic Church without something covering their heads. The first time I went to Mass with Chris, I was not aware of this policy since I wasn’t Catholic so I didn’t bring a hat. Chris had a solution, so there was no “declining her invitation.” She gave me a clean Kleenex to spread atop my head. So I wouldn’t feel foolish, she left her mantilla in her school bag and topped her brunette hair with a white Kleenex, too. Well, if that wasn’t a source of amusement and laughter for two middle school aged girls, I don’t know what was.For me, trying to hold in my giggles as I sat in the pew looking at Chris with Kleenex on top her head was nearly impossible. I don’t think I heard one word the priest said. So much for being reverent!

Years later, I entered the Immaculate Conception Church in Towson, Maryland, this time in all seriousness, as I stood up for my best friend as a bridesmaid in her wedding.

Isn’t it lovely, how we make connections with people of different faiths throughout our lifetimes? It gives us a chance to experience spirituality from different perspectives.

All churches, not just Catholic churches, have gone through many transitional times since my childhood days. If you have any stories of how your church has changed since “back then,” won’t you share them with us by posting a comment on this site.

We’d love to hear from you! This blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected. Now available in audio book (the treasure is in the voice!), paperback and e-book.

Focus on Simple Pleasures

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There are few things in common between where I grew up, in Towson, Maryland and where I am residing at this moment, Steamboat Springs, Colorado except great peaches and sweet corn.

It is an unexpected gift when you live high up in the magnificent Rocky Mountains to find corn and peaches as good as what’s grown in Maryland.  The produce comes in  from Palisades, Colorado every weekend on a truck.

We are getting into the fresh from the farm season! So, although, I am living many, many miles away from all of our family – today I would like post a reminder to myself.

Peaches

And as gift for my readers on this sunny summer day – here is something you can make that is useful, healthy and delicious.It comes from http://www.OasisAdvancedWellness.com. Visit their website, there’s other fulfilling things they’ve posted for the visitors of their space on the internet.

See you tomorrow on 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 IN AUDIO BOOK, TOO! http://amzn.to/1rDx80a.

Peaches two