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Remember? Dear Twin Sister,

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 Remember? Dearest Jan,

culotte dressesOur culotte dresses back in the 1960’s? Didn’t we think we were the hottest things going? With our home sewn outfits, our matching wooden handled pocketbooks, our Pappagallo flats and our pink Tangee lipstick, we were stylin’! We added a spritz of our fav perfume “Heaven Sent” (for me) and Yardley’s “Lily of the Valley,” (for you)  and we were sweetly ready to face another day of high school, which we pretty much dreaded.

I don’t think we ever sewed our culotte dresses with sleeves in them. Those were too time consuming. It wasn’t easy getting the inset sleeves just right. Besides when it was chilly we liked wearing our little, white round-collared blouses under the culotte dresses. We turned out the “jumpsuits,” as some girls in other parts of the country called them, a dime a dozen.

Remember the fulfilling feelings when we had gotten through a sewing project without the sewing machine malfunctioning and getting the bobbin and thread all knotted up. Seemed to happen every other minute – that temperamental tension device on the machine caused ultimate frustration!

We were always under our own pressure to get our latest fashions completed to wear to school the next day to show our girlfriends. Remember?

What ever happened to our sewing machine anyway? Did you hand it down to one of your daughters?

wooden handled pursesPappagallo flats from the 1960stangee3heaven sent perfumelily-of-the-valley-eau-de-toilette

Jan, memories of all these products and more came flooding back to me as I wrote my memoir. Did you know that some of  these products can still be purchased? At the Vermont Country Store. And lots of other throwback products from the good ole days!  www.vermontcountrystore.com.

Jan, thanks for walking down memory lane with me this morning. Next time we are together, hopefully it won’t be too long,  I’ll do as you have requested. I’ll sign your copy of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected!

Much love. Your Twin Sister.

P.S. How do you want me to sign your copy? With my maiden name Sue Batton or my married name – Sue Batton Leonard?

 

Fulfilling Flashbacks

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“God has given us our memories that we might have roses.” ~ Unknown

Recollections bookThere is a book by Jim Chambers called,  Recollections: A Baby Boomers Memories of the Fabulous Fifties that is a fun read if you grew up in the 1950’s and 1960s and like to return temporarily to yesteryear. Although I believe in the importance of moving forward in my life, just thinking back to childhood days is fulfilling.

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The other day, I returned to my childhood, when I stopped by a snowball stand (also known as snow cones, in other parts of the country) for a treat down memory lane. Choosing a flavor has not become easier as an adult, I can assure you of that. Tutti-fruity, blood orange, thunderbird, lemon-lime, they all sounded good, but root beer eventually won out. The girl manning the stand rushed me to a quick decision when she looked at me with her beady eyes, as if to say “Hurry up lady, make up your mind, I’ve got along line of people waiting.”

As I sipped and crunched on the giant-sized cup of crushed ice with artificial flavoring, I thought back to all kinds of fulfilling thoughts of summer from the 1950s and 60s. Do you remember?

  • “Sea and Ski” suntan lotion? Back then, the thought of adding a sun block to the lotion would have been a travesty!
  • The drive-in movies? The audio box that hung from the window emitted sounds that crackled and broke up.
  • Lazy  days by the pool or laying on the bed reading The Bobbsey twin novels? One book after another?
  • Doing the twist or the “Freddie” with your friends? Loved the Beach Boys, the Mamas and the Pappas, the Temptations, the Righteous Brothers and the Supremes.
  • Walking between bolts of fabric at the sewing store? Dreaming about patterns, colors and materials you’d need to make a back to school dress for      September?
  • Waiting for the weekly airing of Candid Camera? That show always tickled me pink.
  • Screaming like a raving maniac when the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan? How I adored Ringo and also Topo Gigio!

608-worldsfair-postcardI was keenly aware that our family shared a special privilege, the summer of 1964. We went to the World’s Fair in NY. Oh, how I wish my youngest brother was old enough to remember it. He was just a baby. I marveled at seeing the huge globe on display, and colorful flags from all the nations represented, surrounding it. Our family sang “It’s a Small World After All” the entire way back to Baltimore.

Ahhhh…childhood. Beautiful childhood. I had all the time in the world just to be a kid and play. Unfortunate that today, kids get rushed through it, isn’t it?

This  blog brought to you by Sue B Leonard, author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected Click for info & ordering Sue’s memoir and www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. A company specializing in e-commerce and e-marketing for independent publishers.

Independent Spirit of Spring

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“Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.” – Victor Hugo 

My reserves of inspiration are nearly empty. It happens this time of year. By March, I feel completely hemmed in and surrounded by white. The paper, The Steamboat Pilot, states “we have received over 272 inches of snow this season.” Winter is not over yet, the vernal equinox hasn’t even arrived. All I have to do is look out the window and see the snow banks. There they are, piled high, shouting out “we promise, we are doing all we can to delete your memories of a world with color.” 

 To add insult to injury, my mother e-mailed me this morning to say that she and my sister are going to the Philadelphia Flower Show on Thursday. “Great,” I think. “Wish I could join you, every color in the spectrum will be represented. Perhaps, next year?” But, here I sit, trying to fill in this blank paper with color. The field of ideas is looking as vacant as the landscape. 

I can’t fight Mother Nature. She will go about her way, with her independent spirit and bring us spring whenever she feels good and ready.  So, rather than stay stuck on this blog writing that is shallow in creativity, as soon as the thermometer rises above 10 degrees, I’m going for my daily walk. I’ll enjoy the sapphire blue sky that has brought exquisite color to these mountainous, barren lands that are devoid of the sight of morning glories, the scent of the New Dawn roses and birdsong heralding in warmer weather.

yellow_crocus_flowers_in_the_snow_1600x1279I’ll walk and remember the tastes of tender, garden-fresh asparagus, fiddle head ferns. I’ll chant  “the days are getting longer and the sun is getting stronger”  and stay focused on knowing “that God always fulfills his promise; spring never fails us.” 

Today as I amble, I’ll check to see if spring is around the corner. I’m hopeful it’s hiding under a stone by the YampaRiver, just waiting to surprise me.

Visit us again tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling, where sharing independent thoughts, words and views is all part of the business. This blog is brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.