Gifts and Talents – FindYourBuriedTreasure

Double Vision

I attended an event yesterday called “Dual Visions: Art Through Different Eyes.” It’s an annual show sponsored by the Artisans Village, an art gallery and studio in the city where I live. Preparation for the event starts months ahead of time, when photographers bring in their best photos, and other artists – painters, mainly – come in to select a photo and then recreate it. The artwork is then displayed, with photos and paintings next to each other. The result is always breathtaking. Several friends [...]

By bettyliedtke|September 15th, 2023|Columns, Gifts and Talents, Values|Comments Off

Lost and Found

“What have you lost that you’d most like to find?” That was the question at a Toastmasters Table Topics contest I recently attended, via Zoom, at the club in Minnesota I belonged to when I first joined Toastmasters. “Table Topics” is a part of every Toastmasters meeting, and it’s designed to help members learn to think on their feet and organize their thoughts quickly by responding – for one to two minutes – to an open-ended question. In a Table Topics competition, the contestants are [...]

By bettyliedtke|March 27th, 2022|Columns, Family, Gifts and Talents, Toastmasters, Values|4 Comments

A Class Act

There were 14 of us in the class. Some, especially those who grew up in this area, already knew a few of the others, but I was among those who knew no one else before beginning the class. By the end of the first class and the weekend retreat, however, we were all well acquainted, and more excited than ever about what we were going to accomplish. I wrote about this class a few weeks ago. It’s a Leadership program sponsored by the Chamber of [...]

By bettyliedtke|November 15th, 2021|Accountability, Columns, Gifts and Talents, Making a Difference|Comments Off

A Bright and Sunny Forecast

It was gloomy and rainy here for most of the past week – to the point where we had some lakes forming in the low spots in our yard, and the storm was regularly knocking out our satellite TV reception. When the sun came out briefly toward the end of the week, it looked so strange I almost called the authorities to report seeing a UFO. Gloomy weather usually doesn’t put me in a gloomy mood, but it was definitely heading in that direction, especially [...]

By bettyliedtke|October 10th, 2021|Achieving Dreams and Goals, Columns, Gifts and Talents, Making a Difference, Values, Writing|Comments Off

A Champion for Change

“Champions for Change” is the name of the feature, and I can’t begin to tell you how excited I was when I saw one of the champions being showcased – a young man named Lual Mayen. He was born as his family was fleeing South Sudan, and has lived more than 22 years in a refugee camp in northern Uganda. The first time he ever saw a computer was in 2007 during a refugee registration, and after he told his mother he wanted to buy [...]

By bettyliedtke|September 18th, 2020|Achieving Dreams and Goals, Columns, Gifts and Talents, Making a Difference, Uganda, Values|Comments Off

Words (NOT) of Wisdom

I had a Zoom meeting a few days ago with other members of a neighborhood club I belong to. The main item on the agenda – other than just touching base and catching up with each other – was voting to elect a new treasurer, since our previous one had to resign due to health issues. After the vote, our new treasurer shared the story that when interviewing for her first job, she had to take a number of tests on various subjects at the [...]

By bettyliedtke|June 12th, 2020|Achieving Dreams and Goals, Columns, Gifts and Talents, Quotes and Sayings, Writing|4 Comments

Three Kinds of People

Some people are dreamers. They envision endless and enormous options and opportunities, and believe the word “impossible” doesn’t mean something can’t be done, just that it hasn’t been done – yet. They can make a difference in the lives of others, as well as in their own. Some people are practical. They see the possibilities, but also the problems in their projects and activities. They recognize obstacles – real and potential – and they understand what needs to be done to overcome them. They can [...]

By bettyliedtke|November 2nd, 2019|Achieving Dreams and Goals, Columns, Gifts and Talents, Making a Difference, Uganda, Values|Comments Off

More Alice Walker

A week after the all-day event celebrating her 75th birthday, I still have Alice Walker Fever. I’m sure one of the reasons is that our local newspaper this week was filled with stories and photos from the day, giving me a chance to relive it and to read about some of the activities I missed. Also, after writing about Alice and the celebration in my last blog post, a number of people have been emailing me to say they were at the event and that [...]

By bettyliedtke|July 20th, 2019|Columns, Gifts and Talents, Values, Writing|Comments Off

A Tribute to a True Legend

Warm. Gracious. Humble. These are the first words I thought of to describe Alice Walker when I met her on Friday. We were at the Georgia Writers Museum, where several events would be taking place on Saturday as part of an all-day celebration in honor of her 75th birthday. As she walked in, she smiled, extended her hand, and said, “Hi. I’m Alice.” I was able to restrain myself to keep from blurting out, “Yes! Yes you are!” Instead I simply smiled back, shook her [...]

By bettyliedtke|July 15th, 2019|Achieving Dreams and Goals, Columns, Gifts and Talents, Making a Difference, Values, Writing|2 Comments

Guitar Lessons

I just bought a guitar. The decision wasn’t totally out of the blue, although it wasn’t exactly on my bucket list, either. I’ve always enjoyed music. I took piano lessons when I was in grade school, and I played French horn in the band from sixth grade through high school. I bought a guitar during my freshman year in college – inspired by a girl in my dorm who played the guitar and offered to teach me a few chords, and the fact that there [...]

By bettyliedtke|April 12th, 2019|Columns, Gifts and Talents, Music/Singing|Comments Off

Stay Up To Date

Categories