Thank you for visiting my blog today.
Curious about my blog title? The plain part describes my first 24 years as a Mennonite girl in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and the fancy follows as I move south: first to Charlotte, North Carolina, and then to Jacksonville, Florida.
Watch for stories about faith and family knitted together by memory. You have stories too—or responses to what’s happening now. Do comment. I love words. Share some of yours!
Expect me to post Wednesdays weekly. Subscribe now, so you don’t miss a one.
Marian’s new book is out!
My Checkered Life:
A Marriage Memoir
Take an intimate look into one couple’s fifty-plus-year marriage in author Marian Beaman’s My Checkered Life: A Marriage Memoir. Using a quilt motif, the author stitches together stories that make up the fabric of their daily lives: the clash of cultures, crisis in a travel trailer, surviving a robbery, and enduring financial hardship.
Discover how the author and her husband learn the art of the argument with explosions both literal and metaphorical. Observe how they find common ground through their shared faith and commitment.
Readers of Marian’s first memoir, Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl can especially relate to her insider narrative, a closeup of one couple’s companionable union.
This volume contains excerpts from autograph books and diaries of the early 1900s, treasured family recipes, original artwork, and restored photographs—the legacy of multiple generations as two American families merge, one from the East, the other from the West. The author connects the dots of her life backwards, with detailed reverse engineering of events to discover meaning in her life as a wife.
Read the Latest
Little Girl and a Coffin in the House
What I Saw I sit on a green stuffed chair in my Grandma Longenecker’s parlor. The top of my back legs feel a little itchy. My mother has starched my Sunday dress to make the skirt stand out nice and pretty. Because I am little, I can see the tips of my high-top shoes,...
Sign Post
Author is announcing a short break, a temporary hiatus from blogging. “Be back soon” she tells her readers today.
What Are Your Favorite Smells from Childhood?
10 Scents from My Young Life 1. Saffron in Grandma’s pot pie Grandma used burnt-orange threads of saffron from a white packet. Mine comes in a tiny glass jar from Homegoods, more expensive, of course. 2. Tomatoes on vine in our Bainbridge, Pennsylvania...
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Mennonite Daughter:
The Story of a Plain Girl
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About Marian Longenecker Beaman
I publish my blog Plain and Fancy Girl on Wednesdays. Whether you are a commenter or reader only, I appreciate your noticing.
Book Reviews
Our 58th Anniversary with Advice from Jay Leno
August 5, 1967: How I Learned What it Means to Obey The summer Cliff and I got married I served as a secretary in the office of Pastor Deane Ballard at Calvary Presbyterian Church. As our wedding day approached, I got to choose the wording of our marriage vows....
Ten Snapshots from My Day
My home is open today. You are welcome to step inside. Come on in! After breakfast, I move to the blue velvet chair, the one I use for meditation, Bible reading and prayer with names of people I know and care about written on a prayer card. Sort...
How Nature Heals: The Gift of Spring
Once Upon a Time . . . . . . in a land far away lived a king and queen in a beautiful palace. They had everything in the whole world to make them happy, but the queen was sick and very sad. She sat in her chair by the window and thought, “Oh, I wish I...
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