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
The Tale of the Squirrel and the Bird-feeder
Squirrels steal bird-seed from the new bird-feeder in our backyard. How can we fix the problem? Read to discover our attempts at a solution.
The Best Hostess Gift Ever
Flowers, a bottle of wine, a box of candy, even a potted plant---these are the gifts guests often choose to present to a gracious host, responding to an invitation. My neighbor Mila offers both gifts when she comes to our house for lunch or supper. Mila...
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...
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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
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...
True Love Finds a Way: Walking the Salt Path
What if you lost your home? lost your livelihood? had a dire diagnosis? With triple trauma, Raynor Winn, armed with Paddy Dillon’s guidebook and husband Moth with a copy of Beowulf, embark on a 630-mile walk on the sea-swept South West Coast Path. From Somerset...
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