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.
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Mennonite Daughter:
The Story of a Plain Girl
Read the Latest
Cover Reveal! My Checkered Life
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...
How to Swing Ahead
Do you remember being pushed as a kid on a swing? Maybe your Mom or Dad, or a big brother or sister gave you a big push. And then another. And another. After a while, your legs started pumping on their own. Sitting on my mother's lap, I heard the cadence of a...
Where am I and Who are These People? Wordless Wednesday
Cover Reveal of Memoir 2 Coming Soon!
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Purple Passages
My Word, it’s 2016!
Have you started a diet? Renewed your gym membership or decided to walk more? Maybe you have resolved to cut down on Facebook time this year . . . Along with such New Year’s resolutions, some of my friends each year choose a guide word to help navigate the unknown...
Kids, Oaks, and Quotes: Purple Passages for August 2015
A Short Story Once upon a time seven children from three different states came to visit their family in Pennsylvania. Some came from far away in a car, plane or train so they could see each other and get to know their grandparents and great-grandparents, who lived in...
Purple Passages in Rainbow Colors
Calm Thoughts, Relax Here Where we relaxed at the home place, counting cars on a Saturday night, swinging on the porch and eating watermelon! * * * Be grateful for calm skies . . . Forever is composed of nows. (# 690) Emily Dickinson * * * I'm going to enjoy every...
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
Cover Reveal! My Checkered Life
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...
Our Marriage with a Trip to the Emerald City
The Emerald City lies in the center of the Land of Oz, at the end of the yellow brick road in Frank Baum’s fabled story, The Wizard of Oz, first published in 1900. In the center of the city is the fairy-tale Palace where the redoubtable Wizard resides. ...
Laurie Buchanan: Fast-Paced with Plot Twists
Laurie, A Model of Re-invention Laurie left home as a young teen without completing high school, but then zoomed to her GED and later to a notable PhD. She has reinvented herself more than once during her lifetime. To date, she has authored four books,...
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