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What’s in a Name?

by MarianBeaman | Feb 7, 2015 | Education, Memory, Mennonite History, Uncategorized

My high school yearbook The Elizabethan sports such 3-syllable last names as Aschendorf, Biesecker, Espenshade, Hippensteel, Oxenrider, and Zimmerman. In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania any roster of names would be heavily represented by families of German-Swiss...

Teaser or Cuppa Coffee?

by MarianBeaman | Feb 4, 2015 | Family / Nostalgia, Literature, meditation, Nostalgia, popular culture, Uncategorized

What is your favorite warm beverage? It’s February, and by now you have tweaked the art of finding comfort in a cup. Is it tea, coffee or a hot toddy? Maybe it’s hot chocolate! In promoting the Fifth Season of Downton Abbey, PBS used tea to tantalize....

Ice is Nice but Snow Glows

by MarianBeaman | Jan 31, 2015 | Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Memory, Quotations, Southern lady friends, Uncategorized

Do you have winter fun – sledding, tobogganing, ice skating, even skiing? Maybe now it’s a vicarious experience with kids or grandkids. I wrote about it last year in another post. Since then, I’ve paged through albums to find photos of our Floridian...

Acquainted with Grief: Author Elaine Mansfield Speaks

by MarianBeaman | Jan 28, 2015 | book review, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Nostalgia, Uncategorized

January 28, 2014 – It is six months to the day since Mother passed away. I feel melancholy now. Maybe the cold weather has something to do with it, but more and more I miss the warmth of our Saturday morning long-distance phone calls and sitting around her...

Mad, Sad, Glad: Emoticons Show It All

by MarianBeaman | Jan 24, 2015 | popular culture, Quotations, Uncategorized

Remember the days when kisses and hugs displayed affection at the end of hand-written letters? XXX OOO Then came smiley faces with a circle, two dots for eyes, and curvy mouth, maybe even a dot for the nose. Hugs were shown as parentheses: ((((  ))))  They still are!...
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