by MarianBeaman | Nov 16, 2022 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Recipes, Uncategorized
The Rentzel family lived next door to my childhood home on Anchor Road. If you’ve read my first memoir, Mennonite Daughter, you may remember the shenanigans that happened under their roof. After I left home to explore the wider world, another family moved into...
by MarianBeaman | Nov 9, 2022 | blog, book review, Cliff Beaman artist, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite History, Quilt, Uncategorized
Yumiko Sekine, author of Simplicity at Home, grew up in northern Japan, learning traditional crafts and quilting from her mother and grandmother. Just as I did growing up in rural Pennsylvania, Yumiko appreciated quilting and hand-crafts. She still does, and so...
by MarianBeaman | Oct 26, 2022 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Travel, Uncategorized
What are you anticipating? Inquiring minds would like to know!
by MarianBeaman | Oct 19, 2022 | blog, book review, Cliff Beaman artist, Literature, Mennonite Lore, Quotations, Reflection, Uncategorized
“Go home and finish writing your new book. I want to read it!” Barbara and I are leaving our Monday morning Bible study. She is only half-kidding when she delivers this quip. Barbara has read Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl. She is looking forward...
by MarianBeaman | Oct 12, 2022 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Memory, Neighborhood / Environment, Quotations, Uncategorized
The Fantasy of Fall in Florida Somehow “autumn” does not seem properly used in Florida. There is a connotation in the word of flaming color, of sharp change, of hoar frost heavy on cornfields, of all of northern harvest. The sub-tropical fall is so...
by MarianBeaman | Oct 5, 2022 | blog, book review, Coming of Age, Education, Literature, Neighborhood / Environment, Nostalgia, Quotations, Recipes, Travel, Uncategorized
Cranes, roosters, snakes and an antique yellow Olds! These are among the attractions (or distractions) in Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park, the home of the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Yearling, made into a movie by the same title. In late...
by MarianBeaman | Sep 21, 2022 | blog, book review, Cliff Beaman artist, Mennonite History, Recipes, Uncategorized
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...
by MarianBeaman | Sep 14, 2022 | blog, Cliff Beaman artist, Family / Nostalgia, Literature, Memory, Quotations, Reflection
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...
by MarianBeaman | Sep 7, 2022 | blog, Cliff Beaman artist, Family / Nostalgia, Kiev Ukraine, Travel
Cover Reveal of Memoir 2 Coming Soon!
by MarianBeaman | Aug 31, 2022 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Quotations, Southern lady friends, Tips
Life is All About How You Handle Plan B In 2013, the year I began blogging, my southern friend Carolyn gave me a clever memo pad for my July birthday. I haven’t used many of the chartreuse-colored sheets because I want the packet of pages to stay plump, so I can stand...
