Wordless Wednesday: Fancy Frocks
What outfits for special occasions do you remember? *** Open for suggestions: What other topic(s) would you like to see on this blog? Thank you for letting me know. 🙂
You’re Only Young Once and Other Myths
The saying You’re Only Young Once gives youth license to enjoy themselves, implying that as you age, you will enjoy life less and less. FUN is OVER for you forever! I’m guessing that you don’t accept that idea. * * * Did you know Dr. Seuss published his book,...
Tidy Trees and Logo Launch
Marie Kondo must have waved her magic wand over our live oak trees last week. The Tidying Up maven Marie specializes in tidy tricks indoors. Still, I think she would approve of outdoor maintenance, which happened on our property last Tuesday. A weak sun peers through...
Confession of a Cone Head
The Damage Mouth agape, wide-eyed and stunned at the WaWa station – I beheld a tee-shirted man holding a frosty drink and belly laughing at me. In the bay just ahead, this guy observed what I failed to see: two traffic cones smashed under...
Walking Crooked, Writing Straight
“Nana, let’s go for a walk!” Ian was tired of being penned up inside while his older brother worked in our yard. “Of course!" I tell him. Squirrels scamper, cardinals cheer. Even though the sky is misty gray, the earth looks and sounds alive. Eleven year...
Cover Reveal II and a Blogiversary
Fancy little girl Plain young woman Those six words summarize the first 24 years of my life as a Mennonite in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. And these words are reflected in photos on my memoir cover, front and back. (Here is the link to my first cover...
My Cover Reveal: Behind the Scenes
You are invited to my cover reveal today February 20, 2019 My memoir reflects the first 24 years of my life as a Mennonite girl *** Would you buy this book? It takes a few seconds (1-2 eye-blinks) for readers to decide whether to buy a book...
My Heritage, DNA, and Dani Shapiro
“I wonder what a DNA test would show. My dad’s Scotch-Irish I think and my mother is full-blooded German. But maybe some other genes are mixed in there,” my husband mused. “Well, there’s one sure way to find out. Get a DNA test,” I replied. And so for Christmas 2018...
Wordless Wednesday: More Than Story Characters
Guessing game: The era, the people, the building?
Mennonites Don’t Dance
Maybe Mennonites Dance Now But they Didn’t in the 1950s In Lancaster County, PA In her nineties, my mother jived to music on iTunes from my iPod. But she was dancing with her hands and heart, not her feet. Her heart? Yes, she was probably recalling Daddy...
Fall in the Snow and a Miraculous Rescue
Have you Ever Been Visited by an Angel? Two Angel Rescue Stories One day Debby Gass was driving through Nevada when her sports car ran out of gas. A young woman, alone in a small car, on a desert highway with no one around—it had all the elements that cause us to be...
My Word, it’s 2019
PUBLISH! That’s My Word for 2019 In the past three years my guide word for the year have been methodically thought through, carefully measured, contemplated . . . Wholeheartedness Focus Intention . . . but now I’m going BOLD with publishing...
Come with Me to Mount Dora
"Did you know Mt. Dora is about 180 feet above sea level?" asked our chatty waiter serving us coffee on a recent trip to this charming town during the Christmas holiday. Florida is flat. But northwest of Orlando near the center of the state lies Mt. Dora with an...
Matryoshka Dolls and Your Great-Grandmother
Did you know the name Matryoshka means “little matron,” or “mother” in Russian? Do you have a set of nesting dolls? My friend, Kathy Gould, who manages a charity fund ministering to families and children in Ukraine, gave me these dolls years ago. They enjoy...
The Tale of My Silky Green Robe
I have a quilted green robe. It feels like silk, but the fabric is probably rayon. It has hung on a bathroom hook for a long, long time. It has a history My mother-in-law gave me this robe as a Christmas gift before our children were born. It came...
Aunt Ruthie’s Diary and a London Family Video
Do you remember where you were when . . . President Kennedy was assassinated? The Challenger exploded? Planes hit the Twin Towers in New York City? You can probably easily call up your surroundings when these cataclysmic events happened. But you most likely don’t...
Do Mennonites Laugh?
My Mennonite parents laughed very little, except when relatives and friends tickled their funny bones. They took the business of parenting very seriously. Other relatives lit up with a sense of humor: I carry an image of my Grandma Fannie and Aunt Ruthie once slapping...
Thanksgiving Collection I
This post was first published for Thanksgiving 2013, the year I began blogging. I did not know many of you as friends then, so I'm posting this again for our season of gratitude in 2018, keeping in mind those victims of California wildfires and senseless shootings....