How Riding a Train is like Memoir Writing
Trains take me back to grade school, evoking the fondest of memories, like this one. My friend Wayne and I paused in our play in the woods during summer vacation. We waited for the dusty, black engine to emerge from the heat haze around the feed mill on the edge of...
A Special Word for 2022 with a Quick Quiz
Like a double-side mirror, reflect is one of those words with a dual meaning. It can either turn in upon itself or look outward. It can cast back light or enlighten the path ahead. The American Heritage Dictionary illuminates further: To give back a likeness, as...
Snow & Sled and New Year’s Resolutions
Photos re-create family history like nothing else can do. Before the Henry R. Longenecker family built their home near Rheems, Pennsylvania, they lived in a small house on the corner across from Bossler Mennonite Church. In the winter of 1922, someone (perhaps...
A New Year’s Wish for You in 2022
Happy New Year! https://youtu.be/tZa6HxrhZao Comments closed.
Heidi’s Homosassa Holiday Decor
My niece Heidi and her husband own a VRBO in Homosassa Springs, Florida. I took you on a tour of the house and nearby attractions in April 2021. In early December, I revisited the house. During the holiday season Heidi decorated a tree with tropical treasures. The...
Diary Secrets at the Push of a Button
I wasn’t sure it would open. So my husband Cliff gathered assorted tools in case the clasp on Aunt Ruthie’s Diary had clamped shut with rust. A faux-leather, brown diary with an attached key has lain on my desk for years now. Ever since we cleared out Aunt...
The Story of Jacques and Shorey
A few weeks ago, I took another trip to Fernandina Beach, Florida. This time with my friend and walking partner, Barbara. The historic district was dressed for fall, the temps cooler. A calm ambiance prevailed on Centre Street until we approached The Book Loft where...
Who is Heman? Thanksgiving 2021
Have you heard of Heman the Ezrahite? There’s a good chance you haven’t because he’s a rather obscure Old Testament character. I just learned about him recently. In the choirs of David, musicians Heman and Jeduthun were appointed to give thanks. It was literally their...
Ducks Splash Down, Inspire Haiku and More
https://youtu.be/AER6lJXg_XQ Saturday Morning Ducks land hard on lake A chorus of feathered brown White bubbles remain ~ October 8, 2021 Stalky chalk-white bird Balancing on two brown legs Constantly startled ...
Wordless Wednesday: Boy and Red Truck
Sleeping in a Schoolhouse and Snooping into Bookstores
Located in historic downtown Fernandina Beach, the Amelia Schoolhouse Inn was built in 1886 as the local school for Amelia Island. Completely renovated in 2018, the 17-room boutique hotel has been certified as a National Historic structure and combines...
Luci’s Turtle Heart with a Book Giveaway
Lucinda and Her Books I’ve featured Mennonite author Lucinda J. on my blog a few years ago. When her first book came out in 2017, the memoir Anything but Simple, her name was Lucinda J. Miller. You can read that post here. A few years ago, she married Ivan and changed...
Coming Down the Pipeline: My New Book
You’ve heard many metaphors for life, images that suggest how daily happenings can throw us into a tailspin: Life is like a roller coaster with lots of ups and downs Life is like a washing machine, churning round and round Life is like bumper cars, hitting one...
Autumn Hanging on a Tree
The poet Maren Tirabassi reflects on the life of Christ, depicting autumn leaves showing their beauty, their brilliance, and their fragility--and then falling. Observe her weaving the seasonal into the scriptural, spanning His birth and, eventually, His crucifixion....
The Boy with a Dream and a Cure
The Boy with a Dream and a Cure True Story In the nineteenth century, a Member of Parliament went to Scotland to make an important speech. He travelled to Edinburgh by train, then took a horse-drawn carriage southward to his destination. But the roads were bad...
Crying: A Slice of Time
Crying: A Slice of TIme I’ve been wanting to cry for days now. Not because of anything specific, just general malaise from following the prickly path of my life as a writer: feeling stuck in my next project, seeing just a trickle of monetary results from my first...
What I Learned from Chef Molly Yeh
Molly Yeh, a Chinese-Jewish American chef, cooks tasty dishes on the Food Network. In a show titled Girl Meets Farm, Molly is equally at home with baking challah as using chopsticks. "Molly Yeh attended the Juilliard School in New York City to study...
Wordless Wednesday: Glass Sculpture
Your thoughts on the photo? Reply below to enter a drawing to win an e-copy of Mennonite Daughter, photos and artwork in full color. Contest winner will be chosen via random.org and announced next Wednesday. Thank you! Indicate if you want to be entered...