Book Club Mom Meets Mennonite Daughter
How do you listen to a podcast or Zoom interview? Sit and stare into space? Take a walk? Lounge on your couch? Chop vegetables for soup? Multi-task in some other way? Last month, Barbara Vitelli, also known as blogger Book Club Mom, interviewed me via Zoom. She was...
20 Snaps Amid the Purple Mountains of Virginia
Last week, Cliff and I attended my 60-year-college class reunion at Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia. Harrisonburg, VA is a long way from north Florida, so we took a Delta flight. The distance measured in time: a 14 to16-hour car trip, or a 4-hour flight,...
Painted Barn Faces: Wordless Wednesday
Deuteronomy 28:8 The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
Craving Sleep: More Than 40 Winks
Do you crave sleep? Do you have a hard time going to sleep? Or, staying asleep? Falling Asleep Sleep is a sweet respite from the daily pressures of life. I treasure what Walt Whitman called the “free flight into the wordless, / Away from books, away from...
How to Watch a Hallmark Movie
Turn on Hallmark Channel Watch for Glamorous female character, with swirling, highlighted hair and bright eyes. Note two handsome hunks: One real-estate mogul, loaded but with zero personality The other, a poor artist (or writer) with heart of gold...
Show Time: Life Stages
As a kid, I helped my aproned Grandma Longenecker pick strawberries in her garden close to Anchor Road. As a teen, I packaged bologna at Baum’s Bologna company near Elizabethtown, PA. During my sophomore year in college, I worked as script editor for WEMC, the station...
If We’d Open People Up
“If we’d open people up, we’d find landscapes." ~ Agnès Varda I found this provocative line in a book I read recently (You Could Make This Place Beautiful by poet Maggie Smith, whose life has been rooted in Ohio). Seeing this line in her memoir, my mind skipped...
1000 Grandmas Standing Strong: Wordless Wednesday
School of the Americas poster, circa 2001 Carolyn Phanstiel archives
Carolyn’s Treasures: Gifts that Keep on Giving
Early in the morning on my birthday three Mondays ago, my friend Carolyn sang me the birthday song on my iPhone. I heard her warble the notes to “Happy Birthday to Yooooo” with heart and soul. As always, the notes struck a chord with me. We have exchanged the familiar...
An Old Mistress, a Seasoned Wife Muse on Marriage: Anniversary #56
Would you trust marital advice from a long-time mistress? Would you have confidence in a woman who has carried on a clandestine affair with a married man for nearly thirty years? Yet, the Mistress in this book believes she has wisdom to offer, Advice to...
Crista’s Cats, Ruthie’s Fritzie and the Dog Days of Summer
Crista’s Cats Our daughter with husband and their daughter are visiting Florida State University in preparation for our grand-daughter’s first year of college. Gone for nearly three days, they have charged the grandparents—us—with the care of their cats, a menagerie...
Fantasy Fireworks and a Special Offer
Roz Chast’s June 19 magazine cover is explosive! She imagines shopping for novelty fireworks in a store of her own wild imagination: Friendship Ender Lawsuit Huge Rent Increase Pointless Rage Shingles Root Canal Sense of Doom Red Tape Guilt Bomb ...
Book Trailer Goes Live! Scenes from My Checkered Life
https://youtu.be/hHEa87Rl_ww Find Book Here Thank you! Book Trailer Credits Design and Editing in Première Pro Clifford Beaman American Art Assemblies LLC Music Adobe Tutorial “Ovens of Cappoquin” Jolly Irish Tune_100126393-jolly-irish-tune.wav...
Four Months, Four Gifts, My Father’s Day Reflection
A young mother, my mom had her little, black box camera handy to capture photos of me growing up. From infant to teen, my image appears alone, with sisters, and sometimes with my daddy. This week, before Father’s Day, I’m reviewing photos encased in albums from...
A Dozen Random Photos from My iPhone
12 Random Photos from My iPhone “We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone.” ~ Katie Thurmes "A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away." ~ Eudora Welty Pinterest image Sisters Sisters Jan and Jean sharing...
Finding Treasures in Night of Miracles
I read to relax, to be entertained, and to learn something new. Learning something new is what happened recently as I turned the pages of Mary Pipher’s Writing to Change the World, a book chock-full of scholarly references and bunches of quotable lines, ending with...
Stressed, Exhausted, or Calm? Check out your Mood
What’s Your Mood? “I often felt blue when my children were younger and my husband and I were beginning our careers. Hormones could have also played a role in my emotional roller-coaster rides. I thought then too that a kick to our household finances and help from a...
You as a Superhero: Wordless Wednesday
If I were a superhero, I’d be known as Typo Man [Woman], the writer of wrongs What would your Super "name" be? Your special power, large or small? Stressed? Exhausted? Calm? Check this out May 17, 2023!