Any Hats in Your History?
Little Mennonite girls could be fancy before they became plain. They could wear hats. Their mothers may have worn flat, black bonnets on top of their prayer veilings (coverings) at Easter, but they couldn’t wear hats with ribbons and flowers. At least not in Lancaster...
Moments of Discovery # 10: a Bubble, a Dome, a Mirror
My sister Janice and I blew up balloons when we were little. Here is a stop-action snap from Aunt Ruthie Longenecker’s 16 millimeter movie film. The balloons were thick, rubbery and multicolored. We also blew bubbles sitting on the porch swing or standing in the back...
Climbing the Swiss Alps: 7 Steps Toward a Narrative Arc
Events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order . . . the continuous thread of revelation. —Eudora Welty, One Writer’s Beginnings Writers find real life images to compare what happens as they mold life...
Easter Passion: Then and Now
At Easter-tide I'm dipping once again into my Grandma Fannie Martin Longenecker's stash of vintage post cards. Here is one dated April 1908 from "your RBC," it says, with the postmark wrapped around the face of the card. Another, from 1910, displays the...
Wanted: Forty More Winks
A Shock to Our Systems Do you live where Daylight Saving Time has gone into effect recently? If so, today you may feel out of sync, sleep-deprived. The loss of even one hour of sleep pushes one’s biorhythms out of kilter. Who’s to Blame: Daylight Saving Time In...
Raise a Mug to the Irish!
Is there a drop of Irish blood in my veins? I doubt it. I grew up Mennonite in the Longenecker family in Pennsylvania Dutch country, a hot-bed of Swiss-German ancestry. Still, the Irish-named Donegal Springs is a mere 3-mile, 5-minute drive from Rheems, Pennsylvania...
How to Teach a Piano Lesson
“Joel, I’m going to the Christian Light Press in E-Town for some birthday cards, do you want to go along?” “Okay, Mommy, do you think they have lollipops?” queried my mischievous son. “I don’t think bookstores have lollipops at the counter like doctor’s offices do,...
Are You Ready for Spring?
Today marks the end of February. In less than a month spring will have sprung, Still, you may be ready for spring now, not in three weeks. Here are the thoughts of Jane Kenyon, once New Hampshire's poet laureate, anticipating the blooms of spring in her meditation...
Are You Too Big for Your Pot?
I didn’t hear a Bang. I didn’t see the pot Fall. But when I looked from the upstairs bedroom window, I saw shiny red chards of pottery on the patio floor. I really liked that red pot and now it was in pieces. How did that happen? There was no wind. I was not aware...
My Day of CHANGE @ a Middle School
“Mom, would you like to volunteer for Challenge Day at Mandarin Middle School in a few weeks?” Joel asked. “I probably would but I would need to know more about it,” I answered. Then my son proceeded to tell me about an initiative at the school he helps sponsor, "Be...
Comparison Shopper Finds a Wife
Gump-a-bump-a-rump-a! (Repeat – repeat) No driver wants to hear this coming from under her car hood, even if it is my aging Infiniti. When I reported these scary noises to my husband Cliff, he immediately went into Investigator Mode. His problem-solving scenario...
Hoorah, 300th Blog Post with an Oops and an Aah!
Oops! An apple cake with half the recipe batter left out . . . the baked remainders landing on the floor. Double dumb mistakes. That’s not the way I envisioned marking my 300th blog post. The Plan To mark this milestone, grandson Curtis and I planned to make an apple...
5 Memoir Lessons Learned from a Special Birthday Cake
Earlier in January I baked an apple cake for my husband Cliff’s birthday celebration. All agreed it was scrumptious. However, it was my second attempt at the same recipe for reasons to be divulged in my next blog post. As they say, practice makes perfect! Matilda...
Sastruga, Snowy Winter Blankets
A long, wavelike ridge of snow . . . formed by the wind: Sastruga, a word of Russian origin. A snowdrift is a beautiful thing if it doesn't lie across the path you’ll have to shovel or block the road that leads to your destination. Prehistoric Humps James Thomson’s...
Moments of Discovery # 9: Keys to the Riddle
A Riddle I have no head, and a tail I lack, But oft have arms, and legs, and a back; I inhabit the palace, the tavern, the cot- ‘Tis a beggarly residence where I am not. If a monarch were present (I tell you no fable), I still should be placed at the head of the...
Donated Inspiration
I will bet no one else has picked this guide word for 2016. Read about Marylin Warner's fantastic choice here.
My Word, it’s 2016!
Have you started a diet? Renewed your gym membership or decided to walk more? Maybe you have resolved to cut down on Facebook time this year . . . Along with such New Year’s resolutions, some of my friends each year choose a guide word to help navigate the unknown...
A Snow Bunny and a German Lullaby
On Christmas Day 2015 in Jacksonville, Florida, the temperature stood at 85, at least twenty degrees above the normal daytime thermometer reading for this time of year. Over most of the USA, Christmas day was warmer than usual, the forecasters predicting a near...