Merry, Mary Matryoshka Doll
A matryoshka doll also known as Russian nesting doll refers to a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside the other. The first Russian nesting doll set was carved in 1890 by Vasily Zvyozdochkin from a design by Sergey Malyutin, a folk crafts...
The Longenecker Christmas Tree & Charlie Brown
The Longenecker Christmas Tree. Well, there was none. Not one. Not ever. Despite the fact that the Christmas song, "O Tannenbaum" is of German origin, most Pennsylvania Dutch Mennonite homes of the 1950s and 60s did not light Christmas trees. Decorated trees were...
White Paper Bags Glowing with Light, a Favorite Thing
Traditional luminaria of the Christmas season have their origins in the culture of Spain. Impressed with the paper lanterns from the Chinese culture, Spanish merchants decided to make their own version when they returned home. Killarney Shores, our community, has kept...
Mennonite Lexicon
You won't find the definitions for rumspringa or bundling, (often referring to the Amish) in this mini-dictionary of Pennsylvania Dutch words, but here are some expressions the Longeneckers and other Mennonite families in Lancaster County often used growing up in the...
Divas of Downton Abbey: Southern Style
Watching episodes of Downton Abbey is like scarfing down balls of caramel corn while swilling champagne. The New Yorker I encountered Julian Fellowes, writer and creator of the Downton Abbey series, when he played Kilwillie, a distillery-owning...
Purple Passages: December 2013 edition
HOPE Hope is a thing with feathers that perches in the soul. Emily Dickinson Hope is like a road in the country. There never was a road, but when many people traveled it, it came into existence. Lyn Yutang Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there...
Feeling Rich, in Touch with our Senses
Diane Ackerman published years ago a "lusciously written" book entitled A Natural History of the Senses. My students enjoyed reading passages from the book for their summary assignments. Both poet and scientist in her approach, Ackerman has since written Cultivating...
Moments of Extreme Emotion Series: My Marriage in Vacuum Cleaners
My Marriage in Vacuum Cleaners My mom still has the same vacuum cleaner she's had for decades, a blue, bullet-shaped machine with a snorkel hose at one end. Think of a mechanical Dachshund, a hot dog with a waist-line problem. "It still does the job," she says. We are...
Mom’s vegetable soup, good for what ails you
When our children were little and our family visited Mother and Daddy in Lancaster County, PA , we could always count on an enamel-coated refrigerator drawer full of soup--either chicken corn or vegetable--to get us revived after a long car trip from Florida. Even now...
Thanksgiving Collection II
This image is a work of an employee of the United States Farm Security Administration, taken as part of that person's official duties. The image is in the public domain. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have...
It’s the Gym, not a Spa
Tennis, touch football, swimming, sailing, horse-back riding . . . if it involved action, the Kennedy clan, including our 35th President, were at it! Though President Kennedy suffered from severe back pain, he was often photographed participating in sports. Through...
Upright: Downright Fabulous!
Last Wednesday, into my inbox popped a message which included an invitation to lunch from Karen Bruner Upright, my former student at Florida State College. The last time I saw her, she was a "surprise" visitor at Christmas, marching up the walkway to our house, book...
Vials of Venom, Oil of Healing
My mother and I are waiting in Doctor Garber’s examining room, which always has a sharp smell of rubbing alcohol. She’s the patient, and I’m with her sitting on a chair eyeing the metal tray holding at least a dozen tiny vials, so cute they look like they could fit in...
November 11: A Tribute in Chalk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRGtrXiDkQ8 Pause and reflect on the freedoms we enjoy! Veteran's Day - 2013 Winner of "Thrill of the Chaste" book giveaway contest to be announced Wednesday, Nov. 13!
Purple Passages, November 2013 edition
On Integrity You have my word, and my word is stronger than OAK! Quoted in the movie Jerry Maguire On Attitude Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful! Annette Funicello On perspective: Have you heard of the 18/40/60 rule? “When you’re eighteen, you...
What’s on Your Wall? Signs, Mottoes, and more
Facebook asks boldly, "Do you want to post this on your wall?" meaning do you want this information available to your Facebook friends? Obviously, walls in the 1950s were not electronic. The only walls we knew then were made of plaster. But more on that later! The...
The Thrill of the Chaste: Amish Novel Secrets
Browse the inspirational-fiction section of most bookstores, and you will find cover after cover of comely young women wearing dresses with capes, and often pensive expressions . . . . Occasionally a male figure lingers in the background, his face obscured by a hat,...
Hallowe’en: a Scream & a News Flash
"Tick-uh-tick-uh-tick-uh-tick . . . " The needle on my mom's Singer sewing machine jabbed the orange crepe paper as her feet mumble on the treadle. Usually the material came from Mohr's Fabrics in Lancaster or the Marian & Ruth Covering Shop in Mount Joy. She even...