Secrets of the Ra-Ra Sewinghood
Thread 1 All Mennonite girls of the 1950s and 60s made their own clothes. Hager’s, Watt & Shand, or Garvin’s in Lancaster city was not the place to shop for dresses with capes or any other plain clothing. So, we made our own frocks on Mother’s foot-powered treadle...
Loving Hands, Homes & Teddy Bears
Hex signs on barns, fertile farms, plain dress, PA Dutch cooking: These are the first impressions many people have of Mennonites in Lancaster County. But the ethic of compassion of these folk draws from a deeper well: From their founder, Menno Simons, to the present...
A Tale of Two Brothers, continued
His younger brother spent a lot of money traveling to visit him in prisons far away and close at hand. The older brother saw that his younger brother was kind and good to him even though he deserved revenge for stealing all those precious and rare coins many years...
A Tale of Two Brothers
Once upon a time there were two brothers very close in age who often dressed alike. They roughhoused, played cops and robbers, and tricked one another just for fun. But one brother tricked the other way too much. Slyly, the older brother would steal gold and silver...
Beauty in Jars: 2 Vignettes
Beauty in Jars I Yesterday morning, Mom assessing my cosmetics on her bathroom vanity: “What are you doing with all that stuff?” She doesn’t wait for an answer. “I wouldn’t know what to do with it all,” see adds as she eyes my jars of moisturizer, foundation,...
Game Girl
On the plane from Jacksonville, Florida to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania my dark, curly-haired seat mate is playing MahJong on her iPad. She is content clicking and dragging tiles with red, green, blue curlicue Chinese letters across the screen, relaxing and whiling away...
The Name Game
One day at Elizabethtown High School, a lovely girl from Mississippi with long, red locks strolled into our class a month or two into the term. We were mesmerized by her Southern drawl and relaxed manner. Her name was Jeannine Loux, a last name which she stretched out...
Mom: 3 Vignettes
Mom as a Child Mom Jiving to iPod Music My mother never had a bucket list, and if she had one, jiving to "Life is Like a Mountain Railroad" on my iPod would not have been on it. My mother grew up on a dairy farm near Lititz,...
A Walk in the Woods: Innocence and Disgrace
MY STORY Wayne is good in math. He with the crew-cut and quiet, methodical ways can easily navigate math's maze of numbers. We are both fourth graders at Rheems Elementary School. Unlike me, Wayne is a mathematical whiz; in a split second he makes sense of long...
7 Easter Memories
1. Quiet time for Mom 12 - 3 p.m. on Good Friday afternoon to correspond to part of the time Christ hung on the cross. 2. Easter jackets fully lined in pastel tweeds or plaids made by Aunt Ruthie. Easter dresses by Mom, sometimes with smocking or embroidery. 3....
Plain and Fancy @ Bossler Mennonite Church
When I was about 6 weeks old, my parents took me to church--Bossler Mennonite Church close to Elizabethtown, PA. I was born in July--9 months, almost to the day, from my parents' honeymoon night the previous October. When I got older and could figure out such things,...
How We Met: CareBear Cliff
Whenever I leaf through my Bible, I often spot a special verse, Genesis 12:1, and note the date in the margin, July 1966: “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show you.” This is the catalyst for...
It’s Not Easy Being Green
It's a long way from Lancaster county, PA to Jacksonville, FL, but years ago our family moved into a neighborhood called Killarney Shores with street names like Emerald Isle Circle, Leprechaun Court, and St. Patrick Lane. On the day of Ireland’s famous saint, I...
A Hornet’s Nest: The Bishop and My Shoes
They were gathered in a circle when I walked in. Call it naivete or being preoccupied with my classes, I was totally unprepared for the conclave of bishops, school administrators and other assorted male authorities that greeted me on entering the conference room at...
Aunt Ruthie and Fasnacht Doughnuts
A throw-back to celebrations in the Old Country, Fasnacht Day had its origins in Switzerland, southern Germany, Alsace, and western Austria. In Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Fasnacht Day is celebrated on the eve before Lent. Think “Mardi Gras” but less bawdy! Aunt...
Mom’s Kitchen: Pig Stomach and Easter Eggs
My Mother loved her kitchen with a spiritual passion and was happiest at the altar of her stove, cooking or baking. We'd hear her off-key voice singing "Heavenly Sunlight" or "Keep on the Sunny Side" as she fixed breakfast while we dressed and braided our hair for...
Grandma’s Kitchen: Recipes & More
Grandma’s Kitchen: Recipes and More Grandma Longenecker's kitchen was many yards long with the necessities for cooking at one end where an old cook-stove squatted and the comforts of dining on an old oak table at the other end, bounded by three bay windows. One...
Prayer Cap and Caped Dress: A Capsule
Middle Schooler: Veiled and Caped Good Mennonite girls of the 1950s and 60s like me wore a prayer cap and a dress with a cape. Yes, no fancy fad in the frock I’m wearing in the photo. As best I can tell, the belted cape was worn to add an extra layer of padding...