by MarianBeaman | May 18, 2016 | Cliff Beaman artist, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Nostalgia, popular culture, Uncategorized
The photo of a pair of transitions eye glasses attached to a scarlet lanyard is still posted on my Facebook page dated April 14, 2016. “Hubby makes a lanyard for my glasses today. He is not being kind. He just doesn’t want to look for my glasses anymore! . . . well,...
by MarianBeaman | May 11, 2016 | Family / Nostalgia, Literature, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Quotations, Uncategorized
Every week, The New Yorker magazine features a Cartoon Caption Contest, inviting readers to submit a caption for consideration. After three finalists are chosen, readers vote for the winning caption. You can view my first attempt at a similiar contest here on this...
by MarianBeaman | May 4, 2016 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
I played with pastel-colored beads and wooden blocks with ridges, babyhood toys. Mother kept these oblong & round beads and animal-themed alphabet blocks for her grandchildren and great-grands. These sturdy toys entertained children of mothers they nurtured in...
by MarianBeaman | Apr 27, 2016 | blog, Cliff Beaman artist, Education, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
I missed National Pet Day on April 11 by a few weeks. But if you own a dog like Scotty or a kitty cat named Sophie, every day of the year is pet day. In 4th grade, I drew a cat and colored it charcoal gray. It appears I was as interested in making the wallpaper pretty...
by MarianBeaman | Apr 23, 2016 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Quotations, Recipes, Uncategorized
“It’s a spring cleaning ritual – but for your body,” touts reporter Jennifer Sheehan, extolling the merits of eating dandelion. “It cleans your blood and you get a lot of good vitamins from it,” another endorsement I read in Sheehan’s article from Lehigh Valley’s The...
by MarianBeaman | Apr 20, 2016 | blog, Cliff Beaman artist, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Quotations, Reflection, Uncategorized
My mother wore many hats both literally and figuratively. Most of her head coverings were prayer veilings worn every day. As a young woman, her coverings were large, decreasing in size as she got older and church rules had progressively relaxed. Mother wore a...
by MarianBeaman | Apr 13, 2016 | Easter, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Quotations, Reflection, Uncategorized
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...
by MarianBeaman | Apr 6, 2016 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
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...
by MarianBeaman | Mar 30, 2016 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Tips, Travel, Uncategorized
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...
by MarianBeaman | Mar 23, 2016 | blog, Easter, Family / Nostalgia, Literature, Mennonite History, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
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...
