by MarianBeaman | Mar 4, 2015 | Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Quotations, Reflection, Uncategorized
I am sitting with my three friends, Gladys Graybill, Hazel Garber, and Millie Zimmerman near the pulpit in front of Bossler Mennonite Church to be baptized. At the prompting of our Bishop Clarence E. Lutz, we kneel, and as we kneel I hear the crinkle of the skirt of...
by MarianBeaman | Feb 28, 2015 | Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Quilt, Uncategorized
Bossler Mennonite Church was the hub of the Longenecker family’s spiritual life and the school beside it, Washington School, the place where the Women’s Sewing Circle fabricated comforters, baby clothing, blankets and quilts to help clothe the needy...
by MarianBeaman | Feb 25, 2015 | Education, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Mennonite Lore, popular culture, Uncategorized
Two “Beautiful” Stories today . . . Jenna’s Story My auburn-haired granddaughter Jenna is very cute, and people frequently tell her how pretty she is. From an early age (here at 3 1/2), she has loved to primp and preen. Even before she turned two,...
by MarianBeaman | Feb 21, 2015 | Education, Lists, Purple Passage, Quotations, Reflection, Uncategorized
To my friends both in the northern and southern hemisphere, some thoughts about the weather. All quotations from BrainyQuotes. Sometimes I wish I was the weather, you’d bring me up in conversation forever. And when it rained, I’d be the talk of the day....
by MarianBeaman | Feb 17, 2015 | Education, Gratitude, Recipes, Tips, Travel, Uncategorized
Once upon a time, there were five memoirists who met online through their writing websites. One of them, Janet Givens, who had a rustic log house on Chincoteague Island, Virginia, invited four blogging friends to join her for a writers’ retreat: Kathy Pooler, Joan...
by MarianBeaman | Feb 14, 2015 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, popular culture, Quotations, Uncategorized
Actor Tom Hanks in the movie Forrest Gump tries to strike up a conversation with a tired nurse seated beside him on a park bench. Holding a box of chocolates in his hand, Forrest offers her a treat, “My mother always said, “Life is like a box of...
by MarianBeaman | Feb 11, 2015 | Family / Nostalgia, Quotations, Tips, Uncategorized
Remember punching out valentine cards that came 8-10 to a page and addressing them to send to your classmates? Back then the do-it-yourself craze hadn’t caught on in the Valentine’s Day department. A least, not at Rheems Elementary School. Though we may...
by MarianBeaman | Feb 7, 2015 | Education, Memory, Mennonite History, Uncategorized
My high school yearbook The Elizabethan sports such 3-syllable last names as Aschendorf, Biesecker, Espenshade, Hippensteel, Oxenrider, and Zimmerman. In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania any roster of names would be heavily represented by families of German-Swiss...
by MarianBeaman | Feb 4, 2015 | Family / Nostalgia, Literature, meditation, Nostalgia, popular culture, Uncategorized
What is your favorite warm beverage? It’s February, and by now you have tweaked the art of finding comfort in a cup. Is it tea, coffee or a hot toddy? Maybe it’s hot chocolate! In promoting the Fifth Season of Downton Abbey, PBS used tea to tantalize....
by MarianBeaman | Jan 31, 2015 | Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Memory, Quotations, Southern lady friends, Uncategorized
Do you have winter fun – sledding, tobogganing, ice skating, even skiing? Maybe now it’s a vicarious experience with kids or grandkids. I wrote about it last year in another post. Since then, I’ve paged through albums to find photos of our Floridian...
