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...
by MarianBeaman | Jan 28, 2015 | book review, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
January 28, 2014 – It is six months to the day since Mother passed away. I feel melancholy now. Maybe the cold weather has something to do with it, but more and more I miss the warmth of our Saturday morning long-distance phone calls and sitting around her...
by MarianBeaman | Jan 24, 2015 | popular culture, Quotations, Uncategorized
Remember the days when kisses and hugs displayed affection at the end of hand-written letters? XXX OOO Then came smiley faces with a circle, two dots for eyes, and curvy mouth, maybe even a dot for the nose. Hugs were shown as parentheses: (((( )))) They still are!...
