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!...
by MarianBeaman | Jan 21, 2015 | meditation, Mennonite Lore, Travel, Uncategorized
Nestled in the marshes east of Brunswick, Georgia, is charming St. Simons Island. Golfers, bicyclers, and fishermen revel in its delights. Fresh Atlantic shrimp were available at the Mullet Bay Cafe during our week-end getaway. Tourists, like us, strolled along the...
by MarianBeaman | Jan 17, 2015 | Lists, Purple Passage, Quotations, Reflection, Uncategorized
On December 29, author/blogger Joan Rough published a post declaring her optimistic intentions for 2015 and pondering a single word to characterize this new year while contemplating words of wisdom used other years. Some choices she suggested: Believe, Dare, Trust,...
by MarianBeaman | Jan 14, 2015 | Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Quilt, Uncategorized
A snapshot of a baby boy dressed as a girl and an old flash bulb. Those are some of the items we find clearing out Mother’s house. Last October my sisters and I began the arduous task of sorting, saving, or recycling the accumulated store of her possessions...
by MarianBeaman | Jan 10, 2015 | Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, neighborhood, Nostalgia, Reflection, Uncategorized
Every single memory of snow in my childhood is pleasant. Sparkling flakes in luminous free-fall as I look out the kitchen window. Snow festooning evergreen boughs. Then bundling up in snowsuits, knitted caps, mittens. Getting out the sleds. After more than one...
by MarianBeaman | Jan 7, 2015 | book review, Coming of Age, Conflict, Education, Literature, Quilt, Uncategorized
Sue Monk Kidd, best known for her debut novel, The Secret Life of Bees, has published her third novel, the acclaimed The Invention of Wings (2014). My Review A full-page spread advertising Sue Monk Kidd’s latest work of historical fiction recently appeared in...
