Bobby: My Ideal Reader
Bobby Oliver read my book, Mennonite Daughter, and reviewed it the same week. Bobby is the ideal reader and reviewer, but he is certainly not my typical reader. Seven of the Amazon reviews of The Story of a Plain Girl are from men. Women are more apt than men to pick...
Mother Ruth, Bedtime Stories and a Legend with Chickadee and Star
July is Mother’s birthday month. If she were still living, she would be 103 years old on the 23rd. Like most Mennonite women in the 1950s, Mother Ruth expended energy in keeping house, making meals, and preserving a garden...
Wordless Wednesday: Reading Lesson
Who’s in the Mirror?
When you pass a mirror, do you deliberately walk on by, or do you make a point to look into it? The Evil Queen in the tale “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” stared with vengeful intent into a mirror and chanted, “Mirror, mirror on the wall/Who is the fairest of them...
Come with me to Mount Dora – Again!
Off on an excursion to Mount Dora, Florida, a peaceful, small town in central Florida we visited in late 2018. Here is a refresher of what we saw! Comments closed
The Right Thing to Say Too Late
Two women were approaching their car, parked under the pines at the Southeast branch library on Saturday. Returning from the library’s front door as I was stepping out of my own car, the older woman yelled across the parking lot, “Sorry, but the library is...
Nostalgia and Aunt Ruthie’s Diary
Did you know that, Boomers and Gen-Xers are looking back to their youth, collecting . . . Cassette tapes Vinyl LPs Polaroid cameras Manual typewriters . . . even decades old video games So says, Jeff Nilsson in “Nostalgia is Good For You,” an article from The...
The One-armed Piano Maestro: A Memorial Day Tribute
A Memorial Day Tribute When I play Ravel’s Left Hand Concerto, my goal is to make it sound like I have THREE hands, so says pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. The Back Story Pianist Paul Wittgenstein who lost his right arm because of a bullet wound in WW I,...
Secrets of the Longenecker Draft Cards
Memorial Day is celebrated this month and I'm think of my forebears living through the World Wars . . . My Grandfather Henry Longenecker and my Father Ray Longenecker were Mennonites. Both registered for the draft during one of two world wars Grandfather Henry during...
The Geography of a Journey: Confinement in a Travel Trailer
"Hel-lo!" I yelled at the woman I saw standing next to a Winnebago on the far side of the campground. Our Ford van and trailer were stuck. The tires whirred, throwing dirt everywhere, sinking deeper and deeper into Tennessee mud. “Can you please help us?” As my...
Longenecker Sisters Road Trip to the River
For there is no friend like a sister / In calm or stormy weather; / To cheer one on the tedious way, / To fetch one if one goes astray, / To lift one if one totters down,/ To strengthen whilst one stands. –– Christina Rossetti from “Goblin Market” ...
Mother’s Day Memento
At the initiation of Anna Jarvis President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation in 1914 declaring Mother's Day an official holiday. Although It takes place on the second Sunday in May in the USA, Mother's Day is also celebrated internationally on different dates....
My Work is Loving the World
Last week's blog post honored the treasures of the land, with its power to heal, and its gifts of providing food, clothing, and shelter. The land grounds us, provides stability under our feet, nourishes our souls and feeds our bodies. However, work is often required...
The Movie LAND and the Longenecker Acreage
In a super-sanitized theatre earlier this year, we viewed the movie LAND, the story of a lone women who seeks solace in nature to heal unbearable wounds BLURB (no spoilers!) From acclaimed actress Robin Wright comes her directorial debut LAND, the...
Between Heaven and Mirth: Where Fun is Always ON
This past year has been like a treadmill trek with the degrees of incline jacked up higher every (day, week, month). The news generally has been grim. Have you felt a need for lightness and joy? I certainly have! Goodreads Review: Between Heaven and...
7 Lessons Learned from the 2020-2021 Pandemic
7 Lessons Learned from the Coronavirus Pandemic 1. Family Matters More Than We Realized Need I say more? 2. We have Unleashed a Revolution in Medicine "One of the biggest lessons we've learned from COVID is that the scientific community...
The Irish Washerwoman and Grandma Fannie’s Soap
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Even if you’re not Irish, you may feel an impulse to wear GREEN today or maybe even sport a derby hat. Our family is mostly of German-Swiss ancestry, but once we lived in the Killarney Shores neighborhood of our city with streets named Emerald...
Wordless Wednesday: Old Tech, New Life
Can you identify with the era? Do you have photos or other artifacts showing technology from the 1970s -- or later? Did you work outside the home during pregnancy? Note: My computer will be in the repair shop for a short time....