 
							
					
															
					
					 by MarianBeaman | May 15, 2024 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Neighborhood / Environment, popular culture, Southern lady friends, Tips, Travel, Uncategorized
Back-up to The Blowout, part 1: How last week’s installment ended: As the morning progressed though, Cliff and I wrestled with unspoken questions: Can we still enjoy a leisurely evening and supper, spending overnight in Valdosta? (We had packed suitcases in...				
					
			
					
											
								 
							
					
															
					
					 by MarianBeaman | May 8, 2024 | blog, Cliff Beaman artist, Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Reflection, Travel, Uncategorized
Out of the blue there was an ear-splitting BOOM above our heads. Cliff and I looked at each other dumbfounded, jaws dropping. Apparently, the shattering of thousands of glass shards followed the BOOM in the Subaru’s moon roof. We had traveled about seventy miles west...				
					
			
					
											
								 
							
					
															
					
					 by MarianBeaman | Apr 1, 2024 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
    Vintage card from the archives of Miss Ruth Longenecker   I’ll be taking a break now . . . back...				
					
			
					
											
								 
							
					
															
					
					 by MarianBeaman | Mar 27, 2024 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite Lore, Quotations, Tips, Uncategorized
Springtime At Rheems Elementary, a two-room school of eight grades, we observed a daily ritual: Bell ringing from the school-house steeple (always by a boy), Bible reading, the Lord’s Prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and then singing before morning lessons began....				
					
			
					
											
								 
							
					
															
					
					 by MarianBeaman | Mar 13, 2024 | blog, Easter, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Memory, neighborhood, Neighborhood / Environment, Quotations, Uncategorized
Is it spring? Is it winter? As I write, the Weather Channel reports that a late winter storm is blanketing the Northwest and the Midwest while warm temps tease those in warmer climes. Author Kawaguchi of Tales from the Cafe expresses eloquently the fickle fits of...				
					
			
					
											
								 
							
					
															
					
					 by MarianBeaman | Feb 28, 2024 | blog, Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, popular culture, Tips, Uncategorized
“Nearing 30 and trapped in a dead-end secretarial job, Julie Powell reclaims her life by cooking every single recipe in Julia Child’s legendary Mastering the Art of French Cooking in the span of one year. It’s a hysterical, inconceivably redemptive...