by MarianBeaman | Dec 28, 2016 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, popular culture, Uncategorized
History buffs and Downton Abbey devotées know that 1912 is the year of the sinking of the Titanic. What Else Happened in 1912? On the world scene Woodrow Wilson elected President Japan sends 3020 cherry trees to the United States First neon sign appears in Paris...
by MarianBeaman | Dec 21, 2016 | Christmas, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite History, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
When I was a little girl, my Aunt Ruthie painted this wooden dish with a lamb and the Bethlehem star. She made one for each of my sisters too. I’m sorry there is no date though I imagine we were in elementary or middle school in the early 1950s. Christmas...
by MarianBeaman | Dec 14, 2016 | blog, Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia
Not Quite a Bar Mitzvah Grandsons Patrick and Curtis, born 7 weeks apart in Chicago, both turned thirteen this fall. If they were Jewish, they would each have observed the bar mitzvah ritual: Bar = son; Mitzvah = law or commandment, able to participate in all areas of...
by MarianBeaman | Nov 23, 2016 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Gratitude, Literature, meditation, Mennonite History, Paska, Quotations
Before families went over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house, a postcard may have appeared in their mailbox to mark this grand American holiday of gratitude in the early 1900s. Grandma Fanny Longenecker saved three of hers. In this card dated...
by MarianBeaman | Nov 16, 2016 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, popular culture, Quotations
Did you make construction paper turkeys and buckled hats in elementary school? I know I did. We elementary school-ers dug our scissors into orange, red, brown, yellow to create Thanksgiving art. And then we looked at pretty framed pictures that have become American...
by MarianBeaman | Nov 9, 2016 | blog, Education, Family / Nostalgia, Reflection
Did you know that touching zaps your immune system with positive energy? Similarly, your brain goes into party mode when you hear and/or play music – so say the researchers. In this cropped photo, my sister Jan’s hand touches her Aunt Ruthie’s, who in turn is feeling...
