by MarianBeaman | Nov 6, 2013 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
Facebook asks boldly, “Do you want to post this on your wall?” meaning do you want this information available to your Facebook friends? Obviously, walls in the 1950s were not electronic. The only walls we knew then were made of plaster. But more on that...
by MarianBeaman | Nov 2, 2013 | Amish fiction, Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Uncategorized
Browse the inspirational-fiction section of most bookstores, and you will find cover after cover of comely young women wearing dresses with capes, and often pensive expressions . . . . Occasionally a male figure lingers in the background, his face obscured by a hat,...
by MarianBeaman | Oct 30, 2013 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
“Tick-uh-tick-uh-tick-uh-tick . . . ” The needle on my mom’s Singer sewing machine jabbed the orange crepe paper as her feet mumble on the treadle. Usually the material came from Mohr’s Fabrics in Lancaster or the Marian & Ruth Covering...
by MarianBeaman | Oct 23, 2013 | Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Reflection, Uncategorized
Wiry Grandpa Martin, was a jolly little man. He had an Old MacDonald-type farm with chickens, a couple of cows, two horses, and maybe a pig though I never heard an oink-oink-oink either here or there. Theirs was a Jack Sprat-type union, with his wife Mary as generous...
by MarianBeaman | Oct 19, 2013 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite History, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
“Going Home, going home, I’m just going home . . . .” William Arms Fisher wrote a spiritual tune with nostalgic lyrics adapted from the famous largo in Dvorak’s 9th Symphony that hints of going home “through an open door.” Last Saturday I walked through the...
by MarianBeaman | Oct 16, 2013 | Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Recipes, Uncategorized
My mom’s sacred space is her kitchen where she offers the sacrifice of her heart and hands to those in need and indeed her family. On my last trip to Pennsylvania, Mother made chicken corn soup from a recipe in her head. When I ask her how much of this or that,...
