by MarianBeaman | Jan 8, 2020 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Quotations, Uncategorized
The Riddle What is black and red and green with seven significant flames? The Answer The candles of Kwanzaa, an observance designed to review the old year and establish goals for the new. The word Kwanzaa is a Swahili word and means “first...
by MarianBeaman | Dec 4, 2019 | blog, Christmas, meditation, Mennonite History, Uncategorized
Dr. Benjamin Vogt, my instructor in a Family History course I took in 2015 via publishing entrepreneur Jane Friedman, is a poet, gardener, and author of creative non-fiction. With his permission, I am printing this poem from the collection entitled...
by MarianBeaman | Nov 20, 2019 | blog, Cliff Beaman artist, Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Mennonite History, Quotations, Tips, Uncategorized
Writing memoir is like “dis-robing in public,” says one author, but only if you are brave enough to include the hard parts, I say. After my memoir launch on September 14, many details of the first 24 years of my life became public. I voluntarily exposed my self...
by MarianBeaman | Aug 21, 2019 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
Aunt Ruthie figures large in my memoir, Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl. Though she stands as my most significant mentor for life, one of my chapters about her is entitled “Ruthie the Cheater.” After her death in 2017, I discovered her...
by MarianBeaman | Jul 10, 2019 | blog, book review, Family / Nostalgia, Literature, meditation, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia
Among the relics of my sewing days, I found just one blue spool of thread. Otherwise, I have the basics for mending: black, white, and beige. Once an avid sewer, never a full-fledged seamstress, I made dresses, little boy suits, pinch-pleated drapes – even my...
by MarianBeaman | Jun 12, 2019 | blog, Cliff Beaman artist, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, neighborhood, Neighborhood / Environment, Romance, Uncategorized
“Whoa, what have we got here?” Daddy Cliff asked as he made a ceremony of pulling a heavy rectangle out of the paper bag. “It’s your Father’s Day card!” Joel exclaimed, looking at his dad’s face, smiling from ear to ear. Eyeballing the odd card, Dad fingered the...
