by MarianBeaman | Aug 14, 2013 | Coming of Age, Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, Lists, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Southern lady friends, Uncategorized
Bee Video / Facebook The bees came the summer of 1964, the summer I turned fourteen and my life went spinning off into a whole new orbit, and I mean whole new orbit. Looking back on it now, I want to say the bees were sent to me. I want to say they showed up like the...
by MarianBeaman | Jul 31, 2013 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
The whole family crams into the gray 1951 Studebaker: Our family of five, Daddy, Mommy, Janice Jean and I (Mark isn’t born yet), Aunt Ruthie and Grandma–seven stuffed into an airplane cockpit, it feels like. We don’t take two cars because we are...
by MarianBeaman | Jul 27, 2013 | Coming of Age, Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
The Martin clan gathers together for large family meals at my Grandma Longenecker’s house because Grandma, the oldest in her family, is a wonderful cook and has an enormous kitchen. Everybody likes Grandma, my dad’s mother. Grandma Fannie was a Martin and the Martins...
by MarianBeaman | Jul 24, 2013 | Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite Lore, Recipes, Southern lady friends, Uncategorized
Plan A The sweet aroma of ham-loaf baking wafts through the house as I hurry to welcome my Southern friends at the front door. They are in for a real treat: ham-loaf from Wenger’s Fine Meats in Elizabethtown, PA brought shrink-wrapped in my suitcase on the plane, My...
by MarianBeaman | Jul 20, 2013 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
Here we are, Juliets without our Romeos When Mom says “sca-doo!” at home, we know we can find amusement at Grandma’s house. Aside from the mysteries of the woods behind her house, other attractions include a slope where lilies of the valley...
by MarianBeaman | Jul 17, 2013 | Coming of Age, Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
Thumbnail: Home is on Anchor Road, connecting our house to Grandma’s house and neighbors in between. The story continues . . . . . . . As we drive from Grandma’s past the Hoffers, I notice off to the right the weathered frame house of Mr. Heisey, who...