by MarianBeaman | Sep 18, 2013 | Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Quilt, Southern lady friends, Uncategorized
Since our children were little babes in blankets, Colleen and I have been friends. Our friendship, knitted together by similar values, compatible tastes, and love of beauty, has flexed with her moves from Florida to Maryland to Texas to California and back again. Like...
by MarianBeaman | Sep 7, 2013 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Folk Songs of the South, Lists, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
Valentine parties, Easter parades, Hallowe’en fun houses in the basement, Christmas programs, we had them all, but those were special occasions. At Rheems Elementary, a two-room school, we had our daily ritual: Bell ringing from the school-house steeple (always...
by MarianBeaman | Sep 4, 2013 | Coming of Age, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Recipes, Uncategorized
I never think of myself as a Daddy’s girl, because I get along with Mom better. But there I am in plain daylight grinning as I ride the tractor with Daddy. We’re cultivating the 9 acres of land in Bainbridge for the next tomato crop. I stand on the tractor’s floor...
by MarianBeaman | Aug 28, 2013 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
In Florida, most people take baths once a day. It’s too hot not to. And it’s a safe bet most people in contemporary America take more than one bath a week. Not so in the olden days. Mildred Armstrong Kalish writes of her family’s once-a-week bathing in her...
by MarianBeaman | Aug 24, 2013 | Coming of Age, Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
CIRCLES: I am in a small room of our church standing in a circle of women and girls in the presence of our Bishop and Deacons who will ask each of us 2 questions: * Are you in harmony with the rules and regulations of the Mennonite Church? * Are you at peace with God...
by MarianBeaman | Aug 21, 2013 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
Rings CareBear Cliff has given me a diamond ring for Easter, baked in a blueberry muffin with a plastic bunny-rabbit stick on top. It is my first piece of jewelry ever and I’m 25 years old. Imagining everyone is as thrilled as I am, I flash the sparkling stone in...
