by MarianBeaman | Apr 13, 2016 | Easter, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Quotations, Reflection, Uncategorized
Little Mennonite girls could be fancy before they became plain. They could wear hats. Their mothers may have worn flat, black bonnets on top of their prayer veilings (coverings) at Easter, but they couldn’t wear hats with ribbons and flowers. At least not in Lancaster...
by MarianBeaman | Mar 9, 2016 | Cliff Beaman artist, Education, Literature, meditation, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Quotations, Reflection, Uncategorized
Is there a drop of Irish blood in my veins? I doubt it. I grew up Mennonite in the Longenecker family in Pennsylvania Dutch country, a hot-bed of Swiss-German ancestry. Still, the Irish-named Donegal Springs is a mere 3-mile, 5-minute drive from Rheems, Pennsylvania...
by MarianBeaman | Feb 29, 2016 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Literature, meditation, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Quotations, Reflection, Uncategorized
Today marks the end of February. In less than a month spring will have sprung, Still, you may be ready for spring now, not in three weeks. Here are the thoughts of Jane Kenyon, once New Hampshire’s poet laureate, anticipating the blooms of spring in her...
by MarianBeaman | Jan 20, 2016 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Literature, Memory, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Reflection
A long, wavelike ridge of snow . . . formed by the wind: Sastruga, a word of Russian origin. A snowdrift is a beautiful thing if it doesn’t lie across the path you’ll have to shovel or block the road that leads to your destination. Prehistoric Humps James...
by MarianBeaman | Dec 16, 2015 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Reflection, Uncategorized
Mother’s house on Anchor Road has been sold. We sold it last fall, just a year ago. After more than seventy years, the Longeneckers do not own this house. But that doesn’t mean there are no memories or longings for home. The Welsh have a word for such a feeling,...
by MarianBeaman | Dec 2, 2015 | blog, Conflict, Education, meditation, Mennonite History, Reflection, Uncategorized
My Pilates instructor is a spring chicken, and my writing coach is young too, just thirty-nine years old, younger than either of our children. Still, They are teaching me. Since childhood, we have been conditioned to think of our teachers as older than we are. Such a...
