by MarianBeaman | Feb 25, 2015 | Education, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Mennonite Lore, popular culture, Uncategorized
Two “Beautiful” Stories today . . . Jenna’s Story My auburn-haired granddaughter Jenna is very cute, and people frequently tell her how pretty she is. From an early age (here at 3 1/2), she has loved to primp and preen. Even before she turned two,...
by MarianBeaman | Feb 21, 2015 | Education, Lists, Purple Passage, Quotations, Reflection, Uncategorized
To my friends both in the northern and southern hemisphere, some thoughts about the weather. All quotations from BrainyQuotes. Sometimes I wish I was the weather, you’d bring me up in conversation forever. And when it rained, I’d be the talk of the day....
by MarianBeaman | Feb 17, 2015 | Education, Gratitude, Recipes, Tips, Travel, Uncategorized
Once upon a time, there were five memoirists who met online through their writing websites. One of them, Janet Givens, who had a rustic log house on Chincoteague Island, Virginia, invited four blogging friends to join her for a writers’ retreat: Kathy Pooler, Joan...
by MarianBeaman | Feb 14, 2015 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, popular culture, Quotations, Uncategorized
Actor Tom Hanks in the movie Forrest Gump tries to strike up a conversation with a tired nurse seated beside him on a park bench. Holding a box of chocolates in his hand, Forrest offers her a treat, “My mother always said, “Life is like a box of...
by MarianBeaman | Feb 11, 2015 | Family / Nostalgia, Quotations, Tips, Uncategorized
Remember punching out valentine cards that came 8-10 to a page and addressing them to send to your classmates? Back then the do-it-yourself craze hadn’t caught on in the Valentine’s Day department. A least, not at Rheems Elementary School. Though we may...
by MarianBeaman | Feb 7, 2015 | Education, Memory, Mennonite History, Uncategorized
My high school yearbook The Elizabethan sports such 3-syllable last names as Aschendorf, Biesecker, Espenshade, Hippensteel, Oxenrider, and Zimmerman. In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania any roster of names would be heavily represented by families of German-Swiss...