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What Lights Your Fire?

by MarianBeaman | Apr 20, 2016 | blog, Cliff Beaman artist, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Quotations, Reflection, Uncategorized

My mother wore many hats both literally and figuratively. Most of her head coverings were prayer veilings worn every day. As a young woman, her coverings were large, decreasing in size as she got older and church rules had progressively relaxed.   Mother wore a...

Any Hats in Your History?

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...

Moments of Discovery # 10: a Bubble, a Dome, a Mirror

by MarianBeaman | Apr 6, 2016 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Uncategorized

My sister Janice and I blew up balloons when we were little. Here is a stop-action snap from Aunt Ruthie Longenecker’s 16 millimeter movie film. The balloons were thick, rubbery and multicolored. We also blew bubbles sitting on the porch swing or standing in the back...

Climbing the Swiss Alps: 7 Steps Toward a Narrative Arc

by MarianBeaman | Mar 30, 2016 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Tips, Travel, Uncategorized

Events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order . . . the continuous thread of revelation. —Eudora Welty, One Writer’s Beginnings Writers find real life images to compare what happens as they mold life...

Easter Passion: Then and Now

by MarianBeaman | Mar 23, 2016 | blog, Easter, Family / Nostalgia, Literature, Mennonite History, Nostalgia, Uncategorized

At Easter-tide I’m dipping once again into my Grandma Fannie Martin Longenecker’s stash of vintage post cards. Here is one dated April 1908 from “your RBC,” it says, with the postmark wrapped around the face of the card.   Another, from...
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