Magical Memoir Moments
Blog Post #500 and a Six-Year Anniversary Milestone
It all started with a gift and a milestone birthday. I was sixty. My tech-savvy son Anthony was approaching age thirty-two. I cashed in his “gift certificate” in the next month and started blogging — without having a clue. No pictures. Just a few random words. But I at least had a subject. The blog…
A Fancy Review from a Former Plain Girl: And a Book Giveaway
The heading for Marian Beaman’s blog. She wore a larger covering than I did. Every writer hopes for a finely-tuned reader who will inspire her to place the best words on the page and who will challenge her to keep listening for even fairer music. As we write, we call upon our Muses as the…
The Day Before Launch: Going Home to Lititz During Harvest.
Who says you can’t go home again? Reporter Sarah Chain certainly disagrees. The official launch will be held tomorrow night at Lititz Mennonite Church, 165 Front Street, Lititz, Pennsylvania. 7 p.m. If you live close by, please join us! We’ll have a party, and we’ll relive a little Lancaster Conference Mennonite Church history in the…
The Longhouse Project at the Hans Herr House: A Good Beginning
Like many Mennonites whose roots go back to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, I am a descendent of Hans Herr. The 1719 Hans Herr House, built in that year by Christian and Anna Herr, is the oldest surviving house in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the oldest original Mennonite meeting house still standing in the Western Hemisphere. I…
Tobacco: An Unlikely Mennonite Crop and a Source of a Memoir Excerpt
“Stop,” I cried. “I need to take a picture of that.” My dear husband turned the car around and allowed me to jump out long enough to take the photo above. It brought back some vivid memories. One of the earliest stories I wrote when I started my memoir concerned my early career as a…
A Lancaster County Wedding: Celebration of Faith, Family, Friendship, and Farming
Our niece Valerie, the youngest of my mother’s grandchildren, married her sweetheart Nate yesterday. The whole family labored for months to restore an old mill to a usable space, mow the grass, pump out the overflow from the creek, pick the flowers for centerpieces, put up and take down chairs, tent, and then get dressed…
Summer Sunday Sabbath: A Different Lancaster County Memoir
I loved the screen Sabbath I took two weeks ago. I made an exception for Father’s Day, but now I am back for another try. If you are joining me, let me know, either as your New Beginning or below in the comments section. My new beginning today will be biking somewhere I haven’t been…
You Can Go Home Again–A Mini-Memoir
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, likes to call itself the Garden Spot of the World. If you travel to Lancaster in the springtime, you understand. The greens penetrate deeper than the human eye can see, and the earth, well, it’s as soft and receptive as any coquette and more fertile than a hutch full of rabbits. I…