blog tagging

I got blog tagged. And I think I’ll refer my readers to the following category of blogs I make a habit of reading. I read other, more academic blogs. I’ll refer to them another time. But what I most want to do is pick out particular posts in the top two blogs I read for fun and rememory. I enjoy these blogs because they help me stick to my guns and find legitimacy in my own heritage’s stream of normalcy and ingenuity. I read them because they help this bean plant amongst marigolds, remember that a bean plant amongst marigolds is at the very least—much more interesting than a hill of beans or a field of marigolds.

The first is a girl I’ve never met. She’s got some real gems in her blog. I like best her photo sequences that emerge like a snippet of a graphic novel. Recently, I enjoyed the “working/fighting together” post, found here.

It reminds me of a core relational element of my formative years, which runs missing from my life now because it generally doesn’t translate and freaks people out when I try to describe it. (So, Guy, this one’s for you: domestic abuse, violence, sibling rivalry as can be evidenced by the smiles and looks of impish glee. I think you can use these as evidence when you press charges.) It reminds me of the times my brothers and I would get into wrestling, hog piles while Dad was milking and we were supposed to be doing our chores. The stopping of the milking pump would bring us all back to the reality that the fun was over and there was a job to be done before Dad would come around and find out we were dilly-dallying at the chores.

Amish-Mennonites are often characterized as stoic and reserved. Ever heard of Heisenberg’s principle? Maybe it’s just that the English are watching. I’ve found it to be quite the opposite. Sitting at the dinner table is usually like the snippet found here: “Moments around our table”

Yes, indeed! Upstairs the Peasants are Revolting. That is the title of the Dorcus Smucker’s new book on family life in the farmhouse. In this week's posts she expounds on the family she married into and demonstrates a witty creativity in song and verse.

Here she talks about the social interaction of 100s of youth that get together periodically to socialize and well, float their chances for family formation. I remember those days well. Can I get a ventured guess as to what category I fit into.

And then there’s a little secret I’ll let you all in on. You know, that forge-your-own-path, confident woman you see wearing a bonnet around the Seminary. Well, there’s a chunk of “Dorcas enchanted” under all that.

This post describes very much the gullible, sheep-like trait that I habitually fall into but try so hard to resist and hide. Because, well, if the English find out--they might just take you to the cleaners and back. I think it’s kind-of a Mennonite woman thing. I haven’t figured it out entirely yet. Sometimes it comes to me in a sudden realization as I sit across the lunch table from someone who has become my friend and I look at her and wonder, “How did that happen?” Not that I don’t like her—I do, very much—there are few people I don’t like. In fact, sometimes I imagine what it would be like to have known and befriended Hitler. And generally most people have a bit further to go to get to that level.

I also like her candid evaluation of stupid things people say or do--like here.