Old Order Mennonite Memoirs

"The hyenas stopped. Then another roar tore the air. The hyenas listened and then, after two more ear-splitting roars, they ran off." I stopped reading here in Chapter 6, "The Plains of Death" in the story "Man-eaters and Masai Spears" by Charles Ludwig.

Mid-chapter isn't where I usually stop reading to Granddaughter Cassidy, age 9, and her brothers, but our weekly story time on the phone was cut short because our ride was here.

To Hickory Bottom, my husband and I went, where our nephew now lives with his family in the old farmhouse. We spent time singing with others, hopefully to speed up recovery time for both an appendectomy and a broken arm. In that visit we also got to meet their new son, born on his father's birthday. Little Isaiah Winston is the 32nd great-grandchild for my dad, Erwin Zimmerman. He is also a great-grandchild for Eli and Esther Stauffer. Marcus and Lorraine Zimmerman claim him as a grandson, as do Alvin and Vera Zimmerman.

Meeting the grandchildren of my siblings is enjoyable to me. At the home of one of my brothers, when we ladies came together to celebrate a belated birthday for his wife, I met five more sweet youngsters. It was a potluck lunch we shared, even though there were two birthday cakes, we still had scrumptious hot dishes including fresh corn-on-the-cob. The veggies and lettuce came from our gardens. A fresh fruit tray was as delicious as it was pretty.

Our stroll through the garden and yard to check out summer's glory, included umbrellas to shield us from gentle raindrops. But two days earlier when the girls came "home" to share the day, the sun beat on us. We broke off broccoli flowerettes but dumped them all to the heifers because I hadn't stayed ahead with my spraying for the cabbage worm. I sprayed for the Japanese beetle because it sure looked like their invasion of my raspberry patch would destroy them. But despite garden intruders, we made a feast to eat on the patio. We didn't have fresh corn but the beans from a Lafayette garden were a close second. Besides new potatoes, my daughter made burgers and sausages on the grill.

Delicious food, grown in summer, is only part of the story. Coming in the door with my daughters were sunflowers and gladiolus in my favorite colors and more. For a second planting in my garden, there are now scarlet sage bordering Brocade Fire Night geraniums and Terracotta petunias. Above them, purple martin fledglings take flying lessons, with only weeks before the long flight to Brazil.

In Lancaster County, where my husband and I were on Saturday, we saw again why it is called the Garden Spot of Pennsylvania. Fields of flowers for fresh cutting now mingle with fields of produce which end up for sale in one of the many stands beside the roads. At David and Mary Shirk, where we were invited with others, we were close to the home where my husband grew up. But 45 years do things to perishable landmarks – even the farmhouse was replaced with a new one farther away from the busy Route 23 which still ribbons through the beautiful countryside flanked with Welch Mountain and the hills of Terre and Turkey. The sun and clouds cast shadows on their swelling green ridges, remaining unchanged in the decades since boyhood days in Churchtown.

Time marches relentlessly on. The next morning we traveled the 3-1/2 miles to Piney Creek church which is only seven years old. We used to take my husband's mother along to church in the buggy, besides our little children. But Grandmother Anna is now gone for over 10 years. Had she been present in Piney Creek church, she would have heard one of her great-grandsons being published to be married. Joshua Martin, son of Larry and Erla Martin of Williamsburg is planning to marry Ruth Ann Zimmerman, daughter of Rufus and Susan Zimmerman. At the New Enterprise home of the bride, a wedding is planned for Aug. 15.

Traveling to the Cove from Liberty, Kentucky, came Edward and Anna Martin for the wedding of their son Marvin to Bernice Zimmerman. Besides hearing a sermon from this guest minister at Martinsburg church, hospitality was shown to the Martins at different homes. The highlight of the trip will be the marriage ceremony and feast at the New Enterprise home of Lee and Lucy Zimmerman on Tuesday, July 16. Meanwhile the sun shines brightly on tasseling corn as tiny bluebirds grow in birdhouses and velvety antlers grow on deer heads.