Old Order Mennonite Memoirs

"... And here's some oak and some locust and some cherry for the top." These words were spoken to the wood stove by my husband as he stuffed it full of that hard, fibrous fuel. Talking to inanimate objects may perhaps be a sign of spring fever as cold weather persists.

Granddaughter Lyla, age 3, had a different way of being affected with the "fever." "I'm going on a picnic," she told her family on the coldest day of the week, but no one believed her, that is, until they missed her. They found her on the deck, dressed for the 20-degree weather with all her plastic food and little table and tea...