Fun stuff

Remember the View-Master?

I felt a wave of nostalgia when I came across the View-Master this summer in an Amish shop. Remember this classic toy?  As a child of the 80s the View-Master was still kicking in my youth, and I remember being fascinated by the 3-D effect created by the simple stereogram technology. Today’s kids, of course, might avert their eyes momentarily from the XBox to smirk…

Halloween Questions

I went trick-or-treating as a kid, as did pretty much all my friends.  It was seen as a harmless chance to dress up as your favorite superhero or ghost or whatever, and bring home a huge haul of sweets.   I rememember how my brother and I would come home at the end of the evening and dump out kilos of candy on the family…

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Amish races in Ohio

If you’re near Hicksville, Ohio, tomorrow, you might want to drop in on the Defiance County fair for one of America’s rarest sporting events: I picked this flyer up at the Topeka auction house here in Indiana.  I found the terms of the race pretty interesting–“a limit of five horses per race”;  “all drivers must wear a helmet”;  “any type of cart or buggy may…

The Amish trampoline

On a recent post on Amish architecture, I shared some sure-fire ways of picking out Amish homes from the non-Amish.  Some of those ways have become less sure-fire as Amish homes have come to resemble English ones. Rich Stevick helpfully added some other signs of Amish abodes, including the trampoline, loved by Amish children.  Here’s a shot of one from the hilly Munfordville-Horse Cave, KY Amish…

Inside an Amish Home: Attitude Adjustors

How do Amish folks maintain such a calm demeanor?  Well, while poking around my friend’s library, I think I came across the secret.  Attitude Adjustors: This innocent box just happened to be lying there on the shelf (within easy reach of a work desk, a stack of bills and other scary-looking papers, I might add). It seems Attitude Adjustors come standard in Amish homes.  The…

The Amish dunk tank

Yes, these are Amish fellas in the photos.  And no, definitely not something you see every day: These were taken at the PA Dutch festival held each summer at Reading Terminal Market in downtown Philadelphia.  The event features a petting zoo, buggy rides, parade, country and bluegrass bands, and of course food. The dunk tank is for a good cause.  A Lancaster friend who knows…

Do you have Amish friends?

Tamara asked this question a couple of days ago.  As she suggested, it seems like a pretty good topic.  In fact, Tamara’s exact question was: “Has anyone had a very close relationship with someone who was a “member in good standing” in the Amish church?” Keith James has already shared a bit about a friend of his, an Amish bishop.  Keith writes: He was 46…