Daylight saving time (DST) kicked in yesterday, so if you haven’t tweaked your clocks yet, here’s a reminder. I mean, of course, your non-computerized timekeepers, those grandfathers and cuckoos and analog wristwatches, since these days the ones in our phones and laptops do our remembering for us. Also your alarm clock, though if you had to be at work today, it may be a little…
You might recall our recent look at the kid box, a special compartment on the backs of some open-top Swiss Amish buggies. These allow children to ride protected from the weather. Torey has sent in some further photos of much larger (adult-sized) carriage compartments, taken in the two large Swiss Amish communities in Indiana. The first photo is from the Allen County settlement: The second…
I got an email yesterday from Bill Coleman’s archivist asking about an unusual photo found in his collection. He described it as “one of Bill’s earliest Amish photographs” and that he had not seen anything similar in any of Bill’s other photos. This photo “was taken in the early 1980’s…”[women in] scoop hats” is the only thing written on the negative sleeve, which is odd…
What do you find on the walls of Amish homes? As we discussed in a previous post on Amish wall decor, these items tend toward the practical–things like decorative calendars or zip code charts. Even the ostensibly “non-practical” pieces are practical in their own, higher-purpose way–a framed inspirational saying or Biblical verse, for example, daily reminders of where to set one’s heart and head. One…
An Amish Man on Valentine’s Day In anticipation of February 14th, I passed this question along to John Stoltzfus, an Amish husband and father of five living in a Pennsylvania community: Do Amish people do anything for Valentine’s Day? How do they observe the day? John’s response hints at differing attitudes about Valentine’s Day. The usual caveat about Amish customs being different in different places…
I just returned late last night from a trip which took in four Amish communities in Ohio. Over the roughly three-and-a-half days I spent in the state there was a lot of visiting with Amish and English friends and acquaintances. I just did a count and besides things like auctions, shops and church gatherings, I was able to squeeze in sixteen visits over that time….
I grew up washing my hands in the kitchen sink when I came in from outdoors and often before meals. Mostly because it was the most convenient one, and for that matter, really the only one, unless you wanted to walk to one of the bathrooms in the back of the house. I just spent some time visiting with Mark Curtis in the Amish community…
Last summer we first heard from Anne, whose son Ed a few years ago joined an Amish community in Minnesota. Anne shared her experience as an English mother to an Amish son in posts on language challenges at Ed’s wedding, friends’ reactions, and expectations regarding photos. Becoming Amish is not easy to do, which is probably as it’s meant to be. One reason is the change in…
Tom in New York checks in again today with a piece of technology that can be a necessity this time of year, depending on your latitude. This horse-drawn snow plow is at the ready on an Amish farm in the Conewango Valley in western New York. This machine was made by Pioneer Equipment of Dalton, Ohio, a well-known manufacturer of horse-drawn equipment in the Holmes…
Ruth Anne writes: As a mother to a young woman who has Down syndrome I am curious as to how people with intellectual disabilities are accepted and integrated into the Amish culture. I live near Xenia, Ohio and I often see Amish people out and about shopping, visiting the doctor, etc., but I have never noticed an Amish person who has Down syndrome or any…