As promised, I wanted to get in some recognition for the great captions sent in on yesterday’s buggy photo. You had me chuckling through the day as I checked the comments for new entries. So I though it would be fun to do a little vote. After much deliberation I whittled the top five captions down to these: [poll id=”5″]
Happy Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil apparently saw his shadow this morning, so batten down the hatches for another 6 weeks of chilly weather. This annual tradition has a couple of connections to the Penn. Dutch. First, there happens to be a sizable Amish settlement in Clearfield County in the vicinity of Punxsutawney, PA (1,000+ people). I don’t know of any groundhog-related customs associated with this…
I felt a wave of nostalgia when I came across the View-Master this summer in an Amish shop. Remember this classic toy? Â 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…
How about another edition of “Name that Amish community“. Can you tell where these 3 photos were taken? (UPDATE note: each is from a different settlement) Photo 1: Photo 2: Photo 3:
I went trick-or-treating as a kid, as did pretty much all my friends. Â 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. Â 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…
Do you know where these 3 photos were taken? (UPDATE: see “Clues” in the comments section) Photo 1: Photo 2: Photo 3:
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. Â I found the terms of the race pretty interesting–“a limit of five horses per race”; Â “all drivers must wear a helmet”; Â “any type of cart or buggy may…
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…
How do Amish folks maintain such a calm demeanor? Â Well, while poking around my friend’s library, I think I came across the secret. Â 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. Â The…
Yes, these are Amish fellas in the photos. Â 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. Â 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. Â A Lancaster friend who knows…